You may or may not have heard this term before. In studying with my father, Morton Estrin, he stressed the concept of playing with a quiet hand years before I left for conservatory and it’s something I’ve incorporated into my playing ever since. This is a great technique for creating expressive playing on the piano and today we are going to learn about what it is and how you can incorporate it into your playing.
The concept of a quiet hand is about avoiding unnecessary motion in order to achieve control in smooth melodic playing. The most important aspect to playing with a quiet hand is to have as little extraneous motion as possible and to utilize the weight of the arms transferring smoothly from key to key. So how do you achieve this?
You’ll want to practice getting your hands over the correct keys and transferring the weight between your fingers creating an almost seamless musical line. For more information on this topic check out my past video on finger techniques for the piano.
Thanks again for joining me here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any topic at all please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
Welcome to the first in a three part series on learning Clementi’s Sonatinas Op. 36 in C major. If any of you out there are piano teachers or intermediate level piano students, you are probably familiar with this piece. This is a great piece for students. I have personally taught it hundreds of times, and I have encouraged all intermediate level students to learn it. Today we are going to discuss some tips for the first movement.
This is a great piece because it was written in an era when pianos had no pedals. This allows the students to focus on the clarity and execution of their fingers. The two big techniques to master and differentiate in this lesson are finger technique and wrist technique.
The first recommendation I have for this piece is to memorize it. It is not that hard to memorize and it will serve you well to do so because you won’t have to be looking back and forth at the score while you are playing it.
Right in the beginning you will notice that you have a lot of different phrasing in this movement. You’ll need to learn how to utilize your wrists independently from your arms to get the proper sound and learn how to separate staccato from the legato articulations. If you play staccato from your wrist, you’ll be able to get a crisp sound.
In the right hand you have many passages of slurred notes which end with a staccato note. To tackle this, you press down on the first note of the slur and come up with the wrist on the staccato note. By utilizing the wrist in these sections you will be able to create a smooth slur with a crisp staccato. If you use your arm instead of your wrist, you will get a cumbersome sound because your arms are too heavy to respond quickly enough.
The other important thing for practicing this piece is to practice with the metronome. There is not much nuance of tempo. so it’s imperative that you learn to play the piece with the metronome to get the timing as precise as possible. I recommend starting slowly and working your way up to tempo to develop clean playing with security.
You’ll also want to make dynamic changes in this piece sudden and impactful. Play with extreme, sudden dynamic changes to give the piece clarity.
Thanks again for joining me here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this piece or any questions at all please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
Picking the right music school is a very crucial decision in many musician’s life. There are thousands of music schools around the world and narrowing down your choices can be a very daunting task. This article will provide some tips to help in your selection.
If you are an instrumentalist or singer, one of the most important things is making sure the school you are looking at has good orchestras and other ensembles to perform in. Having the opportunity to play with other musicians is a very important aspect in your musical development. So, making sure you have the opportunity to play with other musicians is a central element in your education.
The reputation of the institution you’re looking at is also an important factor. The prestige of a degree from a respected school may help to enhance your career opportunities later on. The location of the school is also an important consideration since there could possibly be more opportunities for work in a more urban environment. However, a more rural setting may be the right fit for some people since it offers a potentially less distracting learning environment. You should look at schools that fit your personality and aspirations.
When I was selecting schools there was one aspect that mattered more than any of the things listed above: my private teacher.
The private teacher who will be mentoring you can be the most important decision in selecting a school.
But how do you go about finding the right teacher for you? As I researched schools, I referenced recordings of teachers I would potentially be studying with and looked for ones I had great respect and admiration for. There are so many more resources today to research your teachers and universities with the internet. But making sure you select a great teacher is incredibly important to your success in school. You could attend one of the best institutions in the world, but if you are not getting what you need to develop your craft from your private teacher, your experience could be disappointing.
Selecting a teacher is complicated. You may hear someone’s recordings and be thrilled with the playing. Yet, that’s not everything that comes into account when selecting a teacher. Just because someone plays their instrument well doesn’t mean they can teach well. On the other hand, just because someone teaches well doesn’t mean their playing is top notch. Sometimes people are past their prime or were never great performers, yet could convey musical knowledge exceedingly well. So, how do you find the right teacher for yourself?
One indication is referencing a teacher’s past students and seeing their success. Yet there are circumstances where an institution will have prestigious teachers on staff who draw the best students from around the world. In some cases these students are on such a high level when they arrive at the school that all they need is advanced coaching rather than fundamental teaching. By putting the final touches on the student’s progress, the teachers may get credit for work that may have been the result of former training.
So how do you find a good teacher?
There is absolutely no substitute for personal communication. The best solution is to visit schools you have narrowed down on your list of choices and talk to the teachers personally. Better yet, if you can take a lesson or two from teachers you are interested in studying with, that would be ideal. Influential names and prestige are important factors in selecting a teacher, but they may not be as crucial as the personal connection you have with your private music teacher.
Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
You probably know that pianos generally have 3 pedals. You may have seen pianos with only 2 pedals (mostly older European and Asian pianos). But have you seen any pianos with 4 pedals? Believe it or not, there are pianos with 4 pedals and it’s very interesting how this works.
One example is the piano company Stuart & Sons from Australia which builds pianos with 4 pedals. Before we get into what the fourth pedal does, let’s do a quick review of the functions of the standard 3 pedals.
The right pedal (the sustain or damper pedal) enables all the notes to carry their sound even after you lift your hands off the keys. Virtually all modern pianos (even digital pianos) have this pedal and your piano almost certainly has one.
The left pedal (the soft pedal or una corda pedal) shifts the action to the side slightly – which you can actually see on grand pianos when you depress the pedal. The hammers strike only two of the three strings directly producing a more mellow tone.
The middle pedal is a selective hold (sostenuto) pedal in that it only holds the dampers up for the keys you press and hold down just before pressing down the middle pedal. Yet, any additional notes you play after, will not sustain without holding the keys down. If this sounds confusing you can watch my video on What Does the Middle Pedal on a Piano Do?
The above descriptions of all these pedals pertain to the actions on grand pianos. Upright pianos have pedals that typically don’t have the same functions as pedals on grand pianos with the exception of the damper or sustain pedal on the right.
On upright pianos, the right (damper) pedal still functions the same as they do on grand pianos in that it holds up the dampers on all notes allowing all notes to sustain without holding down the keys. The middle pedal on a upright pianos is typically a practice pedal which places felt over the strings for quiet playing. Some middle pedals on upright pianos sustain only low notes which mimics the use of sostenuto pedals (middle pedals) on grand pianos. The left pedal though is where things get really interesting.
The left pedal on upright pianos sets the hammers closer to the strings instead of shifting the action to only strike two of the three strings as in grand pianos. This doesn’t change tone, but it does change the touch of the piano making it harder to play loud because it lessens the momentum of the strike of the hammers. This is what the fourth pedal does on Stuart & Sons pianos.
This may be useful because you still have the availability of the una corda pedal for tonal change, but you also can change the response of the action making it easier to play softly with the fourth pedal. While not a requirement for your music, but it’s a nice option to have.
Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
This might sound like a funny topic but I’ve gotten this question quite a few times over the years.
In the past, I’ve had students who would let their fingernails grow to ridiculous lengths and they caused clicking whenever they played! This can be distracting!
Why are long fingernails a problem? Good hand position is extremely important when it comes to playing the piano. You want to be in a position that takes no effort to maintain. Naturally, your fingers curve into a comfortable position.
In this position, your fingernails would be the first things to strike the keys. Playing the piano with your fingers and hand in this position is much more natural than trying to play with them outstretched like this:
While this hand position might make it easier on long fingernails, playing the piano like this would cause a lot of unnecessary strain and make playing rapid passagework cumbersome.
So can you play the piano with long fingernails? Sure, but if you’re serious about playing, you need to trim them to a length that allows you to play the piano without creating extraneous noises with your nails and maintaining an ideal hand position.
If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
I know this is a topic that might have some piano teachers in a panic at the suggestion of having students play their music too fast. Generally in performance and even in practice, playing your music too fast can be destructive. What I’m suggesting in this video is just one method of practicing your music – and something you would never use in a performance setting. It is a technique which used sparingly may provide insights into approaching your music.
You may have a piece you’ve learned and can’t get beyond a fundamental level of performance. I’ve found that sometimes playing a piece faster than written can open up new approaches and even new techniques you never thought to try. For example, if you’re playing a fast piece, playing it even faster will force you to lighten up your technique in order to accommodate the speed. Then when you come back to the normal tempo, you will find that you have more facility and comfort than before.
Even in slow movements this can be a beneficial technique. For example, in the Mozart K332 Sonata, the second movement is gorgeous and lyrical. Playing faster can provide insights into the direction of the musical line which you may not realize playing at the appropriate tempo. Sometimes you might find yourself getting bogged down and the music sounds choppy and lacking a fluid line. By practicing this movement faster than written, you’re almost guaranteed to approach it with a more fluid line. Try this and then go back to the written tempo and incorporate what you experienced playing at the faster tempo. You can sense the larger note values instead of each sixteenth note. You may be pleased with the results!
This is certainly not a technique I would recommend on a regular basis. However, it is something to try when you hit a wall with the progress of a new piece. I also have a video about the benefits of practicing your music slowly that is intrinsic to effective piano practice and something virtually all great pianists do on a regular basis.
Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
