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I know this is a topic that might have some piano teachers in a panic at the suggestion of having students play their music too fast. Generally in performance and even in practice, playing your music too fast can be destructive. What I’m suggesting in this video is just one method of practicing your music – and something you would never use in a performance setting. It is a technique which used sparingly may provide insights into approaching your music.

You may have a piece you’ve learned and can’t get beyond a fundamental level of performance. I’ve found that sometimes playing a piece faster than written can open up new approaches and even new techniques you never thought to try. For example, if you’re playing a fast piece, playing it even faster will force you to lighten up your technique in order to accommodate the speed. Then when you come back to the normal tempo, you will find that you have more facility and comfort than before.

Even in slow movements this can be a beneficial technique. For example, in the Mozart K332 Sonata, the second movement is gorgeous and lyrical. Playing faster can provide insights into the direction of the musical line which you may not realize playing at the appropriate tempo. Sometimes you might find yourself getting bogged down and the music sounds choppy and lacking a fluid line. By practicing this movement faster than written, you’re almost guaranteed to approach it with a more fluid line. Try this and then go back to the written tempo and incorporate what you experienced playing at the faster tempo. You can sense the larger note values instead of each sixteenth note. You may be pleased with the results!

This is certainly not a technique I would recommend on a regular basis. However, it is something to try when you hit a wall with the progress of a new piece. I also have a video about the benefits of practicing your music slowly that is intrinsic to effective piano practice and something virtually all great pianists do on a regular basis.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Can Practicing Your Music Too Fast be Good?

I know this is a topic that might have some piano teachers in a panic at the suggestion of having students play their music too fast. Generally in performance and even in practice, playing your music too fast can be destructive. What I’m suggesting

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

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

Welcome to the first part in our series on Bach’s Two Part Inventions. These are masterful works that are not very long but brilliantly conceived. If you’re looking for something short and challenging to practice these could be a great choice for you.

Let’s start by breaking down exactly what is meant by “two part invention”. This phrase simply means it is a type of 2-voice counterpoint (for more information on this subject please watch our video on What is Counterpoint?) To put this simply, there are two different lines of music and at no point are there more than two different notes playing at the same time in just about the whole piece. Even with these limitations this is an amazing composition that’s built with a subject and a countersubject. Being able to delineate these two phrases is what makes counterpoint so special.

A great way to separate the subject from the countersubject is to phrase them differently from one-another.

For example, in the first phrase you have this as your subject:

And this as your countersubject:

In this particular piece the subject and countersubject are incredibly similar. So how should you make each one stand out? Well you might notice that a few bars into the piece the countersubject has elongated eighth notes.

A great way to delineate these notes is to play them legato and in groups; with the last note being short. This is a great way to separate the countersubject from the subject.

The beauty of Bach is that there is really no right or wrong. A lot of his music is open for interpretation so if you wanted to play the phrasing completely differently it can work just as well. Why is this? Because Bach rarely wrote phrasing into his music. It is up to you come up with the phrasing.

Unlike later music that has melody and harmony and obvious distinctions between the two, these Bach Inventions have intertwining melodies instead. So for now have fun and experiment with these pieces. When we return we will have more videos for you on these inventions that show even more extreme examples of delineation between subject and countersubject.

Thanks so much for joining me here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us directly: info@livingpianos.com (949) 244-3729.

How to Play Bach’s Two Part Inventions – Part 1

Welcome to the first part in our series on Bach’s Two Part Inventions. These are masterful works that are not very long but brilliantly conceived. If you’re looking for something short and challenging to practice these could be a great choice for

If you play the piano you have probably heard octave tremolos and were taken with how they sound. Today we are going to talk about how to approach these with the “Alla Turca” movement of the Mozart K331 Piano Sonata in A Major.

The secret to playing broken octaves – or octave tremolos – is first learning how to play octaves properly. One of the biggest secrets is using the correct fingering. You’ll want to use the first finger (thumb) and the fifth finger on all white key octaves – and thumb and fourth finger on black key octaves. This might seem like a small thing but it’s incredibly important to developing your octave playing by dividing the load between the fourth and fifth fingers which makes it much easier to play them quickly.

When you play octaves you will notice that the first finger (thumb) is much heavier than your fifth and fourth fingers. This is because your thumb is much stronger than your other fingers and you will have to learn to balance the weight of your hands. A great way to practice this technique is to play the top notes (fourth and fifth fingers) legato while playing your first finger (thumb) staccato. This might be tricky at first but keep practicing it because you will produce much more power on the top notes and your thumb will do it’s job with minimal weight.

The other thing that is essential is avoiding tension. One way to alleviate that problem is to practice in note groups. In this particular piece you can practice the first three notes of the broken octaves and relax your wrist and arm. If you feel yourself getting fatigued you should rest your hands and come back to it a bit later in your practice. Never put unnecessary strain on yourself and make sure you are keeping your hands, arms and body relaxed. As you develop more strength in your hands you will be able to practice for much longer periods of time. Your best bet is practicing octave tremolos for short periods of time throughout the day. That way you will develop strength and avoid injury.

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

How to approach Octave-Tremolos on the piano

If you play the piano you have probably heard octave tremolos and were taken with how they sound. Today we are going to talk about how to approach these with the “Alla Turca” movement of the Mozart K331 Piano Sonata in A Major. The secret to play

Today we are going to present a very important topic for all pianists out there: The Challenge of the Thumbs. The thumbs are your strongest fingers yet they propose one of the biggest challenges when it comes to playing the piano. We are going to talk about this today and I will offer some solutions for how to deal with these sometimes cumbersome, strong fingers.

If you place your hands side by side you’ll see that your thumbs are in the middle and your smaller fingers are on the ends.

This matters a great deal in piano playing because your thumbs are your strongest fingers and your fourth and fifth fingers are your weakest. Despite our anatomy, you want to delineate the melody on the top and the bass on the bottom which means that your weakest fingers must produce the most sound!

Without balancing your hands and letting your thumbs dominante you will get a muddy sound. This really is a cruel trick of nature since you want to bring out the melody and bass but we are stuck playing them with your weakest fingers. So how do you compensate for this?

There are a few ways to practice and train yourself to compensate for the strength of your thumbs. I recommend practicing with different phrasing by making the top and bottom notes legato and playing the inner voices with a light staccato from the fingers. This is a tricky thing to do but it’s something that you can apply to almost all your music helping to delineate melody and bass. Training yourself to play this way will certainly help you bring out the top and bottom notes on the melody and bass without having the thumbs dominate the sound.

Try practicing the melody and bass separately. Practice the outer notes with your pinky and fourth finger and playing them legato and then practice playing the inner melody with your thumb and inner fingers with a light staccato. If done correctly these can really improve the control in your piano playing.

I’d love to hear from everyone and learn your thoughts on this subject. Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Piano Lessons – The Challenge of the Thumbs

Today we are going to present a very important topic for all pianists out there: The Challenge of the Thumbs. The thumbs are your strongest fingers yet they propose one of the biggest challenges when it comes to playing the piano. We are going to tal