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I’m Robert Estrin and this is LivingPianos.com. The question today came from a reader who asks, “How do you know when the pedal markings are written by the composer?” So, the fundamental question is, “Do composers write in pedal markings for the piano?” The simple answer is, the vast majority of the time, no. You might wonder why not? Why do they do it sometimes and not all the time? Here’s the long and short of it.

Pedaling on the piano encompasses so many decisions that are made not only from an artistic and personal expression standpoint, but also the acoustics of the room. For example, let’s say you are performing a concert in a church or a chapel that has very live acoustics. It is almost like putting the pedal down with an echoing effect. In a room such as that in order to not get a muddy sound, you would use much less pedal than in a dry room with carpeting and drapes where there is no natural reverberation.

Pianos also differ. When you play a high note like the third E above middle C on a Mason and Hamlin piano, there is a damper which stops the sound as soon as you release the key. The note ends very quickly. The F right above has no damper and rings on even after you let go of the key. Some pianos have dampers all the way to F sharp and G is the first note that rings on after the release of the key. If you were playing a Steinway or a Baldwin, the E has no damper! So, it rings on long after the key is released.

You have to be able to determine where to use pedaling based upon the specific piano and acoustics of the room.

Where do composers write pedal markings in? If there is a place where you wouldn’t expect the pedal to be used, they may write it in to guide you so you’ll understand the composer’s intentions. However, oftentimes you’ll see pedal markings all over the score.

How do you know if pedal markings are written by the composer?

I recommend getting editions that are referred to as “urtext”. Urtext editions are only what the composers wrote. If there are other markings, they usually will have them in a different typeset. They may be in grey or have footnotes telling you what is original and what the editor has added.

Composers almost never wrote fingerings in. Whenever you see fingerings on your score on your piano, those are written in by the editor, not the composer.

Pedal markings and sometimes expression markings can be added by the editor.

You want to know what the composer actually wrote, which is no easy task. This is why you want to have an authoritative edition that goes through all the old autographed editions and early printed scores. This way you can determine what is actually authentic from the composer.

You have to use your own judgment with pedaling. The guides you see are only editorial suggestions the vast majority of the time. It gets even trickier still. For example, Beethoven sometimes wrote pedal markings in. If you have ever had the opportunity to play a Beethoven era piano, you will hear how drastically different they are from modern pianos.

You may not pedal the same on a Beethoven era piano as you would on a modern piano.

You have to take it all with a grain of salt. A good teacher will guide beginners and intermediate students writing in pedal markings so they will understand the nature of how to deal with pedal changes. It is generally where harmonies change, however, it can get much more complicated in music that has different lines and notes you can’t possibly hold with your fingers.

There is an art to pedaling just as there is to fingering and other aspects of playing the piano. A great teacher and good authoritative editions serve you well. Thanks for the great question! We’ll see you next time here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Store.

info@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

Do Composers Write in Pedal Markings for the Piano?

I’m Robert Estrin and this is LivingPianos.com. The question today came from a reader who asks, “How do you know when the pedal markings are written by the composer?” So, the fundamental question is, “Do composers write in pedal m

This is Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com. The question today is, “What are the audition requirements to become accepted at a music conservatory on the piano?” It is pretty standard. You’ll have to look in the catalog online to find for sure exactly their variations on a theme. Most conservatories for undergraduate studies require the following:

A Bach Prelude and Fugue from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One or Book Two

Often times they will state the exception of the very first Prelude in C major and some may even have other exceptions. For example, Book One the C minor Prelude and Fugue might not be accepted either because they think it is too easy, even though there is nothing easy about any of the Preludes and Fugues of Bach. Regardless, many say you cannot use those compositions. These are kind of the staples. Some schools may allow you to substitute another piece of Bach or Handel. But, for the most part, a Prelude and Fugue of Bach from Book One or Book Two is a standard audition requirement for conservatories. Most conservatories will require you to play your audition from memory. It is important to be able to memorize music on the piano because with some pieces it’s extremely difficult to play from the score. So, memorization is considered to be an essential technique in solo piano playing.

A Classical-Era Sonata by Mozart, Haydn, or Beethoven

Most conservatories will require something from these seminal composers. Again, there are a couple of exceptions. They generally do not accept the famous C Major Mozart Sonata K 545. The idea is that it is too easy, when really to play it well is not easy. But it is usually the first Mozart sonata students learn. They want to hear pianists who are above that level. They also usually say you can’t play either of the Opus 49 Sonatas of Beethoven, Number 1 and Number 2. Any other Beethoven or Haydn sonata is usually permitted for auditions.

One or Two Contrasting Works of the Romantic-Era or Twentieth Century

Sometimes the requirements will be more specific. But usually, you can play any work of Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Bartók as well as many other composers. You have a lot of freedom in this choice. There is a big difference between playing Stravinsky’s Petrushka or playing one of Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words. This is where you can really show what you can do. You might have a piece to present that is much more difficult than anyone else can play. Sometimes an etude will be specified. In the Classical sonatas, there are some late Beethoven sonatas that are massively difficult as well. Even some Mozart sonatas, such as his last sonata in D major K576, are a handful. So, there is a wide range of difficulty among different classical sonatas as well as Romantic and twentieth century piano works.

All Major and Minor Scales and Arpeggios.

This should be at a fast clip like 144, four notes to the beat for scales, and 120, four notes to the beat for arpeggios playing four octaves up and down the keyboard. Both major as well as harmonic and melodic minor scales are expected. These are staples. This is a way to weed out people who have not had good training. Anyone who is properly trained should have all scales and arpeggios in their back pocket. It doesn’t make sense not to learn them because you depend upon mastering them for developing a solid technique on the piano (or any instrument).

Check catalogs

Fortunately, it is very easy these days to check online for audition requirements. There are always exceptions and slight deviations from what I’ve articulated above. This should still give you a pretty good overview of what it is required in a piano audition for undergraduate studies. As far as getting accepted, that is a completely different discussion. There are so many factors beyond your control that you should never feel bad if you don’t get into a school you auditioned for. Sometimes they don’t even have openings! Sometimes teachers at the school have private students they are trying to get in. If you auditioned and you thought you played great but still didn’t get in, don’t give up! That is not necessarily an affront to your abilities. You can never predict auditions no matter how good you are.

Thanks so much for joining me. Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Store.

Info@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

Piano Audition Essentials

This is Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com. The question today is, “What are the audition requirements to become accepted at a music conservatory on the piano?” It is pretty standard. You’ll have to look in the catalog online to find for sure ex

When to Add the Pedal in Your Piano Practice

The question today is “When do you add the pedal in your piano practice?” Some of you may be thinking, “Why don’t you use the pedal the whole time?” There are good reasons to practice without the pedal. I have discussed this at great length in many videos. Today, we’re going to talk about when to add the pedal in your piano practice.

Why should you practice without the pedal?

As I’ve talked about before, in order to discover the best fingering to really connect the music with your hands, you want to be able to practice hearing all the notes clearly. The pedal is like the icing on the cake. It makes everything sound better! But, you want to try to achieve a beautiful, smooth performance playing without the pedal. If you do that, then adding the pedal is going to enrich your performance. More than that, you won’t use the pedal as a crutch to connect music that you can connect with your hands. This leaves the pedal as an expressive device to enhance tone instead of merely connecting what you should be able to do with your fingers.

I’m going to take a familiar section of the Chopin Ballade in G minor to show you on the accompanying video what to do when you are practicing this section of this famous piece. I’m going to play as written first with the pedal. Then I will show you when to add the pedal in your practice.

The first thing is to know how to practice to begin with!

As I’ve discussed in the past, it’s really important with solo piano repertoire to break down the music to its most intrinsic elements so that you can absorb all the details. Because if you try to learn too much at a time, there’s only so much you can assimilate at one time. It is necessary to take a small section at a time, hands separately, figuring out the notes, counting out the rhythm, figuring out the best fingering, as well as observing, phrasing, such as staccato and slurs, as well as all the expression marks such as dynamics (the loud and soft indications), accents, and all the rest of the details of the score.

If you are learning a fresh, new piece, you should tackle a small section as demonstrated on the accompanying video. You could take more. But it could take you more than twice as long to learn a phrase that is longer. More than that, if you are practicing a whole afternoon and want to keep practicing productively, it would be really challenging to take 16 major or 32 measure phrases. However, you could knock out smaller phrases very easily and sustain a longer practice.

Next you get the left hand securely memorized so you can play smoothly with comfort. Finally, you put the hands together. I suggest when putting the hands together the first time, challenge yourself by doing it from memory. You may need to go substantially slower at first in order to achieve this. You’ll know right away if your fingering needs work since you will hear things that are not connected. In fact:

One of the most important solutions to most technical problems is finding better fingering.

This transcends just this lesson today about when to add the pedal. I would suggest whenever you run into snags in your playing, investigate alternative fingering to solve problems.

Once you get hands together smoothly and memorized at a reasonable tempo (which is as fast as you can get it up to in one sitting before the point of diminishing returns), you are ready to add the pedal.

Instead of relying upon the pedal to connect notes that can be connected smoothly with your fingers, instead, you utilize the pedal to enhance the tone as well as to connect what you can’t connect with your hands. For example, in this phrase, you can extend the left hand broken chords to sustain longer than your fingers can possibly hold the notes which sounds much more beautiful. I had the good fortune of studying with many brilliant concert pianists, and all of them taught me the importance of practicing without the pedal. It’s an essential practice technique for the piano. So, remember to add the pedal to reward yourself as you master each phrase of music.

Even after you have the whole piece on a high level with the pedal, check your work without the pedal to keep your playing honest.

You piano playing will be on an entirely new level when you stop using the pedal as a crutch and learn how to connect the music with your hands. I hope this tutorial helps your piano practice and your playing. This is Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com Your Online Piano Store 949-244-3729 info@LivingPianos.com

When to Add the Pedal in Your Piano Practice

When to Add the Pedal in Your Piano Practice The question today is “When do you add the pedal in your piano practice?” Some of you may be thinking, “Why don’t you use the pedal the whole time?” There are good reasons to practice without

Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com. Today, three secrets to memorizing music. The three secrets all come down to one thing, and I’ll tell you how they relate to three aspects that will help you in memorizing music. Memorizing music is tough, it’s hard work if you’re doing it correctly. If you just play through a piece over and over in hopes that eventually it will assimilate, that’s not a very efficient way to learn music. You need to be organized, and I have videos on how to approach memorization.

The three secrets come down to memorizing every day.

Why does that give you three benefits? Well first of all, obviously if you’re memorizing every day you’re going to learn more. If you only try to do it once or twice a week, or every other day, you’re limited in how much you’re going to be able to learn by the sheer amount of time.

The second thing about memorizing every day is you get to reinforce your work from the previous day.

Otherwise, you’re going two steps forward, one step backward every day trying to get back what you learned, even the next day is a big challenge. But if you wait a couple of days you will have forgotten a great deal, and so you really are not going to be as productive.

Third reason is that since memorizing is very taxing, there’s only so much you can do at peak performance in one sitting.

If you do it every day, you get your mind when it’s fresh, and that’s a tremendous benefit to you. You can soak up a bunch of music before you get to that point of diminishing returns.

So remember, if you’re serious about memorizing music, get to it every day. There’s so many benefits to that, and you will be rewarded with amassing great amounts of repertoire in your music. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, your online piano store. Remember to subscribe to the YouTube channel, and you can even hit the bell so you’ll be notified when there’s new videos for you.

See you next time.

949-244-3729 info@LivingPianos.com

3 Secrets to Memorizing Music

Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com. Today, three secrets to memorizing music. The three secrets all come down to one thing, and I’ll tell you how they relate to three aspects that will help you in memorizing music. Memorizing music is tough

QUESTION:

Thank you for the YouTube video on replacing soundboards. I’d like to know your opinion on something if you don’t mind, which will be one of many opinions I’ve been gathering to make sense out of this.

I am having my 1927 Steinway M restored by a very skilled rebuilder. He examined my piano and told me that the soundboard is in great shape. I’ve also been in contact with the piano technician that maintains our school pianos who is also familiar with my tech’s work (and highly recommends him). This tech is urging me to replace the soundboard because it has been under x tons of tension for 90 years and since the piano will be dismantled, that’s the time to do it.

I’m not sure what to do. My technician said it would almost be a crime (and a waste of money) to throw a soundboard in this condition into the trash just to replace it for the sake of replacing it (I kind of agree, but I don’t have enough technical knowledge about soundboard aging to say that’s the route I should go with). My rebuilder also has a great reputation for crafting soundboards for pianos that need it. My concern is that the piano IS 90 years old, and if I kept the old soundboard, what longevity can I expect going forward? I’d hate to have to send the piano to a rebuilder again just to do the soundboard 20 years down the line, if you know what I mean.

So I guess the overarching opinion I’m asking for is this: in a vintage piano such as mine, if the soundboard is in generally great shape, is it best to replace it for the sake of the longevity of the overall instrument or does it not really matter as long as it is humidified and cared for properly?

It’s an expensive undertaking to have a piano restored, and I’d hate to have to drop another $15K in a few decades because I didn’t do something when I should have…

Just looking for some thoughts from another source.

ANSWER:

You are asking a great question. I will share this answer with others facing similar challenges. There are different schools of thought on replacing soundboards. For example, any piano of this age sent to Steinway to rebuild will get a new soundboard no matter what condition it’s in. Yet there are those who believe that you are fundamentally altering the piano by replacing the soundboard. What is the right course of action?

The fact is, even brand new Steinways have varying quality of soundboards from one piano to the next. It is as much art as science crafting a soundboard in a piano. So, if you replace the soundboard in your piano, only then will you discover what sound the instrument will have.

There are no guarantees with soundboards. You could get a new soundboard and have problems down the line – or not. Environment plays a critical role in soundboard longevity.

Even if the soundboard on your piano had cracks or separation of the seams, a good rebuilder can rework the board and get excellent results if done properly. If the soundboard on your piano has no issues and exhibits good crown essential for proper tone, I personally would feel comfortable utilizing it when rebuilding the piano. If the piano is in good enough condition to assess the quality of the tone, that would be extremely valuable in determining the best course of action. If the piano projects a powerful, sustained tone into the high register, then it will probably do a good job for you after rebuilding.

Just be certain that the fundamental structure of the soundboard is impeccable – no warping or serious separation from the ribs. Another important point is to go with the rebuilder’s recommendation. You wouldn’t want to have a rebuilder who believes you need a new soundboard to restore your piano without replacing the soundboard. If the rebuilder has confidence in the results they can achieve with the existing soundboard, you should be in good shape.

Even utilizing the original soundboard, the piano will be fundamentally different when the work is completed. Some people feel more comfortable knowing what they are getting.

Does an Old Piano Soundboard in Good Condition Need to be Replaced?

QUESTION: Thank you for the YouTube video on replacing soundboards. I’d like to know your opinion on something if you don’t mind, which will be one of many opinions I’ve been gathering to make sense out of this. I am having my 1927

 

QUESTION:

I recently watched a video of yours on the LivingPianosVideos YouTube Chanel about moving a piano. In the video, precautions are taken as wrapping the piano with shrink wrap, could you tell me if that method is enough to substitute the procedure of removing the lid in a move? Because it was stated to me before that one of the first procedures in moving a piano would be removing the lid to prevent damages.

I thank you in advance for a response and thank you again for making those videos, which are so informative!

ANSWER:

When grand pianos and baby grand pianos are moved, the lids are usually kept on. The exception is when moving pianos up or down flights of stairs. The lids are removed to make the piano lighter in this case.

So, you should be in good shape!

For more information about piano moves check out our blog post on How to Move a Piano

Email Question: When pianos are moved do you remove the lid?

QUESTION: I recently watched a video of yours on the LivingPianosVideos YouTube Chanel about moving a piano. In the video, precautions are taken as wrapping the piano with shrink wrap, could you tell me if that method is enough to substitute t