Hi Robert,

Two questions, please:

If a large grand piano was delivered to a house, would it have to fit through a door fully assembled or could the legs be removed and the body be tilted vertically?

Also, installing a MIDI system (regardless of the brand), could that be installed by a technician at the house or would it have to be installed at a “workshop” before it gets delivered?

Thanks Robert!

Brian

Thanks for the great questions! All grand pianos are moved on their side with the pedals and legs removed. They are put on what is called a grand board and rolled in on a 4 wheel flat dolly. Professional movers make it look easy because they know exactly what they are doing.

Player installation is an involved process. So, it must be done in a workshop and preferably by a piano technician since it involves some surgery that must be performed correctly to avoid any compromise to the piano. My installers are 1st rate piano technicians who specialize in player installs.

I may be able to include the cost of delivery in the purchase of the piano since I have so many pianos crisscrossing the country. Please feel free to fire away any other questions that occur to you.

Believe it or not, this is a question that is dear to my heart. I don’t know if any of you have noticed but I actually have very small hands.

This was a problem for me as I was growing up and working on more advanced repertoire; I was learning music that required reaching an octave, yet my hands could barely reach – I was only able to achieve this by playing around the keys as opposed to directly above them.

If you are learning to play the piano and your hands are too small to reach an octave, you will be at a severe disadvantage. However, it’s not impossible. I work with Jake Clayton, a 10-year-old pianist who has trouble reaching an octave but you would never tell by the way he plays Mozart Concertos or Chopin; he manages just fine.

At this point, Jake’s hands will eventually get bigger; mine, on the other hand, are pretty much stuck where they are. Now I have no trouble reaching an octave but when I get into playing music with 10ths and 11ths it requires a bigger reach then I can manage. You probably wonder, do I have to leave out notes? Actually no.

It’s not overly difficult and anyone can learn how to achieve this. The secret is learning how to break chords very quickly using the pedal; The difference is almost imperceptible.

While there may be disadvantages to small hands, there is also a tremendous benefit to having small hands for playing the piano. Believe it or not, some people have such large fingers that they can’t get their fingers easily between the black keys; so they will have to play on the outside of the keyboard as opposed to the inside near the fallboard – presenting a big challenge.

The most important part of playing the piano is achieving the sound you imagine. With practice, you can play the piano with small hands.

Welcome the first in the two part series of how to play the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata. This lesson will cover how to control voicing in the famous 1st movement.

Learning to balance the hands is one of the most challenging aspects of learning to play the piano. It gets even harder when playing the Moonlight Sonata because you have two different parts in one hand and you want to play one part louder than the other – using only one hand. This is truly a challenge and will definitely take some practice to master.

I’m going to provide some techniques to help you practice this part of the Moonlight Sonata but this is intrinsic information when it comes to piano playing; you can use these techniques for all your music!

(If you are not familiar with the first movement of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, you should be able to get the score on line.)

In this particular part you have two parts with the right hand – triplets on the bottom and a slow melody on top. The difficulty is compounded because the longer melody notes fade out while the accompaniment triplets keep repeating and are therefore naturally louder; so how do you balance the two?

If you try and play some notes louder than others you might not be able to achieve this at first. You might wonder how you would ever be able to practice something like that. There is a great technique to remedy this!

Instead of just practicing louder and softer with the right hand, practice with two completely different articulations. Play the melody legato and play the accompaniment part staccato (from the fingers); this will give you control.

By practicing in this extreme manner it will help to identify the feel of the melody compared to the accompaniment. Practice playing the accompaniment very lightly and play with just a touch of the fingers, not the wrist.

When you do play the piece as written – with the legato triplets on the bottom – feel that you are reaching for the melody notes on top and you will be able to control the sound from the fingers.

It is very important in your initial practice to not use the pedal; so you can accomplish the independence of your fingers from one-another and hear the voices clearly. The pedal is literally the last thing you add.

This is a technique you can use in all your music to bring out melodies. I’m very interested to hear any input or advice you might have regarding this technique. Thanks again for watching.

You might have heard these terms used in describing used pianos. But exactly what is the difference between rebuilding a piano and simply reconditioning one? Is there a real distinction between the two? There definitely is.

Whether or not you will be looking at a rebuild or a reconditioning really depends upon the condition the piano is in. Generally, the distinction of rebuilding is when the cast iron plate of the piano is removed. Removing the plate is a very big deal – it requires an engine hoist; as the plate weighs more than the rest of the piano combined. When removing the plate, the strings, pins, and bolts are removed first. Then the plate is lifted out.

Rebuilding is necessary when the soundboard or pinblock are compromised. The reason for removing a plate is so important is that it allows the technician to get to the belly of the piano. The soundboard can be refinished; it can be shimmed if necessary, and when the plate is put back in it can be placed precisely for ideal down bearing – the tension the strings exert on the bridge. You also have the option to rebuild the plate to make it look like new. Really, removing the plate allows you to rework the inside of the piano giving new life to a piano with problems.

Another good reason to rebuild a piano is if the pinblock needs to be replaced. If the piano has been restrung a number of times it is important to replace the pinblock because larger pins are used every time you restring a piano and you reach a practical limit in pin size. Also, the pinblock can sometimes develop cracks which effects tuning stability.

If the soundboard and pinblock are in good shape, there is no benefit in rebuilding the piano. In fact, you can restring the piano, rework the bridges, and even rebuild the action, refinish the cabinet and re-bush the pedals all without technically rebuilding the piano. However, such a piano might be just as solid and potentially long-lasting as a rebuilt piano. It all depends upon what each instrument needs in order to play at a high level for years to come.

Christina asks, how do you prepare for a concert? Do you play through your music on the day of the concert?

This question raises many issues of concern to all performers. Performing music requires many different types of preparation including:

– Physical

– Mental

– Emotional

The most important aspect of preparing to perform a concert is the work that is done weeks and months before the performance. This is essential to accomplish all 3 aspects listed above. Obviously, a thorough knowledge of the score as well as technical fluency is required for a good performance. But equally important is the psychological preparation. If the first time you think about being out there in front of an audience is the moment of the performance, you will be ill-prepared for the surge of adrenalin that surely would result. Take time days in advance of the performance to imagine the moment in great detail while being in a relaxed state so you can trigger that feeling when the actual performance comes.

Trying out your music the day of the program is a good idea particularly if the piano is one that you aren’t intimately familiar with. A good addition is to play some of your pieces slowly with the music with no pedal to reinforce the memory. Some people like to have special routines on the day of a performance like taking a nap or a walk, avoiding caffeine, even eating bananas or taking beta blockers to help ease nerves. Other people like to go about their routines as normal. You should do what makes you feel good. The bottom line is to enjoy the performance. If you are engaged with the music, the audience will share the emotions of the performance!

Use the music: After you have the piece memorized, you must periodically go back and read the score carefully. I suggest playing slowly without pedal and using the metronome for the most dramatic results.

Practice slowly: Fast practice is like moving in quicksand. You dig yourself into the ground by reinforcing mistakes instead of identifying and eradicating them as you do in slow practice. Slow practice is like putting newsprint under a microscope. You see all the imperfections. This enables you to refine your playing by identifying rough edges.

Practice without the pedal: While the pedal makes everything sound better, when practicing, you can not only hear more critically without the pedal, but you will also be able to quickly hear fingering problems before they become ingrained.

Use the metronome: Even in music that has fluidity with the tempo will benefit from metronome practice. You need a reference of time to know how much you are bending the phrase with rubato. Also, when learning difficult passages, it is usual to slow down. Over time you may even overcompensate for difficult passages rushing them. Difficult passages can be mastered by increasing the metronome a notch or 2 at a time to speed up particularly difficult passages.

Take very small sections at a time: It is tempting to try to learn large chunks to save time. The problem is that it becomes overwhelming. If you take tiny sections at a time and master them, you will be able to sustain a productive practice much longer.

Practice in chords when possible: Not only does reducing the music to chords help to clarify the structure, it also helps to figure out the best fingering.

Always put corrections into context: Fixing a mistake isn’t enough. After you have mastered a correction, go back and connect the phrase to the preceding phrase. Then go back to the beginning of the section and connect, or you will find your old mistake recurring.

Practicing should be like a fine meal, served in courses: If you divide your practice into different sections of activities, you will be productive longer. First you may do some memorization. Then you can work on refining previously learned material. Then perhaps scales and arpeggios, and then perhaps some sight-reading. Doing any one skill for too long takes much greater mental effort and you may not work at optimum level.

Use the 80/20 rule: If you focus the majority of your time on the few places that are weak, you will get much better results than practicing equally on all sections of your music.

Be keenly aware of how you feel: It is essential to be relaxed, sitting comfortably at the right distance from the keyboard and at the right height to avoid injury. Also, you should take periodic breaks to stretch or at least take a short walk to keep your body limber. Be aware of any lingering pain and take appropriate steps to avoid injury.