Tag Archives: piano practice

How to Choose a Piano

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today, we’re going to discuss how to choose a piano. Different people are going to have markedly different criteria for choosing a piano. For example, if you’re an accomplished, seasoned concert pianist, you have very specific ideas of what you’re looking for, and you’ll want to try countless pianos to find exactly the touch and the tone that you’re after. But if you’re like most people, you haven’t had the opportunity to play a plethora of concert-level instruments, you might want to have a trusted person who knows a lot about pianos to help guide the process. I’m going to try to give you some pointers as to what to look for when you are after a piano.

Are you looking for an acoustic piano or a digital piano?

There are many reasons to choose one or the other. If you’re living in a place where sound is an issue, a digital piano might be necessary. There are also silent pianos that you can play with headphones digitally, but they can also be played acoustically. That’s one alternative for you. But you might want to just have a digital piano. Maybe you have a very limited budget, and an acoustic piano is just not in the cards for you. Maybe you’re living in a studio apartment, and you need to put the piano in the closet during the day. Maybe you do music composition and you want something that has a MIDI or USB interface so you can plug it into your computer. There are definitely good reasons to get a digital piano. But if you want the ultimate playing experience, an acoustic piano really offers that.

There are two main types of acoustic pianos: grands and uprights.

The benefits of grands are many because, while a tall upright can rival the sound of a mid-size grand, the action is inferior on even the finest upright pianos. To get a Steinway or a hand-built German piano, an upright costs tens of thousands of dollars. But the hammers on an upright are striking sideways. So there’s a limit to the speed of repetition compared to a grand piano where the hammers have the benefit of gravity since they go up and down. So if you’re an advanced player, and you’re playing things with rapid repetition or trills on upright pianos, those sorts of things can be very difficult. Even the finest uprights don’t match what a fine grand piano action is capable of. Grand pianos also project sound into the room instead of into the wall, so you get a glorious sound! And they’re beautiful pieces of furniture as well. But there are good reasons to get an upright. Maybe you have space or budgetary limitations that make a grand unattainable. A good upright can have a nice sound. And if you’re not playing something with rapid repetition—a lot of trills and other ornaments that require really fast repetition—a good upright could be a great choice for you.

The size of the piano is another important criterion.
The Bigger the Better?
All things being equal, bigger is better on pianos. What do I mean by that? Well, if you ever look inside a concert grand piano, the strings in the treble are very short, and they get longer and longer throughout the entire range of the piano. On a nine-foot piano, those bass strings are really long, so you get an even sound from the top to the bottom. Every other piano is a compromise. If you look at a baby grand piano, by the time you get to the middle register, the strings are all about the same length to the lowest notes of the bass. They just get thicker, and they don’t have the same true sound you’ll get out of a larger piano. Plus, the soundboard area is larger on bigger pianos, so you get a richer sound.

Another thing to consider is the acoustics of the room.

You don’t want to overwhelm a room with a piano that has too much volume because it will affect the way the piano sounds and the way you play it. It can actually damage your hearing. I have a good friend who has a beautiful Steinway model C, a phenomenal scale design at over seven feet. It’s blowing him out of the room! So he has to practice with earplugs. What a shame to have this glorious piano and not be able to fully enjoy it because he’s got to stuff his ears in order to play it without causing ear damage. So make sure you choose the right size piano for your space. And it’s not just the size of the room you need to consider. If you have an open floor plan, it doesn’t matter if the room is small, so long as the air volume is large. If your room has a wood floor and if there is no soft furniture, drapes, carpet, or rugs, even a larger room can be pretty resonant. A room that has carpeting, drapes, and soft furniture will absorb a lot of sound. Also, odd shapes along the wall, such as bookshelves, will diffuse the sound so it bounces around, giving it a more pleasing tone. There’s nothing worse than what are called standing waves. Have you ever been talking in a hallway and it sounds robotic? It’s like two mirrors facing each other, creating an infinite reflection. That’s exactly what happens with sound waves in a small space with parallel walls. The frequency of the waveform will amplify itself, and you’ll get resonant frequencies that are really nasty. You can mitigate that by utilizing absorbent material in strategic places.

Of course, you have to think about your budget.

You don’t have an infinite amount of money to spend. There are basically two types of pianos: hand-built pianos and Asian production pianos. What’s the difference? Well, a piano factory like Pearl River makes over a hundred thousand pianos a year. That’s an astounding number of pianos! It’s more than triple the number of new acoustic pianos that are sold in the United States each year. They can’t make pianos the same way Steinway does. Steinway only makes about 2400 pianos a year. Fazioli only makes 140 pianos a year! Obviously, they can do things differently from a company like Pearl River, Yamaha, or Kawai that mass-produces pianos. There’s a different methodology in the way the plates are made, the woods that are used, and a plethora of other things that can enhance the way a piano sounds and plays.

The problem with hand-built pianos is cost.

A Rolls-Royce costs much more than a Toyota because it’s hand-built from beginning to end. The same is true of pianos. With a company like Steinway, each piano is hand-made instead of having pretty much an assembly line of parts that are mass-produced. You can get a wide range of Asian production pianos, and some of them are very good instruments. Nobody is going to scoff at a CX-series Yamaha. They’re really well-made pianos. But Yamaha has two levels of pianos above the popular C series, and those are indeed hand-built pianos that cost as much or more than Steinway! So you have to figure out your budget.
PIANO FACTORY

Should you get a new piano or a used piano?

Here again, there are many different things to consider. If you’re buying an inexpensive Asian production piano, realize that there’s a limited lifespan. This is because you’re not going to rebuild a piano that’s not that costly to begin with. If you buy, for example, a $25,000 piano new, that might seem like a lot of money, but it can easily cost that much or more to rebuild a piano. So I hate to say it, but most Asian production pianos aren’t worth restoring because the cost of restoring them exceeds their potential value. So it makes sense to look for used Steinways, Mason & Hamlins, Bechsteins, and other top-tier hand-built pianos. Some of the best value pianos could be brands that are no longer made, like Chickering, Knabe, or Baldwin. These pianos were great in their day. Sadly, these American-produced pianos no longer exist. But you could find a good Baldwin used that maybe isn’t even that old. Maybe the piano is all original and still in good shape. The piano could be worth restoring because Baldwin cost as much as Steinway when they were originally made. And many of them are equal in quality to a new Steinway or Mason & Hamlin, which are the only companies still producing pianos in the United States. Some Mason & Hamlin models are made in China today, so be sure you notice the distinction there.

Every piano is unique.

If you play brand new pianos of the same make and model, each one has a different character of sound and touch. Hand-built pianos like Steinway are notably unique from one to the next, which can be a great thing if you find the one you’re looking for. You really have to try each one to make sure it suits you. Asian production pianos like Yamaha and Kawai are more consistent than other pianos because the manufacturing is very tightly controlled. A lot of robotics are used. But even then, no two trees are alike. So soundboards and bridges are going to have different sonic characteristics. There’s also a lot of handwork. Even on inexpensive Chinese pianos, the bridges are hand-notched. So there’s a lot of handwork, even on Asian production pianos. They’re not just all made in a factory by machines. There are a lot of people working in those factories. So each one is unique. You must try the specific piano because even pianos of the same make and model can vary quite a bit in sound and feel. So you really want to try, or at least listen to, the piano you are buying. We provide first-class recordings with excellent Neumann microphones of our pianos, so you can easily get a comparison from one to the next and hear what you like.

So those are a bunch of things to consider when you’re looking for a piano. If you have any questions about pianos, I’m always available for free advice. Just email me at Robert@LivingPianos.com. I’m always happy to help in any way I can! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

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Contact me if you are interested in private lessons. I have many resources for you! Robert@LivingPianos.com

Why You Must Underestimate Yourself When Practicing the Piano

I’m Robert Estrin and this is LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Store. Today’s topic is, “Why You Must Underestimate Yourself When Practicing the Piano”. Why would you ever want to think less of yourself? You might be thinking it would be harder to figure anything out if you underestimate your intelligence. It’s actually quite the opposite, particularly with adult beginners. It can feel as though things are harder than they should be sometimes. Why is that? The fact of the matter is, people who play at a high level have figured out how much they have to break things down in order to achieve desired results. It’s really important that you don’t overwhelm yourself.

If you accept your limitations, that’s when you can be truly productive!

You’re always better off taking smaller sections, or taking a slower tempo and really perfecting something. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, because that’s the surest way to get discouraged. If you’re learning a piece of music and you focus on a section that’s just a bit more than you can absorb, you’ll keep working at it, but you may leave the piano feeling dejected. So, instead, you might try going to the piano and focusing on sections half as long. You may slow down the tempo and learn just one hand at a time. Then, you can really nail things down. It is extremely satisfying to get something perfected, even if it’s just a small part. By taking small sections and building them up and taking slow tempos and gradually getting faster, you will develop tremendous security in your playing you won’t achieve by overestimating what you can do.

How do I practice?

I have a video on how to approach a new piece on the piano in which I take Chopin Mazurka at random. I literally flipped through the book and started memorizing a piece.

Here is the link:

HOW TO LEARN A NEW PIECE OF MUSIC ON THE PIANO

You’ll see how many times I go over even the smallest sections to learn them. I treat myself very gently in my practice. I don’t over exert my mind. I try to just give myself something I know I can accomplish in a short amount of time and repeat that process again and again. This is how to sustain a long, productive practice.

Know your abilities.

So remember, when you sit down at the piano and think, “Why can’t I do this?” Try something simpler. Try a smaller section, maybe even a simpler piece. Maybe you’re working on the last movement of the Moonlight Sonata when you should be working on a Bach minuet! You’re much better off learning a piece suited to your skill level and being able to play it on a high level than butchering a harder piece of music.

Keep yourself humble.

That’s the secret, not just to piano playing, but in life itself. Don’t overestimate your abilities. Give yourself a break. We’re all human. You have certain things that you’re going to excel at and some things that will take longer for you than other people. If you can accept that one basic fact, you can be very productive. Just give yourself what you can master at that moment, and you can sustain a long practice. This method is much more satisfying.

I hope this is helpful for you. Any of you who are beginners or just feel your practice isn’t going well and you think something’s wrong with you, there is nothing wrong with you. It’s just hard! You’ve got to realize that. So break things down and put things together. You will be rewarded with much better performances and the satisfaction of doing something really well.

I’m Robert Estrin, thanks for joining me here at LivingPianos.com.

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info@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

3 Secrets to Playing Slow Music

3 SECRETS TO PLAYING SLOW MUSIC

This is Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Store. Today, I have three secrets to playing slow music. When you hear instrumentalists, such as pianists, you notice that many have a lot of technical achievement. But when you hear a great artist play a slow movement, magic can happen. It can reach the inner depths of your soul. This is the sign of a great musician. How do you approach slow movements in order to get that quality, to get that beauty and be able to reach people on an emotional level? These are the secrets I’m going to give to you today.

Number one is: Make sure you take the right tempo.

A lot of people play slow movements too slowly. For example, if someone were to perform Debussy, Clair de Lune, you may hear it played very slowly. Now, it might be okay at the beginning, but by the time you get to the middle and compare the tempo they’re playing in the middle of the piece, often, they’re going faster because it gets ponderous after awhile at such a slow tempo.

Another clue for you when you’re taking a tempo that is too slow is that you will find that if there are repeats, you won’t want to take them. They don’t seem to work. So, if you have a piece of music and think, “Mozart didn’t mean all those repeats”. Yes, he did! And if they don’t work, it’s a clue that you are playing too slow a tempo. Another thing related to this is to:

Hold long notes long enough.

There’s nothing worse than robbing long notes. But it’s so easy to rob long notes because you’re just sitting there doing nothing! It’s easy to count to yourself and accelerate your counting in your head. You can lose the pulse.

A lot of performers play very slowly and rob the long notes, such as again, the beginning of Clair de Lune. To me, that is simply playing out of rhythm. But you’d be surprised how many performances you’ll find online of very renowned concert pianists playing this piece and robbing the long notes. Holding all the long notes for their full written value gives the music soul, doesn’t it? You’ve got to take the right tempo and you must hold the long notes long enough. What else is there? The other thing is to:

Think of the long note as the pulse.

This enables you to have a slow pulse with a faster tempo. An example is the second movement of the K. 332 Mozart Sonata in F major. First, you could play it thinking of each sixteenth note as the beat. The left hand has sixteenth notes, and each one of those can be punctuated as the beat. Then, instead of thinking each sixteenth note as the beat, try thinking each eighth note as the beat. It’s already going to be better. Rachmaninoff said,

“The bigger the phrase, the bigger the musician.”

Well, related to this is, the longer note that you feel as the pulse, the more freedom you have with your music. Now try feeling the quarter note as the pulse. This also gives you the benefit of being able to take a faster tempo but still having a relaxed feel to your music. Even with a slightly faster tempo, but with the quarter note as the pulse, it doesn’t feel hurried! Those are three secrets to being able to play slow music.

Make sure to hold long notes long enough, feel the long note as the beat, and choose the right tempo.

Don’t take slow pieces too slowly. If you do those three tips, it will enhance the performance of your slow music. I’d love to hear from all of you and give me your perspective. And if you haven’t subscribed to LivingPianosVideos’ YouTube channel, go for it! You’ll get all the fresh videos. We produce them for you every week.

Thanks for joining me again,  Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com Your Online Piano Store.   info@LivingPianos.com 949-244-3729

5 Essentials of Piano Practice

Over the years I’ve made a lot of videos about pianos and practicing piano. Today I’m going to provide a concise list of some areas to focus on during your development as a pianist and give some examples of past lessons you can refer to.

1. Memorize, Memorize, Memorize!

One of the most important aspects to practicing the piano and developing as a musician is to spend time on a regular basis memorizing music. I can’t stress enough how important this is and how it is often neglected. Any pianist specializing in solo classical music must spend a vast amounts of time memorizing music.

The amount of music in the world is endless and nobody can memorize all of it. But if you spend time on a daily basis memorizing music, you will develop security and mastery of performance. Not only will you expand your repertoire, you’ll be giving your brain a workout and you will spend more time focusing on how to play your music rather than what you have to play.

My video on how to memorize music is a great resource for you:

2. Sight Reading

Sight Reading is another crucial element to your development as a pianist and is another topic that is often overlooked. Wouldn’t it be great to explore new repertoire and try it out before you commit a significant amount of time learning it? That’s where sight reading becomes incredibly beneficial.

Developing your sight reading is very important and if you work on it regularly, you will continually improve. The following video has tips to improve your sight reading:

3. Playing With Other Musicians

Playing music with other musicians is not only fun, it’s a necessary experience in developing your own skills. Even if your primary interest is playing solo piano, you should seek out opportunities to play with other musicians and do it as often as possible.

There is no need to be intimidated by playing with musicians who are better than you are. In fact, this is one of the best ways to advance your scope as a musician. Even if they play other instruments, examining their sense of style, phrasing, timing and other aspects of their playing can help you develop a new depth of understanding to music.

Sight reading might be incredibly difficult on your own as you will find yourself starting and stopping when you make mistakes. When you sight read with other musicians, you will be forced to recover and you won’t be able to stop playing. It forces you to become a better at sight reading!

If you need help in learning how to accompany other musicians I highly recommend this video that I produced with my wife Florence Estrin (a concert flutist).

4. Improvise Often and Don’t be Afraid to Explore New Styles of Music

Improvising is so important to understanding your music and gaining a new depth of understanding about how it’s constructed. Many styles of music such as rock and jazz rely on improvisation as a key element to the music and encourages musicians to create something new and interesting every time they perform. Developing your improvisation skills (even with classical music) is a crucial element to becoming a better and more well-rounded musician.

Exploring new styles of music enables you to experience and understand styles you might not have been aware of; it can also be a great deal of fun! I’m a classical pianist but when I’ve been at parties with other musicians and played blues music, it’s been a great deal of fun and an incredible learning experience to improvise with them and learn how they approach music.

Improvising is also a universal language. If you learn how to read a lead sheet for jazz standards, you can take that anywhere in the world, to play with any musicians. Spoken language is not a barrier for musical performance!

Never improvised on the piano before? No problem, check out this video to get some great tips on where to begin:

5. Practice Mentally

This is something that people might not ever think of. Practicing mentally away from your instrument can offer benefits not possible while playing your instrument. Playing music requires a thought process and there are tremendous benefits to thinking through your music.

Let’s say you’re waiting in line at the grocery store. You can practice your music mentally by thinking through a piece with every nuance of performance without any physical restrictions. Going through your music when you are away from your instrument allows you to think about it in a different light. Naturally, practicing with your instrument is essential, but you may rely on motor memory rather than the music. Practicing mentally allows you to think through your music playing it exactly as you want.

This can have tremendous benefits strengthening your memory. Just play through your music in your mind and see how far you get. You can always refer to the score to clarify the comprehension of the score.

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

How to Warm Up on the Piano

This is a very important issue when it comes to playing any instrument. There are books written on how to warm up on the piano and countless techniques and exercises you can utilize. I’m going to share a few tips with you that I use in my own practice and performances. The good news is, none of this is as complicated as you might think.

Let’s start holistically. Any warm-up is predicated on you being physically healthy; if you are ailing from anything such as stiff muscles, soreness, illness, or anything that would hinder your well being, it can affect your performance on the piano. If you suffer from any chronic ailments, you should take your time with easing into playing the piano.

The first thing you will want to do is make sure that your hands are warm. If you have cold hands it means that your blood is not circulating well and if you just start playing virtuoso music without warming up your hands you could do some damage. An easy solution for this is to run warm water over your hands so you feel comfortable before you start playing.

I strongly recommend doing some stretching on a regular basis – whether it’s yoga or simple stretches you would perform before a workout. This can be incredibly valuable to your long-term health as well as keeping you injury free while performing.

One of the most overlooked aspects of playing any instrument is correct posture. When it comes to the piano, posture is crucial to your musical success as well as your health. I have a whole separate video on How to Sit At the Piano that you should watch for more specific information. If you find yourself in a situation where you can play the piano but the bench is not high or low enough you must take the time to correct the problem before playing.

When it comes to actually playing, try starting with something slow. Don’t jump right into advanced music – let your fingers, arms, and hands warm up by playing something slower that will utilize all parts of the body. Some people start with scales. If you do, start playing at 1 note to the beat and with raised fingers which gently stretches the muscles. Gradually build up your speed until you feel comfortable. You don’t have to warm up with scales or arpeggios; you can pick any piece of music and just start slower than normal.

There is no real secret to warming up on the piano. It’s a simple process of making sure you’re mentally and physically prepared. Make sure your hands are warm and comfortable, ensure that you have good posture, start with something slow, and you can enjoy yourself for the long haul!

Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Play Chords on the Piano Part 1: Slow Chords

Believe it or not, you can get drastically different tones out of the piano simply by pressing the keys a different way. How to approach the keys is a major part of playing the piano and especially important when it comes to chords.

In the video example provided, I demonstrate a bad technique by “slapping” the keys; it produces a very harsh sound. So how do you avoid this? It really starts with both the mental and physical aspects of your playing. Don’t think of hitting the keys; instead think of putting pressure onto them. Think and play with the sensation that you are trying to apply pressure onto the keys and push them into the key bed. Playing them with pressure and force will produce a much more pleasing sound. To be technical, you will be releasing the weight of your arms into the key bed.

But what about quiet chords? The general rule is that the softer you play, the more effort you will have to make to delineate the melody notes (generally the top notes). When it comes to playing loud, you can play the chords with the same amount of force and the top notes will come right through – this isn’t the case with quiet chords. You’ll want to reach for the top notes in quieter chords and let the melody sing through despite the lower volume. The video accompanying this article gives a great example of this.

Thanks again for joining me and be on the lookout for part 2: How to Play Fast Chords on the Piano. I’m Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729