Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

You’ve probably seen a lot of repeat signs in your music:

There is a mentality a lot of musicians have that these are optional – but are they really?

As a teacher, I would commonly be asked by students why repeat signs are used. The simple answer is to save paper! It really is that simple. Often it’s easier to utilize repeat signs then to write all the notes again. There are times when repeat signs are used in a piece in one edition, and in another edition, the notes are written out. You would probably never consider leaving out the written notes in this case. So why leave out the repeat in the other instance?

You should never go into a piece expecting repeat signs to be optional; they should be respected just as if the notes were written down in their entirety. There are times when I’ve heard musicians take extremely slow tempos in pieces and inevitably leave out the repeats. If repeats don’t seem to work, maybe your tempo is too slow.

So to answer the question, are repeat signs really important? Yes! Try playing the repeats in your music whenever there isn’t time constraints in your performance and you will be rewarded with the musical form as the composer intended.

Today we are going to talk about a tough subject, not getting accepted to a music conservatory. This is a very real fear for any music student but it’s not the end of the road for your potential career. Today we are going to talk about the options in front of you if you don’t get accepted into the school of your choice.

I know a number of students who worked very hard to get into the schools of their dreams and they ended up getting denied by all of them. This is not necessarily because they are bad students or musicians, it may have more to do with the admissions process for schools than anything else.

Getting into a music conservatory is largely a random process. Picking qualified students is based upon so many random factors that are simply out of your control. How many students are applying that semester? What are students applying? How many openings are there? What is the temperament of the teacher selecting the students? There are dozens of factors that can impact your ability to get into a school every semester – it’s too random a process to guarantee results.

Don’t get discouraged. I have had illustrious students have gotten substantial scholarships to top conservatories yet other schools wouldn’t even let them audition! These are very accomplished students but for whatever reason, some schools didn’t think they fit their program and didn’t even invite them in.

There are options. Other than simply re-applying another semester (which you can definitely do), there are options if you didn’t get into any of the schools you applied to. Whether you are a performance, conducting, or composition major, the most important thing is your private teacher. If you can get a great teacher for your instrument you can progress (arguably) just as fast as you would at a music school. This is a very important investment that should not be overlooked.

Reach out to other musicians in your area. Getting experience playing with other musicians in community orchestras, quartets or small groups is a great way to practice performing with other musicians as well as develop great contacts and more experience and exposure. You can get a lot of music education by utilizing these resources without ever having to set foot in a classroom.

Community College is a great option. If you want to pursue a degree in music and you haven’t been accepted right out of high school I encourage you to attend your local community college. Many of them offer amazing music programs with very accomplished teachers and musicians. Right here in Southern California, there are a number of community colleges that offer great music programs and the instructors are top-notch.

Not only can you gain musical experience at a community college, you can get a lot of your academic classes out of the way (at much lower cost) before you transfer to a university. I know a number of students who have taken this route and gone on to great success.

It’s not the end of the road. Don’t get down on yourself, there are many factors beyond your control that go into the selection process for a music conservatory. If this is your passion then you should never give up; time, work and persistence really do pay off and you can achieve your goals if you keep working towards them.

You’ve no doubt heard diminished 7th chords before. Anytime you hear spooky chords in an old horror movie or a Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody, works of Richard Wagner, as well as many other pieces of music, they are pervasive. They serve very important functions. But what are diminished 7th chords?

The piano is a unique instrument. I recall my third grade general music class. On occasion my teacher would let me play the piano for for everyone at the end of class and it was something I looked forward to. On one particular day when we were learning about the families of musical instruments, string, brass, woodwind and percussion, I asked if I could play at the end of class. But my teacher had a stipulation because of limited time. If I could tell her the classification of the piano she would let me play. I knew by the look on her face that it couldn’t have been something obvious which would be the string family, so guessed that the piano was a percussion instrument (the only other group of instruments I deemed possible). She was shocked that I had guessed correctly and she had to let me play!

So yes, the piano is a percussion instrument.

When the hammers strike the strings the notes sound and immediately begin fading away.

All music emulates the human voice to one degree or another. On wind instruments the connection is obvious – they utilize the breath. Even bowed string instruments produce continuity of sound not unlike the breath of the voice. So how do you emulate this quality on the piano, an instrument where the notes immediately begin to fade away as soon as you play them?

This is what we are going to discuss in detail today using the Chopin F# Nocturne (in the video example). I am going to provide a collection of techniques to help you achieve the tone you desire on the piano. Ultimately you are the judge of the sound you produce and you’ll use your ears to achieve the sound you want. These are guidelines to help you explore different tonal possibilities.

The first way to produce a singing line on the piano is to get louder towards the middle of the phrase and softer towards the end of the phrase. This is achieved not by calculating note to note but by using the weight of your arms to produce the desired tone. Here is an article and video which describes this technique in some detail:

The second way to produce a singing tone on the piano is to play louder as you play higher notes and softer when playing descending musical lines. The reason why this works so well is that when you’re singing or playing most wind instruments it’s natural for the higher notes to be louder than lower notes. This technique will create a different sense of phrasing from the method described above, yet the outcome is very lyrical.

The last method I’m going to share is something intrinsic to the piano. This is something that a master pianist Vladimir Horowitz utilized a great deal. Obviously you can’t completely replicate his style or methods which encompass many aspects, but you can attempt to create a similar tone production in your music. The method he utilized was to play longer notes with more energy than shorter notes.

Why does this technique make sense? It comes back to the physics of piano sound and the fact that as a percussion instrument notes are always fading away. For notes to last longer you must play them with more energy so they last long enough to create a musical line. If you try this on the piano it creates a singing quality in your music.

One of the most common questions we get here at the store pertains to ivory keys and whether or not they are worth money. Since ivory is scarce today – and also illegal to buy/sell in many instances – it seems that they might be valuable on the second-hand market. This is not exactly the case.

First of all, when we talk about the white piano keys, we are referring to the keytops and not the keys themselves. Most of the piano keys are made out of wood and a cover of ivory or plastic is placed on top and in front of the keys. The pieces of ivory or plastic that go over the wooden keys are very thin. So, as a source of raw ivory, you are not working with much material when it comes to a single key top.

The biggest problem you are going to face is that selling ivory is illegal. Ripping the key tops off a piano and trying to sell them by themselves is not a good idea. For example, if you even try to list a product with ivory on eBay the listing will be removed – they simply don’t allow it. You also can’t transport ivory overseas and in some cases even in the United States, you may be prevented from selling ivory across state lines. So the market for selling ivory keys tops is very limited.

So what can you do with ivory keys you don’t need?

The best thing you can do is give them to your piano technician. Many times a technician will keep some ivory key tops with them in case one needs to be replaced on a piano. No two ivories are the same. However, there is a possibility they can match a key to an existing piano when a key top needs to be replaced if they have a big enough collection of old ivories of different sizes and hues.

Before the laws tightened, a set of ivory keys could have been worth thousands of dollars. There is some today who still sell them. You should use caution when dealing with ivory since the laws can be complex.

Welcome to the first part in a multi-part series on chords. Today we are going to talk about how to identify the chords you are playing. I’ve had questions from people playing certain sonorities and wondering what exactly they are playing. In this lesson, we are going to talk about the basics of identifying chords.

The most basic thing to know about chords is that they are (almost always) built on the interval of a third. What is a third? A third is any notes that are on lines or spaces (not both) – they are two letter names apart. Here are some examples of thirds: A-C (leaving out B) or C-E (leaving out D).

Some chords are more sophisticated and they have what is called altered tones. This means that there might be an augmented or diminished chord that will have raised or lowered notes.

So knowing all this, how are you supposed to figure out what the chords are? It’s easier than you might think. Simply arrange the notes into thirds on the staff.

When you are reading your music, make sure that the notes are arranged in thirds. To do this, simply look at the notes that are on lines or spaces. Sometimes this can be tricky because there is something referred to as inversions. An inversion is done by taking the bottom note of a chord and placing it on the top (or the top note is placed on the bottom) – in the end, it will be exactly the same chord. So how do you know which chord it is? In an inversion, the notes will not be arranged in thirds, if you rearrange the notes until they form thirds (all lines or all spaces) you will find the root of the chord which is on the bottom. Take the bottom note and place it on top, or the top note on the bottom and the notes will arrange into thirds – all lines, or all spaces.

So how do you handle chords with more than three notes? The same principle applies to these chords. You can actually build chords all the way to the 13th utilizing only the interval of a third. Why is a 13 chord the limit? Because if you play one more third you will arrive back at the note you started on. This is because there are only seven possible notes within a scale and a 13 chord contains all of them!

This might sound confusing but once you start applying the basic principles in this lesson you will see that it makes perfect sense and is an easy way to identify chords. Next time we will be covering how to approach expanded chords.