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Why You Must Know The Perfect Authentic Cadence

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s topic is about the power of the perfect authentic cadence. Have you ever heard of this before? Well, I’m going to show you way more than that today! And what you’re going to learn here today is going to help you with your sight-reading, memorization of music, and improvisation. It’s that basic and important. It’s unbelievable. I’m surprised I have not done this video before because it’s so important.

What is a perfect authentic cadence?

In its simplest form, authentic cadence is basically just a five to one with some passing tones.

Cadence 1

But what I want to show you today is even more valuable. It’s essentially how to establish a key with primary chords. What are your primary chords? Primary chords are your major chords. If you go up your scale and play chords on all 7 of the scale degrees, you have major chords on one, four, and five. The other chords are secondary chords. Your two chord, three chord, and six chord are minor chords. And your seventh chord is the one diminished chord, the outlier. So you have the one, four, five which are primary chords

Seventh chords are as follows. I7 and IV7 are major seventh chords. II7, III7 and VI7 are minor seventh chords. The VII7 is a half-diminished seventh chord. Why half-diminished? Because it is a diminished triad with a minor seventh.

And the V7 is the strongest chord of all – a major triad with a minor 7th which creates the dominant 7th chord. This chord is so powerful because it can establish the key with just this one chord. So here’s a great voicing for your basic four-part perfect voicing, resolutions, note leadings, and distance between all the notes. It follows all the classic rules of harmony.

Cadence 2

Why do we have these rules?

We have these rules because they sound good! That’s why Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Schubert, and all the great composers wrote utilizing this basic structure in their music. Musicians analyzed all their great music and realized the truths behind it—the gems of truth that date back to Bach chorales. This basic chord progression is I, IV, I6/4, V7 I. You have nice voice leading and good spacing between the bass and the tenor, because it sounds better that way. Notice with the V7, it has the root, the seventh, and the third, but there’s no fifth. (It’s missing D.) Why would that be? It achieves better resolution. Doubling the root and leaving out the fifth can help to avoid the four going up to five because it resolves better going down to three (F resolving downward to E).

Why is this chord progression so basic and intrinsic to music?

Knowing all your primary chords and how to establish a key is enlightening in your music because it intrinsically makes you understand the harmonic underpinnings of all the music you play, read, or improvise. You can do this same chord progression in all major and minor keys. Once you get comfortable with all your keys, you can start expanding your repertoire of chords. A substitution for a four chord is a two chord in the first inversion, a II6.

Cadence 3

Or you can spice it up even further with what’s called a Neapolitan sixth. What’s that? A Neapolitan sixth is like the II6, except it’s a major triad built on the flatted second degree of the scale. It’s almost like your II6 chord, but with two flatted notes. So you get a different flavor.

Cadence Neapolitan

You can get to the point where you can modulate using a V7 of another key.
For example, if you used a D7, D is the five seven of G.

Cadence 5

And instantly, you can modulate to G major! Start in C major, go to the D7, the dominant seventh, (the major triad with a minor seventh), and there you are in G major! And if you want to go to F major, the C7 (dominant 7th chord) brings you to F major.

The dominant seventh, the V7, is the secret to modulation.

Any time the key changes, the dominant seventh chord is pivotal. The V7 chord is almost always responsible for changing keys in music. Sometimes a diminished seventh can accomplish it too, but there’s nothing stronger than a dominant seventh chord for bringing you to a new key in music.

What is a dominant seventh chord?

A dominant seventh chord is a seventh chord built on the fifth scale degree. Build a chord on the fifth scale degree, (which in C major would be G B D F) and you get a major triad and a minor seventh. It’s the only place that exists in a scale. You can build seventh chords starting on any other note of the scale, and only the V7 has this arrangement.

I7 is major, II7 is minor, II7 is minor, IV7 is major, and V7 is the major triad with a minor seventh, it is the powerful dominant seventh chord. VI7 is minor, and VII7 is half diminished. Why half? Because it has a diminished triad and a minor seventh.

So the power of the dominant seventh can’t be stressed enough. For example, when you’re playing a sonata movement, they almost always modulate to the dominant (the key five scale degrees above the key of the piece). How does it modulate to the dominant in the exposition? Typically, it uses a dominant seventh chord! There’s modulation in so much of your music and the pivotal chord that gets you there is the V7, the dominant seventh chord, a major triad with a minor seventh

What is modulation?

Modulation is changing keys. For example if you start with a piece that has no sharps or flats in the key signature, then suddenly you have F sharps all over the place; you’re probably in G major! That’s an example of modulation. What gets you there? The D dominant seventh chord, which is the dominant of G (the fifth note of the G major scale).

So try to play this chord progression in all keys! I promise that you’ll have tremendous benefits in your playing. You’ll understand your music on a deeper level. You’ll be able to learn music more quickly, read music more effectively, and improvise music with more fluidity. Try it out for yourself! Let me know how it works for you in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

Sheet Music Download for this lesson

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How to Start From Anywhere in Your Music

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today, I’m going to show you how to start anywhere in your music. To have effective practice, you must be able to start anywhere. Let’s say you’re playing a piece of music. You mess up somewhere, and you keep starting at the beginning. Maybe the next time you get it, but you haven’t really solved the underlying weakness that caused that problem in the first place.

Being able to start where the correction is made is vital.

You want to be able to start where the correction is made, but sometimes it’s really hard to even find that place. I want to demonstrate this with a piece that’s difficult to start in the middle because it’s counterpoint. I’m going to use Bach’s Invention No. 1 in C major. Watch the video to see the demonstration! This piece does divide itself into some macro-sections that I can articulate for you. Suppose you have an issue in the middle of a section. So you decide to just start the whole section again. Whether you get it again or not, it doesn’t really matter because you still have the same odds moving forward of getting it or not getting it. Just finding the exact place is a big challenge! You must read your score and identify where it is. Now you know where to start, but you can’t start there. It seems totally foreign.

The reason it’s hard to start in the middle of a section is that you don’t know what fingering to use.

When you’re starting in the middle, it’s hard to figure out what fingering to use. So here’s the tip. Go back to a place you can start from. When you get to where the issue is, stop and pay close attention to what fingers are on what notes in each hand. Then you lock it in, and you can start from there. Now you can make the correction and get it solidified by playing through the passage a number of times. Then you go back to the beginning of that macro section and connect it several times until it is smooth.

To recap: Step one is: Find where the correction is. Step two: Go back to a place you can start from before that place. Step three: Lock in what fingers you use to start in that measure or phrase so you can effectively start there. Without this method, you get there, and it’s almost like you’re reading the music for the first time! It seems totally unfamiliar. Have you ever had that experience where you almost feel like you don’t even know the piece when you try to start in the middle? Your fingers know where to go, but you can’t solve the underlying weakness because you can’t start right at that particular spot. Well, now I’m giving you the tools to start from anywhere in any piece!

This is the way to have effective, productive practice!

Zero in on the places that need work and start from there. Solve those issues first, then correct them with the whole macro section. Try this in your practice! I guarantee that you will have a boost in productivity like you’ve never seen before! Let us know how it works for you in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

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

How to Make Your Melody Float on Water

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to show you how to make your melody float on water. What am I talking about? You want to be able to have your melody soar above a bed of rippling currents. The accompaniment in the left hand is like the rippling waves, with the melody in the right hand floating above. I’m going to tell you how to achieve this!

You must find really great fingering for the left hand in order to achieve a delicate legato.

The way to discover good fingering is by practicing without the pedal. Support the melody in the right hand with a lot of arm weight, so the melody can be above the accompaniment, and then play with a very fluid legato in the left hand. By playing without the pedal, you can hear what’s involved in this process. You’ll hear the fluidity of the left hand. You have to find fingering that enables that kind of legato.

The other side of this is that you must have a buoyant melody that rises above the accompaniment.

Why is this so difficult? For two reasons. First of all, high notes don’t last very long on the piano compared to low notes. And on top of that, you have more notes in the left hand. The left hand is faster than the right hand, so it’s a double whammy. So you must create an angularity in your balance where the melody is much louder than the accompaniment. But how can you achieve it without making it sound harsh?

The secret is to transfer the weight of the arm smoothly from note to note.

Instead of articulating each separate note, use the weight of the arm to smoothly transfer from key to key achieving a fluid line, like the breath of a singer or the bow of a string player, so each note floats to the next. You can never achieve a smooth line by calculating from note to note. It will end up sounding calculated! When you transfer the weight of the arm smoothly from key to key, you get a fluid line. By doing this, you can play with tremendous energy without getting a harsh sound. Remember, the piano is a percussion instrument. When you’re playing a beautiful melody, how can you make it sound smooth? Use the weight of the arm in the right hand and a smooth left hand that’s very beautiful, but underplayed. Find a fingering where you can play that extreme legato.

Practice incessantly without the pedal so you can find the fingering that enables this.

That is the secret! Find great fingering in the left hand, practice without the pedal, and use the weight of the arm in order to get a smooth line. Try it in your playing! Let us know how it works for you in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

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

How to Play 3 Against 4 Rhythms

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to explain how to play 3 against 4 rhythms. Have you ever tried to play three against four rhythms? You have a triplet in one hand and four 16th notes in the other hand. How can you possibly play those two rhythms? Some teachers just say to play the four with one hand, and play the three with the other hand, and then put them together. Well, what if that doesn’t work? What can you possibly do? By the end of this, you’re going to be able to play three against four!

First, I’m going to explain the mathematical relationship so you understand what is happening when you play 3 against 4.

Let’s simplify things for a moment and start with 3 against 2. 3 against 2 is not all that hard because it has basically six divisions. Two goes into six three times, and three goes into six two times. So your hands play together, right, left, right, left if the left hand is playing the triplet and the right hand is playing two notes. And indeed, that produces the correct rhythm.

Rhythm Chart 1

So the question is, can’t you do the same thing with 3 against 4? Technically, you can. But I’ll explain the problem with that in just a minute. You could figure out the mathematical relationship of 3 against 4 by counting to 12. Because, after all, three goes into twelve four times, and four goes into twelve three times. Mathematically, that works.

Chart 2

But the problem with that is getting it up to speed. Suppose you’re playing something like Debussy’s The Snow is Dancing from Children’s Corner Suite. At the fast tempo that goes, how could you possibly ever count that fast? You couldn’t. It’s impossible. A 3 against 4 is usually going to be at a faster tempo than you can count in this manner.

So here is the method for playing 3 against 4.

First, I’m going to show you how to rough it out where it’s not correct, but it is close to what three against four is. Basically, the rough version (which is not rhythmically even) is to play your hands together, left, right, left, right, left. If you just listen to the three, you’ll hear that the rhythm is distorted. It’s not quite right. So why am I telling you to do this if it’s wrong? Because you can at least start to understand which notes play first in each hand. Then you can adjust the rhythm to make it correct. And I’ll show you exactly how to do that. It’s the third triplet that has to come in later, so the last one in the right hand is going to come in later (if the triplet is in your right hand). The problem is, if you do that, the whole thing bogs down. So the last note in the right hand has to come in later, and then the last note in the left hand comes in right after that, much sooner than you might think.

To check if you’re doing it correctly, tap one hand on the top of the piano and play the other hand on the piano so you can hear clearly.

This is incredibly valuable. For example, with 3 against 2, the 3 is easy. So you tap the 3 on the top of the piano (or in your lap) while you play the 2 on the piano so you can hear the 2 clearly. When you play 3 against 2, you’ll be tempted to accent the second note of the 2. But that is not the way rhythm generally works. Usually, the first notes on the beat are louder or have more rhythmic emphasis than the off-beats in a group of two notes (unless it’s a syncopated rhythm). So you want to purposely underplay the second note of the tuplet (the two). You can do the same thing with your music. By playing one hand on top of the piano, you can hear what the other hand is doing. Because when you play the hands together, it can be all but impossible to identify the distortion of the rhythm. But when you play one hand silently in your lap or on top of the piano, you can clearly hear the evenness of the slower note on the piano (the two in 3 against 2, or the three in 4 against 3).

This is a hack that really works!

So remember, when you play 4 against 3, the third note of the triplet is going to be later than you think it is. And then the fourth note in the other hand is going to be right after the late triplet. That is the secret to playing 3 against 4! That’s the lesson for today. Try it out! If you’ve ever struggled playing 4 against 3, see if this helps. Let me know how it works for you in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

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

How a Piano Move Put My Wife Into Labor

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I have a wild story for you about how a piano move put my wife into labor. This is a true story that you have to hear to believe!

I had a good friend at the time who was also a pianist and keyboardist.

This was at a time when keyboard technology was advancing rapidly. We were both totally enamored with the latest synthesizer gear. We were always buying new keyboards and other things, and we would get together to compare notes and just have a blast jamming together all the time. His mother had a Knabe grand piano. She was having some work done in her home, and she had to store the piano somewhere. So he asked me if I could possibly help with that. The only place we really had room for a piano was our living room, because at this time we had 27 pianos in our 1100-square-foot house! So we put it in our living room, and it was fine there. She also had a nice dining room table, and she asked us to store that too. We got rid of our junky dining set to make room for it. So we had her dining table and piano, and everything was fine.

At a certain point, she suddenly decided she had to have her piano back.

It was really weird because we knew each other really well. One time, we had her over to our house when my mother was visiting. We all had a good time together. I even played for her on her piano! But for some reason, she suddenly freaked out and absolutely had to get her piano and dining set back right away. I let her know that my wife was in her ninth month of pregnancy, and we wouldn’t have a table to eat at. But she was adamant about getting her things back. So we made arrangements to have the piano moved as soon as possible since she was so desperate about the whole situation for some unknown reason. So the move was arranged. At the same time, there was another piano that I needed to move.

On the same day, I was playing music for a wedding, so I couldn’t be there for the piano move.

I couldn’t be home for the move, but it wasn’t a problem because my piano tuner was also a skilled piano mover. But at the last minute, the people he usually used to help with moves weren’t available, so he had to get some other people to help with the move. That’s where the trouble began. They showed up to move the piano. My wife, being 9 months pregnant, was trying to keep our 2-year-old daughter away from the move. My friend was a really good piano mover, but he wasn’t much of a communicator.

At a certain point, nobody was holding onto the piano, and it started to tip over.

My wife saw the piano starting to fall and caught it just in time! Who knows what would have happened if that piano had been damaged. This woman was already really upset for no reason that we could ascertain. But fortunately, everything worked out. I got home, and we had a late dinner. Then, at 1:00 in the morning, we were about to go to bed, and my wife went into labor with our second child! The epilogue to the story is that everything worked out great. We have two wonderful, healthy children, and that woman got her piano back. So that story had a happy ending! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

For premium videos and exclusive content, you can join my Living Pianos Patreon channel! www.Patreon.com/RobertEstrin

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

27 Pianos in an 1100-Square-Foot House

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to tell you the story of how we had 27 pianos in an 1100-square-foot house. It’s actually the story of how I got into selling pianos. It all begins with how I started teaching piano.

I started teaching piano when I was still in high school.

I assisted my father, Morton Estrin, with his teaching, as my sister did before me. It was my part-time job throughout my conservatory years. Teaching has always been a mainstay. People would call me for lessons, and the first question I would always ask was, Do you have a piano? If they didn’t, I would tell them, honestly, you’re better off with a piano and no lessons than lessons and no piano. So I was turning away students right and left, and I couldn’t really afford to do that. We were kind of struggling financially. I was driving my Pinto all over the county and beyond! This was in southern Indiana since I graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Eventually, I bought a big old upright and moved it myself.

I ended up moving hundreds of those big, tall uprights. Thank goodness I lifted correctly and fortunately, never hurt my back. So the next time somebody called for lessons, I asked if they had a piano, and they said no. I said that I had one they could try out. And sure enough, they bought the piano! I got another student, and everything was good. So I was bold and bought two more. But my piano technician came in and told me that the bass bridges on both pianos were cracked. I always checked out the pianos. I would look at the hammers and the soundboards, but I never thought of taking out the kickboard. Sure enough, the bass bridges were cracked on both pianos! My technician said he didn’t do that kind of work, but he recommended another tuner. So I called them up, and they came over. I didn’t really have the money to fix it. So I asked if there was any way he could do the work, and then when I sold the pianos, I could pay him and split the profit. And he was nice enough to agree to that. So we did that. Sure enough, both pianos sold, and they both made a profit. So I realized that this was something we could scale (pun intended!).

Before we knew it, we had five pianos, then seven pianos, and we topped out at 27 pianos!

We had a walk-out basement. I also had my recording studio down there. I’ve always been into music technology. We had a lot of the pianos upstairs because, among those pianos, six of them were grand pianos! We had two young children at the time. Eventually, we topped out at 27 pianos in an 1100-square-foot house! That’s right. This is real. It’s not just clickbait. We actually did that. Since that time, we’ve always had pianos in our home. And we still do right here in the Waterloo Arts District. This beautiful historical building was originally built in the 1860s, if you can believe it. We have two showrooms down here, and we live on the two levels above. Down in the basement, we have our ping-pong table. We play almost every night! The other half of our pianos are up the street at Treelawn Music Hall, where they have a phenomenal jazz program in a small venue and a large music hall where they have a 9-foot concert grand Steinway we sold them. We have our pianos there in what used to be a bowling alley. So we literally live with these pianos, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now my teaching is all online, and it’s a joy. Teaching and pianos, along with performing and recording technology, have been the mainstays since my high school days. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

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