Tag Archives: piano

Performer Noise During a Musical Performance

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.

Dealing with a Bad Smelling Piano

This might sound like a silly topic – and it kind of is – but this is a surprisingly common problem a lot of people encounter. Maybe there is a smell that develops over time but in most cases this is a problem with used pianos bought from a private seller.

Many things can contribute to a bad smelling piano. The most common occurrence is with cigarette smoke but there are many different things that can cause a piano to carry an unwanted odor. Situations vary, but you should be aware that smells can be very tricky to get rid of.

There really is no easy answer when it comes to smelly pianos. In all cases you will want to have the piano thoroughly cleaned – and this means removing the action. You will absolutely want to have a professional do this; you should never attempt to pull the action or touch fragile parts of the piano without the help of a technician.

Any piano you buy that has sat around for years could probably use a thorough cleaning – there is an incredible amount of dust that can accumulate over the years as well as some other interesting items. The next time you have your piano tuned you should ask your tuner what the strangest thing they ever found in a piano; you will probably be surprised with the answer!

Sometimes you might be able to mask a smell more than you can eradicate it. For example, when it comes to cigarette smoke, there is almost no way to completely get rid of the smell – it’s next to impossible! After thorough cleaning, one thing you can do to alleviate the problem – and this comes recommend from technicians – is to mask the smell with a perfume or something similar (many times it will be able to cancel out any lingering smells).

Thanks again for joining me Robert@LivingPianos.com

How to Make Your Piano Quieter

This is a common question when it comes to dealing with your piano. Many aspiring pianists play their pianos a great deal. But the volume can be an issue (and there is no volume control on your piano!) Yet, you have to be considerate of the people you live with as well as your neighbors. Are there any ways you can quiet the sound of your piano? There are a number of things you can do to lessen the volume of your piano!

Closing the Lid

The most obvious solution to making your piano quieter if you have a baby grand or grand piano is to close the lid. There are two options for this – you can close the lid and keep the fly lid open:

Or you can remove the music rack and close the lid completely to make the piano even quieter:

This will do a lot to quiet the sound of your piano without compromising your ability to play it. If you like, you can pull the music rack out of the piano and place it on top of the piano. (You will want to protect the finish with a towel or other cloth first.)

Getting a Rug

Another technique is to place a thick rug underneath your piano. About half the volume of the piano comes from the bottom. So, placing a rug underneath it will absorb a lot of the sound. This can be a good solution if you have neighbors that live below you that are complaining about the sound of your piano. You can even get more creative and add foam or other insulation-type materials to the bottom of the piano to further dampen the sound.

A String Cover

Adding a felt string cover in the piano can lessen the sound somewhat as well. It’s not going to do that much to cover the sound but it will help.

Ask Your Piano Tuner

While covers, lids and rugs can dampen the sound of your piano, your tuner/technician can help as well. You can actually voice down the volume of your piano by having your tuner needle the hammers to make them softer.

Over time the felt on the hammers harden and make the piano sound very bright – this is especially true on many Asian production pianos because Japanese felt is harder than German felt. By having your tuner voice the piano down it will make the piano sound more mellow and lower in volume. You may appreciate the warmer tone as well!

Mute Rails on Upright Pianos

This feature is very common and available on many upright pianos. The middle pedal on some upright pianos functions as a “practice pedal” which lowers a piece of felt in front of the hammers and makes the piano extremely quiet.

This works surprisingly well and is the easiest solution for people with upright pianos.

Mute Rails on Grand Pianos

They aren’t as common but there are muffler systems that can be installed on grand pianos that function in a similar way to practice pedals on upright pianos.

Placing an Upright Piano Near a Wall

Most of the sound of an upright piano comes from the back – where the soundboard is located:

Depending on where you place the piano in your room you can dampen the sound of the instrument. Placing an upright piano right next to a wall will make it quieter because a lot of the volume of the piano will be absorbed by the wall. Better yet, put dampening material behind the piano. This will also lessen the amount of sound that travels through the wall to neighbors.

Silent Systems

There is new technology available that can completely turn off the volume of your piano! A felt covered bar is placed in front of the hammer shanks so the hammers don’t hit the strings at all. Optical sensors read the performance of each key and transmit it through MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) to a sampled or other virtual piano sound played through speakers at any volume, or even through headphones for totally silent playing!

The only downside is that you’ll be hearing a simulation of a piano and not your actual instrument. However, you can hear the sound of a 9-foot concert grand even if you are playing an upright! The other good thing is that it is possible for you to enjoy the feel of a real piano.

Treating the Room

The sound of a piano relies heavily on the room around it. You can add pieces of furniture or heavy curtains to absorb some of the sound if you feel the piano is a little too loud for the room.

We made a whole video about the best size piano for your home and how to treat the room in case it’s a little too loud for it’s surroundings:

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.

What’s the Difference Between a Console or Spinet Piano?

Console and Spinet Pianos can look almost identical from the outside case but what lies beneath separates them a great deal from one another.

Both spinets and consoles are upright-style pianos that are typically very short The fundamental difference between the two types of pianos are the actions.

Spinet Pianos

Spinet pianos have what’s called an indirect blow action (or drop action). The instruments are so small that they have to change the way the action works in order to fit them into the piano.

Compared to a typical piano action, spinet pianos have shorter keys and they have rods that connect each key to the rest of the action. This is why they are called indirect blow actions, because you don’t have a full length key that interacts directly with the action. Instead it drops down to the other part of the action.

Console Pianos

Whether it is short or tall, a console pianos have a regular style upright action where the key is much longer and connects directly to the action:

Pianos Today

Nobody makes spinet pianos anymore. At some point they lost favorability with consumers and have since been replaced by less expensive consoles that don’t have to sacrifice the quality of the actions.

Despite spinets having different actions, there were some higher quality models – the Baldwin Acrosonic being a classic example – that were decent pianos. The inherent limitations in console and spinet pianos lies more in the size of the pianos more than anything else. With a smaller soundboard and shorter strings, the pianos are limited in the amount of sound they can produce.

Generally console pianos are superior to spinet pianos because of the regular style actions and the slightly taller size of the instruments which offers a more rewarding sound.

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.

What is the Steinway Bell? Steinway Pianos

This is something many of you might not be familiar with, it’s truly a topic for Steinway aficionados or those curious enough to look underneath their pianos. So what is the Steinway bell and what does it do?

If you have ever looked below a large Steinway grand piano, you would have noticed a strange piece of metal that is attached to the bottom of the piano. It looks like this:

As you can see, it has the shape of a bell – which is where it gets its name – but does it actually serve a purpose? The short answer is yes.

On larger steinway pianos this bell is attached securely to the rim and the plate of the piano to help maintain the “crown” of the soundboard. This is extremely helpful especially with older pianos because over time they tend to lose crown on their soundboards which is essential for good tone. The link above includes an article and video that explains the concept of crown with regards to soundboards in much greater detail. To describe it briefly, the crown of a soundboard refers to the slight upward arching of the soundboard within the rim of the piano. Over time the wood of a piano may warp slightly with changes in weather. If the rim isn’t stable, the rim’s support of the crown may diminish over time. This will affect the treble notes the most – impacting the projection, sustain, and power of these notes.

The Steinway bell is placed in a strategic part on the rim of the piano. It is designed to attach directly to the curved part of the rim of the piano and the plate to maintain the shape of the rim and prevent it from expanding over time. This will in turn help the piano keep its crown longer.

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.

Digital Pianos Vs. Upright Pianos

Today we are going to address the question of what is better, a Digital Piano or an Upright Piano. This is a common question here at the store and it’s something worth investigating. While neither an upright or a digital piano is comparable to a good quality baby grand or grand piano, you may wonder which is a better choice.

The big plus to owning a digital piano is that it’s always in tune so you never have to spend time or money maintaining the instrument. Digital pianos can also change their volume as well as be used with headphones so you can practice without disturbing people around you. Most digital pianos allow you to connect to your computer to enhance your experience with programs that can record your playing and aid in learning. Digital pianos also allow you to play with different sounds and effects that simply aren’t possible on a traditional piano. There are a lot of possibilities with a digital piano.

On the other hand there are plenty of reasons that an upright piano is a good choice. If you’ve ever looked inside a piano you see hundreds of parts for each note that make up the piano’s action. Even though an upright piano action is not as responsive as one in a grand piano,

they are much more responsive than even the best digital piano action. There is simply no way to replicate the feel and touch of an actual piano action. This can be incredibly important if you plan on playing anywhere else besides your digital piano since as a pianist you are called upon to play whatever piano is available.

I generally recommend an acoustic piano to any aspiring student, but there are exceptions. If you can’t afford a decent upright piano or you can only get ahold of a shorter spinet piano (which has an inferior indirect blow action) then a digital piano might be a better choice for you. If you want to experiment with different sounds or are severely limited in space, a digital piano might also be the right choice for you.

Acoustic pianos have benefits when it comes to sound. Although digital pianos sample the actual sounds of nine foot concert grand pianos, there are limits to what can be recorded. Even a high end digital piano that has multiple sound samples of each note at different volume levels can’t replicate the range of tones possible on an acoustic piano. An acoustic piano has infinite levels of expression that simply can’t be matched on a digital instrument, although they keep getting better. For an advanced student there is no substitute for the expression possible on an actual acoustic piano.

So, unless you require the features and benefits of a digital piano, you are better off with a good quality acoustic upright piano over a digital piano. There is no substitute to playing an actual piano. Technology keeps advancing and digital pianos continue to get better and better. So, one day in the future this could be a different situation. Until then you are better off practicing on a good upright piano.

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