Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today I have something a little different and a lot of fun for you. In this video, I put your ears to the test with a musical guessing game. I play short excerpts from some of the most famous classical piano works ever written, and your challenge is to identify each piece as quickly as possible. Some may be instantly recognizable from just a handful of notes, while others might take a few more seconds before everything clicks into place.
This is more than just a trivia game. It is a wonderful way to sharpen your listening skills and discover how deeply these great works are etched into your musical memory. You might surprise yourself by recognizing a piece from its harmony, rhythm, or even just its texture before the main theme appears. See how many you can name within ten seconds, keep score if you like, and share your results in the comments. I would love to hear which ones you knew right away and which ones kept you guessing.
Let us know how you did on this listening test!
Leave comments about pieces you would like full tutorials on.
Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. If you are considering putting a piano into storage, this is something you absolutely need to think through carefully. I have seen this scenario play out time and time again, and it can end in a way most people never expect.
Climate Control Is Not Optional
People are downsizing, they cannot sell their piano, or they think they may be moving. So what do you do? You find a place to store your piano. If you ever have to do this, make absolutely certain that it is climate controlled storage. I remember having pianos at a storage facility and only later being told that winter was coming and we had better get the pianos out of there. So double check. Make sure the facility is truly climate controlled. This is critical for the health and longevity of your instrument.
The Hidden Costs of Storage
Here is what often happens. You pay month after month to store the piano. Eventually, you have paid so much that you start to wonder what to do next. If you decide to try to sell the piano, good luck. In many storage facilities, pianos are stored on their sides to maximize space. Just to have someone come and look at the piano, you may have to pay hundreds of dollars to have it set up properly. And of course, it will not be tuned because it has been sitting in storage. It can become a nightmare situation for so many people.
What Happens When Payments Stop
Now here is the part that may really shock you. After paying month after month, sometimes for years, people reach a point where they simply stop paying. They do not know what to do with the piano. Often they have already moved, which is why the piano went into storage in the first place. Storage companies will make a good faith effort to contact the owner. But if they cannot reach them, they sell the piano. So after spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars in storage fees, the piano may ultimately be sold by the storage company. I know this for a fact from at least two companies I am intimately familiar with, and this is something that happens on a regular basis.
Think Long Term Before You Store
The lesson for today is simple. Before putting a piano into storage, think long term about your end goal. You do not want to be stuck spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a piano you may never get out of storage again.
If I can be of any help to you, please reach out to me at Robert@LivingPianos.com. We have many resources available for you here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
How to Play Trills on the Piano – Piano Lessons with Robert Estrin
I’ve had quite a few people recently asking me for tips on how to play trills on the piano. It’s no easy task – or is it? This video and article will provide a few tips and techniques you can use to help master trills. The first thing to do is make sure you play your trills with minimal arm weight. If you’ve watched some of my other technique videos you know that I emphasize arm weight as a very big component in tone production – especially when it comes to slower melodies. The challenge with trills is playing lightly, almost floating your hand above the keys to allow the notes to flow with minimal effort. The next thing in playing trills is keeping your fingers very close to the keys. Trills are played so fast that there is not a lot of time for movement, so it’s best to keep your fingers very close to the keys – so close you remain in contact with the keys! Another thing is to make sure your fingers are rounded. It’s nearly impossible to play fast with outstretched fingers; keeping them rounded will help improve speed dramatically allowing more than just one joint to execute the trill. These are some of the most important aspects when it comes to hand position. However, there is something fundamental about approaching trills. Even if it sounds like just a bunch of notes, you need to figure out exactly how many notes you are playing as if it’s written out. Learn trills like you would learn any other fast passage in your music working with the metronome increasing one notch at a time as you gain confidence. Another big question is how to know how many notes to play in a trill. One valuable technique that I use frequently is to play just one note of the trill. For example, if you are playing a trill and starting on the upper note, just play that upper note. You will get an idea of how fast you can play the trill by only playing one note of the trill first, either the top note or the bottom note – whichever one you are starting the trill on. This brings up an important subject in trills, what note does it start on? This could really be a subject for an entirely separate video but I am going to provide some basic information here. As trills are written, you will usually start on the auxiliary (the note above the written note of the trill; the next note in the scale of that key). For example, if you have a piece in C major and you have a D trill, you would start on E. Can you start a trill on the note written? For example, if it’s written as a D can you start on a D and move up to E? Yes; it depends on the context. There are different schools of thought on this but generally, I would say a trill is basically a long appoggiatura (a non-chord tone resolving into the harmony). So starting on the auxiliary generally makes musical sense. However, in different period styles and in shorter trills, use your judgment as to what sounds best and what you can execute with confidence. The last thing I want to address with trills is one of the biggest challenges; how to end them! If you don’t know exactly where you are it can be difficult to end them smoothly. The good news is there is a great practice technique for this. I always like to play the trill right up to the point before it ends, and then stop in a relaxed manner over the keys. Keep doing that until you have a good grasp on where you will be right before the last notes of the trill. Keep playing that passage over and over and eventually add the last notes of the trill. But don’t play them right away; pause in a relaxed manner before you play the last notes. At first, make the pause as long as you need it; eventually, make the duration of the pause smaller and smaller; until the pause is imperceptible to the listener but guides the ending of the trill for you!
What’s the Difference Between a Mordent and a Trill?
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.
The Periods of Classical Music Part 1: Baroque Era
The Baroque era pretty much extends from around 1600 to the mid-1700s. What distinguishes this era of music from others? Baroque music, much like the art and architecture of the time, is very ornate. There are a lot of different textures and the music is very linear. The music often has several lines of music that intertwine. One of the paramount musical forms is the fugue – which has a subject and counter-subject that develop in an intricate fashion. It’s very important in Baroque music to not favor the top line of music as is typical in other periods of music. Baroque music is much more like a tapestry of sound – it should all blend together well. I perform an example of this in the video above with the fifth French Suite of Bach. Notice how even though there is a melody, I allow the other parts to have equal say. The other thing that is a vital component in Baroque music is keeping a steady beat. There is little give and take as in other period styles of music; you should be very clear and be able to hear the lines and allow the counterpoint to come through. You should also employ a minimal amount of pedal when it comes to the piano. When you are playing with other instruments, articulation is vital to getting a clear sound and style. Another thing to keep in mind with Baroque music is the ornamentation involved. You might notice a bunch of ornamentation markings sprinkled around Baroque scores and there are countless ways to interpret these. Ornamentation includes things like trills, mordants, turns and other techniques that are used to embellish your music beyond what’s written on the page.
What Are The BEST Trill Fingers?
I’ve talked before about how trills must be measured. You have to know exactly how many notes you’re playing in a trill. Even though when you listen to a trill it sounds like a free form explosion of notes going back and forth, trills have to be measured so you know exactly how many notes you play. Otherwise, ending a trill is impossible because you’re leaving it to chance whether you end up on the right note or not! You don’t always get to choose your trill fingers. There are some instances, for example in Bach Fugues, where you must trill with four and five. These are the worst fingers to trill with! Try to avoid four and five as trill fingers. A lot of people think three and two are the best trill fingers. And indeed, three and two are pretty strong trill fingers. But the best trill fingers are actually three and one! Three and one are the strongest fingers. Your thumb is the strongest finger and the third finger is probably your second strongest finger. Three and one are terrific for trills. Four and two could work nicely as well. There are a lot of different possibilities. Three and one are great when you have that possibility. Three and two are good too. It depends where you’re coming from and where you’re going in your score to determine what the right fingering is. Not only that but if you have other lines within the same hand, sometimes as I said, in contrapuntal writing in fugues particularly, you might not have much of a choice as to which fingers to use for trills. I’m going to give you one final trill fingering tip.
I’m going to show you something that’s really interesting and it ties right in with the idea of measuring your trills. If you measure your trills, you might want to try alternating three, one, three, two. By using those fingers, you actually reduce the load of the trill to three fingers so none of the fingers have to work quite as hard. Not only that but it helps you to measure your trills. Even if you don’t end up using three, one, three, two as trill fingerings, it will help you to make sure that you’re playing the right number of notes in your trills, which is the most important thing! You never want to think of trills as something abstract from music. Just imagine that every single note is written out and play it as it’s written in the score. If you’re figuring out your own trills, find something you can play reliably. Don’t worry about trying to make the fastest trill. What’s important is that it’s musical, repeatable, and dependable. If you can use three and one, or at least three and two, you’re going to be way ahead of the game.
Brilliant Piano Finger Technique – Piano Lessons
When I was growing up, I would listen to some of the great pianists such as Horowitz and Rubinstein. I would also listen to some of the pianists from the early 20th century such as Hoffman, Rachmaninoff, and Joseph Levine. I was always so impressed with the pristine finger work. It almost would sound like a string of jewels because of the evenness of the notes, and I always wondered how to achieve that sound. So today’s show is about how to achieve brilliant finger work. I’m going to regress a little bit more. When I first started studying the piano with my father Morton Estrin, he showed me how to practice scales with raised fingers and often times my students ask me, “Why do I have to raise my fingers?” Let me show you what I’m talking about. With slow scale practice, it’s important for strength to raise the fingers. You may wonder why you would ever want to play that way because obviously when you play quickly, you don’t have time to raise your fingers. The secret to getting the evenness in your scale work and fast finger passages is the release of notes. For example, if you were to put your hand on a flat surface and just try to lift one finger, some of them are pretty hard to lift. Lift your fourth finger with your hands on a flat surface, and it’s very hard. It’s actually the release of notes that takes more strength than the pushing down of notes! So to strengthen and then to release is the reason for practicing slowly with raised fingers so you’ll practice the release of each note and that will lead to the pristine beauty you can get in fast finger work. That is one of the secrets for achieving beautiful clarity in your playing. There are many others that I will discuss in future videos in terms of hand position and other practicing techniques. For now, I suggest that you practice very strongly. Practice your scales and your arpeggios slowly with raised fingers then work up gradually faster. As you get faster, your fingers, by necessity, must be closer and closer to the keys until you can play quickly but still have the pristine evenness, so each note is exactly the same length because the raising of fingers accomplishes the release of each previous note.
Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. How many of you have played that famous C major sonata of Mozart, or always wanted to play it? If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place. We’re going to take a complete deep dive into how to learn and master this ubiquitous Mozart sonata, starting right from the beginning.
A Section-by-Section Approach
We’re going to start at the very beginning and work through the piece section by section. By the end of this video series, you’ll be able to truly master this wonderful sonata. Have your score ready. There’s a link in the description so you can follow along with the music, and I’ll be here to guide you every step of the way. As we go, I’ll explain sonata allegro form so you can understand the structure, but more importantly, learn how to execute it cleanly and get that sparkle you’ve always wanted in this piece.
Exposition
Sonata form begins with the exposition, where the main themes are introduced. The opening theme is in C major, and from there the music moves into the second subject. It’s helpful to slow down here and focus on just this section so everything is completely clear before moving on.
How to Learn a Piece Like This
How do you actually learn something like this? I always recommend reading through the entire movement a couple of times first, just to get acquainted and understand the overall shape of the music. Then get right down to work in very small sections. You can learn four measures at a time, or even just two. Many people think learning two measures at a time will take forever, but it’s exactly the opposite. The smaller the section, the longer and more productive your practice sessions will be. You won’t feel overwhelmed, and you can really digest the score. Two measures at a time is more than enough to make solid progress.
Learn the Right Hand First
At the very beginning, take just the right hand. Follow all the markings in the score, including the notes, rhythm, phrasing, expression, and fingering. If you’re using an Urtext edition, you’ll notice it contains only what Mozart wrote, which means there may be no fingering included. In that case, you may want to reference another edition that includes fingering, such as editions available from Virtual Sheet Music or IMSLP.
Learn just the first two measures with the right hand. This won’t take long. Play it several times until it’s memorized, checking back and forth with the score. Once it feels comfortable, increase the speed.
Then Learn the Left Hand
Next, learn the left hand. Because it’s built on broken chords, start by learning the chords as solid blocks. This helps you understand the underlying harmony and naturally leads to good fingering. Memorize those chords first, then break them up and play them as written.
You may find that using pedal creates a beautiful sound. While Mozart’s piano didn’t have a modern sustain pedal, it did have a knee lever that served a similar function. Still, too much pedal can blur the texture. Instead, you can use what I call a phantom pedal by holding the first note of each chord. It’s not essential, but it produces a lovely effect.
Once the left hand is secure, make sure the right hand is still correct. Check all the details. For example, notice the slur in the second measure and be sure to shape it properly. You never save time by learning something incorrectly, even if it seems minor.
Put the Hands Together
The hardest part of piano playing is putting the hands together. Once each hand is securely memorized, slow the tempo way down and try playing hands together from memory. And check your work. Make sure, for example, that the C in the right hand releases exactly when the E plays at the quarter rest at the end of the second measure. Be fastidious with the details, because you will spend ten times longer fixing anything you didn’t pay attention to initially. If you’ve ever learned something wrong, you know how hard it is to eradicate it. Don’t be in a rush to get it halfway there or even 95 percent there, because that last 5 percent will take far longer than learning the whole thing correctly in the first place. Get it right from the start by breaking it down carefully.
Trills Without Stress
In the fourth measure, there is a trill. Trills must be measured, but they don’t have to be fancy. A simple trill using steady 16th notes is perfectly effective. You can always embellish later if you want, but first learn a clean, basic trill so you can move forward confidently.
This same principle applies throughout the movement. Don’t get stuck trying to execute elaborate ornamentation. Learn the movement first. Mozart gives you artistic license with trills, and simplicity can be just as beautiful.
Scale Passages and Technique
Now, in terms of the scale passages that follow, you can practice them just like scales. I’ve got a detailed scale tutorial video that I highly recommend, which shows how to practice these passages with proper technique with a metronome at a slow tempo. Use a slow tempo and focus on raised, rounded fingers. Articulate not only the attack of each note, but also the release, so everything stays clean and controlled.
Keep your hand position secure so the thumb has room to move. Avoid playing too far out on the keys or flattening your fingers. Rounded fingers make them effectively the same length, allowing for ease and consistency. Start very slowly if necessary and gradually increase the tempo.
You need to use your wrists for staccatos. If you use your arms instead, it will sound like a wet noodle. This way of articulating is especially important at faster tempos. Although Mozart wrote very few dynamics and phrasing markings, that doesn’t mean the music should be played without expression. Logical dynamics and phrasing is required to bring the music to life!
Understanding Sonata Form
This movement follows sonata form, which consists of an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. In the exposition, the first theme appears in C major, followed by a second theme in G major, the dominant. The entire exposition is repeated so the themes become firmly established.
In the development section, the music moves through a variety of keys, all derived from the original material. One of the fascinating aspects of this sonata is that the opening theme appears in F major, the subdominant, during the development. This is unexpected and shows how Mozart often bent the rules of form.
In the recapitulation, the music returns to C major and closes much like the exposition, but now everything resolves in the home key. However, the recapitution never states the first theme in the tonic key which is an interesting break from the typical sonata allegro form.
Repeats and Final Thoughts
It’s important to take the first repeat of the exposition, as this helps the themes become fully absorbed by both the player and the listener. In the recapitulation, the ornamentation can be exactly the same as in the exposition. There is no need to add extra notes or elaborate trills; a simple execution is entirely appropriate and still captures the musical character.
That covers the first movement of this Mozart sonata. With careful practice and attention to detail, it becomes not only manageable, but deeply rewarding to play. In the next part of the series, we move on to the second movement, which is a true gem and a beautiful study in lyrical playing and tonal control. Thanks for joining me here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
Over the years I’ve made a lot of videos about pianos and practicing piano. Today I’m going to provide a concise list of some areas to focus on during your development as a pianist and give some examples of past lessons you can refer to. 1. Memorize, Memorize, Memorize! One of the most important aspects to practicing the piano and developing as a musician is to spend time on a regular basis memorizing music. I can’t stress enough how important this is and how it is often neglected. Any pianist specializing in solo classical music must spend a vast amounts of time memorizing music. The amount of music in the world is endless and nobody can memorize all of it. But if you spend time on a daily basis memorizing music, you will develop security and mastery of performance. Not only will you expand your repertoire, you’ll be giving your brain a workout and you will spend more time focusing on how to play your music rather than what you have to play.
2. Sight Reading Sight Reading is another crucial element to your development as a pianist and is another topic that is often overlooked. Wouldn’t it be great to explore new repertoire and try it out before you commit a significant amount of time learning it? That’s where sight reading becomes incredibly beneficial. Developing your sight reading is very important and if you work on it regularly, you will continually improve.
3. Playing With Other Musicians Playing music with other musicians is not only fun, it’s a necessary experience in developing your own skills. Even if your primary interest is playing solo piano, you should seek out opportunities to play with other musicians and do it as often as possible. There is no need to be intimidated by playing with musicians who are better than you are. In fact, this is one of the best ways to advance your scope as a musician. Even if they play other instruments, examining their sense of style, phrasing, timing and other aspects of their playing can help you develop a new depth of understanding to music. Sight reading might be incredibly difficult on your own as you will find yourself starting and stopping when you make mistakes. When you sight read with other musicians, you will be forced to recover and you won’t be able to stop playing. It forces you to become a better at sight reading!
4. Improvise Often and Don’t be Afraid to Explore New Styles of Music Improvising is so important to understanding your music and gaining a new depth of understanding about how it’s constructed. Many styles of music such as rock and jazz rely on improvisation as a key element to the music and encourages musicians to create something new and interesting every time they perform. Developing your improvisation skills (even with classical music) is a crucial element to becoming a better and more well-rounded musician. Exploring new styles of music enables you to experience and understand styles you might not have been aware of; it can also be a great deal of fun! I’m a classical pianist but when I’ve been at parties with other musicians and played blues music, it’s been a great deal of fun and an incredible learning experience to improvise with them and learn how they approach music. Improvising is also a universal language. If you learn how to read a lead sheet for jazz standards, you can take that anywhere in the world, to play with any musicians. Spoken language is not a barrier for musical performance!
5. Practice Mentally This is something that people might not ever think of. Practicing mentally away from your instrument can offer benefits not possible while playing your instrument. Playing music requires a thought process and there are tremendous benefits to thinking through your music. Let’s say you’re waiting in line at the grocery store. You can practice your music mentally by thinking through a piece with every nuance of performance without any physical restrictions. Going through your music when you are away from your instrument allows you to think about it in a different light. Naturally, practicing with your instrument is essential, but you may rely on motor memory rather than the music. Practicing mentally allows you to think through your music playing it exactly as you want. This can have tremendous benefits strengthening your memory. Just play through your music in your mind and see how far you get. You can always refer to the score to clarify the comprehension of the score.
HOW TO MEMORIZE MUSIC
This might sound like a silly question but sometimes you have a piece you can play with the music in front of you but you haven’t memorized it yet. You might be able to play the whole piece by barely glancing at the music but you still need it in parts. This can be cumbersome and is something you want to avoid. So how do you fix this? I have produced a video in the past on How to Memorize Music. If you haven’t watched it yet I highly recommend it as a companion piece to this article. My very first lesson as a child when I studied with my father Morton Estrin was how to memorize music. It’s a crucial skill that every musician should learn. Taking small sections of music and memorizing each hand separately, then putting them together helps you memorize even the most difficult passages of music. This is a great system to use but how do you account for a piece you almost have memorized? How can you push yourself over the edge and get the whole piece down? I actually have two methods for you. The first is the band-aid approach to practicing music. This technique is simple but very effective. Play through the piece as far as you can from memory. When you encounter a spot that you can’t go past without looking at the music, you stop. Then take this small section and study it intensely. Use the method I detailed above and learn each hand separately first to get the section memorized securely. If the band-aid approach doesn’t work for you don’t worry; you have other options. Rather than starting all over again and learning small chunks at a time, expand the amount of music you learn for each section. So where you might have been memorizing 3-4 measures at a time, try and work with 8-10 measures at a time. Make sure you learn the hands separately and then combine them together. I highly recommend that in the future you start by memorizing your piece as the first step and not the last step. Start by progressing through your music in small chunks and learn each hand separately; then combine them when you’re ready. Ultimately this is a much more efficient way to learn your music.
DO PIANISTS SLOW WITH AGE?
This is a very interesting question. We know as people get older their mobility may suffer and their minds can potentially slow down. But how does this affect their ability to perform music? Today we are going to discuss this and the answer might surprise you! You might think that a performer would naturally slow down with age – but this isn’t always the case. When it comes to prodigies, they tend to play very quickly when they are young, but as they mature they begin to take more time with the music. This is not a case of slowing down due to physical limitations, but as a way to express the music on a deeper level. They learn to express themselves with every note instead of rushing through the music almost like a sporting event. The technical side is one thing, but there is a whole other aspect of why you might find yourself slowing down your playing as you get older. If you take a piece you know very well, you may have played it hundreds or even thousands of times – and to you it might seem slow because you know every single note of it inside out. While it might seem “slow” to you, for your audience, they must digest the music for the first time. They might be overwhelmed by the volume of music to digest. As you mature as a musician, you appreciate what it is like for people to listen to a piece they are not familiar with. Age is not always an indicator of the speed of a musical performance. I’ve heard older pianists who play very fast and younger pianists who play much slower. Sometimes personalities come into play. Often times the differences between professional musicians and talented students are the tempos they take – and this doesn’t mean that more accomplished artists play faster or slower than students. For example, many times, less experienced players will play slow movements much slower than what works, which bogs down the performance, losing the pulse which keeps the music alive. It takes experience to understand how to get these sections to flow and sound natural. Generally, older musicians tend to play slower. But I don’t believe it has anything to do with mobility and age, it’s much more a product of learning how to play expressively.
Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today we are talking about a seminal question: whether it is better to buy a new Steinway or a vintage Steinway. You might wonder why anyone would buy a 100 year old piano instead of a brand new one. I get this question all the time, and technicians debate it endlessly. Some say old pianos are junk. Others say they do not make them like they used to. So who is right? Let’s break it down.
The Wood Makes a Difference
The first point is the wood. In the 1920s and 1930s, and even earlier, piano makers had access to old growth wood. Today, most woods are plantation grown. Older woods tend to have tighter grain, which produces greater resonance and depth of sound. There are even major challenges now in obtaining Sitka spruce from Alaska, which is protected. This has created a real crisis in sourcing the finest tonewoods that were once commonly available to piano manufacturers.
Hand Building Versus Machines
Another important factor is how pianos are built. Modern pianos rely heavily on CNC machines, which stands for computer numerical control. These machines are incredibly consistent and precise. Vintage pianos, on the other hand, were hand built. Each one has its own individual personality. When you find a good vintage piano, it has a soul that machines simply cannot replicate. That individuality is something many pianists find irresistible.
The Golden Age of Piano Manufacturing
If you go back to the period before World War Two, there were over one thousand piano companies in operation. Only about 300 or 400 of them were full scale manufacturers, with the rest being smaller assemblers or short lived firms. Still, it was the heyday of piano manufacturing in America. Compare that to today, when only a couple of companies are producing perhaps two or three thousand pianos a year. It was truly a different era.
Why Old Pianos Can Be a Problem
Here is where many people get burned. Pianos are not violins. Violins tend to improve with age, but pianos are machines that wear out. Old strings, cracked soundboards, and worn actions mean that many vintage pianos are essentially furniture unless they are properly restored. To unlock the magic, restoration is essential.
The Hybrid Solution
The solution is a hybrid approach. For example, my piano is a Steinway Model S that my grandfather bought for my father in the early 1940s. It was built in the late 1930s, and it has since been completely rebuilt. You get the original rim, the case, and the structural elements that cannot be replaced. If you are lucky, you also retain the original soundboard, which can be resurrected to produce a magnificent tone. All of the action parts can be rebuilt using Steinway or Renner components. Hammers might be from Steinway or Abel, depending on what is most appropriate for that particular piano.
This is why it is critical to work with a rebuilder who truly understands pianos. Not every Steinway performs best with current Steinway parts, even though Steinway now owns Renner. When done correctly, you can install new strings and a new action while preserving the tonal beauty of old growth wood. This approach gives you the stability of a new piano combined with the tone of aged wood. You can hear a beautiful pianissimo and a gorgeous, singing sustain. That is what people mean when they talk about singing wood from old growth forests. You also get tremendous power and a deep bass growl that is hard to find in most new pianos unless you are spending well into six figures on top tier instruments.
What About Consistency?
One advantage of buying a new piano is consistency, and that is generally true. However, new pianos also have a break in period. During the first couple of years, strings stretch, felt parts settle, and everything gradually seats into place. So the real question is whether you can hear the difference. Listen to Asian production pianos. Listen to new Steinways. If you have tried new Steinways, how do you feel they compare to vintage instruments? I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment at LivingPianos.com, we are Your Online Piano Store!
Also see: New Vs. Vintage Steinway – What They DONT’T tell you:
