Tag Archives: piano lessons

Why You Must be Able to Play Your Scales on Auto-Pilot

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about why you must be able to play your scales on auto-pilot. What does this mean? I’ve talked before about motor memory or tactile memory being a dangerous thing to rely upon in your piano playing. You can take a wrong turn here or there if your mind isn’t cognizant of where you are in a composition. With repeats, expositions, developments, changes of keys, you must have an intellectual awareness of your music. Otherwise, you can end up in the wrong place in the middle of a piece! But, you absolutely must be able to play your scales with just motor memory because of the fingering crossings.

All major and minor scales involve finger crossings.

Scales encompass thumb crossings in the right hand going up and in the left hand coming down. And you have third and fourth finger crossings in the left hand going up and in the right hand coming down. All major scales and minor scales have the same basic premise of third and fourth finger crossings in one hand going up, the other hand coming down, and thumb crossings in one hand going up and the other hand coming down. That’s a whole lot of stuff to remember! That’s why in the early years of study, rather than working on scales which have complicated fingering to learn, it’s better to develop the strength of your fingers first by playing early Hanon exercises which avoid finger crossings.. The whole idea of practicing scales is to develop fluid notes in a row so that you can play beautiful streams of notes with evenness and clarity.

What if you can’t get the fingering?

As I mentioned, I love to start students with the very first exercises in Hanon, which have myriad different patterns, but none of them involve finger crossings. So, you get to work out your fingers developing strength, fluidity, and speed, without worrying about the complexity of finger crossings. But why do they have to be on automatic pilot? When you’re playing a fast scale, there just isn’t time to think of all of those fingerings! You have to be able to just do it without thinking about the actual fingering. Then you can focus on the sound, the expression, the volume, the evenness, and the clarity without thinking about fingering.

I made a video a few weeks ago on how playing the piano is like learning how to walk. At the beginning, it’s a struggle. If you’ve ever watched a toddler taking their first steps, the concentration on their faces is unbelievable as they figure out how to traverse one step to the next. We don’t have to think about walking, because we walk on auto-pilot. Imagine if every time you took a step you had to think about everything involved, the coordination, the foot muscles, the leg muscles, and keeping your body upright. It would be almost impossible to do anything while walking! Yet, we walk and talk about all sorts of things all the time and don’t even think about it. That’s exactly what you must do with your scales. How do you get to that point? Well, first of all, you should only start scales when you have enough strength in your fingers. If you’re just starting out learning scales an octave or two octaves, it’s really not that valuable.

You want to play all your scales in four octaves right from the get-go.

Even though the fingering is the same, when you’re playing in the low register, the angle of your arms is quite different from playing in the high register. You must get used to playing the whole keyboard. If you’re not up for that challenge yet, you’re better off doing 5 or10 Hanon exercises first to prepare yourself for practicing scales. This is a great way to get your fingers strong and to develop fluidity. Start with one note to the beat at 60 to the metronome, so you can really see how your fingers are working, then two notes to the beat, and then finally, four notes to the beat. Work on these Hanon exercises until you can play them in a fluid manner with strength and evenness. Then you are ready to embark upon scales. You should work on your scales in exactly the same way. Work on them in four octaves, just like in Hanon: 60 Selected Studies For The Virtuoso Pianist. This book is like the Bible of scales and arpeggios because it has all the standard fingering that 99% of pianists utilize. I highly recommend getting a copy. Get to the point where you can play your scales without thinking about fingering. Then when you have scale passages in music, you don’t have to start practicing like it’s a fresh thing. It’s already there, literally at your fingertips!

That’s the lesson for today. Get your scales on automatic pilot, on motor memory, on tactile feel, so you don’t have to think about the fingering. If any of you touch type as I do, you know that you don’t even have to think about where your fingers are going. Those of you who have to hunt and peck, you know it’s a little slower, a little bit harder, but you can get pretty fluid at it. But when you know where the keys are without even thinking about it, it makes it so much easier. You want your scales to be that easy as well!

Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

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Does Music Need to Have Melody?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about the necessity of melody in music. Does music need to have melody? When you think of almost any music, the first thing you think about is the melody. What is melody? Melody consists of two elements: pitch and rhythm. Some of the most beautiful music that we know and love is based upon melodies. For example, Chopin’s famous Nocturne in E flat. Listen to the beginning of this piece to understand the beauty of melody, and how we think of melody and music as synonymous. Another example of melody that everyone is familiar with is the gorgeous second movement of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata.

Not all music is based upon melody.

Does music need to have melody? The answer is no! There are whole genres of music that don’t utilize melody. But the vast majority of the music that we all know and love is based upon melody. Why is this? Most music throughout the millennia was never written down or recorded and was not played on any particular musical instrument. It was the human voice! The human voice has been with us as long as we have roamed this planet. The imitation of the human voice in wind instruments and bowed instruments is pretty obvious. Yet, we can also evoke that same quality of a singing line on a keyboard instrument. It’s in our biology. It’s in our DNA.

Some music is based solely on rhythm.

There are other types of music that could have been around in primitive times, rhythmically-based music that utilizes percussion instruments and is devoid of melody. In fact, African rhythms have permeated Western music since the introduction of jazz. This is the combination of Western harmonies along with African rhythms, which is very compelling. But does it have to have melody? Not necessarily. Many offshoots of jazz, particularly hip hop, can be devoid of melody to some extent or entirely and still it has musical context.

Another example in the classical world is minimalism.

 

Listen to Steve Reich, John Adams and Philip Glass, and you’ll hear music that has textures. It has pitch, but not necessarily melody. When you think of a melody, you think of a line. You think of a rise and a fall, just like the human breath. Yet, there is some great music that does not utilize this aspect.

While the vast majority of music is based upon melody, some music can just be rhythmically-based and still offer rich possibilities. Melody is vitally important in the vast majority of music. We all love the melodies that are dear to our heart. They speak to us in a visceral way because it’s part of our DNA. Throughout history and prehistory, melody has been with us and I hope it stays with us for a long time!

Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource

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2 Types of Encores – for My Parents – Scriabin: Etude in D# minor Op 8 Debussy: The Little Shepherd

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about the two different kinds of encores. There are fundamentally two different types of moods you want to create in encores, and I’m going to get into that. But first I want to start with a personal reflection for you.

My father, Morton Estrin, had such a profound effect upon me.

I want to talk a little bit about my father’s experiences as a performer. As much as he performed, he got extremely nervous for performances. And when he would walk out on stage, it was a terrifying experience for him! He would get so nervous, his pedal foot would shake. I remember watching him perform and feeling so badly for him. There he was, trying to control things, and his foot was going up and down like crazy! It was once kind of funny, in retrospect. In one of his New York recitals, the reviewer commented on his beautiful performance and his “fluttering pedal technique.” Little did he know it was nothing intentional. It was something my father fought with his whole career. And the way he overcame it was very interesting. For him, the easiest thing to start a program with was something really heroic. He could go out there and play the most bombastic virtuosic music right from the get go. With that, he didn’t have any trouble. But to go out and start a program with a delicate piece, like something of Mozart, or a Schubert Impromptu, was extremely challenging for him. With that very delicate music, any little motion of any part of the body has such profound effects. He worked really hard to overcome this and was proud of himself that he could go out on stage and play something delicate as an opener for a program. Because programmatically, he wanted to be able to have architecture and not just start with the most heroic piece. Usually you want a big finish at the end of your program.

What was interesting about my father’s performances, we would always go backstage at intermission and hug him and tell him how beautiful it sounded. He couldn’t even believe it because he was so terrorized up there for the first half! But in the second half, he would relax. By the time he got to the end of the program, he was in his element. He would play encore after encore and the audience would cheer for more! He would play five, six encores, as many as the audience wanted. And at that point he could do anything. He had no nerves left whatsoever. It was a thrilling experience for everyone who heard him!

There are two different types of encores.

When a program ends and you come out for an encore, the audience has been through a whole program. You want to charge them up! So you play something like a Chopin etude, something virtuosic and energetic. But what if the program ended with something big and dynamic and it’s already a blockbuster at the end of the program? That’s when you want to flip it and come out with a poetic encore, maybe a Chopin Nocturne or Prelude. That could be just the mood you’re looking for.

My father recorded the Scriabin Etudes Opus 8.

It was the first modern recording of the complete Opus 8, and it won record of the year. You can find them on YouTube. His performances don’t sound like etudes. They are rich musical experiences. He didn’t play them as just technical exercises. He played them for the gorgeous music that this early Scriabin is. The Opus 8 was very different from later Scriabin where he explored very sophisticated harmonies that bordered on atonality. Early Scriabin is sometimes compared to Chopin. It really has a voice all its own, but it’s quite chromatic, beautiful romantic music that is extremely emotional. I got to hear my father play them in New York at Lincoln Center. It holds a very special meaning for me.

I’m going to play the D-sharp minor Etude from Opus 8 which is the last of the set. Then, just as if the program ended heroically, because that is an incredible blockbuster piece, I’m going to go right into a movement of Debussy from the Children’s Corner Suite, The Little Shepherd, which was my mother’s favorite piece. I would play it for her as an encore. So this is very special and a personal performance for you. You can listen to the accompanying video. I hope you enjoy it.

Those are two completely different types of encores. What is appropriate depends upon your programming. So remember, if you’ve already pulled out all the stops, and you’ve ended really big, then bring it down and show poetry and express intimate feelings. Show what you can do to the soul! On the other hand, if the program ends with something long and melodic like a Schubert Sonata with beautiful architecture, then you’ll want to charge people up with your encore so they leave the hall with energy. Judging your encores is very important. Sometimes you can even have two or three encores prepared. Or maybe you’re brave enough and you have an audience that’s enthusiastic enough so you can play a bunch of encores like my father used to do!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this. Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

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Getting into a State of Flow With Your Music

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about getting into a state of flow with your music. You’ve probably heard this term before, and we’ve all experienced it. What does it mean to be in a state of flow? When you’re completely absorbed in something, whether it’s making pottery, a walk in the woods, practicing the piano – it can be almost anything. You stop thinking about what you’re doing, and you just are. It’s all one experience where you don’t have that sense of looking at yourself and telling yourself instructions with words. Instead it just flows naturally.

Getting into a state of flow during a musical performance can be a magnificent experience.

If you’re playing written music from the score, you have to keep a certain amount of your cognition so that you don’t take a wrong turn. You don’t want to get carried away! But you can get to a point with a score, if you are intimately familiar with it, where you are just absorbed in it completely. It comes out of you so naturally that it isn’t even work anymore and time seems to disappear. Have you ever had that experience? If you can get into that state in your practice, you’re really doing well.

Improvising is a fantastic opportunity to get into a state of flow.

With improvisation you don’t have to focus on a score. It’s much easier to get into a state of flow where you’re no longer thinking about what you should do next. It just comes out of you, and you can feel the trajectory. You can feel the flow of the music. You are just part of it. In music and in life, to be in the moment is the ultimate feeling! But it’s one of the most difficult things to do. People use meditation and other things to try to get into that state of flow. But music is a fantastic vehicle for that. So, let yourself go! Sometimes you just have to see where music takes you. You can do that in the privacy of your own home. Eventually, if you have the confidence and the security in your playing, you can do it in performance as well!

I hope this is enjoyable for you. Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

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My First Chopin – Prelude in E Minor

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to share with you a personal story about the first Chopin piece I ever learned. It’s a funny thing. I was in my office going through music, because we just moved a few months ago and I’m still sorting through things. And what did I uncover but a book of Chopin music. It looks just like any old Schirmer edition of Chopin Preludes. But if you open it up you can see that this is the book I used to learn my first piece of Chopin, the E minor Prelude. You can even see where my father assigned the piece to me. It’s really something after all these years to uncover this. And it brings up a few really important points.

Chopin had an incredible output for the piano.

Chopin was incredibly prolific. He wrote ballades, scherzos, polonaises, etudes, mazurkas, and many waltzes, as well as monumental concert pieces, sonatas and concertos. Yet he wrote pieces that can be approached by relatively intermediate pianists. This isn’t to suggest that these preludes are in any way lacking or aren’t profoundly deep pieces of music, because they are. That’s what made me so unbelievably enthralled. I remember when I first played this piece, I couldn’t even imagine any other piece of music, much less another piece of Chopin, being as enthralling. I was just completely in love with this piece! The funny thing is in revisiting it, I still have that same passion for it! Truth be known, I’ve played this piece many times over the years and I never play it the same way twice. I want to just talk a little bit about this unique piece which I’m sure many of you know.

The interesting thing is how simple the melody of this piece is.

If you just listen to the melody of this piece out of context, without the accompaniment, it’s one of the most boring melodies you could ever imagine. How can this possibly be a beautiful piece of music? Well, it’s the lush, rich, ever-changing harmonies undulating underneath in eighth notes that brings this piece to life. Why did Chopin write eighth notes in the left hand with a slow melody on top? It’s because of the physics of the sound of the piano itself. If you just had sustained chords in the left hand it wouldn’t really work, because when you play a chord on the piano it just dies away.

Imagine what this would sound like with a string orchestra.

So much of Chopin’s music is evocative of the human voice or sustained strings, and yet it’s all done with a percussion instrument. Did you know that the piano is technically a percussion instrument? You’re not hitting it with sticks or mallets, but indeed there are hammers that are hitting the strings! To create a singing line out of the piano is really the art and magic of illusion. And when you have a score written by Chopin, it’s amazing how he brings it to life! That’s the mood you can create on the piano. How is it possible? By listening to the ever-changing harmonies while keeping them subtle enough to draw the attention to this incredibly simple melody. Each and every note of that melody takes on profound implications because of the ever shifting harmonies. In the accompanying video I play a performance of this for you so you can hear what I’m talking about. To revisit this prelude after all these years, and to share it with you, is a great pleasure. I hope you enjoy this performance of Chopin’s prelude in E minor.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this! I will be sharing more personal stories about my childhood and my life in music that I hope you enjoy! Again, I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com. This is your piano resource! Thanks again for joining me. See you next time!

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Are Digital Pianos Better Than Acoustic Pianos?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’ll be examining the pros and cons of digital pianos vs. acoustic pianos. You might think that my opinion would automatically be in favor of acoustic pianos, and I kind of feel that way. However, it’s not a matter of which is better, but which is appropriate for the task.

In some situations, a good digital piano is a great choice.

I have a hybrid instrument that I am developing. With this instrument it’s possible to interface with music software. With a piano, you can put MIDI sensors under the keys that can do some of that. But obviously there are benefits to digital pianos: having different piano sounds, orchestrations, or being able to play with headphones. There are many benefits to technology. Digital pianos don’t require the same maintenance, and they are much more easily moved. Taking even an upright piano to gigs isn’t feasible. Having a good digital piano, one you can put under your arm, is a godsend. So it’s not that one is necessarily better than the other.

What if you have a limited budget for a piano and none of the benefits of a digital piano are particularly important to you?

In that case, should you just automatically get an acoustic piano? Even then, not necessarily. Because if you have a limited amount of money to spend on a piano, for way under $3,000 you can get some seriously good digital pianos. Looking at acoustic pianos in the $3,000 price range, your options are severely limited. You will likely be limited to short uprights with slower actions than grand pianos, and they will have an anemic sound in the bass. You’re not going to get much of an acoustic piano at that price point. If you are looking for something closer to $1,000, good luck finding any kind of acoustic piano in the used market that doesn’t require a lot of work. Additionally, you’re going to have to spend hundreds of dollars just to get it moved into your home and tuned. At that price point, a digital piano could be a better choice for you.

It all comes down to your personal preferences and situation.

While I love playing my grand piano, I also love technology and what it affords. There are many benefits to each of these. You have to find what works for you and what’s important to you. How you’re using the instrument, where you’re playing it, and what your goals are are all important things to consider. If you want to have a concert grand bass in an instrument that’s the size of an upright, you’re not going to be able to achieve that with an acoustic piano. There is a lot to consider with finding the right instrument for yourself. I hope this has been helpful for you. If any of you have questions about this, you’re welcome to contact me anytime. This is my passion and I’m happy to share it with you!

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