Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how the great composers came up with so much music. It just seems impossible! When you think about Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and so many other composers, it almost seems like magic. It’s as if something was handed down to them from the heavens. It doesn’t seem like anyone could write so much fantastic music.
The truth is that we only have a tiny glimpse of their music.
Most of the great composers made music up spontaneously, constantly. They were known to be tremendous improvisers. But because audio recording was not developed until centuries later, we only have the written scores of these great composers to go by. But we get glimpses as to what the great composers actually improvised, and some of their fantasies. For example, you think about Bach and you think about very regular, beautifully crafted music that obviously was written out. But what about music that he just made up? Are there any glimpses into that? Yes! For example, Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. The way that starts out is very rhapsodic and spontaneous in nature. It’s an amazing work that goes places you would never expect. It gives you a little glimpse of what these composers were able to create on the fly.
Improvisation can sow the seeds for compositions.
This isn’t just true of the early composers. Think about when you listen to a Chopin Nocturne. Just imagine the melodies that Chopin and Liszt made up. Sometimes they would have parlor gatherings, and they would go back and forth. As did other great composers of the 19th century, such as Anton Rubinstein. It was one of the things that they did, where they played for one another spontaneously. Listen to the opening phrase of the B-flat minor Nocturne of Chopin. The second cadenza is something that no-one would think of writing. He must have just played this and figured out a way to write it down. It’s very rhapsodic, off the cuff phrasing. It’s not metered. And it gives you just a little hint as to what these composers did on a daily basis, by themselves, for their family, for their friends, and at all kinds of get-togethers.
Have fun with music!
I believe all the great composers have joy and passion in their music! It wasn’t just a tedious task. It wasn’t all lonely nights of crafting great compositions, although that’s a part of music. A part of practicing and learning music is spending the time to learn scores. But having fun with it and not losing the love of music is what it’s all about! I believe those are the seeds of the great composers. So enjoy your music! Explore things and see what you can come up with! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how the great composers came up with so much music. It just seems impossible! When you think about Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and so many other composers, it almos
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about what it takes to become a piano teacher. I received this question from a viewer. This is a really pertinent question because a lot of people who watch Living Pianos videos are teachers, or are thinking about teaching.
Because the internet is global, I talk to people all over the world. In fact, I have students in Australia, Pakistan, The United Kingdom, as well as all over The United States. Interestingly, in other countries the requirements for teaching piano are quite different from what they are here in The United States. Here in The U.S., there are 3 different types of music teachers. There are people who teach in the public schools, there are university and college teachers, and there are private teachers. Each of these have different requirements.
What are the requirements for teaching music in schools?
Piano isn’t typically taught in public schools, but to be a music teacher of any kind in public schools, whether it’s K-through-6, middle school or high school, takes certification, a degree or two including an education degree. And that’s really all that’s required. At the university and college level, all too often, they are looking for people with at least Master’s degrees. But it’s so competitive that having a Doctorate puts you in an advantageous position. Because unless you have something to set yourself apart in your resume, it’s very difficult to get any attention. There are very few teaching positions relative to the number of qualified applicants coming out of music conservatories and universities.
What does it take to be a successful private teacher?
For private piano teachers, and private music teachers of all ilks, there are absolutely no formal requirements. Anybody can put up their proverbial virtual shingle and say, “I’m a piano teacher.” And all too often people do just that. The flip side of this is some of the most accomplished pianists who have multiple degrees are not necessarily good teachers! As a private teacher, you need to be able to play the piano, or at least have been able to play the piano on a high level at some point. It’s really not necessary to be a concert pianist to be a great teacher. While some concert pianists are great teachers, there are concert pianists who are not good teachers at all. Many of them started very young, and were prodigies. They could play well due to natural ability. They can’t even remember having learned the fundamentals on the instrument. They were already advanced players at a young age. To relate to somebody starting out can be extremely difficult. Now, this isn’t to say that there are not people who were child prodigies who grew into great pianists and great teachers. I studied with Ruth Slenczynska, who was one of the great child prodigies of the 20th century. She was an absolutely wonderful pianist and teacher. So it does happen.
You have to have been a formidable pianist at one point in your life in order to understand enough to be able to teach.
Of course, if you’re teaching very young children, only going up to an intermediate level, you don’t necessarily have to be a very accomplished pianist. You just have to be a competent pianist who knows how to read music well and how to figure out and teach rhythms as well as hand positions and other aspects of piano technique. So how do you learn how to do all of that? The best case scenario is to have great training. If you’ve had great training, you might remember your early lessons. You might even have old books. I have the original manuscript book that my father worked through with me when I started lessons as a very young child. I still rely upon the things I learned from him in my own studies. I’ve taught them countless times over the years, because I also had the benefit of having assisted my father with his teaching. So he trained me in teaching as well.
Having a great teacher guide you in your piano pedagogy is invaluable.
I’ve worked with many teachers helping them to hone in their teaching skills, to know how to deal with students, and to take their teaching to another level. Maybe they want to teach and they find a lot of students, but they don’t feel comfortable teaching because of the repertoire or the style. Or they have students who want to study with them, but the students want to learn more theory than they’re comfortable with. I’m happy to teach people how to teach, and finding a mentor can be invaluable. So read up on various techniques, go to conventions. There are many ways of immersing yourself in teaching the piano. It is particularly important to spend time reflecting upon how you practice and be able to break it down into individual steps. That is the most important aspect of teaching. That’s something I learned from my father, not just with playing and practicing the piano, but music theory, sight-singing, all the disciplines. Breaking disciplines down methodically and explaining all the steps involved is invaluable for students. And if you can do that for people, it will be extremely productive for them.
I hope this is helpful for you! Any of you who have more questions, I offer counseling for my Patreon members. So if you’re thinking you want to teach and you want more advice, join my Patreon and I’ll be there for you! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about what it takes to become a piano teacher. I received this question from a viewer. This is a really pertinent question because a lot of people who watch Living Pianos
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about the two different kinds of encores. There are fundamentally two different types of moods you want to create in encores, and I’m going to get into that. But first I want to start with a personal reflection for you.
My father, Morton Estrin, had such a profound effect upon me.
I want to talk a little bit about my father’s experiences as a performer. As much as he performed, he got extremely nervous for performances. And when he would walk out on stage, it was a terrifying experience for him! He would get so nervous, his pedal foot would shake. I remember watching him perform and feeling so badly for him. There he was, trying to control things, and his foot was going up and down like crazy! It was once kind of funny, in retrospect. In one of his New York recitals, the reviewer commented on his beautiful performance and his “fluttering pedal technique.” Little did he know it was nothing intentional. It was something my father fought with his whole career. And the way he overcame it was very interesting. For him, the easiest thing to start a program with was something really heroic. He could go out there and play the most bombastic virtuosic music right from the get go. With that, he didn’t have any trouble. But to go out and start a program with a delicate piece, like something of Mozart, or a Schubert Impromptu, was extremely challenging for him. With that very delicate music, any little motion of any part of the body has such profound effects. He worked really hard to overcome this and was proud of himself that he could go out on stage and play something delicate as an opener for a program. Because programmatically, he wanted to be able to have architecture and not just start with the most heroic piece. Usually you want a big finish at the end of your program.
What was interesting about my father’s performances, we would always go backstage at intermission and hug him and tell him how beautiful it sounded. He couldn’t even believe it because he was so terrorized up there for the first half! But in the second half, he would relax. By the time he got to the end of the program, he was in his element. He would play encore after encore and the audience would cheer for more! He would play five, six encores, as many as the audience wanted. And at that point he could do anything. He had no nerves left whatsoever. It was a thrilling experience for everyone who heard him!
There are two different types of encores.
When a program ends and you come out for an encore, the audience has been through a whole program. You want to charge them up! So you play something like a Chopin etude, something virtuosic and energetic. But what if the program ended with something big and dynamic and it’s already a blockbuster at the end of the program? That’s when you want to flip it and come out with a poetic encore, maybe a Chopin Nocturne or Prelude. That could be just the mood you’re looking for.
My father recorded the Scriabin Etudes Opus 8.
It was the first modern recording of the complete Opus 8, and it won record of the year. You can find them on YouTube. His performances don’t sound like etudes. They are rich musical experiences. He didn’t play them as just technical exercises. He played them for the gorgeous music that this early Scriabin is. The Opus 8 was very different from later Scriabin where he explored very sophisticated harmonies that bordered on atonality. Early Scriabin is sometimes compared to Chopin. It really has a voice all its own, but it’s quite chromatic, beautiful romantic music that is extremely emotional. I got to hear my father play them in New York at Lincoln Center. It holds a very special meaning for me.
I’m going to play the D-sharp minor Etude from Opus 8 which is the last of the set. Then, just as if the program ended heroically, because that is an incredible blockbuster piece, I’m going to go right into a movement of Debussy from the Children’s Corner Suite, The Little Shepherd, which was my mother’s favorite piece. I would play it for her as an encore. So this is very special and a personal performance for you. You can listen to the accompanying video. I hope you enjoy it.
Those are two completely different types of encores. What is appropriate depends upon your programming. So remember, if you’ve already pulled out all the stops, and you’ve ended really big, then bring it down and show poetry and express intimate feelings. Show what you can do to the soul! On the other hand, if the program ends with something long and melodic like a Schubert Sonata with beautiful architecture, then you’ll want to charge people up with your encore so they leave the hall with energy. Judging your encores is very important. Sometimes you can even have two or three encores prepared. Or maybe you’re brave enough and you have an audience that’s enthusiastic enough so you can play a bunch of encores like my father used to do!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this. Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about the two different kinds of encores. There are fundamentally two different types of moods you want to create in encores, and I’m going to get into that. But fir
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. I’m here today with part two of, How to Make it in Music. In part one I talked about how you just have to keep moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going exactly. Move in the general direction. You will get clues as to where to adjust your path. You will be able to see what opportunities present themselves, as well as what resonates with you and what you can bring to light. I used the analogy of being lost in the woods and getting any clues as to how to get out. Sometimes you might feel that way in life. You’re yearning to do something with music but you just don’t know what that is. You don’t know where to begin. Keep moving forward! If you stay stuck in one place you’ll never get out of those metaphorical woods and you’ll never get anywhere in music.
Eventually you’re going to find your goal in music.
Seeing an end goal clearly and envisioning it is the first step. Once you have that, you can start filling in all the steps. Work backwards from that end goal. Find out what is required in order to get there. Work day-by-day in an organized fashion. You’re not going to have all the answers. But once you have identified a clear goal you can work step-by-step each day getting closer to achieving your goal. That is intrinsically important, not just for music, but in any field. But in order to be successful, first you have to explore. Let yourself go wild in many different directions to see what resonates with you, what’s genuine and what you have a passion for. Once you see something, latch onto it and figure out the steps involved in getting there. I know that sounds really simple. But obviously every single career has a different path and you have to find your own way.
It’s essential to find strategic partners.
People can help you on your journey. Once you identify something tangible, and you’re taking steps to get there, you’ll find people to give you that lift where you need it. People will be inspired by your commitment. They’ll also feel like it’s worthwhile helping you if they can see that you have thought things through, and you just need a few strategic partners in order to achieve your goals.
So that’s what I recommend. Go into that exploration phase. Don’t stand still! Once you find something you want, latch onto it and take all the steps to get there. That’s a life journey that’s worthwhile, if you have a passion for music or anything else. I hope this is enjoyable for you! Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. I’m here today with part two of, How to Make it in Music. In part one I talked about how you just have to keep moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going exactly. M
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about getting into a state of flow with your music. You’ve probably heard this term before, and we’ve all experienced it. What does it mean to be in a state of flow? When you’re completely absorbed in something, whether it’s making pottery, a walk in the woods, practicing the piano – it can be almost anything. You stop thinking about what you’re doing, and you just are. It’s all one experience where you don’t have that sense of looking at yourself and telling yourself instructions with words. Instead it just flows naturally.
Getting into a state of flow during a musical performance can be a magnificent experience.
If you’re playing written music from the score, you have to keep a certain amount of your cognition so that you don’t take a wrong turn. You don’t want to get carried away! But you can get to a point with a score, if you are intimately familiar with it, where you are just absorbed in it completely. It comes out of you so naturally that it isn’t even work anymore and time seems to disappear. Have you ever had that experience? If you can get into that state in your practice, you’re really doing well.
Improvising is a fantastic opportunity to get into a state of flow.
With improvisation you don’t have to focus on a score. It’s much easier to get into a state of flow where you’re no longer thinking about what you should do next. It just comes out of you, and you can feel the trajectory. You can feel the flow of the music. You are just part of it. In music and in life, to be in the moment is the ultimate feeling! But it’s one of the most difficult things to do. People use meditation and other things to try to get into that state of flow. But music is a fantastic vehicle for that. So, let yourself go! Sometimes you just have to see where music takes you. You can do that in the privacy of your own home. Eventually, if you have the confidence and the security in your playing, you can do it in performance as well!
I hope this is enjoyable for you. Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
For premium videos and other content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about getting into a state of flow with your music. You’ve probably heard this term before, and we’ve all experienced it. What does it mean to be in a state of
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to share with you a personal story about the things I’ve learned from Vladimir Horowitz. Horowitz was a phenomenal pianist and a phenomenon of the 20th century. I remember he used to make comebacks. He would retreat from the concert stage for years and people wondered if he would ever come back. Every time he reemerged it was an exciting event, and his playing was spellbinding!
I had the good fortune of studying with Constance Keene at the Manhattan School of Music. She was good friends with both Vladimir and Wanda Toscanini Horowitz. That’s right, his wife was the daughter of the great conductor Arturo Toscanini! She would visit with them all the time socially. I would hear all kinds of stories and I ended up getting tickets to his concerts! It was a tremendous learning experience for me. So I want to share some of the aspects of his playing that perhaps you can embrace and try to understand what he did that was so unique.
Horowitz gave the illusion of speed using articulation.
Aside from his poetic musicianship, Horowitz also had a technique that was mind bending. He would do things that sounded so impossibly hard. You listened to him play, and it sounded so fast. And yet, if you were to compare his performances to other performances of the same pieces, you would discover that indeed his tempos weren’t always faster. They just sounded faster. How is this possible? Horowitz had a way with his technique of creating delineation between notes. You hear each and every note so clearly in his playing. Instead of playing very smoothly, Horowitz punctuated each note. So, while it wasn’t necessarily faster, it gives the illusion of it being faster because of the articulation of all the notes. That’s one of the aspects of his technique. Listen to his performance of Chopin’s C-Sharp Minor Etude Opus 10 And you’ll hear what I’m talking about. The feeling it gives you is pretty spectacular.
Horowitz had a way of tone production and phrasing that no one to this day has been able to duplicate.
Most pianists will try to play a musical line as smoothly as possible. But there’s a property of the piano that when you play notes, they are immediately fading out. Horowitz used this to his advantage. Instead of trying to just force a smooth line, he would strategically listen to how one note would melt into the next and somehow carve out a line with all these angular tonal shadings. I would try to imitate this in my playing because it was such a compelling sound. Ordinarily, if other pianists tried to achieve this, it would have a very mannered approach. But somehow he could get a sense of a composition and create these little gems of beauty. Somehow he would put all these gems together and you’d have this magnificent line. There was a unique character to his musicianship that was unlike anybody else in that respect.
Most pianists have a nice balance from the bottom to the top, with the melody being heard above the other notes. It’s very lovely. It’s very smooth. But Horowitz had a way of bringing out inner lines you wouldn’t expect to be brought out, constantly calling your attention to inner lines that keep the performance interesting. Horowitz paid as much attention to inner lines and baselines as the upper melody, and didn’t just play a static homogeneous performance. With most performers, the soprano is the loudest, the bass is the second loudest, and the inner voices are softest. And that strata of musical lines is maintained throughout. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not saying that this is better or worse. It’s just different. That’s why when you listen to Horowitz, he doesn’t sound like anybody else! Listen to his G Minor Ballade of Chopin. He recorded it many times, including many live performances. I was fortunate to hear him perform this piece live on more than one occasion. He never played it the same twice, and they are all highly individual interpretations!
Seeing Horowitz live was a revelatory experience for me.
One of his many comebacks was in the 1970s. He was playing at the huge Metropolitan Opera House. Can you imagine a piano recital in a hall of that size? Because it was a comeback it was a big event. There were actually 100s of people camping out the night before. I was one of them! While waiting for the tickets to go on sale the following morning I met Horowitz! He came by at about three in the morning with Wanda and handed out donuts and coffee to the people in line. I thought that was really sweet. Finally, I got to the front of the line to purchase tickets, and they only allowed two tickets to each person! So, I got my two tickets and they were in the nosebleed section. It was about as far away as you could get! He was like a little ant on this huge stage. That hall is enormous. Typically not a hall for piano recitals because it’s so large. But it was a cataclysmically beautiful performance. Everything was very refined and smooth.
Just a couple of months after I had camped out to see him, my teacher Constance Keene, who was such good friends with the Horowitz’s said, “Horowitz is playing at Carnegie Hall. How many tickets would you like?” I couldn’t believe it! I got box seats as close as you could get in Carnegie hall! It was unbelievable! What was so fascinating is that I had just heard him in the back of a huge hall and everything sounded very refined and smooth. When I saw him up close, there was an angularity and a grotesque beauty of Horowitz, because things are kind of contorted to stretch a bit. And when you’re up close, you can hear this. For example, when you’re in a big hall and you have a rapid passage and a chord, you need a little space for the reverb of the hall to dissipate. When you’re far away, you don’t even notice any of these things, but up close, you can hear how everything is delineated. Everything is exaggerated. Even in much smaller concert halls, it’s absolutely essential to exaggerate dynamics and to take time in certain places, depending upon the acoustics of the hall. And Horowitz really understood this.
Seeing him up close after seeing him from so far away was enlightening. understanding how he was able to achieve a sound in a large hall where you felt like he was playing just for you. Even if you were way in the back of the balcony, everything came through so clearly. Up close, it was almost like getting close to a painting and seeing all the brush strokes. It was extremely angular and well-defined. I learned a great deal about how he approached the piano. Technically it’s a whole other area. He played the piano like no one else, sitting rather low. And a lot of times it looked almost like he used flat fingers. And his piano was unorthodox. He had it regulated with a very shallow action, very light with super hard hammers. So anytime he put down just a little bit of weight, it was a roar! The magic of his technique was being able to play so lightly that he could control this. So anytime he wanted power, all he had to do was let a little bit of weight down. Because of this, he didn’t have to sit at a height that most people do. Most pianists use the weight of the arms or even the body. If you only weigh 100 pounds you might have to use the weight of your body to get power at the piano.
Horowitz was a one of a kind pianist.
It’s interesting to try to incorporate some of the aspects of his playing, but it’s all but impossible. Horowitz made things work in a way that nobody else could imitate. He could do things that sounded so convincing. But then when you really analyzed it or tried to do it yourself, it would fall flat. How the heck could he do these crazy things and make it sound so perfect? It was the conviction of his playing that pulled it off. What he was doing was rather odd, but somehow the magic of the execution made it all work and made it so fascinating to listen to. I Hope you will listen to some Horowitz recordings to hear the magic for yourself!
These are some facets of what I learned from Vladimir Horowitz. I hope there’s something of value for you here! And I encourage you to go out and listen to some of his discography. I hope you’ve enjoyed this! Thanks again for joining me. I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.|
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Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I'm Robert Estrin. Today I'm going to share with you a personal story about the things I've learned from Vladimir Horowitz.
