Tag Archives: music theory

Do You Need a Practice Checklist?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about why you need a practicing checklist. What’s this all about? A lot of my students want to have a routine in their practice to do a certain number of things in a certain order on a daily basis. And while this is commendable in one sense, a routine can sometimes work against you because you want to take advantage of the discoveries in your practice. You might go off on a tangent and think you’re spending too much time on something because you need to get to other things. So you might not take advantage of an exploration that could lead to an epiphany in your playing.

Instead of a routine, a checklist offers something really valuable for you.

When you practice, you might get to a point where you’re thinking, “What am I supposed to do now?” If you don’t have a routine, you’re kind of lost. But if you have a checklist, you know you want to do certain things every day. I offered this idea to one of my students, Jancarlos, in the Dominican Republic. I asked him to come up with a practice checklist for himself. I said, “You should come up with a checklist that has things you really want to do on a daily basis and then things you do on a weekly basis, maybe not every single day, but something that you don’t want to go too long without visiting in your practice.” So this is what Jancarlos came up with. See how many of these things resonate with you! I’d love to get suggestions here in the comments on LivingPianos.com and YouTube.

Jancarlos starts his checklist with memorization of new material.

I stress this all the time. Why is it so important to memorize new material on a daily basis? Because cramming memorization doesn’t work! Let’s say you’ve gone four or five days without doing any memorization. You think you can just make up for it in a few hours, but it’s not so easy. When you first learn a phrase, it’s not that hard. You learn the second phrase, and it comes along okay. But by the third or fourth phrase, it starts to get really taxing. How much can you cram into your head in one sitting? It’s tough. So take advantage every day when your mind is fresh to learn something, even if it’s just one phrase. You’ll be rewarded! Take a look at the score of whatever music you’re working on and figure out the smallest phrase that you could learn; maybe it’s four measures, and then multiply that by seven and then deduct any measures that are the same. You’ll discover that you might get a page or a page and a half of music learned just by doing a phrase a day. So make that a priority in your practice. What else should be done every day?

Reinforce material from the previous day.

Obviously, you need to solidify what you learned the previous day. You might have to relearn it. The good news is that you’ll be able to learn it much faster. Not only that, but if you learned four measure phrases the previous day, you might be able to learn eight measure phrases when you relearn it because it’s already there.

Another thing you really should be doing on a regular basis is playing scales and arpeggios.

If you’re not up to scales and arpeggios, you should at least do simple Hanon exercises to strengthen your fingers. If you learn one new scale a week or one new arpeggio a week, you’ll have them all learned in a year. That is a good foundation for your playing. And if you already know them all, solidify them. Take them to the next level in speed, different articulations, or doing them in contrary motion or in intervals. You can keep working on scales and arpeggios your whole life. There’s always value in doing so!

Another thing you should do is review your old pieces.

Go through slowly solidifying pieces you can already play. This is a great way to keep them in shape and to check your work so things don’t degrade over time. By doing this, you always have music you can play on a high level. Also, make time for free playing. Play old repertoire or improvise, just to keep your fingers moving. You can keep pieces in shape just by playing them, and improvising develops your ear and your connection to the keyboard.

Another thing that you can do on a regular basis is sight-read.

Sight-reading is a vital aspect of strengthening your reading because you might learn more and more music and still have a beginning reading level. So make reading something you do on a regular basis. Finding sight-reading material on the right level for you is the most important part. If it’s something you struggle just to get through a line or two, it’s not going to be that valuable. It’ll be painstaking for you, and you’re not going to want to do it. And you’re not going to get the fluidity and sense of reading and maintaining a tempo. Finding easy enough music for sight-reading is a challenge for many people because many people do become somewhat accomplished, yet they still have the reading level of a beginner. I was in that category when I was a pretty advanced player in high school because I didn’t do enough sight-reading. So make that a part of your regular study.

Go through theory on a regular basis.

It can be something as simple as just going through your sharps and your flats. You don’t want to just memorize by rote. That’s not that valuable. Frankly, it’s better than nothing. But you’re better off figuring out the intervals you’re playing. Why is this so important? Imagine trying to solve quadratic equations in algebra while not being fluent with your multiplication tables. That’s not going to work very well. You have to be pretty fluent with all your tables before you can approach higher mathematics. The same thing is true with music theory. You better be really solid with your key signatures and all your major scales before doing chords, intervals, and all of that. So spend some time with that on a regular basis.

Explore other styles of music.

It can be incredibly valuable to explore other genres, whether it’s jazz, salsa, pop, blues, etc. You’ll make discoveries, and you’ll understand the structure of music better. It ties in with music theory. All of these skill sets relate to each other. That’s why the more of them you do on a regular basis, the more productive your practice is.

Make a checklist for yourself!

Make a checklist so you never get stuck in your practice. If you’re not getting anywhere, change it up and do something different. You can come back to what you were doing the next day, and maybe it will resonate more genuinely with you at that time. Have your checklist on hand, either on your phone or on a piece of paper, so you can make sure you practice all these fundamental skill sets on a regular basis. Thank you, Jancarlos, for sharing this with everybody! Share your musical checklist 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

What Are Primary Chords? Why You Need Them

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about why you must know your primary chords. What are primary chords? Well, I’m going to break it down for you today. I’m going to show you something called diatonic chords first, because that’s how you can discover what your primary chords are.

Diatonic chords, simply put, are chords built on every note of the scale.

The simplest chords are triads—three notes arranged in thirds. What are thirds? Thirds are every other note of a scale. If you play every other note of a C major scale, you have a C major chord. If you go up the scale, you can play all your diatonic chords. So D-F-A is also a diatonic triad. E-G-B, and on up the scale forming all the diatonic triads. This is essential to understand, and it can help you immensely in digesting a score if you’re reading or learning it. It’s also valuable just for listening to music.

I’m going to show you what are referred to as primary chords.

If you are vaguely aware of this now, this is going to be a revelatory moment for you. So let’s go through. We start with the one chord, and you notice that you have four half-steps on the bottom between the C and the E. That’s called a major third. Now on the top, there are three half-steps between the E and G. That’s a minor third. When you have a major third on the bottom and a minor third on the top, that is a major triad. This is really fundamental to music. We’re going to go up and discover where the major triads occur in Diatonic Chords. So far, we’ve established that the one chord is indeed major. That is the first primary chord. Where is the next one? If you go to the two chord, on the bottom, you have three half-steps between the D and F, which is a minor third, and you have four half-steps on the top between the F and A, which is a major third. So that’s a minor triad. So the two chord is not a primary chord; it’s a secondary chord because it’s not major. What about the three chord? I bet you can figure this out now that I’ve shown you the secret. You have three half-steps on the bottom and four on the top, so that is a minor triad again. The three chord is also a secondary triad. The four chord has four half-steps on the bottom and three on the top, so it is a major triad. So the one chord and the four chord are both major triads; therefore, they’re primary chords. Are there any other primary chords? The five chord has four half-steps on the bottom and three on top. So that’s another major chord.

The one chord, the four chord, and the five chord are your primary chords.

The six chord has three half-steps on the bottom and four on top; therefore, it’s a minor triad, another secondary chord. We have one more left. The seven chord has three half-steps on the bottom and also three on top. What the heck is going on here? That’s not a major or minor triad. Two minor thirds forms a diminished triad. It’s the only place where a diminished triad occurs in a diatonic chord. To recap, you have your major triads, which are your primary chords, the one, four, and five; you have your secondary chords, which are the two, three, and six, which are all minor; and you have your leading tone, the seventh chord, which is diminished.

Why is this so important?

Those basic one, four, and five chords are intrinsic to Western harmony. It’s a classic, authentic cadence and a great way to establish the key. You can go through all your keys this way. It’s a great way to gain comfort in all the major and minor keys. It’s a terrific way to have your primary chords literally at your fingertips! It makes reading music, understanding the harmonic underpinnings of your music, and learning music much easier.

You should know your primary chords in all keys.

It will really help you to have a good grasp of the harmonic structure of your music. From there, you can expand to your secondary chords and all sorts of interesting chords. But you should absolutely cement your primary chords. I hope this is valuable 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

How to Solidify Rhythms

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how to solidify rhythms. I did a video a while back called What Is the Most Important Aspect of Music? I identified rhythm as the most important part. Of course, it’s hard to say one aspect of music is the most important, but rhythm is an intrinsic part of music. What can you do to solidify rhythms in your music? There are many things you can do! I’m going to outline them for you today to help solidify your music.

The essential way to figure out and solidify any written score is to count the rhythms.

Count them out loud. First, you can simply clap the rhythms before you even play them, so you can solidify the rhythm without being encumbered by fingering, phrasing, expression, and notes. The important thing about counting is to count consistently. In other words, if you’re counting a piece in 4/4 time that has eighth notes, you want to count with the “ands” even if you don’t have eighth notes on those “ands.” So you want to count, “one – and – two – and – three – and – four – and.” Count all the beats and just fit in the notes where they land, even when you aren’t playing eighth notes. If you don’t count all the “ands,” the rhythm can go haywire.

Your counting must have the same divisions throughout.

This is also true if you have a piece that just has occasional 16th notes. It can be really cumbersome to count, “one – uh – and – uh – two – uh – and – uh – three – uh – and – uh – four – uh – and – uh.” It’s hard to get up to speed counting that way. Initially, you might want to do that, but then soon you might just want to count with the “ands.” But again, you want to be consistent. Keep your counting style consistent throughout a piece, or at least a section of the piece, for it to really have value for you. What else is there other than counting?

The metronome is invaluable for solidifying rhythms.

You can use the metronome to solidify rhythms as well as tempo. You might have the rhythm solidified, but then your tempo fluctuates in different sections of the piece. For example, a piece that has mostly slow notes in one section and then faster notes in another section. How can you possibly have the same pulse unless you use the metronome? For example, in Farewell by Burgmüller, you have eighth notes at the beginning, then it goes to triplets. You even have a ritard thrown in there in the transition. Take out the trusty metronome so you know how to justify the beat when you’re going from two divisions of the beat to three divisions of the beat. This is a great way to solidify your tempo and rhythm. The metronome is an invaluable tool, as I’ve talked about before. Is there anything else you can do?

Believe it or not, there’s something you can do away from the piano!

You have a piece of music, and you’re having trouble really feeling the pulse of the beat. The metronome isn’t working for you, so what do you do instead? You can go marching! Take a walk and play in your mind, or sing the part that is giving you trouble to the beat of your stride. That’s something you can do to literally feel the beat.

Dancing is a tremendous way to feel the beat.

Just feel the music and make motions to it. There’s a whole field of study about this called Eurythmics. It enables people to get a sense of rhythm by clapping, moving, and improvising, all of which utilize the body as part of the process of learning and becoming comfortable with rhythms. Move parts of your body, particularly when you’re away from the piano. You don’t want to get into the habit of moving around when you’re playing the piano because it’s distracting to the audience and can become a habit. If you need to tap your foot, a little trick you can use is to tap your left heel. If you tap the toe, it can make noise. You can even tap your heel while you’re using the soft pedal, and it won’t really get in the way of the music or the audience.

So those are some tips for you! Once again, counting out loud is important; using the metronome is a vital part of any serious classical player’s practice; you can master music while singing or thinking it in your head; and you can dance to your music. These are all ways you can solidify your rhythm on the piano or other instruments! 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

Should You Follow Metronome Markings in Your Music?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today we are going to discuss whether or not you should follow metronome markings in your scores. I’ve had students say to me, “I’m really trying to get this piece up to speed, and the tempo marked in the score is 160. I just can’t get anywhere close to that!” They’re beating themselves up, wondering how they can get it up to that speed. There’s a lot to this subject. I’m going to enlighten you about these metronome markings in scores. But first, I want to show you something that will shed some light on this whole subject.

How fast is Allegro?

I have my metronome here, and there’s a whole range of tempos marked “Allegro”. The very slowest Allegro is 126. That seems fine, but there’s a whole range of Allegro. 126 is the lowest setting that’s marked as Allegro on the metronome. 144 is right in the middle of what that’s marked as Allegro. At this speed, I think some pieces lose their elegance. But here’s what’s really crazy: according to this metronome, 168 is at the top range of Allegro. That is a much faster tempo than what you would generally consider to be Allegro. So that’s not much help, is it?

Are metronome markings in the score written by the composer?

You have a piece of music with a tempo marking. Did the composer put that in there? No. Composers almost never put metronome indications in scores. These are the editor’s suggestions that are put in the score. If you look at different editions, there can be drastically different metronome markings in the scores. So you really can’t go by metronome markings. I say ignore them! They are not of any value. They may or may not have anything to do with musical sensibilities.

If you really want to get a sense of what tempo is appropriate for a piece of music, listen to recordings.

Go on YouTube or Spotify and listen to great pianists playing the piece. Get a feel for the range of tempos. But sometimes you will find different pianists will play the same piece at drastically different tempos. For example, the Rondo alla turca movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11. Listen to Lang Lang play it, then listen to Glenn Gould play it. These are two noted concert pianists, and they are so drastically different in their tempos. You won’t even believe how different they are! So artists have very different ideas about tempo, but at least you get a range for what most people play.

Does that mean you have to play it at that speed?

Not necessarily. You might be able to make a convincing case for a drastically different tempo, as is the case in these performances by Glenn Gould and Lang Lang, who chose drastically different tempos than almost everyone else for that same movement. But you should know when you’re going against the grain because you’ll have a frame of reference. Listeners are used to a certain tempos for pieces, and if you’re drastically different one way or the other, that’s going to be a little bit startling for them. You have to have real conviction if you’re going to do that. And if you’re a student, you want to try to play somewhere in the range of what most people are playing to get a feel for what is musically accepted. Although, to be fair, what is considered appropriate tempo today is different from what it was in the early 20th century. A lot of players played faster back then than they do today. So these are stylistic norms that come and go. But knowing what tempo other players use is a good guide for you. The tempo markings written in the score should be ignored! They are most often not of any value.

I have an interesting story for you about this.

When my wife was going to music conservatory, she was working on a piece. It was a new piece with percussion, flute, and piccolo. The composer wrote metronome markings in it. So in this case, it wasn’t an editor; it was the composer! She was having the hardest time with one movement, trying to get it up to speed. She was practicing diligently, doing progressively faster metronome speeds, one notch at a time, trying to get this thing up to speed. Finally, the musicians had the opportunity to have a rehearsal with the actual composer of the piece. They started playing it, and the composer said, “No, that’s not the tempo. It’s much slower!” So she showed him the metronome markings in the score, and he said, “Oh, yeah, I put that in there. But I didn’t have a metronome handy when I put it in.” So even the composer didn’t take the time to put in the right metronome marking! Even if they do, it’s not etched in stone.

There are many valid tempos that can work for a piece of music.

Composers are not necessarily the best interpreters of their music. And artists sometimes take different tempos with the same piece of music in different performances. So you have to find what works for you in your playing, on your piano, and in the room you’re playing in. Tempo is definitely more art than science! I hope this is helpful 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

Can You Hear the Difference Between Mozart and Beethoven?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. In today’s video, I have a really interesting listening test for you! Can you hear the difference between Mozart and Beethoven? Many of you might think you can easily tell the difference between Mozart and Beethoven. Well, can you? Well, if you are already familiar with the works that I’ve chosen, you’ll understand the significance of this question and the interesting listening test that I’m presenting for you.

To make the test fair, I’m going to play two excerpts from sonata movements that are both in the key of C minor.

I’m going to play these excerpts for you in a moment. I will give you a chance to decide which one is Mozart and which one is Beethoven before I reveal the answer. And in the comments below, if you are not familiar with either of these pieces, I’d like for you all to comment and see if you chose correctly or not. This will be a very interesting test! So leave your comments here at LivingPianos.com as well as on YouTube.

Watch the video to take the test!

They’re both very dramatic pieces of music, aren’t they? I hope all of you have decided which one you think is Mozart and which one you think is Beethoven. If you haven’t decided yet, stop reading now so you can make the decision before I reveal it. Be honest in the comments about which one you chose. I’m very interested in this. First of all, I’m going to tell you why I chose these two works. They are both in the minor key. Mozart in the minor key has a lot of fire, which is typical of what you might think of as Beethoven. If I had chosen one of Mozart’s sonatas in the major key, it might have been easier to tell the difference, for example, his C major K 330. That would not be mistaken for Beethoven! Of course, Beethoven wrote many sonatas that are very dramatic and would not be confused with Mozart. So many of them are so famous, though, like the Appassionata or the Pathetique. Those are very robust emotional works.

Now I will reveal the answer!

The Mozart sonata I played is K. 457 in C minor. And by the way, it has a companion fantasy that is really a gorgeous piece. It’s very experimental with its harmonies and such. That is a companion to this sonata in the same opus. The Beethoven sonata I played is Op. 10 no. 1 in C minor. I chose these excerpts to try to trick you as much as I possibly could!

The first excerpt was Mozart, and the second was Beethoven!

The first excerpt is from the Mozart Sonata K 457 in C minor, and the second is indeed from the Beethoven Sonata Opus 10 No. 1. With the Mozart sonata, I played the recapitulation of the first movement because it goes into the minor key for the second subject, which I thought was more dramatic and Beethoven-esque. Whereas with the Beethoven sonata, I did exactly the opposite. I played the exposition of the Beethoven sonata because it goes into the major in the second subject. I was really trying to trick you with this! So if you got it wrong, don’t feel bad. Mozart and Beethoven were both great composers with a wide range of music, as you could hear today. I hope this has been interesting 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/RobertEstrinContact me if you are interested in private lessons.

I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

How Does Memory Work on the Piano?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about memory. How does memory work on the piano? People play whole programs—an hour and a half or more of music—all from memory. Their fingers know just where to go. How does that work? I received a question that addresses this from a viewer named Frank. Frank asks, “When professional pianists perform long, complicated pieces, say, a concerto or sonata, how much of that is from muscle memory versus actual explicit memory? That is, do their hands just know where to go? Or can they actually write out the scores of the works they perform?” This is a great question!

There’s so much involved in memory.

If you’ve played a piece a number of times and you’ve gotten it under control, you get to a point where you can be playing your piece and you realize right in the middle that you’re daydreaming. Yet it keeps going! Well, this is a fact of life, not just with piano playing but with so many things we do, for example, walking. When you walk, you can be thinking about many different things, but the act of walking actually takes a tremendous amount of coordination, as you can see in the face of a toddler learning how to walk for the first time. This is even true about driving a car. I hate to say it, but you can drive a car without really being aware. Did you know that there are people who sleepwalk who sometimes drive cars while they are asleep?

Muscle memory is an intrinsically important part of memory on the piano.

For those brief moments when you lose concentration, thank goodness you have muscle memory to keep your fingers moving. However, you certainly can’t rely on this. Your fingers don’t know if you’re in the earlier or later part of a sonata movement. They don’t know whether you’ve made repeats or not. You have to have that part of yourself looking down on yourself so you know where you are in the music and what comes next. Without this awareness, you could easily take a wrong turn.

Could you actually think through and write out the entire score of a piece you have memorized?

If you really know your score, yes, you could absolutely write it out. Ideally, you should be so familiar with your score that you can remember every detail. If you sit down at the piano and just try to slow down a piece that you’ve played many times, it can be difficult to get from note to note without the benefit of muscle memory. This is why slow practice is so important on the piano. It solidifies your memory. It makes you have intention with every note you play. Slow practice is a great way to develop security and knowledge of the score. Practicing slowly with the score gives you double reinforcement. You get the feeling of each note being delineated clearly and distinctly while also absorbing the visual image of the notes on the score of something you’ve already memorized.

Writing out a score is an incredibly difficult task.

Writing out just one minute of music can take hours, even if you know exactly what you want to write. Figuring out rhythms and counting them out so you know exactly what kinds of notes to write, where each slur comes in, which notes are staccato, where the dynamics start and end, hairpin crescendos and decrescendos—these are the kinds of infinitesimally small details of music that can make a profound difference in the integrity of your performance. Not to mention the fact that great composers didn’t just put these markings in willy-nilly. The architecture of the piece is dependent upon the precision of these details in the composition. So it’s well worth your while to learn the score exactly as it’s written, to the point where you could write it out.

You want to be able to hear every note of the score in your mind.

One of the great ways to practice a piece you’ve learned and can play well is to sit down without the score and start playing in your lap. Better yet, do it without even moving your fingers, thinking it through as if you’re playing. If you can do that, then you really know your scores tremendously well. I had a situation many years ago when I was at the Manhattan School of Music. I came down with mononucleosis, and I just couldn’t seem to knock it. I was in bed for several months. I had a recital that was scheduled, and I had to keep postponing it. Finally, I just really wanted to play the recital. I was getting better, but I wasn’t really strong enough to practice that much. My program was about an hour and a half of music. It was a solo recital, and it was all memorized. So I took the stack of music into bed with me, and I practiced in bed, going through it just as I described, trying to think through every detail. Whenever I couldn’t remember exactly the voicing of a chord, where a slur ended, or exactly where a crescendo started, I would reference the score until I could get through everything successfully.

Visualizing a desired outcome is a valuable tool.

Visualization is a way that many people find success, not just in playing the piano but in almost every aspect of life. If you have an upcoming job interview, you could rehearse in your mind. A basketball player could imagine getting a free throw shot in. This is the best kind of practice you can ever do because you don’t have the benefit of tactile memory. It’s just pure thought, which is pure practicing, because, as I’ve said so many times, practicing is a mental discipline. So take this to heart. And by the way, that recital I played years ago was so much better than one I had played a year earlier, even though I spent far less time at the piano. But I did the mental work to prepare, and it made all the difference in the world.

Try these techniques in your practice!

Take out the score of the music you’ve memorized. Play through slowly and securely. Take your foot off the pedal to hear what’s really there. Exaggerate finger motions with raised fingers and delineate staccato from the wrist. Challenge yourself and try playing mentally, first moving your fingers, and then eventually getting to the point where you can just play through the piece with all the nuance of sound and touch, all away from the piano. Let me know how this works 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

Supplemental Content: How to Play Piano with Your Mind