Tag Archives: music theory

How Much Should You Stick To Routine in Your Practice?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how much you should stick to routine in your piano practice. Years ago, I made a video about how you can make practicing more enjoyable. It was a guide on how to organize your practice to make it as productive as possible. I described how you should have an appetizer of scales for warming up, then a main course of memorization and refinement, and then you can have a dessert of review pieces! You can see that video here. But what I’m going to talk about today is something quite different. And it’s the flip side of this!

Don’t get too attached to your practice routine.

All too often, students get married to their routines. They love their routines so much that they don’t realize they might be missing out on discovery. Truth be known, my practice is anything but organized! I don’t necessarily stick to a regimen in what I do. In fact, sometimes I find a specific area that needs work and I’ll spend an inordinate amount of time on one specific problem, maybe ten times more time than I spend with anything else in the practice session. It could be a very small section of music. Maybe there’s a certain technique that you’re working on. Or there’s a part of the music where you’re discovering new possibilities in the score. Maybe you’re finding a new way of approaching the keyboard. Maybe you are after a different sound out of the piano. You might think it’s important to stay on task and get to your scales or to your new piece. You might feel you need to get to all those regimented aspects of practice. But it’s more important to feel engaged in your practice.

Anything that engages your mind is ultimately the most productive practice you can do!

Don’t fall into the habit of routine for routine’s sake. You may find yourself doing the same thing almost to the point of mindlessness. Don’t just go through the motions because you think it’s important. You may be getting some physical benefits, strengthening your hands. It could even be productive to play over pieces so you don’t forget them. But the real practice is that of discovery.

Remember, practicing is a mental exercise.

Practicing is a thought process. So if you find yourself spending way too much time on something, but you’re getting somewhere with it, go for it! Because you’ll find, after spending a tremendous amount of time on something small, it will translate to other aspects of your playing. You can get great benefit from spending a tremendous amount of time on something that’s seemingly very small. It all relates to everything else you do on the instrument.

Routines are good, so you don’t forget important aspects.

Work on your sight reading every day, or at least every week. You don’t want to forget your review pieces by neglecting them for a week or two. So it is important to keep up with the basics. But ultimately, you should go off on tangents that engage your mind. You shouldn’t feel like that is wrong. So long as you’re accomplishing something, it is worth the time! Keep your practicing interesting to you and you will accomplish even more in the work you do at the piano! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

Secrets of Balance on the Piano

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today, I’m going to give you some secrets of balance on the piano. What am I referring to about balance? Piano is one of the few instruments where you can play many different notes at the same time, and you’re able to bring out different notes within a chord or within a musical texture. This is one of the great things about the piano! 

You can bring out different notes within a chord.

This can be easily demonstrated by playing a simple C major chord. If you’re playing C, E, G, and C with your left hand, as well your right hand, there are many different ways of approaching the voicing. How is this possible? You can bring out every single note of the chord one by one playing exactly the same chord and bringing out different notes within the chord. This is how you can create whatever musical texture you are after. This is akin to a conductor creating a balance out of the orchestra getting just the sound they’re after. You can do the same thing at the piano. But there is one very important acoustical property you must be aware of on the piano. 

Balance is different playing loud compared to playing soft. 

Chopin’s C Minor Prelude starts off with massive chords that are marked fortissimo. Later it goes down to piano. At the very end it goes even softer to pianissimo. When playing the fortissimo part of this prelude, using all the energy equally on all the keys, the melody will come out loud and clear. But when playing the pianissimo section, which is almost the same chords, the melody will be lost when giving equal energy to all the notes. But by delineating the top notes by reaching with the 4th and 5th fingers, and leaning the weight of your hand to the right side, you can bring out the top notes creating a beautiful balance. So here’s the key: When playing loud, the top notes project well. But if you play the exact same chords quietly with equal balance, the melody is lost. So you want to bring out the melody notes when playing softly, delineating the melody compared to accompaniment. 

The softer you play, the more extreme the delineation of melody notes must be. That’s the secret!

So that is one secret of balancing on the piano. The softer the playing, the more extreme delineation you must have for melody compared to accompaniment. It’s just the acoustical property of the piano. I hope this helps you! 

Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

Why Playing Fast Is Easier Than Playing Slowly

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how playing fast is easier than playing slowly. You might think that’s crazy. Of course, it would take more work to be able to develop speed in your playing. There is some truth to that. But once you do have some speed and fluency in your playing, have you ever tried to go back and play slowly again? It can be really difficult! There are a lot of reasons for this. We’re going to discuss this and what you can do to help your playing.

Once you’ve played a piece many times, your fingers just know where to go.

Years ago I made a video about how playing your scales should be on autopilot. I likened it to learning how to walk. You see toddlers taking their first steps. The concentration on their faces is unbelievable! Of course, once you learn how to walk, you really don’t think about it. It’s almost involuntary. You can be thinking about other things while you’re walking once you learn how to do it. Well, the same thing is true of scales! It’s also true of all the music you play. You get to a point where your mind is wandering, but your fingers keep going. That’s actually a good thing in some respects. If you didn’t have that to rely upon, it would be hard to be focused 100% of the time. But naturally, you can’t depend upon that motor memory, finger memory, muscle memory, whatever you want to call it.

When you play slowly, it’s harder to think through everything.

When you slow things down, every single note becomes very obvious. But there’s another reason why playing fast is easier than playing slowly. I’m not even talking about the solidity of how well you know the score. I’m talking about musical considerations. When you’re playing slowly, it’s very difficult to even know where the line is. For example, Chopin’s E Minor Prelude. Playing that piece slowly and trying to get a sense of the rise and the fall of the line is all but impossible. It’s very difficult to maintain a line playing under tempo.

All music really is reflective of the human voice.

All instruments are an extension of the instrument we all carry with us. Naturally, wind instruments are a direct analog to the human voice, because the breath is involved. It’s a natural extension. Bowed instruments, like a violin or cello, have the continuum of the bow against the strings. On the piano, it’s a challenge to create that continuum of sound. But imagine a wind player or a singer trying to sing a song much slower than its normal speed. It would be hard to sustain the phrase. You would run out of air! It would be hard to get a sense of the line. That same Chopin prelude played at a faster tempo, with the pulse of the quarter note or even the half note, makes it much easier to feel the musical line.

Once you know a piece, it’s so much easier to play it faster, because you can get a sense of the line.

The challenge is gaining enough fluency that you can play up to speed. Sometimes it helps just trying to play something up to tempo. Even if it’s not totally polished, playing it up to tempo helps you know what you’re working for. Of course, you don’t want to repeat sloppy playing again and again. You may even want to play just the right hand, just to get the feel of the phrasing. Once you understand the intention of the music, your practice is so much more productive. You want to know what you’re aiming for. So think of your music up to tempo, even if you can’t quite play it yet. Try to play it up to speed so you get a sense of the music. Your practice is always in service of the music.

That’s the message for today! I hope this works well for you. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

Do You Need a Weighted Action Keyboard?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about the advantages of a weighted action on a keyboard or piano. You’ve heard these terms, of course. You might wonder, what is this all about? Can you get more expressiveness out of a weighted action just like you do on a grand piano?

All pianos have weighted actions because you’re moving a lot of mass.

Keyboards don’t have much mass. You don’t necessarily need a heavy action to get good control on a piano. Some pianos have heavy actions. Some have lighter actions. As long as the regulation is top notch, you can get tremendous control out of a lighter action, just as much as a heavier action.You might wonder why would you want to have a weighted action if you can get good control without it. The fundamental reason is that piano is different from most other instruments since other instrumentalists can carry their instrument wherever they go. If you’re a guitar player, a flute player, or trumpeter, you just take your instrument with you! No big problem. Well, obviously pianists can’t do that.

You must learn to adjust to any piano you encounter.

Whether it’s at lessons, school, church, recitals, friends’ houses, any piano you encounter, you have to be able to sit down and play whatever piano you encounter. If you’re practicing all the time on an action that isn’t weighted, you’re not going to have the strength to play an acoustic piano, because it takes more effort. You have to push down about 50, sometimes as much as 60 grams of down weight just to get the key down! So if you have a feather light action, you’re not going to be prepared physiologically to play other pianos. You’re not going to develop the muscles for it. So it’s really important to have a weighted action. I would recommend an 88 key weighted action.

You also hear the term weighted graded action. What does that mean?

If you look inside a piano, you’ll notice that the keys on the higher end are shorter and the hammers are thinner. In the bass, the keys are longer and the hammers are bigger and fatter, because they have to excite a much thicker, longer string. So indeed, pianos get lighter and easier to play as you get to the higher end compared to the lower end. On some pianos it’s a subtle difference. On other pianos it’s a dramatic difference. Is this important in your piano practice? Some people would say it is important. But to me it’s really not the most important aspect of a keyboard or digital piano action. The key travel is more important. When you have a keyboard that’s very small, the keys are short beyond the fall board. So when you’re playing black keys, or the white keys between black keys, the key travel is minimal. It’s just like being close to the center on a seesaw. It’s difficult to gain leverage. So to me, that’s more important than whether it’s graded or not. The action should have a substantial feel.

A real piano has what’s called escapement.

Try pushing a key down very slowly on your piano and you will notice at a certain point there’s a little bit of resistance that you have to push to overcome. This is normal. Pianos have what’s called a double escapement mechanism. It was a harpsichord builder named Cristofori, around the year 1700, who came up with the first harpsichord that could play soft and loud. He called his instrument, “Gravicembalo col piano e forte”, which translates to, “Harpsichord with soft and loud”. It could play soft and loud from the touch, and it had the essential escapement mechanism. What does that mean? Well, before then, there were no keyboards where a hammer or other implement could hit a string and escape it. On a clavichord, for example, the strings kept in contact with the blades that struck the strings. With a piano, as soon as the hammer hits the strings, it escapes the string!

Modern pianos have what’s called a double escapement.

When you play slowly, the hammer travels its full distance. But when you play quickly, there’s a back check that catches the back of the hammer, so the hammer doesn’t have to travel so far allowing for more speed. It’s an ingenious invention that came about thanks to generations of keyboard builders, as well as composers working hand in hand with piano builders. During Beethoven’s lifetime, the piano evolved substantially with the demands of the music being written for the instrument.

These are the important things to look for in your digital piano or keyboard.

Look for an 88 key weighted action. If it’s graded, great! But more importantly, is the feel and the key travel. And if you’re serious about playing the piano, you’ll want a weighted action even if you’re not playing other pianos that much. Your hands will develop more strength. You will accomplish more by doing the same amount of practice. If you’re like most people, it’s hard to find enough time to practice. So you might as well get as much done as you can for the time you spend!

I hope this is helpful for you! Let me know in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin
Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

Why You Should Not Play Expressively with Your Left Hand

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about why you should not play expressively with your left hand. This is a bold statement. In fact, there are qualifiers here. Why shouldn’t you be expressive with your left hand? Well, there are times when you should. But mostly you should minimize the expression of your left hand, or whichever hand is playing the accompaniment, which is usually your left hand.

By focusing the attention on the right hand, and not overdoing the left hand, it makes the music much more rewarding.

After all, nobody is interested in hearing the accompaniment. It’s really just subservient to the melody, which is what the audience is going to go out singing at the end of the concert! You want to draw the attention to the melody. Use the accompaniment as a bed for the music to float on. That will make it much more musical because it doesn’t distract from the beautiful melody; it just supports it. Orchestral musicians learn this, playing second horn or second flute, being able to to be like one with the principal player. They are always just enhancing the melody rather than overtaking it and taking attention away from it. You can do the same thing in your piano playing.

There are times when the melody is in the left hand and the opposite is true.

For example, in Chopin’s B Minor Prelude, you have a melody in the left hand. Playing equally expressively in both hands takes away from the melody. You want to let the melody of the left hand just sing. Let the right hand be subservient so you can hear the tenderness and the subtlety of expression of the left hand melody. You don’t have to throw it on people’s heads! Let them reach out and yearn to absorb that melody by making it readily available to them by not overshadowing it with the accompaniment. Usually the left hand plays the accompaniment, but not always. I would love to get your opinions on this subject! Leave your comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrinContact

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

How to Develop More Stamina on the Piano

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Have you ever wanted to develop more stamina on the piano? That’s the subject for today. Many of my students, and people who contact me, wonder how to develop more stamina, to be able to play longer periods of time without wearing out. Some people find if they play through a longer piece, by the time they get to the end of it, their hands are giving out. They wonder, Is there anything they can do about that? I’m going to give you two tips today to develop more stamina in your playing!

Play more and vary your practice.

You may find that if you play for a certain amount of time, your hands get tired. Your abilities start to fall off on what you’re able to do with the instrument. Well, here’s a tip for you: Vary your practice between things that are technical and physically oriented, and things that are more mental. Memorization comes to mind. If you’re learning solo music, memorizing takes a great deal of time. Even if you’re playing music that you’re reading, you need to practice the music, figure things out, and intellectually understand the score. For example, let’s say you’re working on a really tough passage, spending a good deal of time with it. Take a break! Move on to other things. Absorb new material or read through some of your new pieces, which might be very slow going at first. This won’t be nearly as physically demanding. But at the same time, you’re practicing for longer periods of time. Just like in exercising, the varied amount of work you do with interval training (alternating between high and low intensity activities) is beneficial to your muscles and your general well-being. It’s the same thing with your piano playing! So vary your practice.

Another thing that is incredibly valuable is just playing through your pieces.

Let’s say you’re working on a new piece, but you have several older pieces that you still have in shape to some degree. Play through your pieces each day! By playing through your music, you get used to playing for longer periods of time. Not only that, you have the tremendous benefit of solidifying your performance! If you’re used to running through your pieces again and again and again, when an opportunity comes to play for people, it’ll be second nature for you.

The other technique has to do with how you approach the keyboard.

You can actually play lighter on the piano. There are times when this is incredibly valuable. In your practice, of course, at times, you’re going to play slowly with firm fingers to make sure every note is secure. But when you’re performing, you flip that. You play lightly, staying close to the keys, with rounded fingers. Why rounded fingers? There are two fundamental reasons. Number one is the fact that if you play with flat fingers, you’re using one joint, just the knuckle joint. When you play with rounded fingers, you’re using all the joints. So the load of working to push the keys down is spread among more joints and muscles. The other thing is if you just let your hands rest on the keys, they’re naturally going to go into a rounded position. It takes effort to keep your fingers flat! So just let your hands go into the natural rounded position, and you’ll get the benefit of all your joints working together to play the piano with ease.

Stay close to the keys.

It takes much more effort to raise your fingers. In practice, using raised fingers helps to delineate what keys are down and what keys are up. It really helps your hands feel the notes and all the reaches. That’s a great way to practice. But when you’re performing, you want to lighten things up and stay close to the keys. This is also true with wrist work with staccatos and such. You use your wrists in order to achieve a crisp staccato and speed. But by staying closer to the keys, you play lighter. Staying close to the keys takes much less effort and it enables you to go faster.

Developing more endurance involves practicing intelligently.

To recap: try to play through a lot of music on a regular basis. Take breaks if you get tired, but come back to it again and again. You could just take breaks from intense practice that uses a lot of physiology and do more mental work. Intersperse the physical with mental practice. When you perform, lighten up. Stay close to the keys with rounded fingers and don’t use excessive wrist motion for octaves, chords and staccato technique. This should help you develop more endurance. Let me know how this works for you! Any other tips? You can post them here on LivingPianos.com and on YouTube. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com