Living Pianos

This is a very important topic and a fundamental part of playing piano. I have another video about how to play louder with notes in the same hand but this video is going to cover how to achieve this with different hands.

This can be a real challenge when you have slow notes that have to be louder than fast notes. Why is this so difficult? On a piano, the longer a note holds the quieter it becomes. So when you have a slow melody against faster notes it presents a challenge to make the slower notes stand out.

In the video example above I play the beginning of the Chopin Prelude in E minor and play the two hands with equal force. You will notice that the right hand melody is completely covered up by the chords in the left hand. So what can you do?

It’s actually a very basic principle that’s based upon the human voice. To get a singing quality on the piano you have to translate the power of the breath to the weight of your arms. But how do you practice such a thing? My father Morton Estrin would demonstrate this to me by playing on my arm. What I noticed was that it wasn’t just the beginning of the notes where I could feel the pressure, it was the entire time he was playing a slow melody. I could feel the downward force throughout the entire melody! By doing this, the weight of the arm translates from note to note and creates a constant musical line – much like singing.

You should also keep in mind that if you are replicating the human voice when playing the melody you should build up to the middle of the phrase and decrescendo to the end of the phrase for a natural sounding musical line. This is achieved by using your arm weight to build up the sound and volume of the notes until you reach the climax of the phrase and slowly bring the phrase down in volume by decreasing the arm weight. This is how to make the melody “sing” like a voice.

But how do you control the volume of your other hand? You should touch the keys gently and use minimum motion. That way the melody notes in the other hand will project well.

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

How to Play One Hand Louder Than the Other on the Piano

This is a very overlooked topic for many pianists. Ending a piece correctly is extremely important and is crucial to a great performance. While there is no one solution to the challenge, I will provide some tips on how to make your endings memorable.

For the example in the video above I use the Chopin Prelude in E Minor. The ending of this piece has three chords. It’s a simple ending but it can be a very powerful one with the right technique. You’ll want the music to linger in the air even after the sound has stopped.

The trick is to release the hands and pedals very slowly at the same time. This way if you have any issues with damper regulation on the piano the effects are minimized. You don’t want certain notes sticking out and being louder than others and you certainly don’t want an abrupt ending.

Many students will end a piece very abruptly and then take their hands and slap them down on their lap and act like it’s a relief to be done playing! Nothing sucks the mood out a room more than someone displaying negative emotions onstage.

When you hear great performances in concert halls there might be a few seconds of absolute silence after a piece. It’s a powerful tool to let the music and the emotion seep into your music. Sometimes music will actually end with fermata on the double bar even when there is no music. What is the composer telling you in a situation like this? They are visually representing what we have discussed here – letting you know that even though the music has stopped, the mood should linger in the air for a few moments. In this case it’s an actual part of the piece.

Another mistake that some people make is to rely completely on the pedal at the end of a piece. On a well regulated piano it might sound OK but taking your hands off the keyboard early will make the audience think the piece has ended – even if it technically hasn’t. This is true for changing movements as well. If you keep your hands on the keyboard it will let the audience know that there is more to come.

Thanks again for joining me, If you have any questions about this topic or any others please contact me directly: Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to End a Piece of Music

If you’ve followed my videos you might be familiar with some of my more advanced videos on this subject: How to Play Chords on the Piano Part 1 and Part 2; Diminished 7th Chords Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, and What are Parallel Chords? as well as some videos that cover the basics of scales: Relative Minor Scales, Major Scales, Whole Tone Scales, and Chromatic Scales. A lot of these videos go very well with this topic and they all relate to one-another.

So what is a chord? It might seem simple when you think about it but trying to put it into words can be challenging.

A chord is 3 or more notes arranged in thirds.

A scale is built upon whole-steps and half-steps (seconds) and a chord is built on the interval of a third. What is a third? It is essentially every other note of a scale. So if you were to play a C major scale (or any other major scale) and leave out every other note you would have a chord! It really is that simple; you can make a chord by simply playing every other note of a scale.

There are two types of thirds that are used in chords: major thirds with a total of four half-steps and minor thirds which contain three half-steps. Different combinations of major thirds and minor thirds are the fundamentals of Western harmony. There are expanded chords we can get into in another video but this is the basic information on what exactly a chords is.

And when it comes to chords, you don’t have to start on the first note of a scale, you can start on the second, the third and so on as long as you skip every other note of the scale.

Thanks so much for joining me here. We will be bringing you more videos on this topic very soon. If you have any questions please contact me directly Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729.

What is a Chord?

This is a very interesting topic that has been talked about and debated for years. Can music lessons really improve your thinking and comprehension? Can it really make you a better student?

A groundbreaking study from the University of California, Irvine a couple of decades ago by Dr. Gordon Shaw and Dr. Frances Rauscher seems to support this theory. They took a group of young students and divided them into three different groups. One group took computer lessons, one group took piano lessons, and one group was the control group who did neither. They administered these lessons for a few months. Before the instruction began, they administered standardized testing for math and English. After the instruction period ended, they had them take standardized tests again. Surprisingly, the students who took piano lessons scored higher on their math and English exams. The students in the other two groups saw no change in their test scores.

Interestingly, it has been discovered that students who just listen to Classical music during tests score higher than students who don’t listen to music. This is referred to as, “The Mozart Effect”.

There has been some debate about the overall effect of listening to classical music to boost intelligence but in the end, if you’re just getting to listen to Mozart and other Classical music, that’s good in of itself!

There have been a number of studies in recent years that have continued to support the theory that music lessons can help young people achieve better scores on their tests and increase their overall skills in critical thinking and comprehension.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com

Do Music Lessons Make You Smarter? The Mozart Effect

This is a very interesting topic that has been talked about and debated for years. Can music lessons really improve your thinking and comprehension? Can it really make you a better student? A groundbreaking study from the University of California, Ir

You would think there would be a standard height of keyboards on pianos. After all, you rarely take your piano with you when you perform, so having a normal height would seem like something you should expect. Sadly, this is not the case when it comes to the height of keyboards on pianos.

Most upright pianos have keyboards that are lower than grand pianos, yet some of large uprights from decades ago actually have higher keyboards than grand pianos!

The height of keyboards on pianos also differs by region. For example, most Asian pianos, piano manufactured in Japan, China, Korea and Indonesia, usually have higher keyboards than American made pianos.

One easy way of dealing with keyboards of different heights is having an adjustable artist bench. As we discussed in a past video, The Importance of the Piano Bench, getting yourself an adjustable artist bench is something that every pianist can benefit from. Most performance settings will have an artist bench that allows you to raise or lower the bench to your prefered height – so the keyboard height is no longer an issue.

Another odd thing about Asian pianos is that the benches tend to be lower than American piano benches. So, when you take into account the shorter benches and higher keyboards of Asian pianos, there is a substantial difference in your playing position compared to sitting at American pianos. Since most of my height is in my legs, I absolutely need an adjustable artist bench (or something to sit on) when playing Asian pianos. Yet, on American pianos, the height is usually just right!

I hope you found this video helpful. Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Are Piano Keyboards All the Same Height?

We are very happy to welcome our guest Jonny May www.PianoWithJonny.com on this video. Jonny is an expert at Ragtime music who will share his music and knowledge with us.

An early form of jazz music, created just before the turn of the 20th century, ragtime is a popular form of music that you’ve undoubtedly heard many times. Some ragtime music is completely written out (like Classical concert music) and other times it is more of an improvised style of music. You might be familiar with the rags of Scott Joplin who is probably the most famous Ragtime pianist known for The Entertainer as well as other music.

Ragtime is typically associated with a fast and upbeat style of music. However, Scott Joplin himself was quoted as saying, “Ragtime should never be played fast”. Is there a right or wrong speed or tempo of this music? Like most things from different eras, it’s open to interpretation. Some people prefer ragtime slower, while some prefer a faster tempo. The bottom line is enjoying the music and making it your own.

Another common misconception about ragtime is that it should be played with a “swing” feel to the music in which the notes are played with a long-short emphasis on each 2 note group. This style became popular decades later. What does differentiate ragtime music from other genres is the syncopated rhythms which are played off the beat of the music. When you listen to ragtime you’ll find it almost impossible not to move because of the bouncy quality of the syncopation. It makes you want to dance!

What’s fun about ragtime is that you can take nearly any song or piece – old, contemporary, Classical, whatever you can imagine – syncopate the rhythms and play it in a ragtime style. If you have a chance to watch the video provided with this article you’ll see Jonny play some amazing examples of taking popular music from different eras and turning them into ragtime.

The alternating octaves and chords in the left hand in ragtime are one of the biggest technical challenges for most people approaching this style of music. This is a technique rarely used in Classical music with some notable exceptions, such as the end of the 6th Hungarian Rhapsodie of Franz Liszt. So, what advice did Jonny give us? Simplifying the music is a great way to get yourself acclimated to playing ragtime. Jonny recommends using shorter jumps between octaves and chords and possibly leaving out some notes until you get comfortable with the style. Jonny also recommends watching your left hand as opposed to the right hand since the left hand will be jumping from octave to chord back and forth while the right hand stays relatively in the same position.

Another thing that’s so fascinating about ragtime music is that almost every piece contains a melancholy section. No matter how happy the piece is, there always seems to be a section that changes the mood. It’s a great compositional technique that adds depth of emotion to the music.

Ragtime was developed in the late 1800s through the early 20th century and really hit it’s stride around 1898 with the release of Maple Leaf Rag. It was a very popular form of music in it’s day and contemporary composers from that time would sometimes write rags or rag-style music into their pieces – such as Debussy’s Golliwog’s Cakewalk and some music of Gershwin.

For more information about ragtime piano you can visit Jonny’s website www.PianoWithJonny.com or subscribe to his YouTube Channel.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any topic at all please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

What is Ragtime Music?

We are very happy to welcome our guest Jonny May www.PianoWithJonny.com on this video. Jonny is an expert at Ragtime music who will share his music and knowledge with us. An early form of jazz music, created just before the turn of the 20th century,

Stretch tuning is a term you may not be familiar with, but you’ve certainly encountered it if you play piano – or almost any instrument for that matter! Today we are going to talk about what stretch tuning is and why it’s important to you.

Before we get into the concept of stretch tuning we need to discuss what pitch is. Pitch is the ability of your brain to count sound waves. When you hear an A – as when an orchestra tunes to A440, you are hearing 440 vibrations per second which is perceived as the pitch A above middle C. If you double the frequencies to 880 vibrations per second, you will get A an octave higher. We could go into extreme depth about the proportional relationship of tones. This article and video touches on the subject:

When it comes to tuning, specifically the tuning on a piano, you’ve probably heard the term “A-440 tuning”. This refers to tuning the piano to A440 – or 440 vibrations per second. There are tuners who can precisely tune a piano to these frequencies but there is much more to tuning a piano than just the reference pitch. Even if a piano is tuned to 440, the higher octaves would sound flat to the human ear if they were mathematically perfectly in tune. You may wonder how this can be.

This is where stretch tuning comes into the equation. The human ears are imperfect in how they perceive pitch. They tend to hear flat in the higher register. To counter this, the octaves must be stretched beyond their normal pitches in order for the human ear to hear them correctly. A good piano tuner will know how much to stretch the higher octaves to make it sound correct to the human ear. This can be as much art as science since tuners take different approaches to this as well as other challenges in tuning a piano.

You can depend on technology to an extent, but the ultimate test is your ears when it comes to deciding if an instrument is in tune throughout all registers.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

What is Stretch Tuning?

You may have heard the term polyphony before and might have wondered what it meant. Polyphony is intrinsic to almost all the music we listen to today but it wasn’t always that way. So, what does this term mean and why is it important?

There was a time when the only written music was monophonic, which means “one note at a time.” The first written music was called Gregorian Chant (or “plainsong”). This music was simply liturgical text that was sung with embellishments. There was only one line of music at a time and this is the only written music we have (and the very first written music) from the 9th and 10th centuries.

Eventually music evolved into something called organum, which had two lines – typically in parallel 4ths that would embellish the melody.

As music continued to develop more complexity, we began to have many lines of music that would play simultaneously. Interweaving of musical lines is referred to as counterpoint. Polyphony simply refers to having more than one note at a time. Virtually all music we listen to today is polyphonic.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

What is Polyphony in Music?

Timing is not only one of the most critical aspects in music; it’s one of the most significant aspects of life itself. Imagine you are going to a party: you know where the party is, you know what it’s celebrating, and you know everything you could except one thing; when it starts. If you don’t know the time, you have no party. I explain this concept to my younger students with this example. If you apply this same concept to music you can see that without timing and rhythm, you would have a mixture of notes with no meaning.

But how do you translate what’s written on the page into the rhythm the composer intended? You have to count! But how do you count correctly?

There is a popular way in which many people count that isn’t the best technique. However, because it’s so popular, I will mention it here and explain why it is flawed. This method is to count whenever there is a note. This might sound like a good idea but you’ll soon find that it’s very difficult to keep the counting consistent – after all, you will constantly have to change the speed of your counting. This is extremely difficult!

Instead, count all the beats consistently instead of just where there are notes. So you count all the beats the same – the counting never changes! This is a precise method and you will develop a fine sense of rhythm instead of trying to just count the notes. In this method, the notes will simply fall into place.

You can use this method on any level of music – no matter how fast or complex. If you have a hard time counting intricate rhythms, simply write down lines where the beats fall and the rest will fall into place.