Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

Can you clean your Piano? You absolutely can! I have various videos such as how to clean piano keys as well as cleaning various piano finishes. Most people want to know how to clean the inside of their pianos. Well, how do you get in there? The strings are in the way! You can try blowing it out with a vacuum, but if it is really dusty that could make a mess and you’re probably not going to get all of the dirt out anyway.

The secret is to ask your piano tuner. They have a tool that is designed for the purpose of cleaning the inside of pianos. The way it works is very simple. The entire action of the piano comes out as one unit and there’s a gap between the strings and the key bed where they can get in with a tool in order to clean everything out. They are able to get all the dust off the soundboard and make everything beautiful again.

If the strings are rusted, the piano may need to be restrung. However, if the strings have light corrosion, a skilled technician can use a very fine steel wool and clean the strings to get them shiny which will help enhance the tone as well as the look of your piano.

Cleaning the inside of your piano is not something that you want to undertake yourself because pulling an action requires special skill. If you’re not careful you can easily break off hammers. If your tuner is already out there tuning your piano, they probably won’t charge a lot to clean your piano since they are there anyway. Be sure to let them know beforehand so they bring the proper tools and have the extra time to perform that job for you. Hope this has been helpful for you! You can always reach us at Robert@LivingPianos.com.

I get this question all the time; can you replace the soundboard on your piano?

The simple answer is yes.

However, you have to consider a number of factors when answering this question.

Replacing the soundboard requires removing the strings, the plate, and rebuilding the piano – which already costs thousands of dollars. Replacing the soundboard will then cost additional thousands of dollars; it’s going to be an incredibly expensive undertaking.

But more importantly, what makes the tone of a piano? What makes piano sound like a Steinway, or a Baldwin, or a Bluthner? To a great extent, it’s the soundboard.

In Europe if you replace the soundboard on a piano you are legally not allowed to put the name of the original manufacturer on the instrument.

You also have to take into account that the results you have after replacing the soundboard might be dramatically different than the original piano. If you are going to get this job done, you will need to find someone who is very experienced at it. There are a very few belly men (technicians specializing in soundboard repair) who do excellent work replacing soundboards.

It is more a repair for a piano that is incredibly special or expensive, such as a concert grand Steinway or Bosendorfer that has a soundboard in really bad shape but is still worth restoring.

Bottom line is, if you are going to replace a soundboard prepare to spend tens of thousands of dollars and definitely hire the best people you can find – it’s a repair that can make or break the piano.

At Living Pianos we find pianos with soundboards that are in good shape so these American and European pianos can be brought to their original glory and still be offered at a reasonable price.

If you have any questions about replacing a soundboard or a specific piano you are considering this repair for, feel free to contact me or leave a comment on the blog.

I get this question all the time and I figured it was finally time to make a video about it. The short answer is no, you can’t soundproof a room. Is it theoretically possible? Yes, if cost and space is no object, then you can soundproof a room. But let’s talk about more conventional ways to reduce the sound of a room to make it a little more tolerable for your neighbors or housemates.

I once asked a studio engineer in a very nice studio how he would go about soundproofing a room. He said one option would be to build a room entirely out of cinder blocks and fill them with sand. While this may not be practical for too many situations, there is something to be learned from this.

Mass is one of the great barriers to overcoming sound since sound is waves of energy and increasing the mass requires substantial energy to have much of an effect upon something so heavy. Even the loudest sounds produced by musical instruments would have a hard time getting through. Even with all that mass, it still might not be completely soundproof.

Anywhere there is air, sound will escape. With that in mind, the way to help soundproof a room is to eliminate any space air can escape through. The way recording studios do this it to build a room within a room. That is, not only are all the walls duplicated with space between, the floor and the ceiling are “floating” meaning that they come in contact with adjacent structures only at minimal points. The dead air between the structures will inhibit the transfer of sound. The recording room will be contained in it’s own room, then there will be a space before the walls of the existing room. Every room in the studio must utilize this building technique. The ventilation system must be isolated from room to room as well utilizing baffles since any sound deadening is only as effective as the weakest point of isolation.

Notice the empty space between the walls and the ceiling. If you had something between those walls – like a stud in a traditional house or office – it would create mass for the sound to travel through since it isn’t so dense. As you can see in the diagram above, the best way to reduce sound is to have nothing between the two sets of walls. However, the floor will still have sound travel through unless it is floating as described above.

One helpful building method is utilizing resilient channel when putting drywall up. Resilient channels are metal strips that are screwed in perpendicular to the studs in walls which creates a slight gap between the dry wall and the studs. This cuts down on the amount of sound transferred between walls because it prevents the sound of the vibrating drywall from transferring through the stud to the drywall on the other side.

The best solution to soundproofing is to find an existing space that lends itself to soundproofing. For example, if you have a house with an additional building outside.

Some people might wonder why you can’t just put foam egg cartons on the side of a room. Don’t these soundproof?

They actually don’t. These are placed on walls to stop the reflections of sound that occur when sounds hits a wall. Instead of having them reflect back into the room, these foam pieces will absorb some of the sound and reduce it, but they will not soundproof a room. It will make the room quieter therefore it will reduce the amount of sound that transfers from room to room somewhat, but it’s not a solution for soundproofing

The more soft material you fill a room with, the less sound will reflect and travel and the more will be absorbed. Filling a room with large, thick carpets and heavy, cushy furniture will reduce sound in the room. Low frequency are very large sound waves. So, they require large absorptive panels to help deaden those frequencies. These are referred to as, “bass traps”. It might not be satisfying playing in an acoustically dead, room but it will reduce the sound. But it will not soundproof the room.

Welcome to our new series for developing your stage presence in 5 easy steps. Even if you are shy or uncomfortable in front of large audiences you can improve your stage presence with a little bit of practice and a few easy tips.

This series was inspired by an experience I had in high school. One year there was a performance of outstanding young musicians in our school. Everyone was taken with a singer named Judy – her performance was spectacular! A couple of days later I was excited to hear the recording but was left a little underwhelmed – it wasn’t as good as I remembered it.

I began to understand that it was not the actual singing that captivated the audience but the way she presented herself. It was exciting and breathtaking as she engaged herself incredibly well with the audience and commanded attention.

So today we start with the first tip in the countdown, number 5: Take Your Time.

When you are in a performance it’s true that all the eyes are on you. In many cases performers will feel a sense of urgency – that they should rush to their instrument and begin playing as soon as possible. This is not in your best interest.

Your time perspective is different from the audience’s. They are there to enjoy themselves and they want to be comfortable. If you walk out onto the stage and give yourself a few moments to relax and prepare yourself, the audience will do the same. They will end their conversations, get comfortable in their seats, and after a few moments they will be ready for the show.

While you don’t want to make the audience wait too long, after a few moments of silence there is a drama and anticipating that builds within the audience. If you harness this effectively they will be completely captivated by the time you play your first note.

This is not typically done in classical performances, but it’s certainly something you should think about incorporating. Talking with your audience creates a strong personal connection that can be invaluable in cementing lasting memories of the performance.

When I was growing up, my father Morton Estrin played large venues all over the world, from Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall to Europe and elsewhere. One of his trademarks was that he would talk to the audience. Taking a brief moment during the performance to break the ice and introduce himself as a performer and a person would allow the audience to form a personal connection and enrich their experience.

If you are performing in a more relaxed setting – like a restaurant or a club – it’s imperative that you make contact with your audience and talk with them every now and then. You shouldn’t talk too much but you should briefly speak to them every now and then to make a genuine connection. It can be thrilling for the audience!

It’s even more unexpected in larger concert halls. Even if you feel nervous and unsure about making contact this way, try announcing your encore pieces clearly so everyone can hear. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to concerts where the artist never talks at all and the audience becomes confused and frustrated trying to figure out what encore pieces are being played.

Today we are going to address the question of what is better, a Digital Piano or an Upright Piano. This is a common question here at the store and it’s something worth investigating. While neither an upright or a digital piano is comparable to a good quality baby grand or grand piano, you may wonder which is a better choice.

The big plus to owning a digital piano is that it’s always in tune so you never have to spend time or money maintaining the instrument. Digital pianos can also change their volume as well as be used with headphones so you can practice without disturbing people around you. Most digital pianos allow you to connect to your computer to enhance your experience with programs that can record your playing and aid in learning. Digital pianos also allow you to play with different sounds and effects that simply aren’t possible on a traditional piano. There are a lot of possibilities with a digital piano.

On the other hand there are plenty of reasons that an upright piano is a good choice. If you’ve ever looked inside a piano you see hundreds of parts for each note that make up the piano’s action. Even though an upright piano action is not as responsive as one in a grand piano,

they are much more responsive than even the best digital piano action. There is simply no way to replicate the feel and touch of an actual piano action. This can be incredibly important if you plan on playing anywhere else besides your digital piano since as a pianist you are called upon to play whatever piano is available.

I generally recommend an acoustic piano to any aspiring student, but there are exceptions. If you can’t afford a decent upright piano or you can only get ahold of a shorter spinet piano (which has an inferior indirect blow action) then a digital piano might be a better choice for you. If you want to experiment with different sounds or are severely limited in space, a digital piano might also be the right choice for you.

Acoustic pianos have benefits when it comes to sound. Although digital pianos sample the actual sounds of nine foot concert grand pianos, there are limits to what can be recorded. Even a high end digital piano that has multiple sound samples of each note at different volume levels can’t replicate the range of tones possible on an acoustic piano. An acoustic piano has infinite levels of expression that simply can’t be matched on a digital instrument, although they keep getting better. For an advanced student there is no substitute for the expression possible on an actual acoustic piano.

So, unless you require the features and benefits of a digital piano, you are better off with a good quality acoustic upright piano over a digital piano. There is no substitute to playing an actual piano. Technology keeps advancing and digital pianos continue to get better and better. So, one day in the future this could be a different situation. Until then you are better off practicing on a good upright piano.