All posts by Robert Estrin

What’s the Difference Between a Piano Tuner and a Piano Technician? Piano Tuner Vs. Piano Technician

Many people wonder if there is a difference between a piano tuner and a piano technician. There is certainly a difference between the two but there is a surprising amount of overlap of these terms as well.

Nearly all piano technicians are tuners, but not all piano tuners are technicians. There are certainly exceptions, but this is a pretty accurate statement when it comes to these two different job titles.

Piano Tuners specialize in tuning pianos. However, if there is a sticking key, a squeaky pedal or a broken string, they may not deal with these issues?

Piano Technicians should be able to deal with a wide range of issues with your piano. Registered Piano Technicians (RPT) – are members of the Piano Technicians’ Guild – and have to go through a course to earn the RPT designation. This ensures that they will be able to cover a wide range of issues out in the field and have the right to call themselves piano technicians. However, there are also many fine piano technicians who choose not to become members of the guild.

The complex nature of the piano assures that no one piano tuner/technician knows how to deal with all piano issues. Occasionally we have had piano problems that required us to consult a number of technicians to solve. With over 12,000 parts, finding a technician who has seen every conceivable problem on different pianos is impossible.

Finding a piano technician who is a fine tuner can be a real benefit to you and your piano. Being able to have someone come over and not only tune your piano but take care of small issues and keep the action working optimally can be invaluable in extending the life of your piano while enjoying a high level playing experience.

I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

How to Hide Mistakes in Your Musical Performance

Everyone practices a great deal to avoid mistakes but we are all human and sometimes mistakes just happen. I don’t care who you are or how accomplished a musician you are, there are a myriad of reasons that could create a mistake. There could be a problem with the instrument, there could be a distraction in the audience, a finger could slip, your memory could fail for a moment; the list goes on and on of potential problems that could lead to a mistake.

The best thing you can do as a musician is to play with continuity. Let’s just say there is a really big train with a lot of cars. If the train derails, there would be utter chaos – the cars would go everywhere and you would have a huge mess. But if instead of the train derailing, it simply slipped back onto the track and kept its course, while the event might be scary, it would not lead to disaster; instead the train would simply chug along almost as if nothing ever happened. This is how you need to think about a musical performance. It must keep moving along!

The worst thing you can do as a performer is to stop and dwell on a mistake. It’s absolutely crucial that in the event of a mistake you continue to maintain the proper time of the piece and make sure that you don’t stop playing. If you make a mistake that is jarring for the audience, everyone will notice no matter what level of musical sophistication they have. Just like if you are watching a movie and the frame skips even a few seconds forward or back, it is much more jarring than if there is a moment of blurriness or garbled audio.

The most important thing is to keep the music moving. This is essential when you are playing with other musicians because you will not be playing together if you lose or gain time! Even if you miss a note or crack a note you must keep moving; don’t let a mistake slow you down or stop you mentally. If you pull this off correctly nobody in the audience will be offended by the mistake. You just have to keep the flow and the time of the music intact and everyone will enjoy the performance even if it’s not perfect.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Upright Pianos Vs. Grand Pianos – Which is Better?

Grand pianos are generally better than upright pianos. However, there are 2 reasons to consider an upright piano:

– Limited space

– Limited budget

Although an upright piano may be considered because of space restrictions, because of its design, a baby grand may be easier to place. The back of an upright piano is ugly. This is why it is almost always placed on a wall. So you need about 5-feet of wall space to accommodate an upright piano (even a short one).

However, a baby grand piano looks good however you place it. The flexibility allows for placement in a corner or even the middle of a room. So in some instances where space is at a premium, a baby grand may be easier to place than an upright piano.

It is true that you will have to invest more money to get a baby grand piano compared to an upright. However, there are several distinct advantages in regards to sound and touch:

– The sound of an upright comes out the back. As a result, the sound goes into the wall. A baby grand or grand piano opens up into the room projecting the sound where you want it.

– The keys of an upright are shorter than a baby grand (and much shorter than a grand piano). Not the part you see, but behind the fallboard. As a result, it is harder to press black keys and between black keys on an upright than on a baby grand. Just like being near the center of a see-saw, it is difficult to get leverage on an upright piano because the shorter keys don’t allow for the leverage you get on a grand piano.

– The hammers travel sideways on an upright action instead of up and down as in a grand action. So even the best uprights have sluggish actions because they don’t have the benefit of gravity helping the repetition of the hammers.

– Last, the pedals on an upright don’t do what they are supposed to do (except the sustain pedal on the right). The soft pedal (une corde) on a grand piano shifts the action so that the hammers hit only 2 strings instead of 3. This gives a change of tonal color which is one of the most magnificent expressive devices of a piano. In an upright, the soft pedal changes the touch by making the hammers closer to the strings which makes it harder to play loud but doesn’t change the tone at all. Also, the middle pedal (sustento) rarely provides the proper function on an upright.

So if you can afford it, get a grand piano or a baby grand. You will appreciate the difference.

When is it Time for a New Piano?

This is a question I get all the time; almost every day! There are really two factors involved in this question: The condition of the piano and the ability of the player. I’m going to cover both of these topics for you.

If you have a piano that you think might be experiencing some problems, you have to assess the situation carefully and make sure you’re not throwing good money after bad. Problems that arise in pianos differ immensely based on the type of piano you own.

If you have an older (10 or more years) cheaper Asian production piano that is experiencing issues, it might be time to consider buying a new piano. Otherwise, you might end up costing yourself a lot of money in ongoing repairs. These pianos are built with a limited lifespan; they won’t last forever and eventually you will need to upgrade if you are a serious player.

If you have a higher quality piano, many times you can get repairs or work done that will prolong its life for generations. In some cases – specifically when it comes to soundboard issues – you might be stuck having to pay thousands of dollars for a rebuild. If you keep your piano in a nice climate, you close the lid at night (particularly if windows are open) and you generally maintain it well, you probably won’t run into major problems for quite a while depending upon how much you play. If you have an older piano that has been handed down through your family, it will probably require some work at some point.

Small repairs with the action or strings require some expense but they are nothing compared to the cost of rebuilding a piano. If you are looking at a bill in the tens of thousands of dollars – or even a few thousand dollars – it might be time to consider buying yourself another piano depending upon the level of the instrument. Many dealers will even let you trade in an existing piano toward the cost of a new one. It’s a great idea to consult a piano technician you trust and ask them honestly if it’s worth putting money into your piano or just buying a new one. For example, in a vertical piano the hammers travel sideways, so they don’t have the benefit of gravity for repetition like grands do. So eventually you will progress to the point where you can play faster than the piano will respond. When you advance even further as a player you will want something larger than a baby grand because the tone develops differently and the keys are longer (behind the fall board) giving a more uniform feel when playing black keys and between black keys close to the fall board.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Piano Lessons – The Burgmuller Studies – Part 5

Welcome back to our ongoing series on The Burgmuller Studies. Please reference our past articles if you are new to this series: Part 1: La Candeur, Part 2: L’Arabesque, Part 3 La Pastorale, and Part 4 “Ballade”. Today we are going to explore the piece “Innocence”.

The Burgmuller studies are great pieces for intermediate students since they help to improve fundamental skills and introduce complex techniques while offering musically rewarding composition.

We are going to go beyond the basics of mastering the fingering and learning the music. Today we will talk about how to add spice and character to your playing. Fortunately, most of the dynamics are written in the score. Accentuating the rise and the fall of the phrases will make this piece come alive!

Look at the first two measures and if you watch the video you will see how to highlight the rise and fall of the phrase:

Bringing life to your music is essential. Imagine you have a conversation with someone and you talk in a monotone voice. Your listener will become bored very quickly. While you don’t want to be overly animated in your speaking, having some life and character really engages people in what you have to say. The same thing is true for your piano playing.

The other thing you’ll want to be aware of in this piece is observing the rests exactly as written. They are very important in delineating the phrasing.

The second section of this piece offers a total change of character. In the left hand, you have simple repeated 8th notes. You can practice them in chords first to get good fingering and hand positions:

The right hand requires mastering the fingering and phrasing. It’s crucial to pay attention to the staccatos and slurs:

If you watch the video you will hear how to accentuate the phrasing with the use of the wrist. This is a little different from the approach to single staccato notes which requires a simple down and up the motion of the wrist. You’ll use the wrist to go down on the first note, then you have three notes in a row after it. On the third note, you come back up with the wrist! So, you use the wrist to go down and up for the 3 note group.

Down on the C
Up on the E

Learning to delineate phrasing with the wrist is a great technique for developing pianists to master and this particular piece is a great way to learn it.

One more thing to take note of in this section is the crescendo that starts in the second half after the repeat. Make sure you bring this out and feature it in your performance; it really brings excitement to the music.

When you get to the end of the piece you’ll encounter this descending scale:

This can easily be learned by practicing slowly at first and working up the speed with the metronome gradually until you have mastered it.

I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

How to Play Legato Octaves – Piano Lessons

Developing a solid octave technique on the piano can be a great challenge. Many pianists want to learn how to play octaves legato (smoothly connected) instead of having them sound choppy and disconnected. There are instances where octaves should be played staccato, but there are times when octaves are meant to blend as seamlessly as possible. Today we are going to discuss some methods and techniques to help you achieve smooth legato octaves in your playing.

You might think that the pedal would be a great option. However, you shouldn’t depend upon the pedal alone to achieve connected octaves. As I’ve stated in the past, learning to play without the pedal, is a very valuable skill for your practice. The pedal should be used to enhance the music but not as a crutch to connect what you can connect with your hands.

There is a very simple technique for connecting octaves. The secret is in focusing on the notes you can connect and not trying to connect what you can’t. Instead of playing all your octaves with the first and fifth finger, try alternating the fourth and fifth finger for the top notes in the right hand and the bottom notes in the left hand. But how do you tell which fingers to alternate? It’s actually very simple; use your fifth finger on all the white keys and use your fourth finger for all the black keys.

In reality, you’re not actually connecting both notes on the octaves, but it creates a great illusion – even without the pedal!

If your hands are big enough you can utilize the third, fourth and fifth fingers with octaves.

The great thing about learning to play octaves this way is that not only does it apply to playing octaves legato, it’s a great way to play them staccato as well since you spread the work among more fingers.

I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.