In this video Robert Estrin provides some tips to get a great tone out of your piano.
Tag Archives: how to play piano
Piano Lessons – How to Cross Hands on the piano
As you advance in your playing this will inevitably come up and it’s going to be a challenge for many people to overcome. But why would you cross your hands? Sometimes it can be the composer specifically writing something that would require it; sometimes it’s just easier to cross your hands in certain passages; either way, you will eventually encounter this technique in your repertoire.
For the video above I use the first movement of the Pathetique Sonata of Beethoven to demonstrate the technique. In the exposition section of the piece there is a part where one hand keeps playing the same group of notes and the other hand jumps around the keyboard. You simply can’t negotiate this easily without crossing your hands.
How do you handle these sections? It’s always a great idea to learn your hand positions before you start playing. Not only should you have your hands over the first note of the phrase, you should position them over as many keys as you can. By doing this you will eliminate having to move your hand more than necessary – which could lead to wrong notes – and you will have a set position you can constantly refer back to. For specific examples in this piece, refer to the video embedded in this page.
It’s always a great idea to be over the keys before you need to play them. It will help you relax and be able to concentrate on actually playing and not just where your hands are located. A great way to achieve this is by practicing your music right up until the moment where you need to move your hand. Keep practicing the same line over and over and when you get to the notes you need to play next just move your hand over them but don’t play them yet, just get your hand in position. Keep doing this until your hand effortlessly glides to the correct spot and keep doing it until it just feels natural. When you feel confident you have achieved a fluid and precise movement over the keys, play the notes. Continue to play the phrase and the proceeding notes until you feel confident enough to move on.
You can really do this for all your music – whether it requires crossing your hands or not. The best thing you can do is to stay relaxed and be ready over notes ahead of time. You should never play from a position in which you feel like you are constantly catching up.
Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com
Piano Lessons: Chopin Prelude No 4 (E minor)
Welcome to my ongoing series dedicated to specific pieces of repertoire. Today we will be covering the Chopin Prelude No. 4 (E minor). This was actually the very first piece of Chopin I ever studied so it holds a particularly special interest for me. As a kid I remember thinking that this was the most beautiful piece I’d ever heard and I couldn’t imagine playing anything better. Of course as time went on my tastes expanded, yet this piece is still one of my all-time favorites.
This is actually a very odd piece of music. If you just play the melody without the chords you will notice that it’s surprisingly simple. The real genius of this piece lies in the harmonization; the left hand has some truly exquisite chords. While the chords are extremely important, you will still want the melody to sing above everything else.
A very big mistake when it comes to playing the piano is continually using the pedal as a crutch to cover up sloppy playing. If you intend to learn this piece correctly and make it sing, you will need to achieve a true legato in both hands without the use of the pedal. Because of this, you will want to practice, learn and memorize this piece without using the pedal at first. Later when you feel confident in the sound you produce, you can add the pedal to create an even richer sound.
Another practice method is holding out the chords with the left-hand. Instead of playing all the chords as written, hold the repeated chords out instead of replaying them – so you can get a sense of the best fingering when switching between chords. You will find ways to maneuver your fingers and hands in ways that will connect the notes much better and create a seamless sound.
When combining the hands, you will want to make sure you get an extreme legato. I can’t tell you how many times I hear people playing this piece by simply using the pedal and playing short chords. While it might sound OK, it’s really not the best sound. You will create a much better sound if you use an extreme legato in both hands to allow the melody to sing above the thick chords. Use a constant arm weight supported by your fingers to bring out the melody in the right hand.
There really are dozens of different ways to perform this piece. If you search on YouTube you can find a number of different interpretations from incredible pianists. While the phrasing can change, you will always want to be rising or falling; the music must always be going somewhere.
Thanks again for joining me. If you would like more information about this piece or any others, we are currently in the midst of producing some thorough tutorials instead of just these helpful pointers. If you would like to be notified about these lessons please send me an email requesting more information at Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
How to Approach Thirds on The Piano
Thirds on the piano can be very difficult. We only have five fingers on each hand so negotiating thirds can be a real challenge. As with other aspects of piano technique, fingering is critical. Here are some related resources for you:
How to Practice Scales & Arpeggios and Brilliant Piano Fingering Technique.
In this article and video, you will find some tips on how to approach thirds and some routines to add to your practice. Of course, thirds can be practiced endlessly. It’s said that Josef Lhévinne practiced the Double Thirds Etude by Chopin for ten years before performing it! His historic recording of the piece is a testament to this fact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XCj-j7TBTY
In the following tips, I utilize a D Major Scale played in thirds.
A great way to practice thirds (this example refers to the right hand) is to play the top notes legato and the bottom staccato; doing this will help to clarify the melody notes. You can make it a bit simpler for yourself by trying to play the top notes and leaving out the bottom notes. You can also try playing every other note on the bottom and then go through and play the notes you left out the first time.
All of these simple techniques will help you develop the muscle memory and strength to play thirds with precision. Try practicing with a metronome to keep consistency and remember that fingering is critical in playing thirds. Check out the videos links above for more fingering techniques.
Thanks again for joining me and keep those questions coming: Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
10 Tips for Practicing the Piano
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.
How to Play Piano – Part 3 – Arms Equal Power and Depth
HOW TO UTILIZE PARTS OF THE BODY: Power Versus Speed
In playing the piano, different parts of the body are utilized according to the requirements of power and speed. The more power required, the more mass of the body is utilized. The more speed, the less mass is needed.
– Finger technique: When the utmost in speed is required, only the fingers will do.
– Arm technique: When massive strength is called for as in big chords, only the arms can provide enough power.
– Wrist technique: While not as powerful as the arms, the wrists are faster than the arms and more powerful than the fingers.
