All posts by Robert Estrin

How to Play Piano Faster

You’ve probably seen pianists gliding all over the keyboard almost effortlessly. It’s amazing to witness their speed and precision – it seems almost impossible. Sadly there is no turn-key solution for playing the piano faster but I will try and give you some tips on how you can improve your speed.

Learning to play fast is something that takes a lot of work and dedication. It’s not something you can master overnight; it’s something that can take years to develop and a lifetime to master. The most important aspects to improving your speed are to develop strength in your fingers and play lightly as you increase speed.

In the video on the top of this page, I use the Mozart K332 Sonata to demonstrate these techniques.

The good news is that if you keep playing the piano you will eventually develop more strength in your fingers. Some people will tell you that practicing scales and arpeggios is a great way to develop strength, and while they are definitely helpful, they aren’t the only solution for developing strength. Playing nearly anything will help you develop strength in your fingers – it’s something that will just develop naturally over time if you spend a great deal of time playing and practicing the piano.

When it comes to playing a particular piece of music with faster sections, often starting slowly and progressing the tempo is a great solution. Take out a metronome and set it to a comfortable tempo. Play the notes in time with the metronome and develop an approach that utilizes appropriate hand positions and finger patterns – everything should be lined up just right. Once you feel comfortable and can play the notes without errors, set the metronome speed up by one notch and start again. Keep working like this until you get the passage up to speed. You might not even notice a difference only setting the metronome up one notch at a time; that’s good! By practicing this way you will gradually build up speed and it won’t be as much of a challenge for you. If you have the patience to practice this way you will develop speed much more quickly.

Another thing to be aware of are techniques you will need to employ to play faster on the piano. It is a lot different from playing slowly and you will need to adjust your playing style. In my video about playing the piano loud, I talk about how to use the arms and mass to get a larger sound. When it comes to playing fast, you will want to use less mass but you don’t want the tone to suffer. In faster sections you should play with your fingers closer to the keys – nearly touching them with minimal arm weight. When playing slowly you can practice with raised fingers but you can’t do that when it comes to faster passages. The general rule is that you want to keep your fingers closer to the keys so you can use the smallest amount of finger strength possible and yet still create a nice sound. The good news is there is a way to practice this technique!

Taking sections of your music – specifically, places where you experience problems – and focusing on them individually is one of the best things you can do correct mistakes in your playing. Make sure you practice at low speeds and figure out which hand positions and finger patterns work for you before moving on. Like many things in life, playing faster on the piano is something you must work for over time. You may find practicing a select number of notes with accents and different rhythms will aid in progressing the speed. There is no simple solution but practicing the techniques illustrated above should help you improve your speed. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin – Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Warm Up on the Piano

This is a very important issue when it comes to playing any instrument. There are books written on how to warm up on the piano and countless techniques and exercises you can utilize. I’m going to share a few tips with you that I use in my own practice and performances. The good news is, none of this is as complicated as you might think.

Let’s start holistically. Any warm-up is predicated on you being physically healthy; if you are ailing from anything such as stiff muscles, soreness, illness, or anything that would hinder your well being, it can affect your performance on the piano. If you suffer from any chronic ailments, you should take your time with easing into playing the piano.

The first thing you will want to do is make sure that your hands are warm. If you have cold hands it means that your blood is not circulating well and if you just start playing virtuoso music without warming up your hands you could do some damage. An easy solution for this is to run warm water over your hands so you feel comfortable before you start playing.

I strongly recommend doing some stretching on a regular basis – whether it’s yoga or simple stretches you would perform before a workout. This can be incredibly valuable to your long-term health as well as keeping you injury free while performing.

One of the most overlooked aspects of playing any instrument is correct posture. When it comes to the piano, posture is crucial to your musical success as well as your health. I have a whole separate video on How to Sit At the Piano that you should watch for more specific information. If you find yourself in a situation where you can play the piano but the bench is not high or low enough you must take the time to correct the problem before playing.

When it comes to actually playing, try starting with something slow. Don’t jump right into advanced music – let your fingers, arms, and hands warm up by playing something slower that will utilize all parts of the body. Some people start with scales. If you do, start playing at 1 note to the beat and with raised fingers which gently stretches the muscles. Gradually build up your speed until you feel comfortable. You don’t have to warm up with scales or arpeggios; you can pick any piece of music and just start slower than normal.

There is no real secret to warming up on the piano. It’s a simple process of making sure you’re mentally and physically prepared. Make sure your hands are warm and comfortable, ensure that you have good posture, start with something slow, and you can enjoy yourself for the long haul!

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

Do you Need to Tune Your Piano After it’s Moved?

This is one of the most common questions we get asked. You might think how fickle some musical instruments can be with tuning and assume that a piano would probably have to be tuned after it’s moved because of the potential stress the strings exert on the structure.

Conventional wisdom states that you would need to tune a piano after it’s moved; some people might even insist on tuning a piano if you roll it across a room. Is this really the case?

Pianos are much more robust than many people might imagine. After all, pianos used to be transported across the country on horse and buggy, they are very rugged instruments and a simple move across a room or even across town is not going to necessarily knock it out of tune. It would take a tremendous amount of force to knock a piano out of tune just by moving it.

For longer moves – let’s say across the country or hundreds of miles – unless the piano is shipped in a climate controlled truck it could possibly need to be tuned once it arrives at it’s new location. The move itself is not what will make the piano go out of tune however, it’s something much more important.

The climate of the room where a piano is kept is the determining factor in whether or not a piano will have to be tuned once it’s moved. Pianos need a stable environment in order to stay in tune and unless you are moving a piano in a climate controlled truck it may need to be tuned once it reaches its destination and becomes settled to it’s new home. Just moving a piano across town will probably not make the piano go out tune as long as the climate in your home is similar to the climate where the piano was previously. So how long should you wait before you decide to tune the piano after a move?

I always recommend letting a piano sit in it’s new location for at least a couple of weeks before performing its first tuning in its new location unless there are some issues with the piano that need to be addressed sooner. This will give the piano time to settle and acclimate to it’s new home. You shouldn’t wait too long after a move to tune your piano though as there is a potential danger to be aware of.

Many people might not know this but neglecting to tune a piano could be damaging to the instrument. The piano can shift up or down in pitch – and it’s something you might not even notice – and it can take a number of tunings before you can get the piano back up to the standard A440 pitch and keep it stable. So after a few weeks (2-8 weeks) tune the piano and keep tuning it on a regular schedule.

Thanks again for joining me. If you have any questions about this topic or any others relating to pianos or music in general please feel free to ask: Robert Estrin, Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729.

What is Prepared Piano?

Today’s question is something you might or might not have heard of. You’ve undoubtedly heard a prepared piano on film scores but you might not even realize what you were hearing. Today we’re going to discuss what it is as well as how you can experiment with these sounds yourself.

The piano has been around and advancements have been made over hundreds of years. Despite where the instruments are today, some composers still want to get even more out of the instrument. Composers like John Cage and others have experimented with altering the piano by adding different tools and other objects to the inside of the piano.

The video included with this article gives you an example of how a prepared piano can look and sound, although there are endless possibilities. We used just a few household objects placed on top of and between the strings. You are certainly not limited to just these types of enhancements; sometimes players will pluck strings or make changes to the keys as well – the only limit is your imagination and the capabilities of your piano.

If you feel brave enough to try and prepare your piano and experiment with different sounds, go for it!

This is a musical instrument after all and anything you want to do to illicit new sounds is fair game – there are no strict rules for what you can and can’t do. Just be careful not to harm the piano and certainly be wary of doing anything that involves pulling the action of the piano – this is something only a technician should be doing for you.

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

How to Set Up a Home Music Studio

The ability to record professional-level music has really grown substantially in the past decade. What you can achieve today with just a simple computer in your home exceeds what you could achieve in a top of the line recording studio just a few decades ago.

As a child I grew up around studio equipment – tape recorders and other seemingly archaic recording technology were all around my home and in my father’s studio. As a young adult, I owned my own commercial recording studio and it was both a formidable investment and came with great compromises. Today, this is no longer an issue – anyone can set up a home studio with a few hundred dollars and a bit of knowledge.

Now before you go out and set up your studio, it’s a good idea to get a grasp on exactly what you will be using it for. Is it just audio recording? Maybe you want to incorporate video – what if you are a composer and you want to print out music you compose? These are all things you should be aware of before making your initial purchases. Planning and budgeting will lead to much better results when everything is in place.

You should also be aware of what operating system and software you intend on using. If you’re going with a Mac you can use Apple Logic or Mark of the Unicorn’s Digital Performer; on PC you have programs like Sonar/Cakewalk, Cubase, Reason and many others. When it comes down to picking the platform and the software, you should investigate what specialty the programs might offer. Most of them do nearly everything, but some of the programs specialize in certain areas better than others. It’s a very good idea to research the available programs thoroughly before making a purchase since some programs can be expensive and the learning curve can be steep.

Music recording in the home has become so advanced that you can literally plug in a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) enabled keyboard, play something, and have your program instantly record and transcribe the notes of what you just played! It might not be perfectly accurate transcription – it will assuredly need a little human editing – but it’s a great leap in the ability to transcribe music.

The one aspect of recording that hasn’t changed as much over the years is the recording hardware itself. Microphones, amplifiers, speakers, and room acoustics haven’t changed as much and still remain an important – and potentially expensive area of recording music. Surprisingly, some of the best equipment out there today is older technology. Tube amplifiers, ribbon microphones, and other older technology can still produce amazing – and in a lot of cases better results than newer digital equipment.

The bottom line is, you will need the following equipment to get even a minimal setup going:

microphone(s):
Look for quality here; it makes a huge difference.

Speakers:
You don’t necessarily need anything top-of-the-line here. But since this is your reference they should be relatively neutral rather than flatter any particular frequencies.

Computer:
You can get away with a mid-level PC or Mac.

Recording Interface:
You can use anything you can connect a microphone (or several mics) to a computer with. Make sure it’s compatible with your operating system and computer hardware and that it fits your needs.

Recording Software:
It is very important to research this thoroughly since you will be spending a lot of time familiarizing yourself with this.

MIDI enabled keyboard and printer
Choose a keyboard that suits your playing style. You only need a printer if you want to have score printing capabilities.

This is a very extensive topic and could be covered in-depth for hours upon hours – in fact, they have entire college courses dedicated to this subject. The good news is that anyone looking to set up a studio to record music in their home is able to achieve it with minimal investment in both time and money. You can forgo the audio interface and use the onboard capabilities of your computer if you want. Even Apple’s Garage Band on the iPad has substantial capabilities!

We are living in a wonderful age of technological advancements that enable everyday people to achieve tremendous results with only a minimal amount of investment.

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

Can You Compose Music Without Being Able to Read Music?

The short answer is, yes! While we will definitely dive deeper into this subject in this article, reading and writing music is not necessarily a requirement to be a musician – although the type of music and what you’re looking to get out of your musical experience are important factors.

There are many styles of music in which people don’t read music at all and they can still be very successful. A lot of folk music and rock music is composed and played without the need to write or read music in a traditional way and it doesn’t hurt the overall experience.

With the advent of technology there are tools that have been developed for composers who don’t necessarily write things down. For example, when someone is scoring music for film or TV it might not require writing any music down. A musician could use a keyboard connected to a computer to simply improvise music and play any instrument sounds imaginable with certain programs. They might even use sound design elements that are incorporated into their music that aren’t even musical instruments at all – which would make it impossible to write down “notes” for something like that.

Sequencing programs on computers allow you to plug a keyboard in and they will record everything you play. Whether you are playing with a piano sound or different instruments, everything is recorded in a raw format that allows you to revisit it later and change the sound, instruments, or even the notes however you want. You can achieve all this without knowing how to read music. It can definitely be helpful in the editing process to use notation, however, there are other ways of dealing with notes such as piano roll representations which can be manipulated on the computer screen.

There are some limitations to composing without knowing how to read a score for certain types of production. For example, if you want to add acoustic instrument tracks to your score, being able to flesh out a part, put it on staff paper and having a professional musician come in and record that part would be much more time consuming without the ability to work with musical notation. However, there are workarounds even for this, such as recording the part on a keyboard and having someone learn it from the recording – or having someone transcribe the part to written form for you.

Another possibility is using shortcut notation – such as lead sheets. In Jazz and other improvised styles of music, lead sheets are how musicians generally communicate with each other.

The further your progress in your music, the more important learning how to read and write music may become. It’s not a necessity to get started but it can open up possibilities for your musical creations and collaborations.

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.