Piano and Music Videos

A lot of people have noticed that I have lost weight. In the past, I have gone up and down in weight which I know is not very healthy. But lately, I feel great and can go hours without eating, yet retaining energy. Musicians are typically very busy and it’s hard to have enough time to eat!

On a recent trip to New York to hear my student Bijan Taghavi play his senior recital at The Manhattan School of Music, I discovered that a lot of the music students there do what I’ve been doing which is:

Intermittent Fasting – doing all your eating within a limited number of hours of the day, say from 9 or 10 in the morning until 6 or 7 at night

You may have heard about the:

Keto Diet – basically, you stop eating carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates, but eat lots of vegetables. You even avoid eating healthy carbohydrates like potatoes, rice and bread. In a few days your metabolism changes and you don’t get the big swings of hunger and energy throughout the day. So you can go long periods of time without eating and maintain energy and clarity.

If you’re healthy and want to lose weight, and your doctor says it’s O.K., I recommend it. It’s been great for me!

Some pipe organs can produce frequencies lower than the threshold of human hearing which is around 20 cycles per second. The Bösendorfer Imperial which goes all the way down to the C below the standard low A on other pianos produces notes lower than 20 cycles per second. Part of this phenomenon can be explained by the how you can feel rather than hear those extremely low frequencies. Certainly a massive pipe organ in a cathedral can energize an entire room with sonic energy with low, rumbling frequencies. But there is much more to it than that and it has to do with the overtone series.

I have a video about atonality which touches on the overtone series:

This is a really good topic, as many people – especially children – really don’t always enjoy practicing. I have a confession to make – when I was a kid, although I loved to play the piano, I didn’t always like to practice! So if you find yourself dreading practicing and trying to avoid it, don’t worry, you’re not alone! However, practicing is something that is essential on every musical instrument – if you want to improve you will have to practice; and practice a lot.

So how do you make practicing enjoyable? Well sadly there is no turnkey solution to creating a more enjoyable experience; however I have a few tips that may help you out.

The problem for younger people is that they have a harder time understanding the benefits of hard work leading to bigger rewards. We live in a society of instant gratification and while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, it’s a cycle that is hard to break. As you mature into adulthood the reality of work versus reward is more apparent and there are certain things you know will take time and effort in order to achieve – playing music is one of them.

This is a very complex and deep subject and discussing this in the limited amount of time we have for this video won’t do this topic justice. However, there are some universal truths I would like to share with you. Music speaks to all of us in different ways and sometimes you may encounter a particular piece that you find to be stunning and unforgettable. What is it about certain artists that separate them from their contemporaries? Why is Mozart so much more highly regarded than his contemporaries?

Whether it’s listening to music, reading a novel, looking at a painting or watching a film, any piece of art sets up expectations. If you are reading a book or watching a motion picture and every time you think you know what’s going to happen next in the story it unfolds exactly as you predicted, you’ll find yourself disengaged and bored. The same thing is true for other pieces of art. A piece of music that is extremely predictable is not likely to hold your attention either.

The flipside to this is creating a work that is completely random and unpredictable. There are schools of music dedicated to this type of work such as expressionism and serialized music which aims to randomize elements. There is nothing inherently wrong with this type of approach – just as there is nothing wrong with making something predictable. But you might find that your audience becomes disengaged. It’s just like a movie with random images and no discernible plot – or a painting with a series of nonsensical images, complete randomness is impossible to comprehend and it can lose most of its audience just as quickly as something that is predictable yet for opposite reasons!

So how do you avoid these pitfalls? How can you create something that straddles the line between predictability and randomness?

The best pieces of art will tend to set up expectations and then surprise its audience in either big or subtle ways. The films which everyone tends to remember often have some of the most surprising elements in them. Just when the audience thinks things are going in one direction they are immediately thrown into another. If it’s done convincingly it can become something that people will remember. The same principle applies to music, setting up your audience and then surprising them in creative and significant ways will make your piece engaging and memorable.

Mozart was a master of Classical structure which seems deceptively simple. Yet, just when you are lulled into a sense of complacency, a turn of phrase will pleasantly surprise you with its subtle genius. It’s not shocking, but it’s a way to subvert expectations and create something captivating. Beethoven offers a different form of the same principal. His pieces are known to radically surprise listeners and keep them engaged by going down a certain path only to shock you with something completely different from what you expect. It’s can be intense in some moments and it’s never dull.

The balance between randomness and order is the ultimate foundation of art. You don’t want to bore your audience as much as you don’t want to confuse them. You want them to be surprised, engaged and remember your work. It’s what makes great art “great”. This holds true for musical performances as well.

If you ask anyone who has played music for most of their lives they will surely have at least one experience that was a complete disaster. You must remember that we are only human and sometimes mistakes can and will happen. This blog is designed to keep you in a good mindset with a persistently positive attitude even in the face of failure.

The whole draw of a live performance is to see the randomness of it all. People don’t go to Nascar races in hopes of NOT seeing a crash. Watching a trapeze artist at the circus is something we watch for both the entertainment and the thrill of the prospect of something going wrong. With any live performance there is the element of chance, and it’s something that draws us all in; you never know what will happen next – both good and bad!

The problem is that even though the performers might be confident in their abilities, they can still succumb to random events which end up in failure. There is nothing worse than practicing for a performance and putting in a ton of work only to go onstage and bomb. In a situation like this, ask yourself whether or not you really bombed or you just think you bombed?

Remember this, when it comes to a performance; the things you perceive as wrong aren’t always problems for the audience. Most of the time they won’t know any better – even if you failed in your own mind the audience might have thought you did perfectly well. Even though you might be upset about it, it’s not something you should share with the audience. You must keep these emotions to yourself and put on a happy face when the show is over. You certainly don’t want to point out mistakes and flaws when nobody else noticed them. It is an insult to the audience to tell them they are wrong about their perceptions of the performance. They came out of their house, traveled to where you were playing, sat there for a length of time, they enjoyed the show and they are going to leave happy. The worst thing you could do is put them in a bad mindset once they are about to leave – it is a mistake to let them know what they just dedicated time (and possibly money) to was something you weren’t pleased with yourself; why would they ever come back?

Sometimes failing can be an excellent thing overall. Sure, in the moment it’s going to feel horrible but it’s something you can look back on later and strengthen weak points. It’s a great learning experience. After all, it’s only music – nobody is going to die (unlike a trapeze artist!).

Another thing you will want to avoid is letting mistakes overcome the entire performance. Mistakes happen and the worst thing is to get into a negative mindset which can precipitate more problems – it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy! If something happens during a performance, move on – don’t dwell on it. Focus on where you are in the piece and perform as you know you can. Mental attitude is half the performance and you must maintain your sanity and control.

If you have a performance that ended up badly, the next performance should be low stress. You should put yourself in a comfortable atmosphere and play like you know you can. Maybe an in-home concert, maybe just play for friends to remind yourself how talented you really are. Nothing will build your confidence more than playing in situations where you know you will succeed.

This is an incredibly common question for many people and especially parents with younger children who are thinking about getting them music lessons.

The short answer – no matter if it’s for you or your child – should be to get the best possible instrument you can (and afford) at the very beginning.

A lot of people might look at this as being counterintuitive. Why would you want to buy something expensive and then be burdened later on with trying to sell it? The truth is, sometimes if you don’t invest in a good instrument it could lead to frustration and eventually end up in your child giving up entirely.

It’s important to commit to music lessons. If you don’t feel entirely committed or sure about something then you should look elsewhere. Music is something that takes a lifetime to master and if you think that you or your child is ready to embark on that journey then you should go full steam ahead.

However, starting with a cheaper instrument and working your way up can be a great option. As long as the instrument you are starting with is good enough to be played and won’t impede your progress or learning you will be fine. With pianos it’s a good idea to start with a high quality upright and then eventually upgrade to a baby grand or full size grand when the time is right. Just remember that you will eventually have to progress past an upright piano because the action is not the same as a grand piano – it will never be as quick and won’t be able to perform more advanced selections of music.

If you get the best instrument you can afford you won’t be sorry. Not only will the person learning be happier and more successful but it will actually retain its value much more than a cheaper instrument. Search around and find the instrument that’s right for you or your child.