Tag Archives: robert estrin

Can You Play Expressively on a Portable Piano?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is, “Can You Play Expressively on a Portable Piano?” I am presenting an award-winning digital piano for you. I first saw the Casio Privia PX-S1000 and S3000 when it was introduced at the NAMM show, the huge, annual, international music trade show in Anaheim, California. I knew immediately that I wanted to buy one for myself! You might wonder why. I have all kinds of pianos. I have the top-of-the-line Casio Grand Hybrid and my beautiful semi-concert grand Baldwin SF10. Why would I need this? Well, with the Casio Privia PX- S3000, you just take off four thumb screws, and you’ve got a 24-pound piano you can take with you anywhere! It even runs on batteries! And I was blown away by the sound. The on-board speakers are really nice, the action feels great. I just love this piano! I even got one for my daughter! I think it’s an ideal piano for a lot of folks. And It’s only a few hundred bucks. How can you beat it? Casio has been winning awards like crazy on these pianos. It’s really pretty remarkable.

What’s the difference between the PX S1000 and the PX S3000?

There are more sounds and rhythms on the 3000. But you get the same action, the same speakers, the same high quality piano sounds on both. You also get the addition of a pitch bend wheel and a couple of continuous controllers on thePX S3000. It also has 700 sounds, which is massively more than the 18 assorted sounds on the PX S1000. But if you just want piano and keyboard sounds, the 1000 is a great choice.

There’s so much to love about this piano. It has Bluetooth, so you can use the speakers to stream music from your phone and play along! You also get the incredible Chordana app. This app gets you to all the functions of the piano easily. If you’ve ever used a digital piano, trying to do splits, layers, adjusting the touch, and other functions on a little screen, you know how difficult it can be. On this piano, you just use an iPad or your phone, even an Android phone, and you get to all the functions right in front of you! It even has music education software built in. It’s really pretty amazing.

There have been some questions about the action on this piano. I think the action is stellar for a piano of this type.

One of the challenges with any digital piano is being able to fit an action into a compact package. This is such a sleek cabinet, it’s unbelievable how they fit an action in here. So the question is, can you play expressively on this piano? If you want to know more about the Casio Privia PX S1000 and S3000, there are lots of great videos online. But, today, I’m going to focus on whether you can play expressively on these pianos.

In the accompanying video, I played a little bit of Chopin’s B-flat Minor Nocturne, a piece that has all sorts of flourishes, fast notes, and slow notes, to see if it’s possible to get good control out of this digital piano. You can watch that here:

So, if you want a piano that you can take anywhere, there’s even a backpack that you can pop this thing in. You can take this piano to gigs, to friends, even out to the park to play the piano! I can’t think of anything more fun than this, a piano you can take anywhere!

I’m interested in your opinion. Did you think that was expressive playing? Any of you who have these pianos at home, I’d love to hear your comments.

I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
Please feel free to contact me with any piano related questions for future videos!

Robert@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

Does Music Have to Have Emotion

Hi, this is Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource. Today’s topic is emotion in music. Does Music Have to Have Emotion? There’s a lot to this subject, so let’s dive in!

Throughout the centuries, there have been period styles with varying degrees of obvious emotions. For example, listen to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet or Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. While there may be some people who are put off by the sentimentality of this music, it’s hard to not at least appreciate the rises and falls of phrasing in an attempt to elicit strong feelings of longing, desperation and passion in this music.

But is the emotion in the music?

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In fact, art itself is subjective. Everyone has their own interpretation of what they see and hear. So, how universal emotions are felt in music is one question. But there’s more to this subject.

While there are certainly works of Johann Sebastian Bach which are extremely emotional in nature, such as his B minor Mass, or his Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, there are also works that are masterpieces of counterpoint which primarily hold great intellectual interest. Flash forward to the 20th century with composers who explored 12 tone serialized music which exhibited extreme ordered complexity in works of composers like Anton Webern and Karlheinz Stockhausen and the intellectual demands of listening to this music are predominant. Does this mean that people don’t feel emotion when listening to this music? Not at all! In fact, much atonal music can have a dark mood.

Another aspect to all of this is, how do we as performers address the implied emotions of the musical scores we play? Some people may play even the most blatantly emotional music with reserve so that listeners can take their own cues from the scores. Listen to Sergei Rachmaninoff play his 3rd piano concerto and you will be amazed at how straight he plays his music unlike so many obviously emotional interpretations out there. Performers succumb to emotions to one extent or another.

When I was at the Manhattan School of Music, I had the opportunity to study with a great pianist and teacher, Constance Keene. She described emotions in music like this:

You must play with the memory of the emotion.

She felt that it was self-indulgent to be gushing with emotion while performing music. There are other performers who completely let themselves go with total abandon. Keith Jarrett comes to mind. So, is one type of performance better than the other?

When listening to some of the greatest musicians of all time, there are those who are reserved in their playing allowing the music to speak for itself crafting jewel-like performances of pieces like the great pianist, Josef Lhévinne. Others allow the music to take them to new places every time they perform.

Listen to various recordings of Vladimir Horowitz in concert playing the same piece and you will be amazed at how unique each one of his performances were.

Each performer must find their own balance of emotion versus intellect. I sometimes describe it as the part of you looking down on yourself as you perform making sure you don’t go too far. While performers who let themselves go in performance may hit high points unimagined in practice, it can also lead to disaster!

You can listen to a musical example which demonstrates emotion in music. In the accompanying video, there is original music with unabashed emotions for you.

So, while emotion in music is subjective since music is a language and everyone has their own interpretation of what they see and hear, some composers and performers prioritize control and structure while others allow their emotions to inflict itself one way or another in music. How you feel when you listen to music is a personal thing. Ultimately, the most important thing is to be true to yourself when composing or performing music.

I hope this has been an interesting exploration for you. I welcome more questions and am happy to hear from each of you personally. Again, I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com. Thanks for joining me.

Robert@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

Playing From the Score Versus Playing from Memory

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. I got a great question from a viewer, “How do You Approach Playing From A Score Compared to Playing From Memory?” They’re two completely different skill sets.

Let me tell you a little story. Years ago I would go to competitions to accompany performers. Sometimes at the last minute someone’s accompanist wouldn’t show up. Maybe it was a kid with some very simple accompaniment. They would ask some of the other accompanists to fill in. But some of them just couldn’t do it unless they practiced. They couldn’t sight read even easy student pieces! They would have to spend the time to learn the score first.

I’ve also seen people who could read very well, but even if they practiced a piece for months, they couldn’t gain security in memorization. They’re two completely different skill sets. So, why do you need both of them anyway? That’s the first question I’m going to answer for you. There are some types of music where reading the score is intrinsically important. There are other times when playing from memory is of tremendous benefit.

Why would you ever have to memorize music?

You’ve got a music rack right in front of you, so why not just read the music? I play solo music from memory all the time. But why? Am I just trying to show off? The secret is that once you have something memorized it’s much easier to play it without having to look up at the music. With solo music, there’s no reason not to have it all memorized. Put the work into the front end and enjoy a much easier performance not having to look up and down from the music to the keyboard.

Why wouldn’t you memorize all your music?

First of all, it’s time consuming. But more importantly, when you play with other musicians, chamber music or accompanying, you absolutely must get a grasp of the entire score. You have to know what everybody is playing. The score shows not just your part, but it has the other musicians’ parts as well. It’s really important when playing with other musicians to have the score so you’re aware of everything going on.

Practicing pieces to be memorized compared to pieces to be played from the score requires completely different methodology.

When approaching a piece of music you want to memorize, you want to read through it just two or three times and then get to work one little section at a time starting with the right hand, learning absolutely everything: the notes, rhythm, fingering, phrasing and expression. You can master a small phrase in a couple of minutes. You do the same thing with the left hand part. Get the left hand memorized, just a small phrase. As each phrase is learned, you put the hands together and then connect from the beginning. Eventually you have the whole piece learned and you continue solidifying the memory with and without the score. You get to a point where the music is part of you. It’s a great feeling of liberation!

When accompanying pieces of music, you don’t practice that way.

There might be certain key sections you work on that way, but generally speaking, you go through the piece slowly reading. Any parts that you can’t play satisfactorily, use the band-aid approach. Focus your attention on the parts that you can’t play up to speed and I work on those sections until you can. Try to play so you don’t have to look down at your hands at all so you can keep your eyes on the score and play totally by feel. It seems impossible! There will be quick glances for leaps and things like that. But in your practice, try to make it so you don’t have to look down at your hands at all. You get to the point of total comfort, being completely absorbed with the score. That’s a great feeling because then if you need a quick glance here or there, you’re okay. But never move your head, only your eyes.

How is it possible to play a piece without looking at your hands?

There are some incredibly great blind pianists who could play anything, even music with large leaps So, it is possible. Think about what violinists and cellists do with no frets making big leaps without always being able to look at their hands. So, you can learn to play without looking at the score. These are two completely different ways of practicing. With solo music it is worth memorizing, but when you’re playing with other musicians, seeing the score is of benefit. There are two completely different approaches to practicing. I’m interested in how others have dealt with these issues.

I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
Please feel free to contact me with any piano related questions for future videos!

Robert@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

Can You Stretch Your Hands For the Piano?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I want to talk about something that is very dear to my heart. I’ve done quite a number of videos about how to play piano with small hands. My hands are not particularly large, unlike my father Morton Estrin, a phenomenal concert pianist who had immense hands. I had to learn how to get a big sound with smaller hands. Today’s question is, “Can You Stretch Your Hands for the Piano?”

When I was a teenager, my father thought that maybe it would be helpful for me to stretch my hands. So I started doing stretching exercises. Nothing that would possibly injure, of course. I tried to get more of a straight line from the thumb to the pinky instead of arching out the hands. And I learned that you can’t do it by going straight, but if you arch up a little bit, you can get a bigger reach. So on the outside of the keys I could just barely hit a 10th.

Strength is the answer!

I’m not sure that those stretches did any good. I’d work on them in various ways, but ultimately I found that when I developed more strength at the piano, I was able to negotiate bigger leaps. And, as I’ve talked about before, you can play broken chords very quickly with the pedal in order to play chords way beyond your reach with security. You can work on arpeggios, scales, and repertoire, and through practice you will strengthen your hands to be able to achieve the sound you are after. So, strength is the answer more so than stretching.

I’m very curious to hear from all of you out there. Is there anybody who has any experience with this or has tried stretching and it’s worked? I’m not saying stretching is a bad idea, I’m just saying that it didn’t increase my reach. There are other possible benefits to stretching.

I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
Please feel free to contact us with any piano related questions for future videos!

Robert@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729

You Can Take Private Piano Lessons With Robert Estrin!

Hi, and welcome to LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource, I’m Robert Estrin. I am very pleased to announce that I am offering online video chat piano lessons. This is available to anyone in the world as long as you have a stable internet connection, a piano, as well as a modern smartphone, iPad or computer with a camera and microphone. For those of you who are unfamiliar with video chat, we offer technical support to get you up and running. You can email me at Robert@LivingPianos.com to get more information.

I started teaching the piano assisting my father, concert pianist, Morton Estrin while I was still in high school as my sister, Coren Estrin Mino did before me.

Teaching the piano has been an important continuum in my life and I am making the time to help musicians around the world who may not have great teachers available in their area.

When I attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York City after high school, I was surprised that many of my fellow classmates asked to study with me. There were such great pianists teaching there, however, not all performers are effective teachers.

The most important thing teachers offer students is showing exactly how to practice on a daily basis.

Because, no matter how much you get out of lessons, it is what you do the other 6 days of the week that’s going to make the biggest difference in your progress at the piano. When you have a lesson with a great teacher, you finish the lesson with a clear path of work ahead of you that will consume your time productively for the days that follow. So you accomplish exponentially more at the piano than just the time at the lesson.

I believe that you don’t teach at the student, you teach with the student.

There isn’t one curriculum that works for everybody. You must connect with each individual student with their unique strengths and weaknesses. Not only that, but each student has their own goals at the piano.

So, if you’re interested in finding out more about how to set up private video lessons with me online, please email Robert@LivingPianos.com and I’ll send you more information. Thanks for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com Your Online Piano Resource.

The Importance of Death in Music

Today’s subject seems somber. Yet, it can transcend into something much greater. You may be wondering what death has to do with music – a lot! Just look at some of the most magnificent pieces of music ever created, from Mozart’s Requiem, to Chopin’s Funeral March Sonata. In fact:

You can trace death in music back to Gregorian chant.

The Dies Irae dates back to at least the 13the century, and it may be much older than that perhaps going back to St. Gregory the Great in the year 604. This Medieval Latin poem, “The Day of Wrath”, describes the Last Judgement summoning souls before the throne of God. You may know this theme from Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique.

You may want to read this quote from Carlos Castaneda:

“Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you’re about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you’re wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, ‘I haven’t touched you yet.”

You may wonder what Castaneda meant by this.

Ideally, there would be a word that means both life and death since it’s all two sides of a coin.

You may wonder why composers have been so entranced with projecting death in their music, from Schubert to Schostokovich. I want you to be the judge of how expressing incredibly dark emotions can make great music.

I have chosen to play for you a movement from a relatively early sonata of Beethoven, his opus 10 no. 3 which was his 7th piano sonata out of 32 sonatas Beethoven composed between 1795 and 1822. In the second movement of his Opus 10 no. 3 sonata, Beethoven explored dark emotions in a profound way, although he didn’t specifically reference death in the title of the piece. But I believe this is a great way to demonstrate for you the power of expression of tragedy in music which certainly evokes death. You may notice that even in this dark movement, Beethoven couldn’t help but have glimmers of beauty and even hope.

We must all tackle these weighty subjects with some perspective. Death is universal. It’s something that we can share in a personal way with our music.

I hope this presentation has provided something meaningful for you today. Thank you for joining me. I’m Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com Your Online Piano Store.

Robert@LivingPianos.com
949-244-3729