Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

You may have heard this term before and might be familiar with the concept of an upright grand. At first it might sound like an oxymoron, but the term actually makes a lot of sense once you learn exactly what it means.

So what is an upright grand? Is it an upright piano or a grand piano?

The short answer is that it’s an upright piano. However, it’s not just any upright piano. At the turn of the 20th century, countless American piano companies manufactured very tall upright pianos. These instruments offered the sound of a grand piano because of the long strings and large soundboard area. They coined the term upright grand to describe these type of instruments.

There was a time when these full size upright pianos were extremely popular. They could fit into the smaller homes of that time without compromising sound. Many of them had ornate wood with intricate carvings like this Schubert Upright Grand we currently have. It was common for these instruments to have player systems as well – the original home entertainment center!

Are these pianos as good as grand pianos? I suggest watching another video Uprights Vs. Grand Pianos to get a better idea of the differences between the two styles of pianos.

Thanks again for watching and feel free to send all your comments and suggestions to us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

What is an Upright Grand Piano?

You may have heard this term before and might be familiar with the concept of an upright grand. At first it might sound like an oxymoron, but the term actually makes a lot of sense once you learn exactly what it means. So what is an upright grand? Is

This is a very common question around here at the store. Everyone who has a piano is going to experience this problem eventually. Our hands pick up a tremendous amount of dirt and grime throughout the day and eventually it’s going to get on your piano keys as you continue to play it. Cleaning keys is an easy process but it’s one that you want to make sure you do correctly because you can actually damage your keys by using incorrect methods.

The easiest solution for cleaning your key tops is the following:

A Damp – not wet.

– paper towel
– cloth
– cotton swab

If this doesn’t get all the dirt and gunk off the keys then you can try a high solution of alcohol (90% rubbing alcohol) but just damp and not wet. It’s important not to use too much alcohol on the keys as it can damage them.

If you’re afraid to use rubbing alcohol or you don’t have any then you can use white vinegar as a replacement. Again, make sure that you don’t use too much and that you just dampen the cloth or towel that you are using.

When it comes to Ivory Keys there is a little bit more of a challenge.

Ivory is a porous material which means that it’s going to be a bit more difficult to get them clean. Dirt will fall into the small holes in the keys and it could be very difficult to get it out in some circumstances.

I recommend the same steps as above for Ivory Keys but you need to be aware of a few differences.

First of all, Ivory keys will yellow over time. This is something you can’t control and is just a natural occurrence over time. A piano technician can remove the key tops for you and apply a solution of bleach to them in order to try and whiten the keys again. Most of the time this works pretty well but you will want to make sure you have a technician do this for you unless you are experienced in replacing key tops.

If you have Ivory keys on your piano and you are missing an ivory key it can be very difficult to find a replacement key that will match the color of the existing keys. This is where you will want to explore bleaching the keys to see if you can match the new key to the existing ones.

The benefit to cleaning your piano keys is really a personal preference. You will find that after cleaning your keys they will be much more pleasing to play and you will certainly be surprised at how clean they feel.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. We welcome all your comments and suggestions on all our topics and videos. Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Clean Your Piano Keys

This is a very common question around here at the store. Everyone who has a piano is going to experience this problem eventually. Our hands pick up a tremendous amount of dirt and grime throughout the day and eventually it’s going to get on your pi

If you’ve played music for a while you’ve probably run across this term before and you might wonder what it means. Some people might dismiss it as being a term only applying to music which actually utilizes your breath but that is not the case.

The voice is the first musical instrument and to some extent all music derives from singing. Naturally with wind instruments this directly relates to using your breath but all instruments mimic the same concept. String instruments like violinists, cellists, and others utilize a technique that simulates the up and down of breathing with the bow. This technique should also apply to the piano – where phrases should rise and fall just like a breath does. When starting a new phrase it’s like starting a new breath.

Everything in life revolves around cycles and breathing is one of them. Unless you’re consciously aware of it you’d never notice your breaths but this same type of structure seeps into all aspects of our lives. Every day the sun rises and sets, ever since we were born we’ve been used to the simple nature of breathing in and out, and things like sitting at the beach and listening to the waves crash in and out are soothing things that remind of the cyclical nature of our existence. Music is no different.

But how does this translate to an instrument like the piano? You should really play every line you have like you are singing it. I encourage you to try this, you might be surprised at how much inherent expression it brings out in your music; it will give it character and life.

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

What is Breath in Music?

If you’ve played music for a while you’ve probably run across this term before and you might wonder what it means. Some people might dismiss it as being a term only applying to music which actually utilizes your breath but that is not the case. T

In past videos we have covered the different sizes of Upright Pianos and Grand Pianos. Today we will be covering something a little different; the biggest piano in the world!

The largest production piano in the world is the Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand which is nine and a half feet long. Is that the world’s largest piano? Not by a long shot.

The biggest piano that I’ve actually played is a twelve foot piano that was made by David Rubenstein. He has built two pianos – an eight foot piano and a twelve foot piano. Both of these are remarkably good pianos – especially considering these are the only pianos he has ever built. Both instruments were custom built – he did not use any parts from existing manufacturers. However, even the twelve foot piano is not the largest piano in the world.

An architect from Poland named Daniel Czapiewski created a piano that is 6 meters long – almost 20 feet – and weighs over two tons. Now is a piano this big going to be any better than a piano of only 9 feet long? Not necessarily. There is a lot of physics involved in creating sound with the piano and there is only so much energy your fingers can impart to a hammer. You could easily pass a point of diminishing returns and create something that is more of a novelty than an actual instrument. Now I have not had the opportunity to play this piano so I will have to reserve judgment for now but I am very interested to try it out one day.

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

What is the Largest Piano in the World?

In past videos we have covered the different sizes of Upright Pianos and Grand Pianos. Today we will be covering something a little different; the biggest piano in the world! The largest production piano in the world is the Bösendorfer Imperial Conc

Memory can be one of the great challenges for musicians. You take the time to learn a piece, practice it again and again, and master it. Then you may forget something! Today we are going to discuss how to retain the music you’ve learned.

In the past we’ve discussed how to memorize music and you may reference that video for tips on that topic.

So, let’s say you have a piece you’ve memorized and you want to make sure you keep it on a high performance level. It might be a piece you played sometime ago, and while you remember most of it, there are certain parts that aren’t secure. Are there any tricks to keeping this information stored in your mind?

The first thing is to play with the score. Now you might be wondering, if you play with the score, doesn’t it negate the idea of memorizing the music? Afterall, it’s the exact opposite! Once you’ve memorized the music, that’s when the real work begins. Playing with the score will help solidify your knowledge of the music. You aren’t going to just play it through though, you study the score playing very slowly with no pedal. Take in all the notes, rhythm, fingering, phrasing and expression. Listen to what is going on in the piece and study it intently. This will greatly enhance your knowledge of the music and reinforce your memory like you never thought possible.

Another important practice tool to reinforce your memory of a piece is to play with the metronome. Make sure that you keep with the metronome and play the music exactly as written. Go through it several times while reading the music and playing with the metronome to make sure the rhythm is solid.

So the three basic ways to reinforce your musical memory:

1. Play slowly with the score
2. Keep your foot off the pedal
3. Play with the metronome

An advanced technique is to play your music away from the piano. Now this might sound strange (after all, how do you play music without the piano?) but it’s a great practicing technique. If you really think you’ve memorized your music, try playing it from memory – you can start by moving your fingers in your lap at first to make it easier. Imagine playing every note and nuance and see how much you really know playing mentally. It can be incredibly challenging but it’s extremely beneficial. Eventually you can play your music in your head by thinking it through. This will allow you to create the exact performance you have in mind without any physical constraints or problems with the instrument. This is a great way to strengthen your memory.

Listening to other performances of your music can also help. But there is nothing better than pulling out the score and referring to it again and again. In order to truly understand a piece and retain it in your mind you need to learn the score and reinforce the memory constantly.

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

Reinforcing Memory at the Piano

Memory can be one of the great challenges for musicians. You take the time to learn a piece, practice it again and again, and master it. Then you may forget something! Today we are going to discuss how to retain the music you’ve learned. In the pas

If you’ve played the piano you may be familiar with the term “A-440”. You might wonder what this actually refers to and if it’s something you need to be concerned with. Today we are going to go into detail on this subject and share everything you need to know about what A-440.

All sound is simply a series of vibrations that go through the air. The strings on a piano go through a certain number of vibration cycles per second – this is what actually produces the sound we hear. If you were to put a piano string under a microscope and slowed it way down, you would see the string moving back and forth for each vibration cycle. The air around the string also vibrates at the same frequency and when it hits your eardrums you will eventually hear the sound from the vibration the string has produced since your eardrums will sympathetically vibrate at the same speed.

So what does this all have to do with A-440? Everything! The A note above middle C should produce 440 vibration cycles per second when it is properly tuned. This is where the term A-440 comes from. You can actually test this on your own piano using a tuner or a tuner app on your smartphone.

Is it a bad thing if your piano is not tuned to A-440? It could be. Modern pianos are meant to be tuned and played at A-440 so they sound their best when they are tuned at that pitch. Some people actually like to tune their pianos a bit higher than A-440 because it produces a brighter sound they prefer. Some European orchestras tune to A-442 or even A-444 since they prefer that sound.

A-440 is the standard pitch for modern instruments.

This is especially important when you are playing with other instruments. Some instruments are able to tune up or down a certain degree and others don’t have this ability. If you were playing with someone who plays vibes or other mallet based instruments there is no way to tune these instruments. So, playing a piano tuned off of the standard A-440 pitch would sound quite ugly when played with an instrument tuned at concert pitch of A-440.

One more thing to note is that when you double the frequency of a note you simply get the same note an octave higher. So for example, if you play the A above A-440 you will produce A-880. Likewise, if you were to play an A an octave lower it would be A-220, or 220 cycles per second.

I recommend checking your piano periodically to ensure that it’s around the proper pitch. If the piano ever drops or even goes up in pitch it could take several tunings to make it stable again and achieve the correct pitch.

I hope this has been helpful for you and I would love to hear your comments about this subject. Thanks again for joining us at Living Pianos Info@LivingPianos.com

What does A-440 mean?

If you’ve played the piano you may be familiar with the term “A-440”. You might wonder what this actually refers to and if it’s something you need to be concerned with. Today we are going to go into detail on this subject and share everything

Welcome back to our multi-part series on Bach’s two part Inventions. In Part 1 of our lesson we talked about how to understand these pieces as well as the importance of understanding counterpoint when approaching the inventions. In Part 2 of our lesson we discussed some techniques for Invention #8 – The F major invention.

Today we are going to discuss Invention #4 – the D minor invention. Again, we are going to discuss the importance of delineating the subject and countersubject in these pieces. I will take the subject and countersubject at the beginning of the piece to demonstrate how phrasing can help bring out the most in this work:

Here is the subject

And here is the countersubject

By delineating the phrasing in this section you will be able to make the structure of this piece clear. How do you achieve this? You will want to play the 16th note subject legato and the 8th note countersubject staccato. By doing this you will be able to hear every note clearly, yet they combine beautifully together.

As you continue to advance through the inventions you will be able to experiment with your own phrasing. The key to getting these pieces to make musical sense is to delineate the lines to create clear counterpoint. You will bring out the individual lines and allow them to bounce off one another creating a wonderful sound!

I recommend these pieces if you are starting out with playing Baroque music or want to expose yourself to brilliant counterpoint. After you learn these pieces and go on to learn more pieces of Bach or other Baroque composers, you will encounter four or even five voice fugues. Learning to delineate two voices will bring you a long way towards learning how to handle even more complex scores.

Thanks again for joining us at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this subject or any other subjects please contact us directly: info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to approach Bach’s Two Part Inventions – Part 3

Welcome back to our multi-part series on Bach’s two part Inventions. In Part 1 of our lesson we talked about how to understand these pieces as well as the importance of understanding counterpoint when approaching the inventions. In Part 2 of our le

Welcome back to our second part in our series on how to approach the Bach Two Part Inventions. In Part 1 of our lesson we talked about how to understand these pieces as well as the importance of understanding counterpoint when approaching the inventions.

Today we are going to explore Invention #8 – The F major invention. Again, this piece really relies on subject and countersubject for its structure so if you missed the last lesson or you aren’t familiar with the concept of Counterpoint you might want to catch up before you proceed with this lesson.

Let’s start with the first phrase in the piece and separate the subject from the countersubject.

Here is the subject:

And here is the countersubject:

Right away you will be able to spot a difference between the two. You will want to accentuate these differences with the phrasing. To accomplish this I recommend playing the subject staccato and the countersubject legato. This is a great way to delineate the subject from the countersubject and allow them to stand on their own so they don’t meld together.

You should always understand the context in which the piece you are playing was written. In this piece Bach was not writing for the piano. The keyboard instruments during his time didn’t contain sensitivities for dynamics. So, phrasing the parts differently from one-another was an essential component of the performance.

You should play this way through the entire piece and you will separate both the lines clearly and let them stand on their own. When performed correctly it’s truly amazing what type of sound this achieves and it’s even more amazing to think that Bach was developing this effect without the aid of the modern piano. If you were to play everything with the same phrasing the piece would sound fine but it would sound flat and lacking the life that Bach intended.

As you play further into the piece you can utilize dynamics (such as playing piano or forte in different sections). But the phrasing is what’s going to separate the two lines and bring life to the piece and highlight the brilliant counterpoint within.

What makes these pieces great is that you are free to develop phrasing and dynamics on your own and bring unique expression to these pieces. Bach didn’t write dynamic or phrasing markings and it’s not because he didn’t want them. It’s because it’s up to the performer to bring their own unique voice to these works. Have fun with these inventions and experiment; don’t be afraid to try something new!

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to approach Bach’s Two Part Inventions – Part 2

Welcome back to our second part in our series on how to approach the Bach Two Part Inventions. In Part 1 of our lesson we talked about how to understand these pieces as well as the importance of understanding counterpoint when approaching the inventi