Piano and Music Videos

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to show you four ways to develop speed in your piano playing. You hear people who play dazzlingly fast, but maybe you’re just struggling to get a piece up to speed. Is there anything that you can do to develop more speed? Absolutely! There are a number of things you can do. Of course, working generally on different repertoire, scales, and arpeggios is helpful. These are essential building blocks of technique on the piano. But what I’m going to show you today are specific things you can incorporate in your practice to help develop speed.

I’m going to use Ballade of Burgmüller as an example. The part I’m going to focus on is the end, where you have a fast pattern of notes in both hands. What better place than this to demonstrate the myriad ways you can practice? Today I’m just going to cover four specific ways of developing speed, to not overwhelm you.

1. METRONOME SPEEDS

One of the most fundamental ways of working with the metronome is to do progressively faster metronome speeds. You find the speed at which you can play the passage absolutely faithfully, and then work up the speed one notch at a time. Why one notch? Because you won’t even notice the difference in speed! You find the speed at which you can play it perfectly, comfortably and securely, repeatedly. Then you put it up a notch and do it again. I would never suggest trying to get a whole piece up to speed by going one notch at a time, but when you have just a few measures like this, it’s an ideal opportunity to do metronome speeds.

The key is to make sure you don’t raise the metronome at all until you have absolute security.

That’s the important thing. Now, you may think it’s going to take you forever, because it takes you so long to really get it solid. But spend the time at the front end to get it absolutely secure! You may have to go hands separately at first and pick a much slower speed than you think is necessary. But don’t even think about raising the metronome speed until you can play it ten times in a row, not only where it’s perfect, but where it feels comfortable. You want to play every note with absolute security and definition. Once you get that, then raise it up a notch. Then once again, keep playing it until it not only sounds perfect, but it feels comfortable.

As you get faster, remember to lighten up and stay close to the keys with rounded fingers.

When you play with flat fingers, you don’t get the benefit of all the joints of your fingers like you do when you’re playing with rounded fingers. Your fingers will naturally go into this position if you just allow them to. And that position gives you much more ease because you have the benefit of all the joints of the fingers. Plus, the thumb is in alignment with the rest of the fingers.

2. NOTE GROUPS

Practice small groups of notes, repeatedly. You can work on a few select notes at a time, even just two note groups! And the secret is to play up to speed. Take different groups of notes and find the ones that allow you to land on notes that are insecure. Ultimately this is training your fingers where the hands play together. Listen strategically to where the hands are playing together and when they aren’t. You can get a lot done just by finding the right notes to land on. When you land on notes, avoid tension. You want to land on them with total relaxation. Practice relaxation in your playing, even if you have to play just two notes! Find groups of notes that help you land securely with hands precisely together, and you can accomplish a tremendous amount.

3. ACCENTED NOTES

Playing with accented notes can be really valuable. You can accent different notes within a phrase. This can be done in innumerable ways. You can do different numbers of notes or any type of accents that help you feel relaxed. You don’t want to be pushing with the arms, just use your fingers. By doing this, you train yourself where the fingers play together and where the hands play together. You’ll discover tremendous things. You might come upon certains accents and realize you don’t know where your hands play together! Those are the places to focus on.

4. RHYTHMS

Rhythms are another great tool. Depending upon the passage, there are many different rhythms that can aid in developing speed. You want to find whatever rhythms solve your issue. Try playing passages of even eighth notes as dotted rhythms, dotted eighths followed by sixteenth notes. Then you can reverse the rhythm playing sixteenths followed by dotted eighth notes. You want to discover where the hands need to be together. If you don’t know where the hands play together, you might be able to play your right hand fast or your left hand fast, but you really don’t know where they land together. So this is what trains your hands to play precisely together.

These are four techniques that can help you develop speed in your playing!

Remember, working on scales and arpeggios is incredibly valuable. That gives you an opportunity to just focus on your fingerwork. You can work on pure technique, devoid of music. It’s a great thing to have all your major and minor scales and arpeggios under your fingers. That will be incredibly valuable for you. Remember, the faster you play, the lighter and closer to the keys you must be in order to facilitate speed, because it takes a lot of work to raise fingers when practicing slowly. Raising the fingers can be valuable, so you can feel which fingers are down and which fingers are up initially. As you get faster, lighten up and stay closer to the keys with rounded fingers. Remember these four methods of developing speed: metronome speeds, note groups, accents, and rhythms. Let me know how this works for you! For those of you who have other techniques, share them in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube. 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

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The topic today is about how to bring out voices in your music. The great thing about the piano is that it’s almost like a whole orchestra! You have so many different voices. Because of this, you want to call attention to different melodies intertwining within your music. I’ve talked about many ways of doing that in the past, which I’m going to refresh you on right now. Then I’m going to show you an intrinsic skill that transcends everything I’m about to tell you.

One great practice technique is to work on music with different articulations.

Try playing the melodies legato while playing accompaniments and parts you want softer with a gentle finger staccato. This way you can clearly hear the melody. You don’t want all the notes to sound equal. You want balance so that you hear the melody and the bass while keeping the inner voices delicate, yet everything may be in a piano context. The way to practice this is by playing the melody legato and those gentle, undulating notes in the middle with a gentle finger staccato. By doing this you train your hand which notes are melody, and which notes are accompaniment. It’s very difficult to quantify loud and soft, but short and long are very binary. You can hear the short notes on the bottom and the long notes on top. If you can do that, then you can play and control the balance of all the notes.

How do you draw the listeners attention to the voice that you want them to hear?

I’m going to show you a hack for drawing the listener’s attention to the voice you want them to hear. The secret is delineating the very first note of the melody you want the listener to be attached to. Once they hear the first note, they can follow it through. You want to make it very clear on the first note of a new line. After that, even if it’s not brought out that much, the listener is already aware that they should be listening for it. As soon as that first melody comes in. the listener is listening for it and they’ll follow it through. And you don’t even have to punctuate the melody that much anymore, because they’re already attuned to it. It’s in their consciousness.

Sometimes a melody or a counter melody can be contained within the texture.

Maybe the counter melody is at the top or the bottom, as is the case in the middle section of the Chopin Ballade No.3 in A-flat Major. In this section, there is a counter melody in the tenor voice, on the top of the left hand. You can accentuate the very beginning of it, and then just let it float. You don’t need to punctuate it that much after that, because it’s not necessary. The audience will already be listening for it. Once they hear the first note, they’re listening for where it’s going to go next. So it can be a more gentle inner voice, just punctuating that first note so the listener is aware that something new is there to listen to. Just play the beginning of that with some substance to the sound, and then let it be more in the background so that you don’t lose the melody on top, which is the main melody.

So that is the tip for today!

Aside from practicing with different articulations so you have control over all the notes in a texture, remember when you want to bring out a line, bring out the first note and the listener will latch on to it. This is particularly helpful when playing counterpoint like Bach fugues, for example. Whenever the fugue subject starts, articulate that first note. Then the listener doesn’t have to work hard to find the melodies of the subjects of fugues. It’s handed to them on a silver platter! They can easily follow it through even if you don’t punctuate it that much. It doesn’t have to sound labored. It can sound fluid and beautiful, and yet the listener has the experience of understanding the structure of the music, which greatly enhances the appreciation of the score. 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

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The topic today is about why some pieces are harder to memorize than others. Some composers are really hard to memorize compared to others. For example, Mozart may not be easy to play, but his pieces tend to be easier to memorize than a composer like Bach. Why is this?

The music of Mozart generally has melody and accompaniment.

Memorizing music that has melody with accompaniment is far easier than other types of music. You have a melody that you can remember because it’s something you can hum. And then you just have broken chords in the left hand. With something like a Bach fugue, where you have counterpoint, memorization is much more difficult. You don’t have a clear melody and accompaniment. It’s melody and melody! More than that, in a fugue with 3 or more voices, melodies are divided between the hands. So practicing hands separately sometimes doesn’t make sense. This is why counterpoint can be challenging to memorize. However, there’s a reason why even this may not be the hardest thing to memorize.

There’s a certain amount of tactile memory in counterpoint.

Even though there are a lot of interweaving parts, it all falls under your hands very nicely. Your fingers have a memory all their own! It’s sometimes referred to as muscle memory. Have you ever noticed yourself playing the piano and in the middle of it, you realize that you were spaced out? Your mind was thinking about something else entirely, but your fingers kept going! I made a video years ago about how playing scales is kind of like learning how to walk. At first, a toddler has to think of each step with great concentration. But soon they can walk and not even be thinking about it. Well, you can also play scales without thinking about it. The fingers just know where to go, as long as you practice.

There are times when muscle memory won’t help you.

When there are leaps in your music, you can’t rely upon the memory of the fingers because you have to know where you’re leaping. I remember when I first learned the Scriabin Etude in D sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12, how difficult it was to memorize all of the jumps. You have to be aware of what notes you’re jumping to. Your fingers don’t remember that, do they? Even if something isn’t as complex as a Scriabin etude, any time you have to jump from one register of the piano to another, you have to be intellectually aware of where you’re going.

With leaps, you have to know exactly what notes you’re landing on.

It’s difficult when you’re going from one section of the keyboard to another, particularly if you have a piece that leaps from one place to another in one section, then that same section leaps somewhere else later. In a sonata, for example, the exposition is different from the recapitulation, because the keys are different. You might take a wrong turn if you don’t know intellectually where you are in the music and where to go next. You need to just lock it in so when you get there, you know where you are. You can’t guess because you won’t know where to jump.

Those are the two things that make music more difficult to memorize.

Something with a lot of counterpoint, as in Baroque music and fugues in general, are more difficult to memorize than music with just melody and accompaniment, like in Mozart, Haydn, or even Chopin, depending upon the piece. Sometimes his harmonic sophistication in Chopin can be rather challenging as well. The other thing that makes music more difficult to memorize is leaps. Leaps can be difficult to remember even if you have memorized the music. You need to keep track of your jumps. You have to be keenly aware and have a good intellectual grasp of where you’re going in your score. 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

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The topic for today is about how to play at your piano lessons. You prepare all week and you’re ready for your lesson, but when the moment comes to play for your teacher, everything goes wrong! Why does that happen? Is there anything you can do about that? Yes! I’m going to give you some tips today to help you play for your teacher.

Preparation is key.

First I’m going to talk about the basics of how to play for your teacher. This applies to any performance, even just playing for friends. You practice and practice and everything is going fine. You can play your piece over and over again, no problem. But as soon as you play for somebody, everything goes wrong. What’s going on? There are a number of things you can do. You want to be prepared so that you can play the piece through without stopping. You want to be able to do it successfully a number of times.

It’s important to realize that performing is nothing like playing by yourself.

When you’re playing at home for yourself, there’s no self-awareness. You’re just thinking about the music, which is exactly as it should be! But when you’re playing for other people, suddenly you’re thinking about yourself. That self awareness distracts you from the music. You always want to stay focused on the music. How can you do this? Number one, realize that when you’re playing for your teacher, or playing for anyone, you naturally get a little bit excited. Your adrenaline is pumping, you’re going to be breathing faster, your heart’s going to be beating a little bit faster, even if it’s only slightly. Everything is elevated. So you have to combat this with relaxation. Take a deep breath before you start playing.

Take a moment to establish a tempo in your head.

Think of the tempo you’re going to play, not only the beginning of the piece, but think through a couple of other places in the piece. Think about the hardest part. Establish a speed not just for the beginning, but think through a couple of key sections. When you go to a concert, the performer gets to the piano and then they stop, they adjust how they sit, they put their hands on the keys and they take a few moments before starting to play. They’re doing all the things I’m telling you. They’re thinking through the music! They’re not going to start without thinking about it because they may take the wrong tempo. Once you start at the wrong tempo, you are sunk. You’re stuck with that tempo. You can’t just slow down in the middle of a performance. Take your time establishing a speed. And because your body is heightened, take it a notch slower then you just established and you might be spot on your usual tempo.

What I want to talk about today is how to approach playing at a lesson.

Let’s say you have a piece you’ve been working on for a couple of weeks. Maybe it’s a long piece and it’s taking you a while to learn it. You have the beginning section in great shape, you can play it up to speed and everything is in good shape. But then the next section, you sort of have it, but if you take it up to speed, you’re going to have problems. Then you get to the later section that you just learned in the last couple of days, and you have to take it much slower. So what tempo do you take? Should you take the whole thing really slowly from the beginning so you can accommodate the part you just learned? Or should you take it at the speed you are comfortable with on the second section so at least you can get through the first two sections at the same speed?

I’ll tell you what I do with my students.

If I know they have been working on a piece, I tell them right out of the gate not to just start from the beginning and gradually slow down. That would not be in anybody’s best interest. But if they have a chunk of the music up to tempo, I’ll have them play that part up to tempo. Then when they have to slow down in another section, they let me know. When they get to the part they just learned, they may have to take a much slower tempo. By playing for your teacher that way, they can understand the level you have the different sections of the piece on, then they can help you appropriately. Maybe the first section you’re playing up to speed, but there are problems with how you are approaching it that wouldn’t be revealed if you played it under tempo. Ask your teacher if that is what they want you to do, or if they want you to take everything at that much slower tempo so that you don’t have to change speeds along the way. Naturally, in performance, you never want to change tempo! But for the sake of the lesson, for your teacher to understand the work you’ve done, and the level you have different sections of a piece, I think it’s a great way to approach your performance at a lesson.

I’m interested in your opinion! What does your teacher have you do at lessons?

Does your teacher have you play the entire piece at a consistent tempo, or do they have you play each section at the tempo you have mastered? You can let me know in the comments here at LivingPianos.com or on YouTube. 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

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The topic for today is about the most important aspect of music. What is the most important aspect of music? There are so many things, such as texture, melody, instrumentation, orchestration, and pitch. But what is the most important thing?

Rhythm is by far the most important aspect of music.

I’m going to prove this to you in several ways that give you some historical context. If you heard the notes of a very familiar piece without a rhythmic context, it would be difficult to decipher what it was. It wouldn’t sound like much of anything because rhythm is a vitally important part of music. So let’s break this down a little bit. Think about the trajectory of music, starting with the Classical era of Mozart, Haydn, and later, Beethoven. There was a structure and a firm grasp of harmony that actually grew from Bach and earlier composers, with Bach chorales and all the rules of harmony, and basically major and minor chords. Harmony grew into the Romantic period, with composers such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky. And later, Romantic music got even more chromatic with Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Rachmaninoff. Eventually, tonality got to the point where keys were shifting constantly until it broke down to the 12 tone system, originally developed by Arnold Schoenberg, which used all 12 tones arranged in a random order called a tone row.

There are only 12 different notes in music!

How many different possible arrangements are there of 12 tones? Well, 144. Think about the vast majority of all Western music from before the Baroque era through to contemporary times, it’s all based upon just those 12 notes. This makes you realize how derivative melodies would be without the advent of rhythm. Rhythmic variety is what really separates melodies. So with the 12 tone system, you take those 12 tones and arrange them in some order called a tone row. Imagine building a piece out of that! Well, that’s exactly what Schoenberg did. Not only that, in trying to randomize music, not only were pitches randomized to avoid repeated patterns, but even rhythms were randomized trying to serialize the repetition of all elements. Now, this music is brilliant in its composition, but extraordinarily difficult to hear because atonal music is harder to digest than intervals that are more closely related. You can hear octaves, which are a 2 to 1 relationship, or fifths, a 3 to 1 relationship, very easily. But more distantly related intervals can be very hard to hear. Atonal music, by its very nature, is difficult to decipher. When you start randomizing other elements, like rhythm, textures, and dynamics, the music is even harder to grasp because of its random elements. This is why rhythm comes to the rescue in most music.

The revolution away from serialized music, like I just described, was the advent of minimalism.

Minimalism has a return of rhythmic elements in a new way. The brilliance of minimalism with composers like Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and John Adams, was the nested combination of different patterns, overlapping with one another, creating beautiful kaleidoscopes of sound. Once again, we see the intrinsic element of rhythm. Whereas you had Baroque music using subjects in fugues that were intertwined with countersubject, in Classical period music, there were formal structures such as sonata allegro form, but with rhythmic elements firmly in place. That broke down in atonal music in the 20th century. Then finally, minimalism to the rescue! With minimalism you could once again decipher and grasp what you were listening to.

What about microtonal music?

The reason we have the 12 tones is because the overtone series is built upon these essential 12 notes. If you were to listen to any vibrating pitched object, you’re always going to get the same series of notes. The overtone series has your basic diatonic notes. They’re not arranged as a scale, but they’re the same notes. Now, on a tempered tuned piano, all the pitches are slightly off. So much music, whether it’s Persian music or Native American music or Indian music, has notes between the notes. But they still are largely pure tones found in the overtone series. These are mathematical relationships that are part of nature, which we can discern with our ears quite easily. So when you have arbitrary divisions of pitches, for example, quarter steps, notes between the notes, this isn’t something that has any real validity in the nature of sound.

So this is the argument that rhythm is the most intrinsically important element that makes music have meaning.

Without rhythm, and with only 12 tones, everything is derivative of everything else. But rhythm, by its very nature, has almost an infinite variety of possibilities because of all the divisions of time that are possible. That adds so many elements to composition! Let me know how you feel about this here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! 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