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The piano is a unique instrument. I recall my third grade general music class. On occasion my teacher would let me play the piano for for everyone at the end of class and it was something I looked forward to. On one particular day when we were learning about the families of musical instruments, string, brass, woodwind and percussion, I asked if I could play at the end of class. But my teacher had a stipulation because of limited time. If I could tell her the classification of the piano she would let me play. I knew by the look on her face that it couldn’t have been something obvious which would be the string family, so guessed that the piano was a percussion instrument (the only other group of instruments I deemed possible). She was shocked that I had guessed correctly and she had to let me play!

So yes, the piano is a percussion instrument.

When the hammers strike the strings the notes sound and immediately begin fading away.

All music emulates the human voice to one degree or another. On wind instruments the connection is obvious – they utilize the breath. Even bowed string instruments produce continuity of sound not unlike the breath of the voice. So how do you emulate this quality on the piano, an instrument where the notes immediately begin to fade away as soon as you play them?

This is what we are going to discuss in detail today using the Chopin F# Nocturne (in the video example). I am going to provide a collection of techniques to help you achieve the tone you desire on the piano. Ultimately you are the judge of the sound you produce and you’ll use your ears to achieve the sound you want. These are guidelines to help you explore different tonal possibilities.

The first way to produce a singing line on the piano is to get louder towards the middle of the phrase and softer towards the end of the phrase. This is achieved not by calculating note to note but by using the weight of your arms to produce the desired tone. Here is an article and video which describes this technique in some detail:

The second way to produce a singing tone on the piano is to play louder as you play higher notes and softer when playing descending musical lines. The reason why this works so well is that when you’re singing or playing most wind instruments it’s natural for the higher notes to be louder than lower notes. This technique will create a different sense of phrasing from the method described above, yet the outcome is very lyrical.

The last method I’m going to share is something intrinsic to the piano. This is something that a master pianist Vladimir Horowitz utilized a great deal. Obviously you can’t completely replicate his style or methods which encompass many aspects, but you can attempt to create a similar tone production in your music. The method he utilized was to play longer notes with more energy than shorter notes.

Why does this technique make sense? It comes back to the physics of piano sound and the fact that as a percussion instrument notes are always fading away. For notes to last longer you must play them with more energy so they last long enough to create a musical line. If you try this on the piano it creates a singing quality in your music.

I hope these techniques have been helpful for you and as always you can send your questions, comments and suggestions to us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Three Secrets of Tone Production on the Piano

We’ve had a lot of questions about this particular Mozart Sonata K 457 and today I’m going to address a very common question I receive about this piece. In the second movement, there is a section of very fast notes – some are 64th notes, some even go to 128th notes – and people are very interested in how to fit these notes in.

The simple answer is that you don’t need to fit these notes in perfectly as written – the final product should come out correctly but there is a certain level of freedom allowed. Here is an example of the section we are discussing:

That looks intimidating, doesn’t it? Well, there is a secret to playing this section and actually making it sound even better. Start the run a little bit early (just a hair before it’s supposed to actually start). Now is this going to affect the sound of the piece and make it lose its integrity? Not at all.

Mozart was known as a great improviser – as so many of the great composers of the past were – and they did their best to write down their music as accurately as they could. However, when it comes to cadenza-style passages, there is only so much you can do to write it down so that the music makes sense visually. So by experimenting with the timing, you can actually produce a better execution of the passage and not have to worry about having such a rapid string of notes. You are much better off not slowing down your tempo at all, but instead adjusting the timing to fit the notes in a musical way.

In the video example provided with this article, I show how I personally start a little bit before the run of notes. Would Mozart mind? I don’t believe so. I personally believe that you are always better off playing something that sounds good rather than forcing something. For example – How to Play Trills on the Piano.

You will want to play the number of notes you can execute comfortably and shouldn’t feel compelled to play a larger number of notes or strain yourself in playing higher notes in an attempt to keep the authenticity of the piece intact. Ultimately you must make music; that is the bottom line.

I hope this lesson has been helpful for you and I encourage you to experiment and play these pieces with your own interpretation and make them sound as great as you can. Thanks again for joining us, if you have any comments, suggestions or topic for future videos please contact us directly: info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Piano Lessons: Mozart’s Sonata K 457

Welcome back to our ongoing series on How to Play Bach’s Fifth French Suite. In our first part we covered the Allemande section, Last time we covered the Courante, Today we will be exploring the lyrical Sarabande Movement.

Even though this movement is very different from the first two that precede it, the same principles apply; which is to delineate the melodies from one-another with phrasing.

There are some differences between the first two movements that I would like to point out. In those movements, I employed a clipped staccato accentuating the detachment between notes. This achieves clear delineation of the musical lines. In this movement, you will want to approach the staccatos a bit differently.

It’s a common misconception that staccato means short. It actually means “detached” and there are different techniques you can employ depending on the piece. For more information on playing staccato please check out our previous video on the subject.

In fast movements, you will want to play staccato notes short, but in a more lyrical and slow movement, you can play them detached but with more length so the notes don’t have a clipped sound which can diminish the lyricism. By performing the eighth notes detached but not short you can produce a subtle delineation of voices without the harsh tone that short staccato notes produce.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to approach the phrasing of this movement. However, I like to give the eighth notes a clean and nuanced detachment rather than the sudden shortness that works so well in the faster first two movements. However, you will want to avoid having the musical lines blend with each other which would be more appropriate in late 19th-century Romantic period music. One of the defining aspects of the Baroque era of music is the delineation of counterpoint – hearing the distinctness of each musical line.

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

Piano Lessons: How to Play Bach’s French Suites – Part 3 (Sarabande)

Welcome back to our ongoing series on How to Play Bach’s Fifth French Suite. In our first part we covered the Allemande section, Last time we covered the Courante, Today we will be exploring the lyrical Sarabande Movement. Even though this movement

This is a great question and one that is becoming more and more relevant every day. Many of us simply search Google or YouTube to solve everyday problems; so why not do the same for piano lessons? Now it might seem like I have a vested interest in this subject, yet, you may be surprised at my perspective.

Someone came into the store recently and they were playing all sorts of repertoire – some of it extremely advanced. To my surprise, he had never taken any formal piano lessons; he couldn’t even read music at all. He had learned to play some complex pieces by simply watching his player piano at home and copying how it played!

I have also met people who have learned to play piano repertoire in a very similar way watching YouTube videos of people playing. They watch some videos where the player will film the keys as they play an entire piece. Some determined viewers will watch videos and simply copy what they see on the screen bit by bit. Surprisingly, this system can work. But is it really a substitute for piano lessons?

While this type of learning can help you learn a piece, it’s only one component in learning to play the piano. There is really no substitute for a great teacher and the wisdom they can impart. Learning to play the piano is a lot more than simply copying which keys are pushed down. More than that, being able to read and comprehend music can offer much greater efficiency in fully digesting a piece since you can access specific parts of the piece instantly instead of having to watch through sections finding what you need.

Even with private lessons, you won’t become a fine pianist by just taking lessons. You will need to practice, to listen to music, to see live performances, to live and breath it. It has to be an integral part of your life.

So can you learn to play the piano on Youtube? That’s really open to debate but you can certainly learn a lot by watching videos and practicing along with them. If you use YouTube videos in conjunction with other resources, you will benefit greatly.

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

Can You Learn to Play Piano from YouTube?

Johann Sebastian Bach did very little traveling in his life. Despite him having a wide range of music that spans many cultures, he never actually traveled to France or very much outside of Germany.

The Bach French Suites are based upon music Bach heard in concerts of musicians traveling from France. Bach was known for being able to imitate nearly any style of music and compose music that would be considered some of the best for each particular style.

The French Suites are based upon dance forms and while people might not have been dancing to his performances at the time, they do have a certain flavor and style that imitates popular dance music from the time.

In this series we are going to cover the 5th French Suite in its entirety. Today we will be dealing with the first movement, Allemande. I want you to notice that I don’t use the sustain pedal – I’m playing everything with only the fingers. Why is this? There is a good case for this since Bach played mostly on the clavichord, harpsichord, and organ and had very limited experience with early pianos which had no sustain pedals anyway. As a result, it’s not necessary to utilize the sustain pedal while playing Bach’s music.

Pay special attention to the counterpoint (VIDEO: What is Counterpoint?) and how the lines intertwine with one another. Also intrinsic to the style is the ornamentation which is indicated with various markings in the score. (VIDEO: How to Play Ornamentation).

You may notice that in all the French Suites the music is in A – A, B – B form. Meaning that you have a section that repeats and then a second section that also repeats. All the movements in the French Suites have a similar structure. The second section tends to be a bit longer than the first section but sometimes they are about the same length.

There is no phrasing or dynamics written into the music. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t include any dynamics or phrasing, it means that it’s up to you how to approach the music. You must decide how to delineate the notes deciding how the notes are attached or detached and how to bring out the separate lines of music dynamically.

For example, in this particular piece, I play the 8th notes staccato, which allows for delineating the lines. Without doing this it’s hard to tell which line is which – they all blend together! You should also embellish the music with the free use of ornamentation. For example, in the beginning of the piece I include some trills to liven up the music; without it, the lines sound a little dull. Everything about the Baroque era has ornamentation. It’s a product of the time and is evident in the music, art, architecture and even the clothing style.

Thanks again for joining me and make sure to be on the lookout for the other parts in this series on Bach’s 5th French Suite.

How to Play Bach’s French Suites – (Part 1) Allemande

Johann Sebastian Bach did very little traveling in his life. Despite him having a wide range of music that spans many cultures, he never actually traveled to France or very much outside of Germany. The Bach French Suites are based upon music Bach hea

You have probably heard this piece and you may have played it yourself at some point. Musette comes from a group of pieces dedicated to Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena and they offer a great selection of music accessible to pianists on almost all levels. This is a great piece for students as it allows them to showcase their skills in very colorful and fun music without taking a long time to learn and master.

It is important to note that Bach did not write any phrasing or dynamics into these pieces, so nearly every copy you will come across will be slightly different. For this lesson, I will be using Bach’s Musette from Virtual Sheet Music.

Personally, I like to emulate the sound of a Harpsichord (which is one instrument Bach would possibly have played the piece on) by emphasizing the fortes and the pianos going from louder sounds to quieter sounds abruptly. The harpsichord could not go from loud to soft with touch alone, so you would have to alternate the keyboards or adjust stops like on an organ in order to adjust volume. Interestingly, you can reverse the dynamics and discover other satisfying performance possibilities!

There really are countless ways you can approach this music and that’s why they are such great pieces for students. It allows them to see dynamics and experiment on their own to produce a great performance. You have a lot of creative license on what you can do with this piece.

Before you can experiment with phrasing however you really should be able to play this piece cleanly and precisely. The very beginning features two completely different techniques in each hand: the left hand has staccatos which should be played with the wrist and the right hand has legato notes which are played with a steady hand. It is vital that the hands are played precisely together which can be challenging with the sixteenth notes. I recommend breaking down these sixteenth notes and getting your hand and fingers over exactly the right keys in advance of playing them. You can start and stop methodically in your practice making sure the hands play exactly together. It should sound very clean and precise. Without precision, the music can end up sounding sloppy and lose the sparkle of the sound.

It can be very challenging to jump from one section to another. So practicing getting over the exact positions will help you achieve a satisfying performance. Practice playing the first section and then placing your hands over the next section without playing it. Instead, just place your hands in the next position and get ready to play the notes. When your hands are in the exact position, play the next small section. Take your time and keep going back and forth shortening the break you take between sections. Keep going until you can play in a fluid manner. It’s good to imagine a break between sections even when there is no rhythmically perceptible space allowing you to prepare for each section in advance of playing them. Even if they are incredibly small pauses, they allow you to mentally and physically prepare yourself for each section.

Thanks again for joining me and if you have any questions about this piece or any others please contact me directly: Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729