Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

Today we have a question from Umberto, who asks, “How do you approach pedaling in the Moonlight Sonata? Do you pedal throughout all of it?”

These are excellent questions. In fact, yes, you use pedal in some parts rather sparingly, other parts very generously, but you use it throughout the whole piece in different ways. Of course the different movements have different requirements, but we’re going to focus today on the first movement, the famous melodic first movement.

So first of all, just a little primer. Whenever you’re using the pedals on the piano you want to keep your your heels firmly on the floor. You never want to put your pedal like this because it’s noisy. So you keep the heel on the floor, and then the ball of the foot is how you control best. Always keep it in contact, because if you go from above, once again you get noise. All pedals are very different on pianos. You have to experiment to find how you could play it quietly and effectively, because they all release the dampers at different points. One of the first things you want to try out when you’re playing over a concert is how the pedal responds on the instrument.

So getting to the Moonlight Sonata. As with any music, the pedal changes wherever the harmonies change. So if you were to play this piece in chords, each time the chord changes . . . and notice the pedal always comes up exactly on the beat but goes down right after the beat. So that’s the secret of pedaling. The pedal always comes up exactly on the change of harmony and goes right back down again. So if I play it now not in chords, but as it’s written, and with the soft pedal, the una corda pedal, depressed the entire time, you get this.

The reason for changing the pedal, coming up on the pedal exactly on the beat, is otherwise harmonies blur. If you were to play the pedal and put it down on the beat instead of up on the beat, you’d end up with this.

I can’t even do it. It’s so hard. I’m so trained. I’m gonna try it again. I’m gonna try to play the pedal wrong for you.

Yeah, that’s also not connected. I haven’t experimented with playing pedal wrong. It’s a hard thing to do. Any of you who are a pianist accustomed to using the pedal, try it how hard it is to play it wrong. So get in the habit of always coming up at the change of harmonies and right back down again so you get that smooth transition, and if you’re not sure where the harmonies change, break the music down to chords and it becomes very obvious for you.

Believe it or not there have been a number of scams perpetrated in the new and used piano market over the years that have tricked both buyers and sellers into dishonest sales. There are probably way more than five scams out there but I thought I would share some of the most common ones we have come across in today’s market.

The interested buyer who never comes back – but takes something with them

I ran across this scam years ago and it was being perpetrated by a couple who would take advantage of private sellers. The scam goes like this:

One person in the couple would call on an ad someone placed about selling their piano. They would say they were interested and come over to see the piano right away. After a few minutes they would offer to buy the piano and give the seller a few hundred dollars as a “down payment” for the piano. Before they would leave though, they would make sure to take a part of the piano with them – perhaps the fallboard was scratched and they told the seller they wanted to start repairs on it. Days or weeks would pass and the “buyer” would never come back, but the seller was stuck with a piano that was now missing a crucial piece that couldn’t easily be replaced – which would de-value the piano by a significant amount.

Later on, the seller would get a call from the other person in the couple – making sure never to reference the original “buyer” – saying that they saw the ad for the piano a while ago and wanted to know if they were still selling the piano. By now you can see where this is headed. The scam would end with the seller offering the piano to the new buyer for much less because of the missing parts. The seller would never know they had been scammed and the devious couple would get a piano for much less than it’s worth.

The auction piano

Many people seek pianos from auction houses hoping for a bargain. Often at auction houses, you will not be able to inspect the piano closely – you won’t be able to look inside except from a distance. You will have to take their word on the condition of the piano. It’s a gamble with potentially big payoff.

The scam that has come up in today’s market is misrepresenting the piano. It’s not necessarily on the part of the auction house. But someone will use a popular name (Steinway is the most likely) to drive up the price of the piano. Just putting the Steinway decal on the front of a piano can potentially increase its value dramatically because people think they are buying a Steinway.

So you bid on a piano, you win, you’re very excited to own a Steinway for way less than what it’s typically worth, you get it delivered to your home and then first discover that it’s not a Steinway! Someone has put a Steinway decal on a lesser piano and you are stuck with this instrument.

The way to avoid this type of scam is to research the auction house, ask as many questions as you can about the piano being sold, and know the design differences to distinguish between piano brands.

This leads us to the next scam:

Changing the name (decal) on a piano

Replacing the decal on the piano is a necessity if you’re refinishing a fallboard. But did you know that anyone buy any decal for any piano brand online? This is a legitimate need for piano rebuilders and refinishers.

The scam here is buying a decal that’s either completely wrong or “technically” wrong and putting it on the front of a piano.

Completely wrong would be putting a name like Steinway on a piano that is clearly not a Steinway. Once you open it up it’s obvious it’s not the correct piano.

Technically wrong would be taking the name of a company that technically manufactured the piano and putting their higher line name on the front of it. I’ve seen this a number of times with Howard pianos. Howard pianos were bought by Baldwin in the middle of the 20th century. Baldwin offered these pianos as lower line instruments – selling for much less than their higher priced Baldwin artist series counterparts. They would say “Howard” on the fallboard and on the side in small letters would be, “From the House of Baldwin”. Unscrupulous business people will put the Baldwin name right in the front misrepresenting the instrument.

Technically the piano is manufactured by Baldwin but it is not a true Baldwin, it’s a Howard. The seller could easily sell the piano for much more money and trick an unsuspecting buyer into purchasing a lower line piano while they are thinking they are getting something worth much more.

A completely fake piano

This is a scam that is incredibly hard to spot but is rare to find in the piano world. The scam involves going to great lengths to hide the true manufacturer of a piano in order to sell something for much more money than it’s worth.

I ran into this scam only once and it nearly got me!

Someone contacted me about a Steinway concert grand they were looking at purchasing. They sent me pictures and I went over them and initially thought that they had come across a legitimately good deal. The piano looked to be in great shape, the scale design looked right, and the decals and plate had the correct logos on them. So where was the scam?

Steinert is a company that used to produce pianos in the United States and they produced pianos incredibly similar in scale design to Steinway pianos. They look almost identical to Steinway pianos from a distance. Steinert pianos – while good pianos – are not worth anything near the value of a true Steinway piano because of the power of the Steinway name since Steinert went out of business decades ago.

This particular seller had actually gone to extraordinary lengths and replaced the Steinert logo cast into the the plate of the concert grand with the Steinway logo! This is a very time consuming and complex process that would take expertise to accomplish since they had to smelt metal to make the plate appear to be a Steinway. The potential payoff though would be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

So how did I figure this scam out?

Well a lot of text is put onto plates and it would be nearly impossible to replace all of it. After closer inspection I found that the text along the plate didn’t exactly match that of a true Steinway. Steinway pianos have specific patents cast into the plate at various places. Steinert pianos have different text cast into their plates that are unique to them. I realized that the information engraved in the plate was from a Steinert piano, not a Steinway.

A very clever scam and a very good one but still able to be solved with a little detective work.

Misrepresenting the county of origin for a piano

This is one of the most common things I run into in the piano market today and it’s something that all buyers need to be aware of. This is especially common in new pianos.

The “scam” is not so much a scam as a way to coerce a potential buyer to think their piano was manufactured in a different country than it actually is.

For example: You see a piano in a store with a European or American name, the salesperson tells you that the piano was “designed” in Europe or America and has connections to major European or American brands but cleverly avoids the topic of where the piano was actually manufactured – which in most cases is China or Indonesia. Sometimes they will claim that the piano is an American piano assembled in China or that it’s a German piano assembled in Asia. This is more than stretching the truth – it is false information.

This is something that can be avoided by simply asking where the piano was manufactured. Any reputable seller should tell you the truth. There is nothing wrong with a piano manufactured in China or Indonesia but you should be aware of this when buying the piano. You should not be under the assumption that you are buying something you aren’t.

This is a common question. Sometimes you will see pianos with more keys, (as in the Bosendorfer Imperial and Stuart & Sons concert grand pianos) but most of the time they have less. Is this something to be alarmed about? Let’s explore this subject.

The original design of the piano evolved from the Harpsichord which had about five octaves of keys. Throughout Beethoven’s life, the piano evolved in its robustness as well as the keyboard range. He demanded more out of the instrument in regards to dynamics utilizing techniques that simply outgrew what pianos of the time were capable of producing.

By the middle of the 19th century, pianos typically had 85 keys. By the end of the century, pianos began to emerge with the now standard 88 keys. It wasn’t really until the late 1880s when 88 keys became standard on pianos.

So if you have a piano or a keyboard with less than 88 keys is it something to worry about? It really depends upon the music you are playing. If you’re playing very old music – that was originally written for the harpsichord or early piano – it won’t be an issue at all. However, if you play a great deal of 20th century music, then you might want the full 88 keys but it really isn’t a deal breaker since these keys are used sparingly.

Much like the sostenuto or middle pedal, 88 keys are a late development in the the evolution of the piano and not necessarily something you absolutely need unless you’re playing a great deal of relatively modern music.

This is an interesting question because we typically don’t have the opportunity to get in the mind of the composer as they prepare to write a piece. You might wonder if there is something to their method and what is involved in the process.

If you go back in time, tuning was not standardized. Even in Bach’s time, although he wrote pieces in all major and minor keys, they didn’t all sound the same! On keyboard instruments at the time there was no tuning technology invented yet which established a true equal temperament (which is standard today) where all intervals sound the same in all keys.

So, with equal temperament tuning in which all intervals are equal, how do composers pick which keys to write in? Is it something as simple as flipping a coin?

A key that a piece is played in has to fit in the right register. For example, if you were writing a piece for a soprano singer, you wouldn’t want to write too high or too low – you would need it to be in their range so it is comfortable for them. The same thing is true if you are writing for any instrument. For example, the tone of a flute is dramatically different in the low register from the high register.

Going beyond the key of the piece, the octave in which you write in is very important for the sound and mood you are trying to create. There will be times where you are writing something in a particular key and you might find that either octave is not right. You may discover that it needs to fall somewhere between. Therefore, the piece must be written in a different key. These are the things a composer will take into account when writing music.

You may or may not have heard this term before. In studying with my father, Morton Estrin, he stressed the concept of playing with a quiet hand years before I left for conservatory and it’s something I’ve incorporated into my playing ever since. This is a great technique for creating expressive playing on the piano and today we are going to learn about what it is and how you can incorporate it into your playing.

Welcome to the first in a three part series on learning Clementi’s Sonatinas Op. 36 in C major. If any of you out there are piano teachers or intermediate level piano students, you are probably familiar with this piece. This is a great piece for students. I have personally taught it hundreds of times, and I have encouraged all intermediate level students to learn it. Today we are going to discuss some tips for the first movement.

Picking the right music school is a very crucial decision in many musician’s life. There are thousands of music schools around the world and narrowing down your choices can be a very daunting task. This article will provide some tips to help in your selection.

If you are an instrumentalist or singer, one of the most important things is making sure the school you are looking at has good orchestras and other ensembles to perform in. Having the opportunity to play with other musicians is a very important aspect in your musical development. So, making sure you have the opportunity to play with other musicians is a central element in your education.

The reputation of the institution you’re looking at is also an important factor. The prestige of a degree from a respected school may help to enhance your career opportunities later on. The location of the school is also an important consideration since there could possibly be more opportunities for work in a more urban environment. However, a more rural setting may be the right fit for some people since it offers a potentially less distracting learning environment. You should look at schools that fit your personality and aspirations.

When I was selecting schools there was one aspect that mattered more than any of the things listed above: my private teacher.

The private teacher who will be mentoring you can be the most important decision in selecting a school.

But how do you go about finding the right teacher for you? As I researched schools, I referenced recordings of teachers I would potentially be studying with and looked for ones I had great respect and admiration for. There are so many more resources today to research your teachers and universities with the internet. But making sure you select a great teacher is incredibly important to your success in school. You could attend one of the best institutions in the world, but if you are not getting what you need to develop your craft from your private teacher, your experience could be disappointing.

Selecting a teacher is complicated. You may hear someone’s recordings and be thrilled with the playing. Yet, that’s not everything that comes into account when selecting a teacher. Just because someone plays their instrument well doesn’t mean they can teach well. On the other hand, just because someone teaches well doesn’t mean their playing is top notch. Sometimes people are past their prime or were never great performers, yet could convey musical knowledge exceedingly well. So, how do you find the right teacher for yourself?

One indication is referencing a teacher’s past students and seeing their success. Yet there are circumstances where an institution will have prestigious teachers on staff who draw the best students from around the world. In some cases these students are on such a high level when they arrive at the school that all they need is advanced coaching rather than fundamental teaching. By putting the final touches on the student’s progress, the teachers may get credit for work that may have been the result of former training.

So how do you find a good teacher?

There is absolutely no substitute for personal communication. The best solution is to visit schools you have narrowed down on your list of choices and talk to the teachers personally. Better yet, if you can take a lesson or two from teachers you are interested in studying with, that would be ideal. Influential names and prestige are important factors in selecting a teacher, but they may not be as crucial as the personal connection you have with your private music teacher.

You probably know that pianos generally have 3 pedals. You may have seen pianos with only 2 pedals (mostly older European and Asian pianos). But have you seen any pianos with 4 pedals? Believe it or not, there are pianos with 4 pedals and it’s very interesting how this works.

One example is the piano company Stuart & Sons from Australia which builds pianos with 4 pedals. Before we get into what the fourth pedal does, let’s do a quick review of the functions of the standard 3 pedals.

The right pedal (the sustain or damper pedal) enables all the notes to carry their sound even after you lift your hands off the keys. Virtually all modern pianos (even digital pianos) have this pedal and your piano almost certainly has one.

The left pedal (the soft pedal or una corda pedal) shifts the action to the side slightly – which you can actually see on grand pianos when you depress the pedal. The hammers strike only two of the three strings directly producing a more mellow tone.

The middle pedal is a selective hold (sostenuto) pedal in that it only holds the dampers up for the keys you press and hold down just before pressing down the middle pedal. Yet, any additional notes you play after, will not sustain without holding the keys down. If this sounds confusing you can watch my video on What Does the Middle Pedal on a Piano Do?

The above descriptions of all these pedals pertain to the actions on grand pianos. Upright pianos have pedals that typically don’t have the same functions as pedals on grand pianos with the exception of the damper or sustain pedal on the right.

On upright pianos, the right (damper) pedal still functions the same as they do on grand pianos in that it holds up the dampers on all notes allowing all notes to sustain without holding down the keys. The middle pedal on a upright pianos is typically a practice pedal which places felt over the strings for quiet playing. Some middle pedals on upright pianos sustain only low notes which mimics the use of sostenuto pedals (middle pedals) on grand pianos. The left pedal though is where things get really interesting.

The left pedal on upright pianos sets the hammers closer to the strings instead of shifting the action to only strike two of the three strings as in grand pianos. This doesn’t change tone, but it does change the touch of the piano making it harder to play loud because it lessens the momentum of the strike of the hammers. This is what the fourth pedal does on Stuart & Sons pianos.

This may be useful because you still have the availability of the una corda pedal for tonal change, but you also can change the response of the action making it easier to play softly with the fourth pedal. While not a requirement for your music, but it’s a nice option to have.

This might sound like a funny topic but I’ve gotten this question quite a few times over the years.

In the past, I’ve had students who would let their fingernails grow to ridiculous lengths and they caused clicking whenever they played! This can be distracting!

Why are long fingernails a problem? Good hand position is extremely important when it comes to playing the piano. You want to be in a position that takes no effort to maintain. Naturally, your fingers curve into a comfortable position.

In this position, your fingernails would be the first things to strike the keys. Playing the piano with your fingers and hand in this position is much more natural than trying to play with them outstretched like this:

While this hand position might make it easier on long fingernails, playing the piano like this would cause a lot of unnecessary strain and make playing rapid passagework cumbersome.

So can you play the piano with long fingernails? Sure, but if you’re serious about playing, you need to trim them to a length that allows you to play the piano without creating extraneous noises with your nails and maintaining an ideal hand position.