Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

If you were a music student at one time or have a child studying music you might be familiar with the popular numerical grades for music students. In the past I’ve had parents from potential students contact me and reference the student’s grade level. What do these grade levels really mean and are they important for students and parents?

The truth is that on a whole these grades don’t really mean much. In certain contexts they can be beneficial but they aren’t some gold standard to adhere to when it comes to studying music. Grade levels can be arbitrary, they are not universal when it comes to institutions. For example, the MTAC (Music Teachers Association of California) provides grade levels for their teachers and students but these are not universal grades used by other institutions. In different countries they have different grading systems and even in different states within the USA there are different grading systems within different organizations.

So why do we even have these grading systems? They do provide a good use for competitions. Teachers are able to better place their students in competitions when they use the grading system because they will have a good idea of where they fit in and what level will give them the best chance to win. Grade levels can also help teachers identify repertoire for students quickly because they will have a good idea of their skill level when searching for a new piece. If you are part of a music teacher’s association they often publish lists of repertoire and the corresponding grade levels that go with them making the search for a new piece very easy.

Beyond grade levels, musical scores have such a deep and complex nature to them that a number can’t really justify whether it’s a good fit for a student or not. For example, have you ever heard a student play a slow Mozart movement well? It’s very unusual to have a student who can play with the poetry required to play one of these deceptively simple pieces correctly. Just because it’s easy to play the notes doesn’t make it easy to play the piece correctly. Grade levels really don’t take into account the individual characteristics of a student.

Different students excel in different skill sets and these grade levels are really only a rough guideline for a teacher to see how advanced a student is. Any good teacher will recognize the individual characteristics of their students and can probably help select a good piece for them by using both their knowledge of the student and their graded level.

Today we are going to delve into a topic that you may be fascinated to learn about. We are all familiar with the traditional piano keyboard and the traditional method of reading and writing musical notation. But believe it or not, there are alternative systems to both of these that have existed for quite some time.

Everyone knows what a traditional piano keyboard looks like since we’ve all grown up with them and are familiar with how the keys are arranged. In 1882, a new type of keyboard known as the Janko Keyboard was invented.

It was supposed to be superior to the traditional piano keyboard since it was oriented both horizontally and vertically – somewhat like a typewriter or computer keyboard. So, when you want to reach higher octaves you just have to go up and down the keyboard instead of making large leaps left and right. The other interesting thing is that all scales have similar fingering!

So why didn’t this keyboard take off and replace the original one we all know? Some people claim that the act of watching someone perform on the piano and performing large leaps added an exciting visual element that would be lost on a keyboard like this; and those actions (despite being challenging to the performer) bring life to a performance and excite the audience.

I believe that this alternative keyboard may not offer the same level of power as a traditional piano keyboard particularly when handling large leaps.

As for alternative system of notation, there are a number of different notation types that exist such as leadsheet notation and the Nashville number system that are less new forms of notation as they are shortcuts to simplifying musical notation for improvised types of music.

There actually is an alternative form of musical notation developed that has notes oriented differently on the page. It is called The Klavarskribo System.

A lot of people new to reading music find it confusing that the piano keys are oriented left to right, yet the lines in the music are horizontal. The Klavarskribo system attempts to eliminate this confusion by having the lines of the staff line up with the notes on the keyboard.

As you can see, the lines go vertically and match up with the keys on the piano. So if this is easier to read, why isn’t more music created with the Klavarskribo system?

It’s not until you start breaking it down into more complex sheet music that you see where this system runs into problems. For example, with the lines going vertically, how do you account for ledger lines? How do you cover all the notes? There is a limit to how many lines you can read! You also would have instances of note clusters that can be difficult to read.

While there might be systems out there that simplify or improve upon the systems we have in place, there are issues with these alternative keyboards and systems of notation. When it comes to musical notation, you would have to change the world of music in order to adopt a new form of notation for everyone to agree upon. The traditional one we’ve had has worked for centuries and the idea of simply switching to a new one is a daunting task. Even if it were better and more streamlined, the process of changing everyone over to a new form of musical notation is next to impossible. Just think about how in America we still don’t use the metric system even though it’s adopted by nearly every country in the world; we have tried and failed to convert our system of measurement – the same would probably happen in music.

The simple saying If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! applies here! These alternative keyboards and forms of notation are interesting, but the systems we have in place work incredibly well – so we’re in good shape!

This is a great topic because it applies to so many different types of music. Voice Leadings refer to how each note of a chord resolves to the next chord. This is something found in every type of music you could imagine, from jazz to classical and to the early days of choral writing. While this all might sound confusing now, voice leadings are actually a very simple subject.

If you take the notes of a scale and number them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (being the octave), which in C major would be C, D, E, F, G, A B, C, the formula is this:

– 2 goes down to 1
– 4 goes down to 3
– 6 goes down to 5 and
– 7 goes up to 8 (or down to 5 for better resolution in some cases)

This is true for both major and minor keys.

As for accidentals, raised notes go up, and lowered tones resolve down. So in C major, sharps resolve up and flats resolve down. In keys with sharps or flats, naturals may alter tones up or down depending upon context. But it works exactly the same way. So for example in F major which has a B-flat in the key signature, if you had a B natural, it would resolve up to C!

That’s basically the essence of how voices resolve! Active tones resolve to restive tones. 1, 3, 5, and 8 are the restive tones and the active tones must resolve according to the simple guidelines described above in order to sound fluid. You will find these truths evident in music of all periods to be rather pervasive.

This is a wonderful selection of movements that is a great choice for piano students just progressing past the intermediate level. I’m going to provide a few tips for you on how to get the best performance of these pieces of music.

Many of Schumann’s works are reflective of his life and he would constantly create multi-part pieces. What’s great about these pieces is that even though they are accessible to slightly above intermediate students, they still contain a great depth of expression.

I’m going to start from the first movement, Of Strange Lands and People. If you have a chance to watch the embedded video I highly recommend it. In the first section you have an almost choral sound to the music – except the inner voices (the notes under the melody) are staggered in triplets. The best thing to do is recognize what the harmonies are and the best way to figure this out is by breaking the music into chords.

This is a good technique for any new piece you are approaching and it allows you to flesh out the music and get a better grasp of what you are playing and the underlying structure of it. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t reach all the chords, this is not what it’s about. By doing this you will be able to both understand the harmony and structure of the piece as well as figure out the best fingering to use. In the video embedded with this article I break down this concept into great detail.

Once you have learned the harmony and figured out the best fingering by breaking the piece into chords it’s time to work on the melody. Bringing out the melody is something absolutely crucial in mastering your music. You don’t want all the notes to blend in together, you want the melody to rise above the harmony and sing.

You can play the melody legato and the accompanying triplets with staccato fingers to clarify the melody line in your hands. Once you have achieved this, you will be able to bring out the melody easily.

This might sound crazy and even a little depressing but it’s true and a topic worth discussing. You would think having a tuner come in and tune your piano would be enough, it should be in tune right? But is it really?

The short answer is no, your piano will never be perfectly in tune. If you look back in history and at other instruments this concept is easier to understand. When it comes to singing, pitches come completely from your head, just like when a violinist plays there are no frets for them to make the exact notes and the pitches are constantly changing; this is even true of guitars where a string can bend to affect the pitch of note.

There was a period in time in when keyboards were tuned to specific keys. So, if the keyboard was tuned to D major, it was perfectly in tune in D major. It would sound O.K. in A major and possibly G major, but would sound atrocious in A-flat major or D-flat major. Eventually tuners created a system in which all the half steps are equal so that all keys are equally out of tune!

When a piano tuner tunes your piano the first thing they do is set the temperament. The temperament is taking an octave and making all the half steps equal. This means that when you play any interval other than an octave on the piano, they are all equally out of tune. So if you play a perfect 4th, 3rd, or any other pair of notes, they will all be perfectly out of tune with each other. We have gotten so used to tempered tuning that we don’t even notice it’s out of tune. However, if a string player tries to match pitch with a piano they will have to make adjustments to play in tune.

Believe it or not this gets even more complex. Stretch octaves are something that goes beyond the idea of tempered tuning. Our ears actually hear flat in the high register so to compensate for this a tuner will stretch the tuning a bit higher in the high register so it sounds right to our ears even though it is not mathematically perfect.

To keep it simple, always remember that when your piano is tuned, the tuner is striving for the perfect compromise. It’s a crazy concept but it’s true. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

There are many aspects of Mozart’s writing that are truly brilliant. Today we are going to bring up just one point which is something I’m sure you’ve heard but you may not be familiar with the term; it’s called “alberti bass”. What is alberti bass?

To demonstrate, I play the famous Mozart C major Sonata K. 545 playing the left hand in chords first. Then I will show you some variations and finally end up with the alberti bass as Mozart composed the piece. As soon as you hear it, you’ll instantly recognize it as something you hear all the time in Mozart’s piano music.

There are several embellishments you can try such as alternating between the bass note and the top two notes of each chord. Mozart takes it one step further alternating notes within the chord. When you hear this iconic sound, you’ll recognize it because you hear it in almost every piece Mozart wrote for the piano!

There are hundreds of examples of alberti bass in not only Mozart’s music, but it’s also a common technique of other classical composers such as Haydn and Beethoven. I hope this has been enjoyable for you! Again, this is Robert Estrin as Living Pianos. Robert@LivingPianos.com

Here is a clip from a past performance of Robert and Florence Estrin as they perform Ave Maria from the Irvine Classical music Series

This is a topic that is very important to anyone wanting to develop a refined technique on the piano. It is very important to practice the piano without using the pedal – the pedal should be something that enhances your music and not simply a crutch for making mediocre playing sound better.

Pedals on the piano are actually a modern development. When the piano was fist invented it didn’t have pedals, so connecting notes had to be accomplished with the fingers. Believe it or not, Johannes Brahms didn’t even have a sustain pedal on his practice piano!

The sustain pedal does just as its name implies – it holds (sustains) all the notes. When you hold the pedal down, the dampers stay hovering over the strings, when you release the pedal the dampers fall back onto the strings and dampen the sound.

The pedal is not just a tool for connecting notes; it’s capable of adding expressive elements to your music. The real challenge of the pedal is knowing when and how to use it. The only way to accomplish this is to practice your music without the pedal.

In the video included with this article I demonstrate how depending upon the pedal to connect notes instead of using your fingers can lead to sloppy playing and bad technique. But how can you avoid this?

The secret to connecting notes without the pedal is to develop a legato technique with both hands – not just with the melody but even repeated chords in the left hand. But why is this important?

If you can learn how to connect your notes just using your hands, you will be able to use the pedal to enhance your music tonally and make your melodies sing – you will find the best fingerings for passages, and rely on the pedal not as a crutch, and most of all, you will improve as a pianist.