Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

This is a response to our first video about Music Pollution which got a great response from all of you!

To summarize our first video, I explained that music being played everywhere you go actually harms music appreciation more than it enhances it. Music is an art form that is meant to be listened to and treasured, not something that should be relegated to the background. In this entry I want to address some other issues with background music I’ve noticed and how it continues to degrade the artform form we all love.

The other day I was stuck on the phone listening to “hold music” which consisted of the same thirty second loop playing over and over. The quality of the music was terrible over the phone. The song itself was just repetitive noise and for some reason the music is about ten times louder than the voice of the caller. Who can possibly appreciate this?

If you were to go back to the Baroque era, you’d find that most musical instruments of the time were very quiet. The clavichord is an instrument that is so quiet that you can barely even hear it from across a small room! The harpsichord – which was the most robust keyboard instrument of the time, was also not nearly as loud as the modern piano. These instruments were meant to be enjoyed in close and intimate settings with quiet audiences.

As time went on, louder instruments developed and eventually electronic amplification came about and instruments could fill entire stadiums with sound! The original amplification methods were crude and distorted. But as technology has advanced, the sound quality has gotten better and better. But how engineers have dealt with amplification are troubling.

How many times have you gone to a club to listen to a group only to find that the amplification was so loud that the music was no longer enjoyable? You might even have to stick ear plugs in your ears in order to tolerate the sound at a level that doesn’t harm your hearing. Even in movie theaters the sound can be pumped up so high that it’s beyond a level of comfort. I often wonder if this could possibly be enjoyable for anyone.

When technology was more limited, louder was better. With technology today the range of volume is nearly unlimited and sound engineers now are faced with having to control the level of volume with their ears and not the indicators on their technology. Unfortunately, there are engineers who do sound more by eye (looking at gauges) than by ear!

Equalization curves allow you to make something loud but still enjoyable and not damaging to the ears. By emphasizing certain frequencies and de-emphasizing others you can achieve a pleasing level of sound even with very high volume. Some forward thinking restaurants will actually turn down the vocal spectrum of their audio which enables music to play in the background while facilitating conversation at the table.

We live in an age where the art of music goes far beyond the creation of the music itself. How music is played or presented has become an art form itself. Sound engineers are part of the musical performance and in many instances are integral to the experience.

I’m not sure how as individuals we can convey the idea that something doesn’t have to be deafeningly loud to be enjoyable. Some acoustic instruments require amplification in order to be heard. But often times it’s amplified beyond a comfortable level.

This is a very important topic to me and I would love to hear from all of you. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Welcome to the final part of our four-part series – the eras of Classical music. First we covered the Baroque Era with its beautiful counterpoint and ornamentation. Then we moved on to the Classical Era with its wonderful structure. Last time we covered the Romantic Era and its freedom of expression and larger orchestration.

So what separates impressionist music from the other eras? If you’ve ever seen any of the impressionist artwork – such as Monet – you immediately notice the creative use of colors, dots, blurs and other techniques that form these dream-like images that often have a sense of motion to them. This amazing effect is recreated in the music of the era as well.

A lot of the great Impressionist composers (Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, Messiaen, etc.) were from France – which is really the epicenter of Impressionism. There is a real beauty and complexity to the music of this era that almost conjures up images in the mind with its textures.

In the video provided with this article, I perform some of the different movements in the Children’s Corner Suite of Debussy. It’s remarkable to hear the complexity and depth of sound in each movement – the variety of compositional techniques is awe inspiring. Each of the movements evokes completely different images and thoughts in the listener. But how is this possible? It’s the writing.

If you look at the scores of Impressionist piano music you will notice that some of them even have three different staves to fit all the notes in! Hands are divided in creative ways, the middle pedal is used extensively to hold notes you can’t hold with just two hands. There is a great level of complexity and depth to this music that goes beyond Romantic era music. Impressionist music also has different tonalities and modes. It’s not just major and minor – there are whole tone scales that cover different clusters of sounds as well as a great variety of modes. All of these amazing sounds which color the music are attributes of Impressionist music.

Thanks so much for joining me on this four-part series of the Periods of Classical Music. I’m Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Thanks again for joining me for my four-part series on the periods of classical music. First we covered the Baroque Era, and then we covered the Classical Era. Today we will be covering the Romantic Era of Classical Music which was prevalent during much of the 19th century.

Something you might notice through this four-part series is that Classical music generally became more complex as time went on – then things break down to simplicity and the cycle starts again. This is something that is true for almost all art forms – whether it’s painting, architecture, music, etc. Someone will come along and create something incredibly influential and succeeding generations feel they have to “top” those previous efforts. But how do you top something? Typically adding more or bigger elements – in other words; making it more complex.

In the Romantic Era the size of the piano grew – so did the size of the orchestra. More instruments were introduced, forms were extended – there were four and five-movement works instead of the typical three. The Romantic Period is marked by the growing sense of bigger music – both written and performed.

The Romantic Era is also marked by its growth in personal expression. There is much more freedom to the music than past eras. What do I mean by freedoms? There are dozens of examples but I’m going to use a very specific one here. Rubato is a technique developed during the romantic period that really separated itself from Baroque and Classical music. In the past two eras, structure was incredibly important and you would not want to stray from the time or rhythm written on the score too much. This is not necessarily the case with much Romantic music.

Often times Romantic era music can sound much more improvised and the structure lends itself to much more freedom of expression. I give an example of the Chopin Nocturne in the video provided with this article. I have an entire video dedicated to playing and understanding Rubato. Rubato is basically a give and take in the pulse of music – never gaining or losing time. You can drag or speed up slightly as long as the time remains intact. It’s a complex idea and if you have the time to watch the video posted at the beginning of this paragraph you may enjoy it.

Romantic era music on the piano can also be characterized by a liberal use of the pedal. It can be used to add emotion and color the music much more than past eras. No matter what instrument you play in the Romantic period, there is much more freedom of expression. You should listen to numerous performances of the same piece of Romantic period music and see the vast differences in each of the interpretations – you might not even believe it’s the same piece of music!

Well, thanks again for joining me and I look forward to presenting the final part in the series of the Periods of Classical Music. Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Welcome to the 2nd part in my four-part series on the Periods of Classical Music. Last time we discussed The Baroque Era, known for its counterpoint and ornamentation. Today we will be talking about the Classical Era.

Not to be confused with the genre of classical music – which is a broad term for all four parts of these era’s – the classical era itself is well defined by artists like Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, and others.

The classical period came directly after the Baroque era; signaling a drastic change in the style of music. While the Baroque was known for its decadence and complexity of the music, tastes began to change. Towards the end of Bach’s career, he was composing music that was so complex, it was becoming too complicated for most people’s tastes. In fact, his sons would eventually become more famous composers than him.

Bach’s sons, like many composers of the classical era, were writing in new forms – called Sonatas. If you want a more thorough explanation of the Sonata format, watch this video. To be brief, the sonata is a structured form – like A B A B A (but a little bit more complex).

In the video attached to this article, I play Mozart’s K332 F Major Sonata to demonstrate the form and contrasting themes which lie beneath the Sonata format. The structure of this piece, in particular, is very regular – you have one theme in the key of the piece (F major) and then you have a contrasting theme (in this piece it’s the relative D minor).

When performing classic era music – specifically Sonata’s – you must delineate between your two themes and make sure that each stands on its own. And while clarity was an important part of Baroque music, it’s equally as important when it comes to classical period music. The difference is, instead of clarity between counterpoint (as with the Baroque), it’s more a clarity of structure – the different sections of the piece should be very well defined.

While the Baroque era had a tapestry of sound, the classical era has definite sections which are clearly delineated from one another. How these sections relate to one-another gives the piece it’s structure and it’s important to maintain this. If you start to stray from the structure the piece will lose its luster and sound incorrect.

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

Welcome to my ongoing series on music theory. Last week we covered Major Scales and how they are simply a series of half-steps and whole-steps. This week I will explain Relative Minor Scales – which are a bit more complex than their major scale counterparts.

Minor scales share key signatures with major scales. If you’re not familiar with key signatures that’s ok – I will cover that in a future video. For this lesson, we will use the C major scale which has no sharps or flats and discuss the relative minor. Once you are familiar with major scales, finding the relative minor will be very simple.

So for the C major scale you have the following sequence of notes: C D E F G A B C. So this scale has no sharps or flats and the relative minor scale has no sharps or flats either. So what would be the difference between the two? Well the minor scale actually starts on the 6th note of the major scale (A). So an A natural minor scale has A B C D E F G A.

Now there are a couple of different minor scales. In the harmonic minor scale, the 7th note is raised by a half-step. So in the example of A minor scale, if you were playing an A harmonic minor scale, the seventh note would go from G to G#, or A B C D E F G# A.

Another form of the minor scale is the melodic, which has a raised 6th and 7th. Generally though, this scale only goes up and when it comes down it reverts to the natural minor scale with no altered tones. So for A minor it would be. A B C D E F# G# A And descending: A G F E D C B A.

Something you might notice is that if you take a melodic minor scale and raise the third note, it would actually become the a major scale! (This is the parallel minor since you are starting on the same note, not a 6th away as in the relative minor.)

This is pretty much everything you would need to know about minor scales. Please keep watching these videos as we will be covering other scales and modes used from music from antiquity through jazz. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me directly Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Welcome to my second part in a series offering tips for the Chopin Preludes. Last time we covered Prelude No. 4 in E minor. This lesson I will be exploring the Prelude No. 6 in B minor.

In the last lesson we discussed how to bring out the melody in the right hand by achieving a true legato utilizing a constant weight of the arm. Today’s lesson is similar but reversed; in this prelude the melody is in the left hand!

This lesson will require you to incorporate the weight of the left arm primarily in order to create a lush and fluid sound while bringing out the melody. When it comes to playing a string or a wind instrument, there is a natural progression of ups and downs. Whether it’s the continuity of the breath or the draw of a bow, the music must always be going somewhere, either growing or dying away. This is possible to achieve on the piano by increasing and decreasing the weight of the arms.

Rather than relying on calculated movements to get louder and softer, use the weight of your arms to recreate the sensation of breathing or using a bow. When you play a note, press into the key and make yourself believe that it’s going to sustain the note like a wind or string player does. You might be surprised at the results you achieve. In the video accompanying this article I demonstrate this technique.

As with any music you are performing, using the pedal as a crutch to cover up sloppy playing should never be an option. If you intend to learn this piece correctly and make it sing, you will need to achieve a true legato in both hands without the use of the pedal. Because of this, you will want to practice, learn and memorize this piece without using the pedal at first. Later when you feel confident in the sound you produce, you can add the pedal to create an even richer sound.

Another practice method (that we also discussed last time) is holding out the chords wherever possible. Instead of playing all the chords as written, hold the repeated chords out instead of replaying them – so you can get a sense of the best fingering when switching between chords. You will find ways to maneuver your fingers and hands in ways that will connect the notes much better and create a seamless sound. It’s always a great idea to reduce your music to chords first – this way you can get a better idea of the fingering while gaining a better understanding of the harmonies.

Thanks again for joining me. If you would like more information about this piece or any others, we are currently in the midst of producing some thorough tutorials instead of just these helpful pointers. If you would like to be notified about these lessons please send me an email requesting more information at Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Thanks again for joining me. If you would like more information about this piece or any others, we are currently in the midst of producing some thorough tutorials instead of just these helpful pointers. If you would like to be notified about these lessons please send me an email requesting more information at Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729