Piano and Music Videos

THE POWER OF INTERLOCKING PHRASES

Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com. Today, three secrets to memorizing music. The three secrets all come down to one thing, and I’ll tell you how they relate to three aspects that will help you in memorizing music. Memorizing music is tough, it’s hard work if you’re doing it correctly. If you just play through a piece over and over in hopes that eventually it will assimilate, that’s not a very efficient way to learn music. You need to be organized, and I have videos on how to approach memorization.

The three secrets come down to memorizing every day.

Why does that give you three benefits? Well first of all, obviously if you’re memorizing every day you’re going to learn more. If you only try to do it once or twice a week, or every other day, you’re limited in how much you’re going to be able to learn by the sheer amount of time.

The second thing about memorizing every day is you get to reinforce your work from the previous day.

Otherwise, you’re going two steps forward, one step backward every day trying to get back what you learned, even the next day is a big challenge. But if you wait a couple of days you will have forgotten a great deal, and so you really are not going to be as productive.

Third reason is that since memorizing is very taxing, there’s only so much you can do at peak performance in one sitting.

If you do it every day, you get your mind when it’s fresh, and that’s a tremendous benefit to you. You can soak up a bunch of music before you get to that point of diminishing returns.

Mordents and trills look so similar on the page. You usually find these in Baroque era music of Handel, Bach, Scarlatti and other composers from that time. I want to show you one specific difference that’s very important. The beginning of the Sarabande movement of the 5th French Suite of Bach starts with a mordent. You can hear me play it without the mordent on the accompanying video first. Shortly after, there is a trill so you can discern the difference. You will hear it played first with no ornamentation. Mordents and trills differ from each other in two interesting ways. Bach wrote a mordent on the first note in the right hand which is a “B”. The secret to a mordent is you add the note below and then go back to the note that’s written so when you have a B you’re going to play B-A-B.

So what’s different about trills? Right after that, you have a trill. Trills start on the upper note. Typically trills can have more than one or two notes and this is for freedom of expression. In fact, the whole Baroque era is noted by its ornamentation. And it isn’t just music. Take a look at the architecture and the art of that period. It’s noted for the filigree and all the beautiful fine detail. Ornamentation is an opportunity for the performer to add their own expressive element. That’s why if you listen to different performances of the same exact pieces of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and other Baroque composers, the ornamentation can be quite different. You can listen to how it sounds with the ornamentation.

You have to watch the squiggly lines: the mordant has often has one less than trills and have a vertical line.

It’s kind of like deciphering a code. Interestingly, different performers have different ideas about what these squiggly lines, turns and all this means because we don’t really know what people played hundreds of years ago, do we? There are many books written on this subject and ultimately it’s up to you as a performer to play something you feel passionately about and really feels right to you. Sometimes with French Suites and other pieces that have repeats in all the sections, you can a do different ornamentation the first time compared to the second time around to make it even more interesting.

So that’s some information about mordents versus trills! Trills can be a little more elaborate since they can add more notes. Generally, trills go up and mordents go down. Trills often start on the auxiliary note which is the note above the note that is written and can include a flourishing of notes. There’s a whole world to this and I hope you’ve enjoyed this! Again, I am Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com 949-244-3729

This is an incredibly tough question and to be honest there is no definitive answer but I’m going to provide some insights for you. You would think that because there are twelve different notes there might be twelve different scales; but things are a bit more complicated.

While it’s true that there are twelve different notes and twelve different major scales, you also have to consider minor scales. With minor scales you have two forms of each scale, the harmonic and the melodic, so you now have 36 scales. Are we done yet? Not even close.

The the next thing you have to consider are modes. This becomes a little tricky because modes are scales that simply start on different notes. For example, if you have no sharps or flats you could be in C major. And while you can play a C major scale using no sharps or flats you could just as easily start on D and play no sharps or flats and have a completely new scale – called the Dorian mode. You could also start on E and play the Phrygian mode also with no sharps or flats. This can be applied to all seven notes which gives you seven more scales (or more accurately, modes) to consider. Then you can start adding sharps or flats and the numbers quickly become overwhelming as the possibilities for scales are immense.

Here is a quick chart for reference. It’s not 100% complete as there are scales that can be made by using modes of melodic minors and much more but this is a good reference point for you:

– 36 Major and Minor Scales
– 72 Additional Modes
– 12 Blues Scales
– 12 Diminished Scales
– 12 Pentatonic Scales
– 12 Whole Tone Scales
– 12 Chromatic Scales

We welcome your comments of additional scales not considered in this list!

I highly encourage everyone to watch the accompanying video with this article. It provides excellent visual representations of the Neapolitan 6th chord as well as a demonstration of how it can be utilized in your music.

Neapolitan 6th might sound like a strange name, but it’s a beautiful chord that can enhance your music. Even if you haven’t heard the name, you’ve probably heard the chord. But what is it exactly and how can you utilize it in your music?

The Neapolitan 6th can function like a IV chord. Sometimes composers will substitute a II 6 chord for the IV chord. So in the key of C major, instead of the IV chord, F – A – C, you have the first inversion of the II chord which has the F on the bottom: F – A – D.

The Neapolitan 6 chord offers another substitution taking things one step further. The Neapolitan chord is a major triad built on the flatted second degree of the scale. That might sound complicated, so let’s break it down. In the key of C major, the second degree of the scale is D. So, lower that note a half-step and you have D-flat. Build a major chord on D-flat: D-flat – F – A-flat. That is the Neapolitan chord in root position. You might wonder how a D-flat major chord will fit in a the key of C major, but in the first inversion (6) it functions the same as the IV or the II 6 chord but has a unique sound.

Again, build a Neapolitan 6th chord by lowering the second note of a major scale. So, in C major you start with D and lower it a half-step to D-flat and build a major triad on D-flat: D-flat – F – A-flat. Then invert it so F is on the bottom (6 inversion) F – A-flat – D-flat. You now have a Neapolitan 6th chord!

So if you’re improvising or composing, and are using a IV or II 6 chord, think about using a Neapolitan 6th instead to give your music a distinct flavor. It’s a fun and creative tool to have at your disposal and something that can make your music more interesting. Furthermore, as you study your scores, you will discover the use of this chord in countless compositions.

If you’ve played music for any length of time you may be familiar with etudes. What they are exactly is a two part answer, because there are fundamentally two different types of etudes. Even though they are both called etudes, these two different types are radically different from one-another. So let’s explore this topic and explain the differences in etudes and how they relate to your music.

Etude comes from the French word meaning, “study”. Etudes generally focus on overcoming specific technical challenges. One type of etude is strictly an exercise. There are famous Czerny and Hanon etudes that are famous exercises, but they aren’t pieces people generally perform. Their main purpose is to develop technique on an instrument.

Most Hanon etudes are simply a series of repeated note patterns. They are valuable for younger students to develop strength. Hanon Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises also contains the standard fingering for all major and minor scales and arpeggios, a staple for serious pianists. Brahms and Czerny also have etudes that are used for developing technique as opposed to necessarily providing great musical compositions. However, some Czerny etudes are quite enjoyable to listen to.

The other type of etudes are musical etudes. Chopin, Liszt, and others have created masterful pieces of music called etudes. These etudes explore different technical issues such as double thirds, sixths, octaves and other unique challenges. Yet, they are masterful works of music.

Musical etudes from Chopin, Liszt, Moszkowski, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and others are sometimes extremely complex and can be daunting for intermediate students to attempt to play. But the good news is there are some musical etudes from composers such as Burgmüller that are very nice pieces of music which help develop technique, yet provide intermediate level students with richly rewarding music to play! There are musical etudes that range from student level to virtuoso. Mastering a musical etude can greatly benefit your development as a pianist and give you music to perform as well.