Hi, I’m Robert Estrin and this is LivingPianos.com. The subject today is about a way to not have commercials on YouTube. You just want to watch a video and you have to endure these commercials all the time. This week one of my fans contacted me and said they love watching my videos, but the commercials are driving them nuts!
There is a way to not have any commercials on YouTube. It’s called, “YouTube Premium”.
YouTube Premium is a paid program which also includes YouTube Music. YouTube music has a comprehensive library of almost any music that has ever been recorded which you can listen to anytime, anywhere on any device. I have subscribed for years. I think the $11.99/month is worth it just for YouTube Music! I haven’t seen a commercial on YouTube for years either. You can try it out for a month for free here to see how you like it: https://www.youtube.com/premium
The best part is by subscribing to YouTube premium, you also get YouTube music.
YouTube Music is a treasure trove of almost every recording you could imagine which you can listen to it anywhere, any time from your computer to your phone, to your iPad. I’m not paid for this. This is not a sponsored commercial. but my time is valuable as I’m sure yours is. So try it out for a week and see how you like it! If you like it, you’ll never have to watch a commercial on YouTube again! 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
Welcome to Living Pianos. The subject today is about what college piano sales are all about. You’ve probably seen them at your local college or university, and then the next year they have them again. And you wonder how they have so many pianos to sell! Also, you wonder, if these are college pianos, what kind of condition could they possibly be in. (We’ve all seen school pianos!) Well, I’m going to tell you what these sales are all about so you can determine if it’s something of interest to you so you can decide if you’d like to investigate them for yourself.
This is a very common practice. They are events held at colleges, universities and also in conjunction with arts organizations. The way they work is with an arrangement among a piano dealer, a piano manufacturer, a finance company, and an institution, typically a school. The arrangement is made to loan several new pianos (perhaps 6-8 pianos) for a year at no charge. In exchange, the institution agrees to open up their facility (and more importantly their mailing list) to have a limited time piano sale which is marketed with tens of thousands of dollars of advertising. The piano store then engages piano movers to move dozens of other pianos from the piano store into the school, performance venue, or other facility for the sale.
If you research this online, “What is a College Piano Sale”, you will find a lot of opinions on this practice.
These sales are generally held in conjunction with Yamaha, Steinway, or Kawai. If it is a Yamaha event, there will be mostly Yamaha pianos there. If there is a specific model of Yamaha piano you are after, it can be a good place to get a decent price on the piano without the hassle of negotiation which is typical in new piano stores. However, the expense of moving the pianos in and out, along with the heavy promotional costs precludes spectacular deals at these events. It is also not a place where you have much time to try out instruments. They try to create a buying frenzy by limiting time, and fostering an urgency for a buying decision before the pianos are sold (even though most of them go back to the store after the sale is over).
So remember: if you are looking for a new piano, and know what you want, a college sale can be a good way to go. But for narrowing down what you want, you are better off shopping around first. Let us know your experiences on 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to share my personal story about how I became a pianist. You might think that it would be obvious. Many of you know that my father, Morton Estrin, was a concert pianist. My sister is also a pianist. I’ve been surrounded with pianists and pianos my whole life! So you might think it’s the most natural thing in the world that I ended up being a pianist. Far from it!
I’ve always loved music.
I had the opportunity to start piano studying with my father when I was seven years old. Shortly thereafter, in fourth grade, I was given a French horn at school to play in the band. I was very taken with the instrument. I loved the tone! The French horn is everything the piano isn’t, and vice versa. On the piano, there’s only so much you can do with tone. Some pianists create a much more beautiful sound than other pianists. There’s something to that. But on the French horn, you can hear just one note and identify the player! What you can do with just one note is extraordinarily limited on the piano. But on the French horn, there is so much you can do with each note. It’s unbelievable! Plus I loved playing in the orchestra and the band. I was very serious about French horn. I divided my time between French horn and piano all through school.
In junior high I had a great French horn teacher, Hugh Cowden.
He was such an inspiration to me. I learned so much from that man that it was unbelievable! He used to come over to my house for lessons. We would go downstairs in the playroom and he would spend all afternoon there with me. We would play duets together, we would play recordings, he would have me do excerpts as well as etudes and concertos and sonatas. I learned all the Mozart Horn Concertos, the Strauss Concertos, the Glière Concerto, the Hindemith Sonata, and more. I really learned a tremendous amount. I loved the French horn. I played in several very good orchestras in high school. I even had the opportunity to play lead French horn with Chuck Mangione, and had a bunch of solos! I also played principal 1st horn on Mahler’s 1st Symphony under Seiji Ozawa on ABC Television at Tanglewood, as well as at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. I was extremely serious about the horn.
In middle school I remember saying to my parents, “How am I going to decide between French horn and piano when it’s time for college?”
My parents told me, “Oh, you’ll know.” And I said, “No, I won’t.” And sure enough, I didn’t! I couldn’t make up my mind between French horn and piano. To some extent, there were many mitigating factors to this. One was, my father had so many brilliant students, many of whom were far more accomplished technically than I was. I have small hands. Growing up, I struggled to develop enough strength to be able to play the literature I wanted to play on the piano. It was really hard for me. I overcame it, but it took much more work. I realized as a teacher, years later, how much easier piano was for so many of my students than it was for me! I’ve had students who could just leap from one level to another because their hands could handle it once they could intellectualize the music. I didn’t have that luxury. I had to work and work to develop the muscles, and to figure out how to break chords I couldn’t reach in order to be able to play advanced piano literature.
I loved playing in orchestra. And furthermore, I enjoyed practicing the French horn more than I enjoyed practicing the piano!
Playing the French horn is a visceral experience. It was just fun going through all the musical excerpts of the famous horn solos, whereas piano was almost drudgery. It takes so much work to memorize music on the piano! I loved refining the music once I had it memorized. That was the part I’ve always loved. But that initial memorization is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And if any of you memorize piano music, you understand. It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Memorizing music is really hard! And it’s an essential part of piano practice (which I have come to enjoy!)
I decided that I would only audition at schools that offered double majors with horn and piano.
That’s why I didn’t apply to Juilliard, because they didn’t offer a double major. But the Manhattan School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music did. I applied at those schools and got into both schools on both instruments! I decided to go to the Manhattan School of Music to get to study with the principal horn of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The piano faculty was tremendous there as well.
When I went to my counselor to put my schedule together, it became obvious that doing a double major would never leave me enough time to practice.
It wasn’t just the private lessons. It was the entire course load that would be doubled up just about. Finding enough time to practice even with just a music performance degree on one instrument is a great challenge since you’re working towards a bachelor of music degree. It’s an academic degree. So you have a substantial course load. You have music theory, history, on and on as well. I decided to be a French horn major, because I could continue to study piano with my father. I wanted to be able to play in the ensembles. Playing with an orchestra is an integral part of playing the French horn. Piano, you can play all by yourself, or you can do collaborative work with four hand piano, accompanying, or chamber music. But you certainly have a lot to keep you busy just with solo repertoire. Whereas with the French horn, almost everything involves other instruments. Even solo music, you’re playing with a piano. But playing in an orchestra, that’s the end goal for a French hornist generally. There are very few people who only play solo French horn.
Well, I had an experience that I won’t go into and I won’t mention the name of the teacher. But it was a miserable experience that maybe I’ll write in a book someday. I’m not going to share it with you because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But a really horrific thing happened and I had to stop studying with the horn teacher who I had. At that point I figured I might as well study with a piano teacher. I was accepted by all the piano teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, which was very thrilling. I chose to study with Constance Keene. I decided to go back to my previous horn teacher, Hugh Cowden. He was such a great horn teacher, so it made sense. So I went and studied with Constance Keene on piano and continued doing horn outside of school.
When did I finally just go for piano?
I haven’t played the horn in quite a number of years. The last time I played the French horn, I played concerts in both New York and California with my father and my daughter! We did the Brahms Horn Trio, which is a magnificent work. You should listen to it if you’ve never heard it. I also performed the Benjamin Britten Serenade for Horn, Strings, and Tenor with an orchestra in Orange County. I was in top shape! This was in the early 2000s. But it was at the same time that I had just put together the concept of my Living Piano: Journey Through Time: Historic Concert Experience.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldMu-RHXfec&list=PLC9F55F8E11E5FBDE I was really gung-ho about this. This ended up being something I performed dozens of times in universities, art centers, and convention halls all over California. I performed this show for the annual conventions of the Music Teachers’ Association, as well as the Piano Technicians Guild. I even did a Living Piano cruise!
I divided my time between French horn and piano up until the early 2000s.
I was in the formative stages of the Living Piano show. My mind was completely wrapped up in it! Yet I had these important performances on the horn. I was practicing the horn incessantly! I had almost no time for the piano. So once those performances were over, I just completely left the horn in the case ever since, which is kind of a shame. I do have some recordings. One of these days maybe I’ll post the Brahms horn trio performance. Naturally, I played the horn part of that. My father, Morton Estrin, played the piano. My daughter, Jenny Estrin, played the violin part. She is an incredibly accomplished violinist!
That’s my personal piano story! I bet many of you are surprised to hear this. Have any of you had experiences with multiple instruments? Have any of you taken as long as me to make up your mind about what instrument would be your primary instrument? I’d love to hear from you! Let me know in the comments here 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The question today is, “Do Concert Pianists Have to Keep Learning New Music?” You would think after decades of performing concerts, artists would have enough repertoire to last a lifetime. I grew up around my father, Morton Estrin, who was a concert pianist. He would be aghast when one of his colleagues was playing a New York recital without new repertoire. He would say, “My goodness, that’s the same program they played for their graduate recital at Juilliard 20 years ago!” My father was a firm believer in constantly expanding his repertoire. In fact, it wasn’t until he was in his eighties that he learned the complete Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which he then performed at Hofstra University Playhouse.
Concert pianists continue learning new music for their entire careers.
My teacher, Ruth Slenczynska, who you may have seen in the interview here on LivingPianos.com and YouTube, is also a spectacular pianist. She started concertizing at the age of 4! She studied with some of the most luminary pianists of the 20th century, including Rachmaninoff, Schnabel to Cortot and Hoffmann.
At 97 years old, she’s still performing and recording. And yes, she’s learning new music!
Why is it so important to continue expanding your repertoire?
In life, you’re either growing or you’re dying. You must constantly explore new avenues. Never give up your curiosity! As a pianist, you constantly expand your repertoire. This is how you grow as a musician and remain vibrant and vital in this world. In that spirit, I’ve been learning some new pieces lately, and I thought I’d share with you an absolutely stupendous piece of music I’ve always loved, Chopin’s Fantasy in F minor. My father’s first recording in the 1950s for Fantasy Records was of the complete Chopin Ballads and the Fantasy in F minor. So I’m thrilled to share this performance with you!
It’s a pleasure to learn new music!
It’s exciting to explore great works like this! The remarkable thing about piano repertoire is that it’s virtually endless. There’s more great piano music out there than anyone could possibly tackle in a lifetime. The other great thing about piano repertoire is that not all pieces are that difficult. There are pieces of Chopin and dozens of other composers that are very accessible. So no matter what level you’re on, whether you’re a seasoned concert pianist, or just starting out, always learn new music! It enriches your life, and it’s good for your soul! 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about why slower means louder on the piano. Now, you might think I’ve gone off the deep end! Obviously, composers write things that are slow, things that are fast, things that are loud, and things that are soft. How can I say that slow means loud?
The piano is a percussion instrument. Hammers hit strings, and the notes die away as soon as you play them. So, longer notes have to last longer. The only way for that to happen is to play them louder! If you were to play equal volume with one hand that’s playing faster than the other, the hand that has the faster notes will sound louder.
Accentuate the melody, especially if it’s slow.
Say you are playing a piece where the melody is very slow. You want to accentuate the melody tremendously for two reasons. First of all, the acoustics of the piano are such that longer notes have to be louder to balance with the other notes that are faster. Secondly, the melody is usually on top, and you want it to be louder anyway. You always want the melody to be louder. You want to play the melody substantially louder than the accompaniment in order to make it come through. Even though the right hand may be drastically louder than the left hand, it still can have a piano quality to the sound.
Use the weight of the arm so you get smooth volume from note to note.
If you just punctuate each note separately without using the weight of the arm to get a natural, beautiful legato, you get an ugly, harsh sound. It can sound lifeless! You will hear a bunch of separate notes, but no line. It’s such a challenge on the piano to form a phrase that has a rise and a fall that’s smooth, which is the analog of the breath of the singer or the bow of the string player. That’s where the weight of the arm comes in.
Higher notes on the piano have less sustain.
There’s one other reason why slow notes have to be articulated so much more than fast notes. The higher up you go, the problem is exacerbated! The higher notes on the piano don’t last very long at all. In the bass, the tone keeps going and going. But most of the time on the piano, you’re playing the melody in the treble and the accompaniment in the bass. The accompaniment usually has more notes than the melody. But the melody should be louder. The notes in the treble don’t last as long, so you have to play them much louder to create a pleasing balance of sound.
So, that is key for the acoustics of the piano! Slow notes have to be played louder than fast notes. That’s the way to achieve a good balance on the piano. Use the weight of the arm in slow melodies. Exaggerate the difference between melody and harmony when the melody is higher than the accompaniment or the notes are longer than the accompaniment, which is so often the case. Let me know how this works for you in the comments here 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how to take your piano playing to the next level. This is a really fascinating subject. This transcends piano. It even transcends other musical instruments! With almost anything anyone wants to master, it really comes down to a critical mass of practicing. What do I mean by this? The term critical mass is typically associated in physics with radioactive material. You put enough of it together and it starts a chain reaction. But you could have plutonium and it would never start a chain reaction, no matter how much you have, unless you put enough of it in one space at one time. That’s what causes the chain reaction. It’s the same thing with your piano practice or any other endeavor you want to master.
There has to be an extended period of time where you’re spending just about every waking moment at the piano.
Anyone who’s really mastered an instrument has gone through this process. Once you go through that process, you will be forever changed. You will be on another level. You can depend upon what you have given yourself with that experience. Another example of this, since I’m into physics, is something called escape velocity. For example, if you were to go into a rocket, and just keep going and going and going straight up, you will never go into orbit. In fact, the way to go into orbit is not by how far you go, but how fast you go. You have to reach a certain speed to escape the force of Earth’s gravitational pull. There has to be enough speed generated. You have to have enough energy to be able to get your piano playing on that level.
You can practice for your whole life one or two hours a day and never reach that pinnacle of achievement of a true virtuoso technique.
To be a really accomplished concert level player, you have to go through this process. There is no substitute for that. Now that I’ve made this bold statement, since a lot of people watch my videos, I’m interested in your feelings about this. It doesn’t have to be just piano, any field of endeavor. Are there any of you who feel you’ve mastered painting, or physics, or anything, and you haven’t gone through that process of total absorption for an extended amount of time? I want to hear from you! I want to know if it’s possible, because my feeling is that it’s not possible. I believe that’s what it takes, and there is no shortcut to that. You can grow. You can become better. But you’re never going to be on that top echelon level without going through this process. Talk to any friends you have who have mastered their instrument or their craft, and ask them if they’ve gone through this process. I’m really interested in the comments on this one here at LivingPianos.com and YouTube. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
