All posts by Robert Estrin

Are There Musical Geniuses Like Mozart Alive Today?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Are there musical geniuses like Mozart alive today? In the world today with billions of people, there have got to be some people with tremendous talent. There are great players and child prodigies, but is there anybody at the level of artistry, creative beauty, and pure genius of Mozart?

The answer is yes!

If you have not seen her already on YouTube, you must check out Alma Deutscher. I’ve been following her for years. She started posting on YouTube when she was five. There are videos of her playing the violin from a very young age. She is unlike any musical talent I think you’ve probably ever seen in your life. Just to give you an overview, she’s now 18 years old. She has composed three operas. She composed her first complete opera when she was only ten years old! There are some videos of her performing where the audience chooses notes and she improvises using those notes. She can instantly create a composition on the highest level, beyond what you would think of as improvisation.

She is an accomplished pianist, violinist, and singer.

She’s great on all three of these instruments, as well as being a conductor. She’s written violin concertos, piano concertos, and three operas. It’s just amazing. You could see her evolution through time. But from the youngest age, there is a spark of joy in her, and an appreciation for beautiful melodies, which just flow out of her naturally, whether she’s improvising or composing. If she just played the violin, sang, played the piano, or composed even a fraction of the music that she’s written, she would be noteworthy. But the fact that she does all of these things is astounding! She is much like Mozart, who was great on violin, piano, conducting, improvising, and composing for so many different ensembles, from opera to piano to symphonies, from the youngest age.

There are still musical geniuses like Mozart alive today! But where can they shine?

Are there places for people like Alma Deutscher? Where will her career take her? This will be very interesting. Many composers today are in the film industry because it’s one area where people can actually make a living composing music. We no longer have royal courts with benefactors the way they existed back in Mozart’s time.

I want all of you to check out Alma Deutscher!

Check out her compositions and her improvisations. Watch her from the youngest age to what she’s doing now. I think you will be astounded at this world-class musician in our midst. I just thought I’d call it to your attention to her. I’m interested in other great artists of our time. If you know of anyone like this, share it in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin
Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

Alma Deutcher Improvisation

https://www.almadeutscher.com

https://www.youtube.com/@AlmaDeutscher

How Much Freedom Is There in Musical Performance?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. How much freedom is there in musical performance? If you listen to the same piece by different performers on the piano or any other instrument, you’ll find dramatically different interpretations. How much do you have to be faithful to the score, and how much can you just take off and do what you want to do? The answer may surprise you!

You want to play faithfully to the score.

If somebody was listening to a piece of music written by a great composer and they were transcribing it note for note, they should end up with the same score that the composer wrote with every last detail. Does that mean that every performance should be the same? No, surprisingly, because you can execute every detail of the score in different ways to indicate what is written, and different people have various ideas about how to achieve that.

I’m going to give you a great example today, which is Debussy.

Debussy was a French impressionist composer from the early 20th century. His music is a wash of colors and sounds. And yet, it’s important to have the clarity of what is intended in the score come out in your performance. But there is more than one way to achieve that. For example, sometimes there are double-stemmed notes, a note with a stem going down and a stem going up. Why are there two stems? Well, that note is part of two different lines of music, like different instruments playing. It may be 16th notes and 8th notes at the same time. One voice is on the top and one voice is on the bottom. Sometimes voices overlap, and they both hit the same note at the same time. The composer wants you to understand that and project it into the performance. It creates different sounds. So in the first movement of Debussy’s Children’s Corner Suite, there are double-stemmed notes. Interestingly, it starts off in the third measure with double-stemmed eighth notes (with staccatos), which intersect with 16th notes on the bottom. What makes it even more interesting is that starting in the fifth measure, you have a similar passage except with double-stemmed quarter notes with 16th notes on the bottom. This is a subtle difference which is the genius of Debussy creating nuances of sound. (You can reference the accompanying video to hear this on the piano with the score provided.)

Ideally, you want to do as much as you possibly can with your fingers and then use the pedal for expression.

That’s just one example where the composer wants to have different lines of music, and it’s up to you as a performer to find a way to execute it to create the effect. On the seventh measure, you have the same pattern twice, but the first time with a crescendo/decrescendo, then it repeats with no dynamic changes. There are all kinds of subtle phrasing, double stemmed-notes, inner lines, expression, and crescendos. What I have found over the years is that if you really learn the precision of where the crescendos start and end, exactly how many notes are slurred, attention to double-stemmed note values, and you delineate all the minutiae of the score, it brings the music to life!

Be sure you’re not working from a heavily edited edition of the score.

You want to follow the markings of the composer, not the editor, because the editor may or may not have great ideas. You should always know what the composer had in mind with an urtext edition, one that is not edited, or one that clearly indicates what’s coming from the editor rather than the composer. That way, you can get in the head of the composer and get an idea of the concept of what they really were after. Those small details all come together to mold a great performance. So you can indeed follow the inclinations of the composer and do so with the conviction of how you believe the music can best be expressed. I hope this is helpful for you! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at Living Pianos: Your Online Piano Resource. Join the discussion at LivingPianos.com where you can leave your comments on countless articles with accompanying videos.

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Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

How Can You Tell if a Student Is Talented?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. How can you tell if a student is talented? You sometimes see kids who have difficult pieces they can play fast, and they have it all memorized. And then sometimes you hear somebody who just touches you, and you have a deep emotional connection.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. How can you tell if a student is talented? You sometimes see kids who have difficult pieces they can play fast, and they have it all memorized. And then sometimes you hear somebody who just touches you, and you have a deep emotional connection.

There are so many aspects of talent on the piano.

There’s the coordination of the hands, the visual element, the ears, and other aspects. Sometimes, to find out if somebody is talented, they’ll do a hearing test where they will play a C on the piano, then play another note and ask what the note is. Some people can tell if one note is higher or lower. Some people can’t. Some people can easily match pitch singing, but some people have to study for a long time in order to develop their ears for music. So there’s innate ability in music. But there is one common denominator among students that’s very interesting.

Talented students generally play too fast!

You have to slow them down because it’s a mess! They rush through everything. You try to get them to play with a metronome, and it’s a nightmare. Whereas, with students who are less talented, it’s exactly the opposite. It’s a struggle to get anything up to tempo. They naturally want to play slowly. That’s why talented students can be some of the most difficult students to deal with. They can be sloppy and not take enough time learning things accurately and playing music cleanly. So that is a telltale sign. Of course, there are many other aspects of talent.

As a kid, I always had weak, spaghetti-like fingers.

My fingers would collapse on the keyboard. My joints would bend the wrong way. You have no control that way. It took me years and years before I could keep my fingers rounded without the joints collapsing. But I was able to get the tone out of the piano that I desired. I always had great tonal control. That’s why I loved slow movements. It wasn’t dependent on technique. So there are essential aspects of talent other than just speed. But it is usually a telltale sign of aptitude and natural ability at the instrument to be able to conceptualize something.

So if you find yourself going too fast all the time, don’t fret. You have some natural ability!

Rein it in and practice slowly, and you’ll be rewarded by solidifying your technique. And if you’re somebody who struggles to get things up to speed, remember, there are many other aspects of talent on the instrument other than just physiological abilities. I didn’t have those abilities as a kid, but I developed them with hard work over many years. So there’s hope for everybody! Nobody has it all. Everybody has to develop their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses. Talent only goes so far. Hard work is the answer. Put in the work consistently, and you will develop at the piano, I promise you.

Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin
Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

The Secret to Executing Trills

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I will share some secrets to executing trills. When I was in music conservatory, I remember the really advanced students would spend an inordinate amount of time working on trills. And in fact, it’s one aspect of my playing that I have developed further in the past year or so. I’m always discovering new things.

The most intrinsically important thing about trills is that they must be measured.

I know that when you hear a trill, it just sounds like a whole bunch of random notes. But if you don’t know exactly how many notes you’re playing in a trill, good luck ending it! You may not end up on the right note. You have a 50/50 chance of being on the right or the wrong note. So you have to figure out exactly how many notes you’re playing. So even though it sounds like a flurry of notes, the number of notes is worked out precisely. There are different ways to execute trills with different numbers of notes, but each one should be measured.

Today I’m going to give you a hack for your trills!

I recently performed a concert in New York. I played the Mozart Sonata K. 457 in C minor. It’s loaded with trills! I wanted to execute those trills really cleanly, and I also wanted to play a good number of notes. You can always play an easier trill with fewer notes, but I didn’t want to do that. I started my program with this sonata, so I wanted to be rock solid on it. I figured out how to achieve very clean, faithful, and accurate trills. And it’s not just for trills like this, but virtually all ornamentation.

The secret is lifting up your fingers just a little bit instead of being right on the keys.

You want to lift up your finger just a little bit before you play the trill. That little bit of lifting articulates trills so wonderfully, you won’t believe it! Try it with your playing wherever you have trills. Lift your finger just before the trill, and you’ll get a clean trill. If your fingers don’t lift up, the notes may not play reliably. That’s the hardest part of a trill. The hardest part about piano playing and finger work isn’t so much the pushing down of the fingers, it’s the lifting up of previously played fingers. If you try to play a trill and the fingers don’t come up, the notes won’t play.

By lifting your fingers, you are certain that the fingers are up and out of the way, so the keys can replay.

The secret is to get the previously played fingers up and out of the way so the key is up and can go down again. It’s simple physics, really. So try lifting your fingers just before you play your trills and see how you get cleaner execution of ornamentation in your playing. I hope this works for you! Let us know in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

It’s Not Important How Much You Practice

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Did you know that it’s not important how much you practice? It’s not important how much you memorize. It’s not important how much you work on scales and arpeggios. Likewise, it’s not that important how much you exercise. None of these things are important.

What is important is how often you do these things!

What’s important is how often you practice, how often you memorize, and how often you work on scales and arpeggios. And indeed, in a recent study, they found that the most important component for health is not how intensely you exercise; it’s how often you exercise. The same is true with your piano practice. There are some really good reasons for this.

It’s the things you do every day that make a difference in your life.

You want to get to the important things every day. The blue zones around the world, where people live to be over 100 on a much more regular basis, are areas where exercise is just part of life. If you live in the mountains of Sardinia, Italy, walking up and down the hills is just a part of your life. You don’t have to make appointments to go to the gym three times a week. Just by going out and getting your food, you’re going to be getting exercise.

Make sure your piano is in a place where you’re going to pass by it.

You shouldn’t have to have a long ritual to get going with your practice. It’s good to close your piano for the health of the instrument, at least at night, but make it so that you can get to it easily. Make it a part of your regular routine. Make memorization part of your regular day, or at least learning new music. You want to always be expanding your repertoire. How often you practice is much more important than how much you practice. Cramming doesn’t work that well for a lot of aspects of piano practice, but the continuity of study is vitally important to build upon what you do each day.

With consistent practice, you will grow enormously.

So rethink your whole strategy for how you practice and live your life. If the things you do are important to you, do them on a very regular basis, and you will be rewarded. It will be of far greater benefit to you than just the sheer amount of time you spend with activities. Take that to heart with your piano practice and your health! Let me know how it works for you. Leave your comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

Piano Mysteries: The Steinway Model C

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m talking about a piano mystery, the Steinway Model C. You may already be familiar with the Steinway Models B and D, but if not, I’m going to give you a quick rundown. Virtually all new Steinways sold in North America are made in New York. There’s the Model S at 5′ 1″, the very popular Model M at 5′ 7″, then the Model L (now the O) at 5′ 10 1/2″. Then it skips all the way to the Model B at 6′ 11″, and then to the concert grand, which is just under nine feet. So there’s a big gap there.

What about in Hamburg?

In Hamburg, Germany, where Steinways are also made, they never produced the Model L, but they have the Model O, which is also 5′ 10 1/2″, but a different scale design. And they also have the Model A at 6′ 2″. Some of them were actually a little longer; the Model A3 is 6′ 4″ which was made in New York for a brief period of time early in the 20th century. The model A was made in New York only in the early part of the twentieth century. Now the model A is made in both Hamburg and New York. In fact, they make all the same models: S, M, O (not the L anymore), A, B, and the concert grand model D.

What is the model C?

The Model C was made in New York up until 1905. Then they had limited numbers of them made all the way up to 1936. The Model C has not been made in New York since 1936. But the model C, at 7′ 5″, is still made in Hamburg. The speculation as to why the model C is not made in New York is that it would interfere too much with the sale of their popular Model B, which is the quintessential semi-concert grand at just under seven feet. But there’s still no reason why this great scale design shouldn’t be made in New York. I think it would be terrific for people in this hemisphere to be able to buy a Steinway C without having to go to the expense of buying a German piano imported overseas all the way to the United States.

Do you think Steinway should make the Model C in New York?

I am very interested in your opinions on this! I’m putting this out here because I’d like to know why the heck they don’t make a Steinway C in New York! I think it would be a great addition to the line. It is a fabulous scale design, and there are so few of them in the United States. To me, it’s one of the great piano mysteries. Leave your comments at LivingPianos.com and YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com