Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

Let’s say a piano is brand new in a store and needs to be prepped. A technician might spend an entire day doing full regulation, voicing and tuning as well as other refinements. After a full day of work, guess what? It’s halfway there. It’s halfway to being the perfect piano, and then the tuner comes back another day. Maybe there’s a customer who plays on a high level who’s not entirely satisfied with the performance. The tuner might spend even another day prepping and fine-tuning. By this time, we have gotten halfway yet again.

This is a process that could be repeated over and over. The piano gets into the person’s home, and they get the best technician they can find because they want this piano to be as exquisite as possible. They bring their technician on a regular basis, and each time they come in, they get just a little bit closer to perfection. Let’s contrast this with someone else who buys a piano who doesn’t play very much, and they don’t tune it for five years. Well, guess what? There is going to be more backward steps then forward steps. The piano can degrade over time!

There is a saying among piano tuners who say you can’t tune an out of tune piano. As crazy as this sounds, there is some truth to this. Think about it. If a piano drops in pitch when a tuner comes to tune the piano, as they tune one section of the piano, the previously tuned section is knocked out of tune because of the additional force on the bridge. That makes the soundboard flex which throws out the part that they just tuned. If the piano has not been tuned in a very long time, it takes multiple tunings to get the piano in the zone. Even that tuning will not hold for very long, and then the tuner has to go back and tune again!

Welcome to the first of a four-part series on the eras of classical music. Today we will be discussing the Baroque era.

The Baroque era pretty much extends from around 1600 to the mid-1700s. What distinguishes this era of music from others?

Baroque music, much like the art and architecture of the time, is very ornate. There are a lot of different textures and the music is very linear. The music often has several lines of music that intertwine. One of the paramount musical forms is the fugue – which has a subject and counter-subject that develop in an intricate fashion.

It’s very important in Baroque music to not favor the top line of music as is typical in other periods of music. Baroque music is much more like a tapestry of sound – it should all blend together well. I perform an example of this in the video above with the fifth French Suite of Bach. Notice how even though there is a melody, I allow the other parts to have equal say.

The other thing that is a vital component in Baroque music is keeping a steady beat. There is little give and take as in other period styles of music; you should be very clear and be able to hear the lines and allow the counterpoint to come through. You should also employ a minimal amount of pedal when it comes to the piano. When you are playing with other instruments, articulation is vital to getting a clear sound and style.

How to Buy a Piano:

– Check strings for rust particularly at the pins and hitch pins.

– Play the keys going down to the low notes. If you notice a change of tone of the copper wound strings compared to the steel strings, this can indicate problems.

– Check the soundboard by climbing under the piano or the back of an upright. If there are cracks you can see through this can be a problem. Hairline cracks are a normal part of the aging process in most parts of the country. Make sure the ribs are not detached from the soundboard at all. You can try to wedge a business card between the ribs and the soundboard to see if they are firmly attached.

– Wiggle the keys to see if the felt bushings cushion the keys. If you hear clicking, this indicates a worn action.

– Look at the hammers particularly in the treble section to see if there is much felt left. If the hammers are heavily grooved and flattened, they can be reshaped through filing provided there is enough felt to work with.

– If the piano is wildly out of tune, find notes that are particularly bad. Pluck the 3 strings of the note while holding the key down to hear which one is lowest. If you find other notes with strings that have dropped in pitch, see if they form a straight line at the pins. This could indicate cracks in the pin block which requires rebuilding of the piano.

This is a really interesting question. Sometimes you will see E sharps or C flats written in music and you might wonder why they just don’t write F or B instead – after all, an E sharp is an F and a C flat is a B on a piano. So why add this level of complexity?

Let’s start by exploring the foundations of Western Music. For most of us the music we are familiar with is founded upon the principles in Western Music. Everything from Rock to Pop to Symphonies utilizes the same aspects of being built upon scales.

What are scales exactly? Musical Scales are a series of whole steps and half steps that have all the notes (letter names) in order. For example, here is a C major scale:

When you see these string of notes together you should recognize that they are Diatonic, which means they are all built on the interval of a second. In other words, one letter to the next letter, line to space, space to line consecutively.

For more information on scales we have a series of in-depth videos on this topic:

This is probably one of the most fiercely debated topics regarding Steinway pianos. There is a ton of misinformation online as well as varying degrees of opinions. Not everyone is going to agree on this topic, but I will share my perspective from a lifetime with Steinway pianos. So let’s dive right into this hotly contested debate, is Teflon on Steinway Pianos bad?

In 1972 Steinway & Sons was sold to CBS and they owned the company until 1985. At some time during this period in Steinway’s history, the felt parts of the action were replaced with Teflon. Eventually, they abandoned this practice and went back to felt – not without some public outcry. Today, some people will see older Steinway pianos with Teflon and become adamant about replacing it, but is it really such a big problem?

There is no simple yes or no answer to this question. Teflon has many different characteristics then felt and one of the reasons Steinway decided to use it was that it is much more durable and robust then felt. One of the big problems Steinway ran into with Teflon is that many technicians didn’t know how to work with it. The vast majority of the world’s actions were built with felt and replacing it with a new material created some confusion. Unless a technician is familiar with Steinway Teflon actions, they might not be able to adjust it properly.

If you have a Steinway piano with Teflon in it and it’s in good shape, all you need is a good technician who can maintain it. There is really no reason to replace the Teflon if you have no problems. Now, there are cases where you will have to replace Teflon.

Teflon does cause some unwanted problems and if you are experiencing any of these you will need to get it replaced. Telfon is rigid but wood is susceptible to expanding and contracting with the weather. If you put a Steinway piano with Teflon in an extreme environment with wild swings in temperature – from dry to humid and from hot to cold – it’s possible the wood could crack. This can cause unwanted noises that could be created by the spaces between the Teflon bushings and the wood. This is what gave Teflon a very bad reputation; it’s not made for extreme environments.

If you live in a stable environment, you probably won’t have any negative issues with Teflon You will probably be fine as long as you have a properly trained technician.

If you feel that you want to replace the Teflon in your action, you can. If you have any concerns or qualms about it and you have the money, you should simply do what makes you happy. Does it need to be replaced? Unless you live in an extreme environment, the Teflon is old, or you can’t find the right technician, probably not. I personally don’t have any problems with Teflon parts but that’s my opinion and I’m sure there are plenty of varying viewpoints.

How To Practice the Piano

3 Part Series

There are 3 separate skills in learning to play the piano:

• Memorizing

• Sight Reading

• Improvising

You can become quite proficient in one or two of these skills and be completely deficient in others. It is necessary to take a unique approach to develop each of these skills. The biggest mistake you can make is to not be clear as to which skill you are working on!

5 Steps To Memorizing Music

Sight-read through the piece once or twice. (First Day Only)

Begin To Practice: TAKE A SMALL SECTION AT A TIME.

A. Right Hand Alone Figure out:

1. Notes

2. Rhythm-Count out loud

3. Fingering

4. Phrasing

5. Expression

Play many times until memorized.

B. Left Hand Alone Figure out:

1. Notes

2. Rhythm-Count out loud

3. Fingering

4. Phrasing

5. Expression

Play many times until memorized.

C. Hands Together Slowly at First:

Play many times until memorized.

D. Go on to the next small section and learn it the same way.

E. As each section is mastered, connect from the beginning

When you hear your favorite singer, you know who it is instantly by the voice. Even listening to wind players and string players, you often can identify the player by the tone. What about piano? Can you tell who is playing just from the sound they get? The answer is, yes, sometimes.

The secret to getting a great tone out of a piano (or a more pleasing tone out of a lesser instrument) is to support the tone like a singer or wind player supports the phrase with the breath using the diaphragm. String players utilize the bow for a smooth line and spend years developing a technique to get a beautiful sound. So what is the analog to the breath on the piano?

A phrase generally has a rise and fall, just like a breath. If you were to calculate each note of a phrase played on the piano to make each note successively louder to the peak then each note softer than the next to the end of the phrase, you would end up with a very calculated type of playing! The secret is to use a constant weight of the arm which grows to the top of the phrase and diminishes to the end of the phrase. The fingers support the weight and transfers the weight smoothly from note to note. So you exert downward pressure on the key not just on the attack, but throughout the length of the note. This enables you to get a smooth line by using the weight of the arm as the constant like the breath of a singer.

When playing large chords loudly, you can get a beautiful sound by playing from the surface of the keys. If you strike from above with the arms, this creates a slapping sound which is harsh and ugly. By staying in contact with the key and releasing energy to the bottom of the key bed with strength, you will get a beautiful sound no matter how much energy you expend. Try this in these 2 different methods and listen to the difference in the sound. You will be amazed.