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Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m asking: Are you killing the goose that lays the golden eggs in your practice? Boy, it’s horrible to think that this could be possible. What am I talking about here, anyway? Well, it’s important to cover the most vital subjects in your practice and to work out exercises and technique. Some things are fun to work on, and some things are drudgery. You must strike a balance, or you risk the possibility of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs!

The goose that lays the golden eggs is your passion for the instrument.

If you force yourself to do things that you know you need to do in your practice, but you feel like it’s drudgery to sit down at the piano because the stuff you need to do is so distasteful, then what do you have left? If you don’t love the instrument, then you’re not going to want to practice it anyway. In your practice, of course, you must do certain vital things. And there are some things that maybe you’d rather not do. Maybe you don’t want to work on scales or memorization.

Find time for the important things and balance it out with things that bring you great joy on the instrument.

You have to have some enjoyment, so it’s not all work and no play. You should do some things just because you love to do them instead of falling into a routine that you think you have to do because it’s important. Find the balance between what is productive and what is enriching! That will take you much further than beating yourself up and driving something into the ground until you don’t even want to do it anymore. Make time for what’s important. And if you make the time for playing and enjoying your instrument, then you’ll be able to balance the time spent on important things that may be very challenging. The challenging aspects of your practice can give you a bit of a sickness in the pit of your stomach if you do them too much. Let me know in the comments how many of you have faced this issue! I know it’s a tough thing, particularly for younger students.

Most kids hate to practice.

If they’re forced to practice and they hate every minute of it, they might just want to quit altogether. So they have to have some fun. Maybe they want to make up some music or play some popular songs. Some teachers don’t let them do that. You must strike a balance in your piano practice between hard work and the things you find enriching. With anything in life that you have a passion for, make sure you take time to enjoy it! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

Are You Killing the Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs in Your Practice?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m asking: Are you killing the goose that lays the golden eggs in your practice? Boy, it’s horrible to think that this could be possible. What am I talking about here, anyway? W

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today we’ll be discussing two methods of piano practice, and one is clearly better. I’m wondering which one you do. What are these two macro-methods of piano practice? One is the shotgun approach, and the other is the band-aid approach. I want to explain what each of these methods entails and why one is clearly better than the other.

What is the shotgun approach?

Some of you probably like to sit down at the piano to practice your music and go through the whole piece. Then you start over, and you go through it again. You try to work through the whole piece because you want to cover everything. I would describe this as a shotgun approach. You’re kind of covering everything because you know everything is important.

What is the band-aid approach?

You start your piece, but instead of going through the whole thing, you zero in on where you know the weaknesses are and focus on what needs work. Then, after you’ve gotten that section nailed down, you can go back and try to connect it with the previous section. After that, you can go back further. As soon as you come to a section where something doesn’t feel secure or doesn’t sound quite right, once again, you’ll focus your attention on that. The band-aid approach is strategic practice.

You don’t need to practice everything equally!

You will get so much more done using the band-aid approach. I know it’s gratifying to play the music and try to cover all your pieces because it makes you feel like you’ve really accomplished something. But it’s definitely not the most efficient way to get things done when your time is limited, which is the case for most people. I know that when I sit down to practice, I want to get as much done as I can for every minute I’m practicing. So I go right for what I know needs work. I spend the vast majority of my time that way. It’s the 80-20 rule: spend 80% of your practice on 20% of the material. Perhaps it’s more like the 90-10 rule. You could spend 90% of your time on 10% of the material. It makes a world of difference to gain security where you really need it.

Remember: avoid the shotgun approach!

The shotgun approach is not in your best interest most of the time. Occasionally, you will want to go through all your music as a check to see where to focus your next practice session. Then you can use the band-aid approach, as I described. What practice method works for you? Let us know in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! We have thousands of videos and articles about almost every subject you can imagine! You can also consider joining our Patreon, where we make videos just for you! Thanks again 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

2 Methods of Piano Practice: Why One Is Better

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today we’ll be discussing two methods of piano practice, and one is clearly better. I’m wondering which one you do. What are these two macro-methods of piano practice? One is the shotg

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how dynamics are like orchestration in your music. The piano is an amazing instrument because you have all the parts of a whole orchestra right under your fingertips! You want to think of your playing as orchestrating the sound and getting the quality of different sections of an orchestra—the strings, the brass, the percussion, all of it.

Thinking of your playing as different sections of an orchestra will help you play more expressively.

It can be richly rewarding for your audience to hear these kinds of dramatic changes in dynamics and tonal colors. I’m going to demonstrate this by using the beginning of Mozart’s Sonata in C Minor, K 457. This is a really good example because of the stark changes in dynamics. You can imagine the opening statement as a full orchestra with big, booming strings and brass. The next part is much quieter, so maybe you just have woodwinds. Then again, a full orchestra, followed again by delicate winds. Think of your music as orchestrating each section. Get a different tonal color and a different balance in your playing.

Whenever you’re playing, think of orchestrating.

This goes for every composition you play! Some can be more subtle than others. Not all music is going to change this often from one texture, sound, or dynamic to another. However, this also holds true when you’re playing a texture. This isn’t changing orchestrations for each bar or measure, but having a different sound for each strata of music. The treble might be a clarinet; the lower notes could be cellos; and in the middle, it could be violas. So you try to get different sounds on all the different lines you’re playing.

There are two kinds of orchestration.

There’s orchestrating different sections dynamically, and there’s orchestrating which lines of music you’re bringing out. Think of your piano music as being orchestrated, because after all, that’s exactly what the piano offers! That’s what’s so great about the piano—you can play compositions that would take a whole orchestra. Take advantage of that and discover the sounds and sonorities you can achieve in your playing! I hope this is helpful for you! Thanks again 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

How to Orchestrate Your Playing

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how dynamics are like orchestration in your music. The piano is an amazing instrument because you have all the parts of a whole orchestra right under your fingertips! Yo

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today, we are going to discuss how much music you should keep in shape. This is a really delicate subject because you want to learn new music, but you always want to have something you can play. The challenge is that the time it takes to keep your music in shape can take away from the time you have to learn more music, and vice versa. So you have to strike some kind of balance.

Any pieces that you’ve learned recently, you should absolutely keep in shape.

It’s a real mistake to get to the point where you can finally play a piece on a high level and then drop it. First of all, you might not realize that you could take that piece to a higher level if you lived with it a little longer. The other problem is that if you’ve just learned it and then you drop it, you’re going to forget it as quickly as you learned it. You need to live with it for a while to have it solidify so that it stays with you and you can still play it weeks or months after you’ve learned it. You can do this simply by playing it on a regular basis and solidifying it from time to time with slow practice. By doing this, you can bring it back without much effort later on. But how much music should you keep in shape?

I generally say you should keep the last three or four pieces you’ve learned in shape.

It’s good to keep the three or four most recent pieces you’ve learned in shape, depending on what the pieces are. If you have, for example, a sonata with three movements, that’s almost like three pieces in itself! So that and maybe one other piece, in addition to the piece you’re working on, may be plenty of repertoire to keep in shape.

You should always have music that you can play at a high level.

It’s best to always have music you can perform in case somebody wants to hear you play. Isn’t it sad if you’ve been playing the piano for years but don’t have anything you can play? You put in all that effort learning your pieces, so you want to be able to play them for people. Imagine someone finds out you play piano and asks you to play for them, but you haven’t finished learning your current piece and you’ve forgotten the previous ones! You want to always have something you can play. People will appreciate hearing you. If they visit your home and see a piano, they might want to hear you play something.

Always have a go-to piece.

You should have something that you can always play and that you’ve played a million times. Certainly, you want to be able to play a piece you love and that you’ve worked hard to learn. So keep the most recent pieces you’ve learned in shape, along with any piece that you really love. You may also want to have something you can play that other people will really enjoy hearing. Maybe the piece that you really want to keep in shape is not appropriate to play for most people because it’s too subtle or because it’s a musical style that is not as popular with the general public.

The most recent pieces, pieces that people will like, and music that you really love are the three areas of music you should keep in shape. But you don’t want to be overwhelmed with so many review pieces that you don’t have time to learn new repertoire for yourself. I hope this is helpful for you! Thanks again 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

How Much Music Should You Keep in Shape?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today, we are going to discuss how much music you should keep in shape. This is a really delicate subject because you want to learn new music, but you always want to have something you can play. T

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about why you need urtext editions. I received a question from Chris. Chris asks, “I find urtext editions online, but then they say ‘edited by.’ I thought urtext meant they weren’t edited. So how does a fully edited edition differ from an earlier text?” This is a great question!

The original manuscript scores of the great composers can be a nightmare in some cases.

For example, take a look at some of Beethoven’s scores. With all the crossing out and the quick way his calligraphy was executed, it’s all but impossible to tell what he really meant.

Sheet Music

So there are scholars who go through early editions – not just the autograph copies, but early editions as well. They compare them to the autograph and try to figure out what is authentic. Another challenge is that many times composers rewrote their scores again and again. Chopin, for example, rewrote many of his compositions. So what is authentic? Is it the first one that he signed, or is it the last one? Is it something in between? So there’s a lot of scholarly work that goes into figuring out what is authentic.

Urtext editions strive to have exactly what the composer intended. However, there are also edited urtext editions.

It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Well, not exactly. Here’s how it works: either with footnotes giving alternatives to what is printed or, very often, in a different typeface like gray instead of black, the composer’s markings are augmented with suggestions. For example, in a sonata movement, if during the exposition there are certain phrase markings or dynamic markings, then later in the recapitulation the composer didn’t write those markings, it’s assumed that they should be there. So the editor of the urtext edition will put it in lighter type or some other way to distinguish it from what is in the original manuscript.

Do you really need all of that? Is it important to have an urtext?

If you’re a serious player, you really want to know what the composer wrote and what the editor added. Otherwise, you might not be faithful to the intentions of the composer. However, Bach, for example, rarely wrote any phrasing or dynamics in his keyboard music. But that doesn’t mean it should be played devoid of expression or phrasing. So having some suggestions from the editor can be a godsend. Even Mozart doesn’t have a lot of expression marks. Sometimes having those markings can be incredibly helpful if you’re a beginner or intermediate student. So the ideal, to sum it up, is to have a good scholarly edition that’s an urtext with editors markings and fingering.

Composers didn’t write in fingering!

If you’re a student, you want to have fingering suggestions. Even for a professional, having fingering suggestions can save you vast amounts of time. On websites like IMSLP.org, you can actually get two or three different editions for fingering suggestions. It’s such a wonderful thing. Before the internet, it would have been very costly to compare several editions. Maybe at the library you could do that, but buying several editions wouldn’t be in the cards for most students. This brings up the cost. Many urtexts are very expensive, like Henle Editions, which are really beautifully bound, scholarly editions of many works by Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. But there are others, like Schenker Editions by Dover, which are very well bound, good scholarly editions that are not as expensive. Search out good, fingered, edited urtext editions for yourself! I think you’ll be rewarded with good suggestions and the knowledge of what the composers actually wrote. Great question, Chris! Keep them coming! Thanks again 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

Why Do You Need Urtext Editions?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about why you need urtext editions. I received a question from Chris. Chris asks, “I find urtext editions online, but then they say ‘edited by.’ I thought ur

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how to be in the moment in your playing. It’s so important! If you have performed for friends or your teacher, you know that sometimes it’s easy to become distracted. You want to be present in your playing; but it can be so incredibly difficult. I’m going to give you some ways of thinking about this, and approaching it, that hopefully will be helpful for you!

The first thing I want to talk about is a little bit philosophical.

We sometimes assume that words are thought. The whole idea of thinking in your head is that you’re stringing words together. But words were invented for communication, to be able to express ideas to one another. You don’t actually need words to think about something. Have you ever had a revelation that just came to you? Did you have to string words together in order to have that thought? Of course not! The words express the thought, but they aren’t the thought themselves. This is why there are those who master the art of meditation. They clear their minds from the internal dialog to be able to have pure thought, not hampered by words. If you’ve ever been in a state of flow while doing anything, whether it’s experiencing a beautiful sunset, looking at a beautiful painting, or just enjoying a moment of life without quantifying it and defining it with words, you understand that this is one of the most beautiful things there is in life! You don’t need to label every single thought.

How does this relate to music?

When you’re playing music, the thing that will distract you more than anything else is using words in your head, and thinking about what you’re doing instead of just doing it. You want to be present in your performance. You don’t want to be analytical and judgmental, thinking about what note comes next. You can’t think that way, it’ll drive you crazy and destroy your performance. You have to be right in the moment with a sense of where you’re going. Just like in life itself, you want to be living in the moment with a sense of continuity. You want to know where you are and where you’re heading.

The way to achieve this in music is simply by listening!

Listen to the sounds. Become absorbed in the beauty of the music you’re creating at that moment, rather than getting distracted with the mechanics of your playing. Of course, there has to be a certain amount that you keep present, in the analytical sense, so you don’t take a wrong turn in the score. There has to be a certain amount of intelligence. But moment to moment, you should not be bogged down with these intellectual ideas. Instead, enjoy the sound and explore where it’s going next. The most satisfying musical performance you can ever have is one where the music is unfolding, and you yourself are listening in anticipation of where it’s going to go next. You may have experienced this before if you have ever played on a different piano. It sounds different, and as a result, you’re playing with fresh ears. That’s the secret of what you want to achieve in your musical performance.

You want to be listening to, and engaged in your own music.

That’s what draws the listener in! It’s what keeps you on track in your musical performance. So remember, don’t get hung up with intellectualizing what you’re doing more than necessary. Just keep your wits about you to avoid taking wrong turns, knowing where repeats are, and knowing where you are in the score. If there are leaps that you have to quantify, you need to have your intellect alive. But don’t get bogged down with it. Enjoy your musical performance! Listen to it and everybody else will too. I hope you’ve enjoyed this! Thanks again 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

How to Be Present When You Play the Piano

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how to be in the moment in your playing. It’s so important! If you have performed for friends or your teacher, you know that sometimes it’s easy to become di