Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s question is: What is Living Pianos? In a nutshell, it’s my life! And it’s your life too, if you have a passion for the piano the way I do. It’s actually a double entendre. There are two meanings to Living Pianos.

I have a video called What are Living Pianos?

That video tells about the restored American and European pianos that are so rare today, which we sell all over the world and have been doing so since 2006! But it’s much more than that. It’s really about living the piano. As a matter of fact, if you type “living the piano” in your browser, Living Pianos comes up!

I was lucky enough to grow up in a musical household.

My entire family is made up of musicians of one sort or another. Pianos have always been central. My father, Morton Estrin, was a concert pianist. He was my teacher and my sister’s teacher. He taught countless people, from Billy Joel to conductors, composers, and pianists the world over. My sister, Coren Estrin Mino, is also a pianist and a teacher. My uncle was a professional musician. The list goes on and on. My life is centered around teaching, performing, and media. This is what makes me want to get up in the morning!

My mission is to keep the piano alive in the 21st century, in the United States and around the world.

This is no easy task when you consider that the piano has been on a slow decline for over a hundred years. That’s why connecting with people like you who care about the piano is enriching. It makes me feel like there is value to my life. So I thank you all for joining me and encourage you to subscribe to LivingPianos.com and YouTube! You’ll find a treasure trove of content I’ve been putting together for many years! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s question is: What Are Living Pianos? It sounds like a science fiction story, doesn’t it? Artificial intelligence enables sentient instruments to compose, perform, and even teach music autonomously. Or maybe it’s pianos that are bioengineered to grow and evolve along with the player! There are all kinds of possibilities. But it’s actually something much more terrifying than that. That’s why Living Pianos is committed to bringing new life to old pianos!

Did you know that many pianos end up in landfills?

In Minnesota alone, hundreds of pianos end up in landfills every year. As you’re watching this video, pianos are being thrown in landfills all over the country. It’s a horrifying thing to contemplate. You might wonder why this happens. Well, there’s a huge price gap between hand-built American pianos, which are mostly the ones that end up in landfills here, and Asian production pianos. So when pianos wear out, people will replace them with far cheaper Asian production pianos or even digital pianos.

That’s why Living Pianos specializes in the sale of restored, hand-built pianos, which are so rare today.

There are other companies that do this, but most of them specialize in Steinway because Steinway commands more money in the used market. But we’re not prejudiced against other brands. There used to be hundreds of American piano companies, and there were several dozen that made absolutely stupendous pianos! Of course, Mason & Hamlin pianos are still built outside of Boston. Baldwin was the last casualty of the American piano industry. There are now Asian production pianos with the Baldwin name on the front. But the Artist-Series Baldwins that graced concert halls all around the world are a thing of the past.

We not only restore Steinway, Baldwin, and Mason & Hamlin pianos but also other great American pianos like Knabe, Chickering, Sohmer, and others. You can end up with a piano that has tremendous value instead of having them end up in a landfill. European pianos like Bechstein and Blüthner are also great candidates for restoration. Of course, they’re quite rare in this country.

Knowing which pianos to restore and which ones to stay away from is critical.

You can’t always get good results out of older pianos. One of the really difficult things is restoring pianos that have had some restoration along the way. If you have everything original, even if everything is worn out and in bad condition, at least you know the original specifications. It’s a huge challenge to match the original specs of pianos that have had work done, particularly if the work was subpar. Even with Steinway, you might think you could just order Steinway parts. But it’s not so simple. Steinway has changed their specifications over the years. You have to know exactly what the specification is for each of the almost 10,000 parts of a piano to restore them properly!

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s question is: What is the most important finger for playing the piano? Of course, all of your fingers are important, and they each play a vital role. Imagine playing the piano with less than ten fingers. It would be really hard! It’s hard enough with all ten fingers. But there’s one finger that really is pivotal for playing the piano. Not only that, but it is arguably the most important finger that you have for everything.

The most important finger is the thumb.

Why are the thumbs so important? Naturally, being able to grasp objects with the thumb, because it’s opposing the other fingers, is incredibly important. And it’s in no small part how civilization developed. Our thumbs enable us to utilize tools. The thumb gives you control. In piano playing, there are three aspects that make the thumb vitally important. The thumb is your strongest finger. The third finger is pretty darn strong, but not like the thumb. Instead of having three bones like your other fingers, the thumb only has two. And it has a unique set of tendons and muscles.

How does this impact piano playing?

First of all, when playing scales, arpeggios, or any passages that go up and down the keyboard, because the thumb has the flexibility of being able to oppose the other fingers, you can use the thumb to cross other fingers. It can go under the hand to reach for the next note. Imagine trying to play scales without your thumbs. It’s really hard because crossing over fingers without using the thumb is awkward. Sometimes you have to do that when you’re playing counterpoint. You might have to hold a note with your thumb while other notes are being played on top. If the thumb is already engaged in playing a note, it can be necessary to cross with different fingers.

The thumb is vitally important for playing octaves and other larger intervals.

Unless you have very large hands, you probably can’t play an octave with your other fingers. Even if you had an extra finger like your other fingers instead of a unique finger like the thumb, you wouldn’t be able to get the control and power of the thumb. It’s the magic of the arch! You can get the power of the arch of the whole hand with the thumb. It’s the power of the arch that gives you control when playing octaves as well as chords. This enables you to get the balance you want. You utilize the rocking of the hand from the left to the right to balance the tone from one side of the hand to the other side. You can get a certain amount of that with your other fingers, but because the thumb has unique musculature, it enables you to achieve superior control. So when you’re playing octaves, for example, you can get the balance you want by how you distribute the weight of the hand. That’s also what enables rapid, powerful octaves.

That’s the power of the thumb!

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today, I’m going to talk about the difference between playing Bach and Mozart. They are two great composers. You hear their music all the time. Many pianists play both composers. There are some fundamental differences in the approach to playing Bach versus Mozart, which we’re going to discuss today.

The fundamentals come down to two criteria: the period styles and the instrument that they wrote for.

Bach lived from 1685 to 1750. Interestingly, he never wrote for the piano. Did he ever play the piano? Well, yes, there are records of him having played a very early incarnation of what was a piano. What distinguished the piano from other keyboard instruments of the age was the fact that the piano could play loud and soft, which is how it derived its name, the fortepiano or pianoforte which was later shortened to, the piano. Bach never specifically wrote for the piano. In fact, he never wrote for any particular keyboard instrument other than the organ. All of his keyboard music, other than his organ music, was written simply for clavier, which means, “keyboard”.

What instrument did Bach play?

Bach played the clavichord. It was his favorite keyboard instrument because of its expressiveness. On the clavichord, the key mechanism would be in contact with the string to impart vibrato and other expressive elements that the harpsichord could not do. Yet the harpsichord was the most popular keyboard instrument in performance because of its robust tone. The clavichord was so quiet that it really wasn’t a performance instrument. So we can presume that most of Bach’s music was performed primarily on the harpsichord. And the harpsichord, as I said, didn’t have dynamics. You could push the keys with great energy or push them lightly, and you would get the same volume. And this is key to the type of music written for the instrument: contrapuntal music, music with intertwining melodies. The harpsichord had a strident sound that cut through, which worked very well with chamber music. The clarity of tone allowed the counterpoint to come through.

Mozart was born in 1756 and lived only 35 years.

During Mozart’s life, the fortepiano had developed somewhat and gained popularity. So Mozart did write for the piano, although he played both the harpsichord and the piano. But his music took advantage of the fact that you could play loud and soft, so different parts could be played dynamically with the two hands.

Let’s talk a bit about the stylistic differences between Bach and Mozart.

Bach lived during the Baroque era, which is noted for its counterpoint. I keep using that word. What does it mean? It means that you have separate lines of music intertwining with one another, so you get music where everything has equal importance between the hands and the different lines. All of the lines have equal prominence. Bach wrote using counterpoint. Contrast that with Mozart, where you clearly have melody and harmony. For example, in his famous C major, K 545 Sonata, you have a melody in the right hand and broken chords in the left hand. There’s not much going on in the left hand, but you have a beautiful melody in the right hand. So you have a clear melody against harmony. This is in no small part because the instrument itself was capable of playing different dynamics in different registers.

As the instrument became more capable, the musical form evolved.

The form had evolved from counterpoint, the interweaving of different lines, like a tapestry of music, to more structured music with different sections. The sonata allegro form, with its exposition, development and recapitulation, was very structured formal music where different sections were clearly delineated, rather than the intertwining of different lines in the Baroque era. That’s why the performance practices are so dramatically different. In a fugue, you want to clearly show the counterpoint and the important lines of subjects, the opening motif of a fugue. For example, you want to hear a clear delineation whenever the opening statement of a fugue returns. Whereas in a sonata movement, you want to show the themes that come back at strategic places within the movement. The structure is of paramount importance. You can hear the melody clearly in one hand and the accompaniment in the other hand. It’s the delineation of the structure of the work that makes the performance alive and digestible for an audience. Where, in the case of Bach, it’s the counterpoint and bringing out subjects strategically in fugues or inventions so the listener can make sense of the cacophony that could result if those subjects were not delineated clearly. Whenever the subject recurs, you bring it out so that the listener can make sense of the complex score, and you can bring clarity to the counterpoint. Whereas in Mozart, it’s the delineation of each macro section within the work that must be clear to the listener so the overall structure of the music can be appreciated.

While Mozart did write for the piano, it wasn’t like a modern piano.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today, I’m going to tell you how three plus three equals five. You probably clicked on this because you thought it was either a mistake or that I’d lost my mind. Well, believe it or not, it’s neither of those things! I’m going to show you how three plus three equals five in certain circumstances.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s question is: Why are Steinways so expensive? Did you know that even a baby grand Steinway is over $80,000? Concert grands are over $200,000! What could possibly make pianos so expensive when you can get other baby grands for around $10,000? Is it all marketing? Well, here’s the truth. And everything I’m going to tell you today doesn’t just apply to Steinway. It applies to other American pianos, like Mason and Hamlin, as well as European pianos such as Blüthner, Bechstein, Fazioli in Italy, Bösendorfer in Austria, and even hand-built pianos from Yamaha and Shigeru Kawai in Japan.

Hand-built pianos have many different technologies.

In the case of Steinway, American pianos, and many European pianos, the way the plates are manufactured is a much more time-consuming task. Instead of using a simple vacuum mold process, which is quick and precise, they do it the old-school way of wet sand casting. The benefit is that the metal is denser. It takes a long time to cure the metal, so it’s much more labor-intensive and time-consuming. There’s also the choice of wood. It’s much more expensive to find fine hardwoods. Sourcing the finest soundboard material, which is the heart and soul of your piano, is no easy task. They search the world over for woods that have very fine grain, which is noted for the vibrancy and sustain of the sound. The craftsmanship of these instruments requires a great deal of handwork. All pianos require handwork, but when you’re talking about hand-built pianos, the meticulousness that it takes to craft these instruments is on a higher level. It can take a year to make each piano!

Hand-built pianos are not mass-produced.

You have companies like Pearl River, which is the number one piano producer in the world by volume. They make over 100,000 pianos a year! Contrast that with Steinway, who makes maybe ,2500 pianos a year. You can see how the economy of scale enters into this equation. So is there anything you can do to be able to get a piano of that quality and not have to pay such a fortune? I have another video about this. You can check out how you can get a Steinway for less money if that’s something you’re interested in. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s question is: How can you afford a Steinway? If you’ve seen some of my previous videos, you know that a new baby grand Steinway costs over $80,000. So you might think it’s just insurmountable to be able to buy a Steinway. Well, I’ve got some good news for you, as well as some tips on how you can get a great piano without necessarily breaking the bank.

Be aware that there are other great pianos in the world.

Steinway owns the concert market, with over 97% of concert pianists playing Steinway because it is the de facto piano that’s available worldwide in concert halls. So most touring artists play Steinways, unless they can travel with their own pianos. But there are many other great piano brands, such as Bechstein, Bösendorfer, Blüthner, Fazioli, Mason & Hamlin and quite a few others. So, there are many other great pianos you might want to consider. While many of these pianos cost as much as Steinway, or even more, dealers will sometimes discount some of these other brands. Steinway holds their price much firmer because they can. There are only a limited number of them in the world, and they’re highly sought after.

The used market is a gold mine if you can find the right instrument.

Years ago, there were hundreds of American piano companies. Many of them made great pianos, and you can get them for a fraction of what they’re worth. For example, Baldwin was in the concert market, and Baldwins cost as much as Steinways when they were new. But in the used market, you can get a great Baldwin for far less than a Steinway and have a great piano. But let’s get back to Steinway.

You have your heart set on Steinway, and only Steinway will do. How can you possibly afford one?

Once again, the used market is your best option, but you have to be very careful. In fact, Steinway doesn’t even let many people put the Steinway name on the front of rebuilt or refinished pianos. Make sure you find someone who actually plays so they know what the piano feels like, what it sounds like, and if it’s really going to be a Steinway-quality piano. Just having the name on the front isn’t enough.

Another important thing is when you buy a piano.

There are certain times when the prices are just lower. For example, at Living Pianos, on Memorial Day, we drop our prices. Some of our pianos are less than half the usual sale prices, which are already a fraction of the cost of new pianos. We do this to clear out inventory and go on a buying spree in the summer. So you can sometimes get phenomenal deals on Steinways and other pianos if you buy at the right time.