The question today is: How do you play staccato on the piano? You may think of staccato as playing notes short. Indeed, in most contexts, that’s exactly how staccatos are played. However, staccato actually means to play detached, in contrast to legato which is played smoothly connected So if you have staccatos for example on slow notes (such as half notes), it might seem confusing at first for them to be marked staccato. In this case you would play detached but not necessarily short.
Many times staccato notes are found in faster music. Playing fast notes detached necessitates playing the notes short. In order to achieve a nice crisp staccato, you want to utilize the wrists. It’s really important to identify the wrists separate from the arms. The arms are too large and heavy to play fast and crisply. The wrists produce a completely different sound. The arms produce a heavy sound because the arms are large compared to moving only the hands from the wrists.
You’ve heard the expression, “It’s all in the wrist!” This is totally appropriate for successful execution of staccato in many contexts.
I hope you’ve found this information helpful! Robert Estrin – www.LivingPianos.com – Robert@LivingPianos.com
This is a wonderful selection of movements that is a great choice for piano students just progressing past the intermediate level. I’m going to provide a few tips for you on how to get the best performance of these pieces of music.
Many of Schumann’s works are reflective of his life and he would constantly create multi-part pieces. What’s great about these pieces is that even though they are accessible to slightly above intermediate students, they still contain a great depth of expression.
I’m going to start from the first movement, Of Strange Lands and People. If you have a chance to watch the embedded video I highly recommend it. In the first section you have an almost choral sound to the music – except the inner voices (the notes under the melody) are staggered in triplets. The best thing to do is recognize what the harmonies are and the best way to figure this out is by breaking the music into chords.
This is a good technique for any new piece you are approaching and it allows you to flesh out the music and get a better grasp of what you are playing and the underlying structure of it. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t reach all the chords, this is not what it’s about. By doing this you will be able to both understand the harmony and structure of the piece as well as figure out the best fingering to use. In the video embedded with this article I break down this concept into great detail.
Once you have learned the harmony and figured out the best fingering by breaking the piece into chords it’s time to work on the melody. Bringing out the melody is something absolutely crucial in mastering your music. You don’t want all the notes to blend in together, you want the melody to rise above the harmony and sing.
You can play the melody legato and the accompanying triplets with staccato fingers to clarify the melody line in your hands. Once you have achieved this, you will be able to bring out the melody easily.
Thanks again for joining me and make sure to check out Part 2 of this series on Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood. Robert Estrin: Robert@Livingpianos.com
Many people ask me, can you learn to play by ear or is it something you’re born with? I personally believe that everyone can improve their ability to play by ear. Some people just have an innate sense that allows them to play by ear without much effort, while others will have to work harder at it; the bottom line is, anyone can learn to do it.
Now there are limits to what you can achieve. If you’re tone deaf you probably won’t get to a level where you can transcribe Charlie Parker solos but you can definitely train your ear and improve.
The single most important thing you must do to train your ears is sing. Last week we talked about Why You MUST Sing Your Music and this topic has parallels. I was very fortunate to study solfeggio, which is sight-singing with the syllables (Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do). When this is sung correctly it quantifies all the pitches in a scale. But you can do the same thing without having to practice sight-singing for years.
Try and quantify the pitches within a scale. Take a song that you know and try it out. The example I give in the video is Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. If you break down the first note in the song you can begin to construct the other notes around it by simply singing up and down in pitch. For example, take Yellow Submarine in C major so it starts on a G. To find the next note, determine whether the pitch goes up or down (in this case it goes up) and find the next note – which is A. When you get to the next note, it drops dramatically in pitch so it’s a bit more difficult to find. If you had years of theory training you might be able to tell it’s a perfect fifth, but even if you have no training at all you can figure it out by going down step-wise through the scale. Sing the pitch of the note in the song to yourself and then sing the pitches of the scale going down one by one until the pitch matches (which in this case is a D).
With a little bit of practice anyone can learn to interpret and play music by ear. You just need to start singing and testing yourself!
This is a loaded question and it’s a topic that may cause controversy – especially among some piano teachers. There are different perspectives on this important subject. As always, I welcome everyone’s comments and suggestions when it comes to every topic we cover so please feel free to voice your opinion.
I also understand that some students can become frustrated by having to practice tedious exercises for hours and hours when they would much rather be playing music. But are these exercises in vain or is there a purpose to them?
Exercises are an important part of developing as a pianist. In many cases utilizing Hanon and Czerny can be a great way to develop strength in your playing. These exercises can help you develop pure technique without having to deal with nuanced expression, complex rhythms, melodies and countermelodies. By using Hanon or Czerny, you can learn exercises with lots of notes much much quicker than many piano pieces which can have additional elements of complexity not found in these exercises.
What about the relative value of learning exercises instead of learning music? A lot of times musical etudes – advanced ones such as Chopin or Moszkowski or student level etudes of Heller or Burgmuller – can provide the same benefit of strength building you get from Czerny or Hanon with the added benefit of providing pieces of music you can add to your repertoire.
There really is a balance you must reach when it comes to learning exercises versus learning music. In the early levels of studying the piano learning exercises provides a great way to develop strength. Hanon exercises can help you develop finger strength very quickly. The early exercises in the book are great for beginning pianist because you don’t have to deal with finger crossings or cumbersome musical challenges. It’s an easy and simple way to start playing the piano immediately developing strength in your fingers. Younger students can quickly master these exercises and prepare themselves for learning music.
Once you master all of your scales and arpeggios you can continue building strength simply by playing music. You will challenge yourself much more and develop your technique along with continuing to work on scales and arpeggios.
So yes, there are benefits to exercises, but you shouldn’t be relying on them as your only source of technical development. They provide a great foundation for building your technique but they are something you should augment with scales and arpeggios and substantial musical repertoire.
Many times you can actually create your own exercises by taking sections of music you have great difficulty with. Take these sections and generate patterns, bring out different voices, or create rhythmic variations to challenge yourself. Exercises come in all forms and sizes and you shouldn’t be afraid to create your own!
We would love to hear your opinions on this subject. Please leave us comments or contact me directly: Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729
Years ago we made a video about Extraneous Movements During a Musical Performance – discussing how some musicians make extreme movements and gyrations during performances and how it can be distracting for the audience, but not necessarily something the performer can control.
Today we are going to discuss noises that musicians make while performing music. This is a surprisingly more common problem than you may think and can actually negatively affect many aspects of live performances and even studio recordings.
What types of noises are we talking about? Sometimes it can be vocal noises. Other times I’ve seen musicians kicking their legs and stamping on the piano pedals without regard for how much extraneous noise it’s causing to their performance.
Involuntary noises are not that uncommon when musicians perform. But there are some cases when it becomes a distraction. Some great performers such as Rudolf Serkin and Glenn Gould made an incredible amount of noise during their performances; so much so that it caused issues during recording sessions.
So, how do these sounds happen in the first place, and is there any way to stop them? In some cases people just get used to “singing” along with what they are playing – although it certainly doesn’t sound like singing when they are doing it. Sometimes it can become a deeply ingrained habit that’s incredible difficult to break. Other times emotion might take control of the musician and they find themselves making exaggerated motions that cause noise. When they are on the level of someone like Glenn Gould it can be forgiven even though it’s not ideal. If you find yourself doing this during your practice you must make a concerted effort to stop or else it can become something beyond your control; it can become a permanent part of your performances.
In a large concert hall these things might not be much of an issue – it would be very difficult to hear any involuntary “singing” over the sound of the instruments and stamping of the feet or other motions that cause noise may not be noticed either. When it comes to performing in more intimate settings however, this can become a huge problem. Pay very close attention to some recordings and you might even notice a few “grunts” or other sounds coming from the artists that seep into the recording.
I remember many years ago I attended a solo piano concert with my father (for a pianist who will remain nameless) and there was so much sound from his vocalizations and foot stamping, that I remarked that the concert was more like a song and dance routine than a piano recital! As a child, it took great effort to stop myself from laughing! It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that no teacher ever stopped him as a child from developing these distracting habits.
If you find yourself doing this please make a concerted effort to reign it in and control yourself. If you have students who do this, call it to their attention whenever it happens so they stop making sounds that distract from the music. It might seem like a small problem, but it could potentially develop into something beyond your control and create a lot of distractions from the music.
I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.
Welcome to another part in a series of videos offering you tips for selected piano repertoire. Bach wrote many Minuets in beautiful Baroque style and this one in particular is a wonderful little piece for even elementary level players.
A minuet is a dance form in meter of three and because it’s a Baroque piece it has nice counterpoint. The goal of this piece is to showcase great clarity while retaining a bouncy and dance-like feel. The secret to achieving this is how you execute the phrasing – specifically, how you articulate the staccatos and how you negotiate the slurs.
Like in many other pieces, the technique is accomplished with the wrist. You will want to use certain wrist techniques to clarify the staccato notes contrasting with the slurred legato notes. This might sound simple but many times when first approaching this piece you may unwittingly use the arm in conjunction with the wrist producing a muddled sound.
For this piece, the first beat should have more emphasis than the second and third beats in keeping with the dance form. By coming down with the wrist for the first beat on the staccato notes, you can create a very dynamic sound. By using the arms you will produce a heavier tone that doesn’t sound nearly as bright and bouncy as it should.
The way I would recommend playing this is to bring your wrist down on the first note and then quickly lift it back up on the staccato notes. If you watch the video attached with this article you will see some great examples of this wrist movement. It’s very important to not rely upon the arm for the up and down motion; it must come from the wrist!
You should keep the same motion for each individual staccato note: down, up, down, up. And remember that it’s only the wrist being utilized in these notes; not the arm. If you have to, hold your arm still with your other hand at first and play the notes only using your wrist.
You will be greatly impressed by the results of employing a light staccato using the wrist; it will truly bring new life to this piece and many others. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com
