Piano and Music Videos

I’m Robert Estrin, and this is LivingPianos.com. The subject today is about how to utilize terraced dynamics. What are terraced dynamics, and why do they even exist? Well, this is a great question. I’m going to show you a couple of examples of how you can use terraced dynamics to great effect in your music!

Terraced dynamics are usually associated with Baroque music.

The piano has infinite expression from soft to loud. The keyboard instruments that were most popular during the Baroque era, Bach, Handel, Telemann, Scarlatti, et cetera, were the harpsichord, the clavichord, the virginal, and the pipe organ. These instruments, unlike the piano, did not respond to the speed at which the keys were depressed or the force of pressing the keys. But many of these instruments had stops, particularly organs and some harpsichords, where you could engage different series of pipes or, with the harpsichord, different sets of strings. The only way to achieve a crescendo, getting louder gradually, was by opening up more pipes or allowing more strings to get plucked on a harpsichord. Because a crescendo was impossible on those instruments. For example, listen to Bach’s Two part Invention in C Major. You have a statement of the initial subject that repeats again and again. You’ll notice how it gets louder each time it is played. This is an example of terraced dynamics. You get the sense of a crescendo even though it’s stepped, like a terrace, with different levels of dynamics. It’s so effective in music of the Baroque era, because the music was conceived that way. Bach couldn’t have thought of an actual crescendo in this music because the instruments he was playing didn’t have that capability.

Are terraced dynamics ever effective in other styles of music?

The answer is yes! For example, the Kuhlau Sonatina Opus 55, Number 1. This is a delightful little piece, incidentally. There is a section where the initial subject returns in D minor. Then you have a sequence that I love to play with terraced dynamics. It is very effective! So terraced dynamics are not just for Baroque music. Anytime you have a repeated pattern, it’s usually going somewhere musically, either up or down. You can give it direction and vitality with terraced dynamics. It articulates the actual architecture of the music because it’s written sequentially. To play it sequentially with terraced dynamics, rather than just a crescendo or decrescendo, is much more appropriate. This is true not just with Baroque music where it’s obvious because of the nature of the instruments that the music was written for, but even in later styles of music. It’s a great thing to try out! Any place in your score where you have repeated patterns, experiment with terraced dynamics and see what it does for your music! Let me know how it works for you!

Thanks so much for joining me, 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

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

www.LivingPianos.com
www.Facebook.com/LivingPianos
949-244-3729

Hi, I’m Robert Estrin and this is LivingPianos.com. Today’s subject is about the ultimate piano scam. I made a video years ago about piano scams. It’s a pretty popular video. Apparently, a lot of people have been the subject of attempted piano scams. There are so many people doing the same scams over and over again! I’m going to tell you how you can spot a scammer!

If you are selling a piano, be aware of this common scam.

Let’s say you have a piano for sale and somebody is interested in the piano. Everything goes easier than you think it will, no negotiation, not as many questions as you would expect. This is a telltale sign of a scam, but you never know, so you follow through. At the end of the line they want to buy the piano. Then, sure enough, a cashier’s check arrives in the mail. You look at the check and see it’s made out for more money than the cost of the piano. Next thing you know, you get an email. (By the way, these scams are almost always through email, rarely on the phone.) In the email, they explain that the check includes extra money for you to pay their piano mover, as they have arranged for the move. Then they have you send money to the mover, the $500 or whatever it is. Then of course you find out that the check is no good. I’m so tired of this scam. People are doing this same scam over and over. A little originality, please. Well, be careful what you wish for! Because we did get one recently that was very creative.

A new piano scam.

I want to bring this scam to your attention because we got contacted by another potential victim of this scam in an interesting way, which I’m going to get to at the end of this article. Here’s how this one goes. If you’re a piano teacher or a piano store, or anyone who has anything to do with piano, you may get an email saying, “My father just died and I have to get rid of his piano. I just want it to go to a good home.” Right away, it might raise suspicion. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But that’s not always the case. You can miss out on a lot of opportunities in life if you always assume any good thing is a scam, because a lot of times they aren’t! We do sometimes get offers for free pianos. Sometimes it’s harder to sell a piano than it’s worth for the time it takes. So it wasn’t so unusual that we got this offer, although this piano was a little bit nicer than most of the free pianos that are offered to us. So we were just waiting to see what would happen next.

We were told the piano was in storage and to contact the moving and storage company. In this case we actually talked to someone on the phone, which is really unusual. Most scams are all done through email because they’re sending a massive number of emails. Also, they might be in a different country and can’t speak English well enough. But these scammers were pretty clever. We got an email from the moving and storage company giving us rates for the move of the piano. They were in a neighboring state. Here’s where it gets really creative. They had a website for the moving company. The website looked totally legitimate. Everything was there, address, phone number, everything.

There are very few national piano movers.

We were actually more excited about the moving company than we were about the free piano! There are so few companies that specialize in long distance piano moves. Walter Piano Transport is a great company, Modern Piano Moving is another one. Keyboard Carriage is a company that caters mostly to the piano industry. There are just about no other major national piano moving companies. This moving company had different options for one day, four day, or ten day moves at different price points. It never works that way with piano moves. Piano moves are very sporadic. They can sometimes take months, and they usually can’t promise such specific timeframes. I realized it was a scam. That was the tip off. But boy, there was such sophistication in this scheme!

We were recently contacted by someone who was also targeted by the same scam.

Here’s where it gets really crazy. These scammers randomly used pictures from LivingPianos.com of a piano we had for sale years ago. This person was smart enough to search the serial number of the piano and found it on LivingPianos.com. They contacted us and I said, “No, we know nothing about this. In fact, we got emails from people trying to pull off the same scam on us!” So if you get something in your email about a free piano and they have the moving company all lined up, it may look legit, but it’s probably not. So be aware! This is a scam that I hadn’t seen before. I respect the intelligence and how far they went to try to perpetrate the scam. But obviously, ripping people off is something that’s disgusting and should be stopped!

How can you avoid being scammed?

You just have to be diligent and do your homework! Always check the URLs. Also, if there’s an address, go to Google Maps to see if the place actually exists. This moving company was on Google. But if you dig deep, you’ll always be able to uncover these scams for what they are. Be careful out there! And if any of you see something that you think could be a scam, feel free to email us at info@LivingPianos.com and we’ll get to the bottom of it for you! I hope this is helpful for you! Thanks so much for joining me, 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

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

THE TOP 5 PIANO SCAMS

www.LivingPianos.com
www.Facebook.com/LivingPianos
949-244-3729

This is LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today I will answer a question I received from a viewer. Heinrich asks, “Is it true that you should never trust a person selling pianos?” There are so many implications to this question. I was taken aback by this. What kind of experiences has this man had? And if he’s had these experiences, how many others out there have had similar experiences? To answer this question, I want to talk about something personal.

We recently bought a restored Victorian building in the Waterloo Arts District in Cleveland.

The Waterloo Arts District in Cleveland is the new home of Living Pianos! The building is a magnificent structure that was built during the Civil War. It’s absolutely beautiful! Throughout the building there’s woodwork from old growth forest. You just don’t see that anymore. But nobody ever did anything with the floors. They looked old and tired. We came across a contractor who was recommended by my brother-in-law, who restores floors. It can be a hair-raising experience dealing with contractors. They tell you a bunch of stuff. You don’t know what to believe! They’re usually trying to sell you all kinds of things. You don’t know what you should do. But when you have a great salesperson, like we had, it makes all the difference. Johnny took us through and showed us everything we needed to understand. He educated us. More importantly, he listened to us.

There’s nothing worse than a salesperson who doesn’t listen to you.

We’ve all dealt with bad salespeople. You can talk until you’re blue in the face, but they’re obviously just trying to sell you something. They’re not solving your problem. Ultimately what a great salesperson does is listen to you so they understand your situation and can solve your problem.

Great salespeople are few and far between.

Are you more likely to meet a bad salesperson in the piano industry? I don’t believe there are worse salespeople in the piano industry compared to other industries. But great salespeople are quite rare. For example, years ago I had an opportunity to move to California, managing the tenth largest music store in the country. This was in Universal City. The store catered to the recording industry. I’ve always been very absorbed, some would say obsessed, with music technology. It was a natural fit for me. The reason I bring this up is that people would come in and they would ask for a specific item. They had it in their mind, they wanted this one item. And instead of just ringing it up, I’d ask about their studio. I’d ask about the other gear in their studio and what they were after with the item they came for. Sometimes I could steer them to a less expensive item that would solve their problem.

A great salesperson will listen to somebody to know what they’re trying to achieve and educate them so they can make the right decisions for themselves.

I’d like to think that there are people in the piano industry who are truly helping people. I know many people in the piano industry who have a passion for the piano and really care about the people and the music. But I want to hear from you! I want to know what your experiences have been. Are great salespeople more common in the piano industry? Or do you feel that the piano industry has more of the self-serving type? I hope it’s the former and not the latter! Let’s get a discussion going on this topic, because Heinrich really wants to know, and so do I. He brought up a really good point. I’m looking forward to the comments about this! Thanks so much for joining me, 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

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

www.LivingPianos.com
www.Facebook.com/LivingPianos
949-244-3729

Hi, and welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin with a very special announcement:

Now you can buy brand new Seiler pianos from Living Pianos!

Seiler, from Germany, started building pianos in 1849 making concert instruments as well as excellent practice and institutional pianos. Some things never change! Today, Seiler still manufacturers pianos in Germany and around the world, and they’re amazing instruments we’re proud to represent and sell to you anywhere in the country.

What is Seiler about? There are three editions of Seiler pianos. I’m going to get into a lot of that and I’m also going to perform on this beautiful six foot 10 inch SE – 208 model, which is the top of the line series Seiler. There are many things about these pianos that are remarkable. Starting with the GS line which has a wide tail and a wet sand cast plate, double A grade, solid spruce soundboards, and German Abel hammers. It’s an amazing value piano with so many features you don’t find in pianos at this price point. They are beautifully manufactured.

The SE and ED lines are above the GS line and they have some technologies that are not found in any other pianos.

The Membrator Soundboard, is Seiler’s unique technology that provides more sustain to the tone. How is this possible? At the point at which the soundboard is attached to the rim of the piano, the Membrator System transfers sound back to the soundboard, reinforcing the tone. It’s a phenomenal system that’s found in the SE and ED pianos.

The ED line is manufactured in Asia, with exactly the same scale design as the SE line with precision manufacturing. How are they able to achieve this? With German engineering!

With Computer Numerical Control (CNC) a precise duplication of all the specifications are possible in the Asian factory offering you an instrument that is so close to the top of the line, hand-built piano, but in numbers where everybody can enjoy these phenomenal instruments.

On the accompanying video, you can hear a complete performance of Debussy’s Clair De Lune performed on the German made, 6-foot 10-inch, model SE -208.

It’s something to be in the presence of true greatness in pianos. The singing tone, and the clarity, are achieved with a warmth not found in other European pianos. This piano has it all. You’ll be hearing a lot more about Seiler pianos.

Their vertical pianos also have technologies that no other pianos have.

The problem with upright pianos, as you probably know, is there’s a limitation in the speed of repetition because of basic physics. In grand pianos, the hammers go up and down, giving you rapid repetition and control since gravity is at work. On uprights, hammers travel sideways. So, there’s a limit to the speed. Or is there?

With Seiler’s patented, Super Magnet Repetition you can achieve much more rapid repetition than on other upright pianos.

This is available on both the SE and ED lines. The affordable GS line has all kinds of technologies as well! There are pianos with silent systems, and player systems are available as well. We welcome your questions. Once again, I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com Your Online Piano Store. Thanks for joining me.

info@LivingPianos.com

Hi, this is Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com in our Private Reserve Showroom, giving you a peak at what we have here. Now, why is this so important for you? We are offering virtual visits with Robert Estrin! That’s right. We can get together virtually. You can see the Living Pianos: Private Reserve showroom from the comfort and safety of your home. I haven’t spent very much time video conferencing until this last month or so visiting with family and friends, as well as people looking at pianos, wanting to learn more about them.

Beyond the videos, audio, and descriptions on our website, a personal encounter with you would be welcome!

We can show you pianos, we can visit, and with the technology today, it’s better than being there! We have all the resources for you. So I invite you to email Robert@LivingPianos.com to set up a one-on-one virtual meeting. We can go around the room and show you everything just like you’re here. Then we will arrange the careful delivery of your piano to your home. It’s a turnkey system for you! Thanks so much for joining me. I hope to hear from you soon!

I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Store.

info@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

Hi, I’m Robert Estrin, this is LivingPianos.com. Today’s topic is, “Can Your Piano Tuner Appraise Your Piano?” Let’s say you’ve had your piano for a number of years and you have a trusted technician who has maintained it for you. Let’s say you’re moving or you’re upgrading your piano and you want to sell it. Who better to ask than your piano tuner who knows your piano intimately and spends their entire life with pianos?

Most piano technicians have no idea about piano values.

Unless they happen to sell pianos on the side, which some piano technicians do, the vast majority of piano technicians really don’t know the value of pianos. The same thing is true of most piano teachers. Maybe they shopped for a piano 20 years ago and they knew everything about the piano market then. But the market changes so rapidly that even 5 or 10 years ago is not the same as what it is right now.

Most piano technicians have no idea about piano values.

If you have questions about the value of a piano for any reason, whether it’s for an insurance settlement or you want to trade the piano or sell it privately, you’re welcome to contact me personally at: Robert@LivingPianos.com. We are happy to assist you in any way we can here at LivingPianos.com. Send your questions to robert@livingpianos.com so I can answer them in upcoming videos. See you next time.

info@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729