Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about finding musical solutions to technical problems. My teacher, John Ogden, tied for first prize in the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition with Vladimir Ashkenazy, two legendary pianists. I remember John Ogden talking about how he really was taken with Ashkenazy’s performance of the famous first Chopin Etude in C major Op. 10, No. 1, and how he had a lightness to it that he thought was really an interesting way of approaching the piece, because so many people play it really strong. Then I remember hearing an interview with Ashkenazy, who had rather small hands, saying his approach to that etude is because of the nature of his hands. It just falls under his hands better playing more lightly. John Ogden didn’t realize that this was a technical consideration. Ashkenazy came up with a beautiful, musical solution to a technical challenge. This is what it’s all about in piano playing!
Find what works for you with your physiology, your psyche, and your makeup, and find something that is musical.
There is no absolute when it comes to how something should be played. You want to find a way that you can accommodate the music. It’s the same with everything in life. Everybody has a different gait. The way you walk is not the same as the way I walk. Everybody has a unique way of approaching a myriad things in life, and piano playing is certainly no exception. Let’s use the Beethoven Sonatina in G Major as an example. Sometimes students have difficulty with the end of the first phrase because there’s a crescendo, and maybe they don’t have enough strength to be able to pull it off. But there is a great musical solution to this problem! Come way down right at the start of the crescendo so that you can easily achieve it. I think it actually sounds better that way. The crescendo can unfold naturally without having to force anything or struggle at all. This technique applies to a wide range of music.
There are ways you can give your performance more power without expending more energy.
For example, Chopin’s powerful Military Polonaise. Playing that piece in a very loud, strong manner takes a lot of energy. If you take all the repeats, it is a true tour de force, because it goes on and on with very few places where it comes down that much. By coming down wherever you possibly can, it gives you a reserve of energy. You can make it sound more powerful, not less powerful. Having a reserve is the secret to a powerful performance. If you’re at the limit of what you can produce, it sounds weak, no matter how much energy you’re putting into it. But when you have that reserve and you let it go here and there, just little flares of excitement, it leaves the listener wondering how much power is undulating under the surface that could fire up at any time!
Use selective energy in your playing.
For example, by playing the fast chords of the Military Polonaise very delicately, when you land on the strong chords, it gives you a lot of power. By doing this, you have tons of energy reserves. You can play through the whole piece without even breaking a sweat! Trying to play everything strong takes a tremendous amount of energy and bogs you down. Instead, play everything you possibly can lightly. You want to use selective energy, another musical solution to a technical problem.
Discover what works for you and make a convincing case for it.
You can discover countless ways of negotiating scores that are intrinsic to your physiology, instead of struggling for some preconceived notion of the absolute way a piece should be played. That’s what a great performance is ultimately all about. Try this in your playing! Maybe you don’t have a lot of power, or a big reach, or maybe your fingers are so big and clumsy that you can’t play lightly, but there are tons of ways to accommodate your physiology.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
My father, for example, had massive hands. Rachmaninoff just came naturally to him. He played all the preludes in a public performance at Lincoln Center! Can you imagine such a thing? It was like nothing for him. But playing a delicate Schubert impromptu was another story, with his big, fat powerful fingers. His secret was to delineate the notes by playing them separated. They weren’t actually as light as you might have thought, but he created the illusion of light fast playing by separating them with staccato fingers. So he found a solution that worked beautifully for fast light pieces that didn’t come naturally to him. Find your strengths in your music and bring them to your interpretation. That’s ultimately what great performing is all about! 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how to create tonal shadings on the piano. The piano is such a great instrument, but it has some inherent limitations that I’m sure you’re all aware of. One such limitation is the fact that the notes fade out relatively quickly. What can you do about such a thing? Well, one of the things you can do is to take advantage of that in your music, and I’m going to show you how to do it!
Here’s a technique that will add continuity to your musical lines.
I’ve talked before about how to create the illusion of the breath on the piano using the weight of the arm. Utilizing this technique gives a rise and fall to the line like you hear from a singer or wind player using the breath. Today I’m going to show you a different technique, and I’m going to use the Chopin A-flat Waltz to demonstrate. In this piece, you have fast notes, then long notes going to shorter notes. As the long notes fade out, you want to catch the next notes at exactly the level the long notes have diminished in volume. By doing this, you can make the long note flow into the following note, creating a very interesting tonal color. The long notes seem to melt into the shorter notes by catching the natural decrescendo of the acoustics of the piano. The quarter note that follows the half note is at the exact volume the half note has reached at that point.
Vladimir Horowitz utilizes this technique a tremendous amount in his recordings.
You can hear how he takes the characteristic of the piano, which for some people is the biggest weakness, and turns it into an amazing strength! He creates tonal colors and shadings that somehow magically work, even though when you try to analyze them they don’t seem to make sense. The point isn’t to play an overarching rise and fall as much as to take advantage of the nuance of the natural tonal properties of the envelope of the sound of the piano. I want you to try experimenting with your music! Let me know how this works for you in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and YouTube. What pieces do you think lend themselves to this sort of tonal shading? We can all experiment together to see what’s possible on the piano by taking its biggest shortcoming and turning it into the sparks of creativity in the tonal shadings in your playing. 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to show you four ways to develop speed in your piano playing. You hear people who play dazzlingly fast, but maybe you’re just struggling to get a piece up to speed. Is there anything that you can do to develop more speed? Absolutely! There are a number of things you can do. Of course, working generally on different repertoire, scales, and arpeggios is helpful. These are essential building blocks of technique on the piano. But what I’m going to show you today are specific things you can incorporate in your practice to help develop speed.
I’m going to use Ballade of Burgmüller as an example. The part I’m going to focus on is the end, where you have a fast pattern of notes in both hands. What better place than this to demonstrate the myriad ways you can practice? Today I’m just going to cover four specific ways of developing speed, to not overwhelm you.
1. METRONOME SPEEDS
One of the most fundamental ways of working with the metronome is to do progressively faster metronome speeds. You find the speed at which you can play the passage absolutely faithfully, and then work up the speed one notch at a time. Why one notch? Because you won’t even notice the difference in speed! You find the speed at which you can play it perfectly, comfortably and securely, repeatedly. Then you put it up a notch and do it again. I would never suggest trying to get a whole piece up to speed by going one notch at a time, but when you have just a few measures like this, it’s an ideal opportunity to do metronome speeds.
The key is to make sure you don’t raise the metronome at all until you have absolute security.
That’s the important thing. Now, you may think it’s going to take you forever, because it takes you so long to really get it solid. But spend the time at the front end to get it absolutely secure! You may have to go hands separately at first and pick a much slower speed than you think is necessary. But don’t even think about raising the metronome speed until you can play it ten times in a row, not only where it’s perfect, but where it feels comfortable. You want to play every note with absolute security and definition. Once you get that, then raise it up a notch. Then once again, keep playing it until it not only sounds perfect, but it feels comfortable.
As you get faster, remember to lighten up and stay close to the keys with rounded fingers.
When you play with flat fingers, you don’t get the benefit of all the joints of your fingers like you do when you’re playing with rounded fingers. Your fingers will naturally go into this position if you just allow them to. And that position gives you much more ease because you have the benefit of all the joints of the fingers. Plus, the thumb is in alignment with the rest of the fingers.
2. NOTE GROUPS
Practice small groups of notes, repeatedly. You can work on a few select notes at a time, even just two note groups! And the secret is to play up to speed. Take different groups of notes and find the ones that allow you to land on notes that are insecure. Ultimately this is training your fingers where the hands play together. Listen strategically to where the hands are playing together and when they aren’t. You can get a lot done just by finding the right notes to land on. When you land on notes, avoid tension. You want to land on them with total relaxation. Practice relaxation in your playing, even if you have to play just two notes! Find groups of notes that help you land securely with hands precisely together, and you can accomplish a tremendous amount.
3. ACCENTED NOTES
Playing with accented notes can be really valuable. You can accent different notes within a phrase. This can be done in innumerable ways. You can do different numbers of notes or any type of accents that help you feel relaxed. You don’t want to be pushing with the arms, just use your fingers. By doing this, you train yourself where the fingers play together and where the hands play together. You’ll discover tremendous things. You might come upon certains accents and realize you don’t know where your hands play together! Those are the places to focus on.
4. RHYTHMS
Rhythms are another great tool. Depending upon the passage, there are many different rhythms that can aid in developing speed. You want to find whatever rhythms solve your issue. Try playing passages of even eighth notes as dotted rhythms, dotted eighths followed by sixteenth notes. Then you can reverse the rhythm playing sixteenths followed by dotted eighth notes. You want to discover where the hands need to be together. If you don’t know where the hands play together, you might be able to play your right hand fast or your left hand fast, but you really don’t know where they land together. So this is what trains your hands to play precisely together.
These are four techniques that can help you develop speed in your playing!
Remember, working on scales and arpeggios is incredibly valuable. That gives you an opportunity to just focus on your fingerwork. You can work on pure technique, devoid of music. It’s a great thing to have all your major and minor scales and arpeggios under your fingers. That will be incredibly valuable for you. Remember, the faster you play, the lighter and closer to the keys you must be in order to facilitate speed, because it takes a lot of work to raise fingers when practicing slowly. Raising the fingers can be valuable, so you can feel which fingers are down and which fingers are up initially. As you get faster, lighten up and stay closer to the keys with rounded fingers. Remember these four methods of developing speed: metronome speeds, note groups, accents, and rhythms. Let me know how this works for you! For those of you who have other techniques, share them 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The topic today is about how to bring out voices in your music. The great thing about the piano is that it’s almost like a whole orchestra! You have so many different voices. Because of this, you want to call attention to different melodies intertwining within your music. I’ve talked about many ways of doing that in the past, which I’m going to refresh you on right now. Then I’m going to show you an intrinsic skill that transcends everything I’m about to tell you.
One great practice technique is to work on music with different articulations.
Try playing the melodies legato while playing accompaniments and parts you want softer with a gentle finger staccato. This way you can clearly hear the melody. You don’t want all the notes to sound equal. You want balance so that you hear the melody and the bass while keeping the inner voices delicate, yet everything may be in a piano context. The way to practice this is by playing the melody legato and those gentle, undulating notes in the middle with a gentle finger staccato. By doing this you train your hand which notes are melody, and which notes are accompaniment. It’s very difficult to quantify loud and soft, but short and long are very binary. You can hear the short notes on the bottom and the long notes on top. If you can do that, then you can play and control the balance of all the notes.
How do you draw the listeners attention to the voice that you want them to hear?
I’m going to show you a hack for drawing the listener’s attention to the voice you want them to hear. The secret is delineating the very first note of the melody you want the listener to be attached to. Once they hear the first note, they can follow it through. You want to make it very clear on the first note of a new line. After that, even if it’s not brought out that much, the listener is already aware that they should be listening for it. As soon as that first melody comes in. the listener is listening for it and they’ll follow it through. And you don’t even have to punctuate the melody that much anymore, because they’re already attuned to it. It’s in their consciousness.
Sometimes a melody or a counter melody can be contained within the texture.
Maybe the counter melody is at the top or the bottom, as is the case in the middle section of the Chopin Ballade No.3 in A-flat Major. In this section, there is a counter melody in the tenor voice, on the top of the left hand. You can accentuate the very beginning of it, and then just let it float. You don’t need to punctuate it that much after that, because it’s not necessary. The audience will already be listening for it. Once they hear the first note, they’re listening for where it’s going to go next. So it can be a more gentle inner voice, just punctuating that first note so the listener is aware that something new is there to listen to. Just play the beginning of that with some substance to the sound, and then let it be more in the background so that you don’t lose the melody on top, which is the main melody.
So that is the tip for today!
Aside from practicing with different articulations so you have control over all the notes in a texture, remember when you want to bring out a line, bring out the first note and the listener will latch on to it. This is particularly helpful when playing counterpoint like Bach fugues, for example. Whenever the fugue subject starts, articulate that first note. Then the listener doesn’t have to work hard to find the melodies of the subjects of fugues. It’s handed to them on a silver platter! They can easily follow it through even if you don’t punctuate it that much. It doesn’t have to sound labored. It can sound fluid and beautiful, and yet the listener has the experience of understanding the structure of the music, which greatly enhances the appreciation of the score. 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
Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The topic today is about why your piano is not protected. What do I mean by that? I’ve made many videos telling you how to care for your piano with a proper environment: having a Dampp-Chaser or Piano Life Saver system, a humidifier or a dehumidifier, protecting it from the sun, and servicing it on a regular basis. But I’m not talking about any of that today. Today I’m talking about insurance. You may think your piano is insured, but it very well may not be.
How do you insure your piano?
A lot of people have homeowner’s insurance and just assume their piano is covered. But if you have the unfortunate circumstance of a flood or a fire, you may find that without a rider on your insurance policy, it won’t be covered. But how do you even get a rider? How do you prove the value of your piano? Can you just show the invoice of what you paid for it? Or go to your local piano store and have them say what it’s worth? Unfortunately, that won’t work. An appraisal will have to be done by someone who is legally liable to the IRS or to banks and insurance companies. I have an expert with me today who’s going to talk about what it takes to get an official appraisal, which is a legal document.
I’d like to introduce Brian Janey, from Allegro Piano Service in Fallbrook, California.
Robert: Welcome, Brian!
Brian: Thank you, Robert, so much for allowing me to be on today. This is really an incredible thing. I’ve been a piano technician for 25 years. I have about 950 clients within 50 miles of Fallbrook. I stay very busy doing four pianos a day, five days a week. And in 2019, I joined the American Society of Appraisers and went through almost 200 hours of training with them to be able to do appraisals in an official capacity. I’ve had many situations where clients have had pianos that have been damaged in fires, in floods and other circumstances. And they were really horrified to realize that their insurance did not appropriately cover the instrument, because it was not scheduled on their insurance policy. You have to have an appraisal done to be able to do that. So it’s an important part of piano ownership.
I love helping people make music as a piano technician. I want the legacy of that music to continue in the home and not have some calamity stop it because it’s not covered by the insurance.
Robert: I’ve run into a lot of people in that circumstance. It can be a real nightmare. A lot of people don’t understand the difference between appraisal and inspection. Just like when you’re buying a home, you have your appraisal, but you also have inspections. These are two distinctly different things. And so it is with pianos. For someone like you, who does both piano work and appraisals, you can assess the condition, which enters into the value of a piano. I understand that you’re able to do this remotely by getting key pictures of the piano. So maybe you can discuss a little bit about these differences and the legal document. I know there’s the USPAP, the Uniform Standard of Professional Appraisal Practice, that enters into all of this. Maybe you can talk a little bit about the difference between appraisals and inspections and what’s really required of someone like yourself to be able to make a document that will hold up in case there’s a claim.
Brian:
The thing that’s necessary to be qualified as an appraiser is to go through an array of training.
I found myself being trained by some of the best personal property appraisers in the country when I hooked up with the American society of Appraisers. It was a real privilege. It is a very eclectic group of people. I found out I’m the only one in the American Society of Appraisers, which has more than a few thousand members, who actually do pianos specifically. So it is a very interesting circumstance to be in. You do get an extensive amount of training in the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, which is something that applies not only to real estate and everything in between, but also to personal property like pianos. It’s been a fascinating journey. I have encountered a lot of very interesting people, folks that appraise everything from fine art to machinery. I even encountered one guy in a class who actually appraised herds of cattle! So it’s a really wide array of people that you find yourself amongst.
Robert:
I think a lot of people confuse appraisals with the value of the piano, because there are so many different values of pianos.
If you walk into the showroom of a piano store, there’s one value. If you look on Craigslist, there’s another value. If you want to trade in a piano, yet another value. The wholesale value is different from retail. And then a state settlement is another value. So appraisals are a whole separate issue that really satisfy not just these kinds of legal disputes and estate settlement and insurance claims, but also sometimes people want to donate a piano to a nonprofit and be able to enjoy a tax deduction for that. And I suppose they also need some sort of official document in order to not get in trouble later on with the authorities. Is that right?
Brian: Yes, there is an appraisal report that is submitted with people’s taxes, whether they’re doing something with an estate or they’re doing something with a tax donation. I’ve got a couple of circumstances right now with people with Steinways. One was donated to a church, another was donated to a college in Pennsylvania. I’m working on those appraisal reports right now. And I also have a circumstance with people getting appraisals for insurance purposes as well. So, yes, it is a legal document when you enter into the realm of calling it an appraisal. I kid with colleagues who are piano technicians that if you ever find yourself being asked to put a value on something and the people that are going to use the information that you’re providing are folks that wear suits, you need to make sure that you have a professional appraisal, because if it’s a an attorney, an insurance adjuster or one of their actuaries, or an accountant, they’re going to be looking for compliance to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. So it’s important to make sure that it is done right, because that is basically a document that people are using to make financial decisions.
Robert: Speaking of legal precedent, maybe you can shed some light on the 1959 case in the U.S. Court of Appeals, Merchants Insurance vs Lattimore. What was that about? What’s the significance of that in regards to appraisals and how does that enters into this whole equation?
Brian: We studied that case extensively in my coursework. The thing with that particular case was that this person had an array of artwork in their home and they decided only to schedule a certain part of it. They didn’t schedule all of it. Well, she had a fire in her home and what ended up happening is the insurance company only agreed to provide coverage and indemnification for the things that were scheduled. She took the insurance company to court to get compensation for the rest of the artwork that was also destroyed, but the court actually ruled in the insurance company’s favor. That’s one of the things that’s super important about people that have nice pianos. I’ve done appraisals even on lesser uprights and some of those could cost up to five figures to replace!
It’s important to make sure that you do get your piano appraised and that you inform your insurance company that you have one, because if you don’t tell them about it, the court precedent puts you in a very bad position if something does happen to it.
Robert: You have a unique perspective now that you’re trained in this whole appraisal business. But maybe you could tell us a little bit about the piano work that you do in your business. Tell us about what your realm of understanding is and how you’re uniquely qualified for this. I assume that there was a lot of thought that went into going into this field. And I’m sure your background as a technician for 25 years entered into it! What sort of things do you do on pianos?
Brian: I take care of all kinds of pianos. I have clients with pianos that are a little sketchy, a little tough to tune. And then I also have clients with wonderful American and European made pianos. I take care of pianos on a number of stages locally and I find myself working for some pretty famous folks on occasion, which initially was very intimidating. But I kind of got over that and realized I just have a job to do and then I leave. There’s a big local casino where I take care of pianos for shows and so forth. It’s pretty funny because I walk into a casino and I actually always make money! So it’s a neat gig. It’s such a beautiful thing to be in people’s homes and to be able to help them make music.
I think there are so many people that would enjoy this trade and there is actually a need for more piano technicians.
There have been a half dozen guys in my local neck of the woods who have all retired or moved away, which is probably one of the reasons why it’s a little tough right now to get an appointment with me because I’m booked up quite a ways in advance.
Robert: I can tell you when we first moved to Cleveland a couple of years ago, being able to get a team of piano technicians here was an arduous task. It took us a while because everybody was booked up months in advance. It’s actually a great field to go into, you can move pretty much anywhere! It seems like there’s a dearth of qualified piano technicians. And even the piano technicians who are subpar seem to be busy! So even if you’re starting out, it’s a great field because there are a lot of people who are aging out of this profession.
I know you have a couple of websites, but ThePianoAppraiser.com, is that where people should go?
Brian: Yes, that’s the one to go to for the realm of piano appraisal. If you go to that website and you click the contact me form, basically it’ll take you to a place where you put in your information, what kind of piano you have, what sort of appraisal work that it is that you’re interested in talking about, and I’ll be in touch with you.
Robert: Fantastic! And for people who are in the Southern California area around Fallbrook, what is your website for piano work?
Brian:ScheduleMyKeys.com. I service northern San Diego County as well as Southwest Riverside and Temecula Valley area.
Robert: You’re right in that nook over there. I remember it well! You’ve been a real godsend for us with all the pianos we’ve sold in that region over the years. And I’m just so glad you were able to join us, because this is a really important topic. A lot of people never give much thought to this. People spend thousands of dollars on the piano and assume it’s covered. I’m sure a lot of people listening to this are going to check with their insurance agents and contact you to get their piano appraised to make sure it’s covered in the unfortunate possibility that something happens to it. So I want to thank you again for joining us! It’s been a real pleasure, Brian.
Brian: Thank you so very much! I can do appraisals pretty much anywhere in the country just based on photographs and so forth. So I look forward to helping anybody that would like to make contact! Thank you so much for having me.
Robert: You got it!
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
Golliwog’s Cakewalk, is the final movement of the 6 movement, Children’s Corner Suite. This piece has great significance for me. Some of you may know that I have somewhat small hands. Fortunately, I have a solid octave, and can reach most ninths comfortably. But as a child, my hands were very small, and weak.
When I was 13 years old, I learned and performed the complete Children’s Corner Suite which was a milestone for me. My father had many students who had far more developed technique at the piano than I had at the time. But, I was always able to create a great variety of tonal colors which worked incredibly well for Debussy.
However, at the end of the entire suite, Golliwog’s Cakewalk ends with a crashing lowest B-flat octave on the piano in the left hand, with the right hand adding a third E-flat. The octave was so anemic, my father had me play just two E-flats two octaves apart. Even then, my weak fingers couldn’t produce a suitably big sound to end this epic piece. So he had me use all my fingers curled up together in each hand to get some oomph at the end of this wonderful suite!
A Cakewalk was a popular dance form at the time this piece was written. You may notice a rather strange middle section. There is an interesting story to this! Debussy was one of the great composers of the French Impressionist style of music. This was in great contrast to the late Romantic, German style. There was a rivalry between Debussy and Wagner. The slow, middle section of Golliwog’s Cakewalk pokes fun at the very dramatic Tristan theme from Wagner’s opera, Tristan & Isolda. You can listen for the statement of the theme followed by what sounds like chuckling! Then the music transcends back to the cakewalk. Hope you enjoy this delightful piece!
