Piano and Music Videos

Are the keys on a spinet piano the same size as an upright or grand piano?
– Youtube Viewer

Yes, the keys of a spinet piano are the same as other upright or grand pianos. However, the keys on Asian pianos are slightly longer than keys on American pianos. Also, there are some late 19th century pianos which have keys which are slightly shorter still, particularly pianos which had been player pianos. Black keys have slightly different angles in the front on some older pianos as well. The edges of black keys are sometimes more rounded in older pianos because they get worn from playing. The spaces between white keys also become larger over time from wear as well.

Robert,
I enjoy your website and your videos. Thanks so much. My piano is a Baldwin acoustic upright and I have it tuned regularly. But now I have a new piano technician and he is suggesting I add a humidistat to the inside of the piano to regulate humidity at all times. He says this will cause me to not need regular tunings anymore. Does this make sense? I’ve never heard you speak of such a thing.

Sincerely,
Laura

Your tuner gave you some good pointers. In fact, stabilizing the soundboard will help with tuning stability particularly in environments with wide swings of humidity. Although I live in Southern California with a semi-arid climate, I have a Dampp-Chaser System on my concert grand which helps keep the tuning stable. However, all pianos will still require tuning on a regular basis, particularly if they are played a lot. The Dampp-Chaser System just prolongs the life of your tunings.

This might seem like a silly question. How would something as small as the music rack affect the sound of the piano? The truth is, for the audience it doesn’t. However, for the performer, it can have a big effect on what they hear while playing.

I remember during one of my father’s recording sessions he needed to reference the score for one small section – so he placed the music in front of him. This was completely out of the ordinary for him as he memorized all his music for all his performances and recordings. However, he was concerned that it might affect the sound of the recording. When he asked the engineer he said it wouldn’t be a problem; sure enough, it didn’t make a difference.

So you might be wondering what the point of this video is! Well, the music rack might not have an effect on the sound of the piano for the audience but it does have a tremendous effect on the sound for the player.

I would actually go so far as to say that the position of the music rack affects the sound you hear when playing the piano as much or more so than if you have the lid of the piano opened or closed. If you have never played a piano without the music rack down you really should, the sound you will hear is much fuller and is more open; this is yet another great reason to memorize your music!

You might notice on some pianos the music rack has an artistic design with carvings and holes through the wood. If you have a music rack like this, you won’t need to put down the music rack; the sound will travel through just fine.

If you have a piano with a solid music rack, try and play the same piece with the music rack up – then place it down. You will be rewarded with a dramatically improved sound!

Hi Robert,

Carolyn

There are actually a number of amazing 88 note weighted keyboards with phenomenal sounds and capabilities. But I am not aware of a similar instrument with real wooden keys like the Kurzweil K250. In its day it was a premier instrument. If you are interested in some of the state-of-the-art keyboards available today with similar features, there are great keyboards from Yamaha, Korg, Roland, Kurzweil, and others. Many of the workstation keyboards have extensive recording capabilities. More than that, any keyboard with a standard MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) output can interface with a personal computer for multi-track recording and score printing with appropriate software.

Mr. Estrin, I’ve really enjoyed your video about sight reading.

I’m willing to do whatever it takes to improve (I honestly relate to your story you gave in the video, my sight reading is basically non-existent compared with my level of playing, and it’s starting to hurt me now).

I practice close to 3 hours a day, and devote 1 hour to sight reading very basic pieces – will this help? Is there a more effective way?

– Niraj

Yes, I overcame my inability to sightread on a decent level. It came to me in an “Aha” moment. I describe in a video I produced on sightreading how when my father was performing the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor Concerto at Carnegie Hall, he asked me to accompany him on the 2nd piano for practice. This is when I could barely sightread at all! I kept my eyes on the music and counted and kept my hands moving to hit occasional right notes – but throughout the entire concerto, I never got lost! Since that day I have gotten more and more of the notes and can read anything.

I strongly recommend that you play with other musicians – because when you are playing with others, you absolutely must keep going. It’s almost impossible to discipline yourself to keep going when wrong notes are hit. You would be surprised at how appreciative instrumentals and singers are to have someone accompany them even if the accuracy is poor. What is vital is having a sensitivity to their timing and expression. Knowing what key you are in so that you have some basic framework of the piece will help you achieve decent results. As you read more your accuracy will improve.

Sometimes sightreading involves reducing the score to its skeletal framework and fleshing out the harmonic structure rather than actually reading every single detail. You have to make intelligent assumptions as to what the score is saying when it’s not possible to see absolutely everything on the fly.

As for practicing sightreading alone, choose the music you can play accurately at a slow tempo after playing through no more than 2 or 3 times. If you continually miss notes in your reading playing over again and again the mistakes will become ingrained which defeats the purpose. In choosing reading music on your level, your level will grow. Here is the video:

Hi Robert,

Thanks for your emails and videos; they have really valuable information for piano owners.

I would like to know what kind of video and audio recorder you use for your videos.

Thank you,

– Marcos

I use 2 recorders for the videos:

– Sony PCM-D50 for the piano

– Tascam Field recorder with XLR inputs: I plug in a DPA phantom powered, miniature lapel mic for my voice

The video is shot on one (and sometimes a second camera):

– Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with a Voigtlander Nokton 25mm F0.95 lens

– Canon EOS T2i with Ultrasonic 0.48m/1.6ft 28-105mm lens

It is essential that the mics are placed precisely for a good recording. Lighting is incredibly important for the quality of the video as well.