Before Practising Articles | Piano Practising

Piano’s Most Important Feature

by Nikos Kokkinis | Jan 12, 2016 | 0 comments

Many people who want to buy a piano for the first time, wonder what to look for first on a new piano. Those people are probably new learners or parents of prospective students, and that consequently means that they have little experience when it comes to the key qualities of a piano.

Here are a few things that the inexperienced piano buyer will be normally looking for:

1.They will be wondering whether the piano (upright or grand) will easily fit next to their plasma screen in the living room.

2. The color of the piano. They will spend days debating whether a black finish will look better than a mahogany piano with their furniture. At the end, they will decide that pink color is generally not a good choice.

3. How much the piano will cost. So, instead of spending a bit more money to buy a better piano, they will decide it’s wiser to invest in a new set of suitcases for their upcoming holiday in Ibiza, and then whine that they cannot afford nice things in life.

4. How good the sound of the piano is. And this, my friends, is one of the most overvalued features of a new instrument.

The sound of the piano has none or very little importance when buying a new piano. Sorry to break the news.

Suppose, that your new piano has, indeed, the most lovely tone. So? Does it mean that if you just pressed a key, you played well? Of course not.

What counts is the choice of velocities you employed with your own technique to play a piece. The greatest piano in the hands of an inexperienced pianist will not provide a satisfactory performance. Whereas, the least maintained piano played by Horowitz will sound breathtaking. Do you get my gist? What do you think?

Sound Becomes an Extension of Our Musical Vision

So what is important then, you ask. Arguably, the most important feature of a piano is the quality of touch.

The piano sound, is subjective and the more you familiarise yourself with a piano, the least you will be concerned about its sound. Because, every piece that we play, eventually becomes an extension of how we essentially want it to sound. Therefore, what we actually start hearing, is not the clinking and clunking of our ghastly piano, but the sound that we wished it produced.

Try to buy a piano with decent key action; the better the key action, the better the results. Imagine having a great sounding piano, but with uneven touch. This wouldn’t help you at all. Well, the other way around is also possible. Nevertheless, a great sounding piano with uneven keys is not very common.

At the same time, given that everything in life is subjective, the key-action and the sound of the piano could be both subjective. Nobody can really tell you that this or that piano is better for your own, unique, circumstances. Also, nobody can guarantee that you are only going to become a great pianist if you bought a super-expensive piano. Still, by buying a top-tier piano, you could improve your chances. Except of course, if you bought a fifteen meters long grand to compliment the lamp in your living room.

So, no more excuses that it’s your piano’s fault that you didn’t become the greatest virtuoso alive. It’s not what instrument you have, I’m afraid, it’s how you use it. And as they say, It’s a poor workman that blames his tools”.

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Buying an Acoustic Piano or a Digital Piano-Simulator?

by Nikos Kokkinis | Nov 23, 2015 | 0 comments

Acoustic piano or digital? This is a question that pops ups very often in our piano lives.

Whenever you want to do anything in your life, be it learning a hobby, studying for a degree or even choosing which pencil to write with, you ought it to yourself to use the best tools available.

In order to do music, and in our case piano, you need to choose a real, acoustic piano, and NOT a digital imitation. To put it simply, it’s better to buy the worst upright around than throwing your money down the drain by buying a fake piano.

By buying a digital keyboard, I’m not even willing to call it a piano as you can see, you accept from the beginning that your goal of learning the piano is not going to happen. You might as well say to your friends that you are studying the synthesizer.

I am terribly sorry for being so bold and perhaps harsh towards your dreams, but I have a responsibility through this website to state the facts and I want you people to succeed. If you want me to say that your 3000 dollars digital synthesizer can make you a pianist and that you haven’t actually wasted your hard-earned money, then it’s better to leave this website at once and go to play the lottery. Because, there’s a billion more chances to hit the jackpot in this week’s lottery draw than becoming a pianist by “studying piano” using a digital keyboard. Did I make that clear enough?

But I Cannot Afford It

I’m tired of hearing people say that they cannot afford a proper piano, and I don’t mean necessarily a grand one. Sorry to all teachers reading this but we have a duty to really explain how things work in music to our pupils. “It’s too expensive”, people constantly moan. Well, that’s life I’m afraid. I got my second upright piano by renting it for a couple of years and then buying it by paying reasonable monthly installments. And yes, by saving and making sacrifices. Do you know how much money I saved by doing that down the line? Thousands…

I simply cannot accept that a person who wants to study the art of piano cannot make a few sacrifices in order to be able to buy a proper instrument. Nowadays, with just a couple of thousands of dollars you can have a brand new upright anyway, regardless of brand, which is a million times better than a digital. And yes, you do have to make priorities in your life if you really can’t afford it. For instance, you don’t actually need to go to that summer holiday that costs 700 dollars, and go to the one that costs 500. Or, you could cut down on the amount of money spending eating out. You could also reduce the coffees that you buy from that famous local coffee place. (Let me elaborate: By cutting down on a cup of coffee that costs 2 dollars per day, you could save 10 dollars on a five-day working week or 40 dollars a month or around 500 dollars a year. Why would you spend 500 dollars a year on water with sugar and some brown thing in it, is beyond me. Instead you could save this money for buying a lovely second hand piano or a better stool. No excuses here.

For some people, and to be honest there are a few, that cannot afford to spend those few hundred dollars to buy a second hand piano no matter how much they try, there are always places that have pianos and would happily let people to practice on the them. There are always opportunities in order to relish the excitement of practicing on a real piano.

Depreciation

Another problem of starting the piano by firstly buying a digital piano-simulator is that you postpone actually learning because you subconsciously do not want your “investment” to depreciate too quickly. So, you say to yourself, “I promise I’m going to buy that piano next year for me or for my child”, and you never do. And then, by the time you decide to actually do it, your child decides that would like to learn the banjo instead.

Piano sellers would love to hear the words “I’d like to buy a digital piano” and will bend over backwards to accommodate your request, because they know that you’ll soon return willing to buy a real piano in a couple of years. It’s easy to defend a digital keyboard too, since, apparently, fits more easily in a room some people might argue. (Really? The size of the keyboard is the same and you will probably need the same amount of space to keep it in a room). You can also decrease its volume at nights some will say, therefore, fewer opportunities for you to experience the real body of sound produced by an acoustic instrument, so as to improve. So, once again, more money down the drain.

The Illusion

“But my teacher said that I can start with a digital piano and then, if things go well, I can move on to an acoustic piano” I hear you say. Well, he’s wrong I’m afraid, and the worst thing is, he probably knows it. Because, let’s face it, we all have faced the same dilemma in the past. “Shall I tell my student the truth and ask them firmly to buy an acoustic piano, or make them happy today by telling them that they would do just fine by buying a keyboard for now?”

Tools Of The Trade

Buying a digital piano is like trying to win Wimbledon by using a toy racket that weighs 10 kilos. It’s never going to happen no matter who is playing with it. You could argue that this or the other tennis player could potentially hit a couple of successful backhands, but rest assured that he is definitely going to lose the match down the line. You can’t compete on the tennis court by playing with a toy-racket. The same applies to piano. You can’t compete on the piano “court” using a digital imitation.

Piano is hard as it is and the need for understanding the mechanics used to make it sing, is imperative, and I’m afraid, those mechanics cannot be replicated by today’s digital simulators; maybe it will happen in ten years, maybe in twenty years, when scientists find a way to do it properly. The piano is too far apart from a digital keyboard. The touch is different, the after-touch is different, the pedal is different, the harmonics are non-existent, the velocity doesn’t make sense; everything is different, but to the worst.

So, what if I decide that I don’t want to carry on studying the piano, what am I going to do with it?

Well, it’s better to get stuck with an “analogue” piece of historical evolution in your house, than with a fake, plasticky piece of… plastic that occupies the same space. The choice is yours. And at the same time, the expensive “designer” bag that you happily bought rots in the closet unused. That’s great isn’t it?

The Ultimate Goal

The point of doing art or sports or whatever, is to feel enriched by the experience. I think that even an aged piano that has not been looked after for decades can sing beautifully and can tell us its wonderful story with honesty and poise.

You need to make priorities in your life. If you thing that the latest mobile or the luxury holiday or a pair of designer shoes is a bigger priority now than studying the piano properly, that’s fine. Nobody can blame you because what is important in life sometimes could be subjective. I just believe that in the case of learning the piano, you are better off with a proper instrument. And I think that you can still make do with a cheap mobile or a holiday in your nearest village or a pair of shoes from the local flea market.

So, whatever you do in life, just make sure you do it properly. Life’s too short to not experience the best in whatever we do, if we can.

Thanks for reading.

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← Can I Teach Myself the Classical Piano? Piano's Most Important Feature →

Can I Teach Myself the Classical Piano?

by Nikos Kokkinis | Jul 27, 2015 | 4 comments

Well, the easy but wrong in my opinion answer is that, yes you can teach yourself the piano. It’s a wrong answer however, because you can’t really teach yourself the classical piano, I’m afraid.

It’s true that there are many musicians that managed to build a successful career in music, and they were self-taught. However, none in my knowledge, (please, do correct me if I’m wrong) were entirely self-taught and became established performers in classical piano. Some of them they might have begun by being self-taught, but surely, they must have had some sort of formal studying at some point in their lives. I wouldn’t buy anything less than that.

The reason as to why this happens is, because, mastering classical piano needs the passing of traditions through physical representation; basically, what that means is, that you need a teacher to constantly scold you and tell you what to do in order to become a good pianist.

Please, let me elaborate:
What happens to a self-taught pianist is the following: they learn to play the piano by improving what they personally think needs improvement. The judge and the teacher of what to improve, is, ultimately, themselves.

The upsides to this, are:

1. Self-taught people pay no fees to learn.
2. They personally choose what needs to be improved.
3. There are no learning deadlines, and so, no stress.
4. They are free to express themselves however they feel like.

The downsides to be your own teacher, are:

1. I’m afraid, reaching a high interpretational level is not easily feasible.
2. You don’t direclty know what needs improvement, and so there’s a lot of guessing and a lot of going backwards and forwards, resulting in needless wasting of time.
3. Often, a self-taught pianist is choosing wrong things to improve and, unavoidably, attempting to improve them, with wrong approaches.
4. It can become harder to set learning milestones, in order to reach your goals faster.
5. Feedback on your progress can be sketchy. Friends can be supportive and all, but unless they are musicians they can’t take you further musically.

In life sometimes, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel and often we just need to follow the beaten-track.

From the beginning of time humans assisted each other when they were trying to learn and when they were trying to achieve things faster and efficiently. The same should apply to music, as well.

So: Why do you need a piano teacher and not an online guide or such?

Because, a good teacher will quickly identify and correctly eliminate your technical weaknesses. He will make you confident and reassured of your own performances. He will know what it will take for you personally, to improve faster. He will point you to the right directions to further your career later on. He will strive to understand your own interpetational approaches and enhance them. And, yes, he will make you sit on the piano stool more often, and practise.

So, to recap and simplify what I’ve already written above: if you want to play the piano for fun and require performing without caring to much about pianism and all that jazz, yes, you can use a book or an online guide to teach yourself how to play the piano; that’s not contemptible at all, and it’s absolutely great. However, demanding the deliverance of a convincing performance of a universally standardised musical medium, such as classical or jazz music, then one needs a professionally trained instructor.

Good luck to your musical endeavors.

← Practice Makes Perfect (Not) Buying an Acoustic Piano or a Digital Piano-Simulator? →

Practice Makes Perfect (Not)

by Nikos Kokkinis | Jul 3, 2015 | 0 comments

In this article I am going to discuss if there could be infinite improvement on a piece of music.

Arguably, a lot things in life have room for improvement; from trying to cook spaghetti aldente to creating a safe plane, humans apparently can infinitely improve things in life.

Not the case with a piece of music I’m afraid. Why do I say that, you might ask. Well, let me ask you this: how much can you improve playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano with your right hand? Do you think that, perhaps, the more hours you practise it, the better it will get? Do you believe that if you practised it, say, for three hours a day for six months it would be better interpreted than just practising it for a couple of days?

There is only so much room for improvement on a piece and it depends on many factors. Here are some of them:

– Improvement of a piece depends on each individual musician’s technical and musical strength.
– Improvement of a piece depends on its appeal to the musician.
– Improvement of a piece can only happen if clear perception of what should be its optimum state exists.
– Improvent of a piece can happen if there is proof that our current interpretation doesn’t meet the gestalt of a globally accepted performance.
– Improvement of a piece is dependent on the external equipment we use. For example, we can improve a piano piece much more if we were to practise it on a sound instrument (say on a new fazzioli grand perhaps?) than on a deteriorated instrument.

I think, that in order to improve something in life we must not be ready to do it in the first place. Lets say, as an example, that we cannot boil water more if it is already boiling. (Note: it’s different from overboiling water)

The seek for infinite improvement in life comes from the innate human need to reach perfection; which, in effect, is a major challenge, isn’t it. What do you think? Can we reach perfection?

At the same time, if we accept that there is, indeed, infinite improvement of a piece, then, in essence, we accept that there is no perfect performance. And so, in a way, we accept that our prefered interpretation of a piece is actually not good enough, which is absolutely fine. In life sometimes we can become content with something even if we know that its final outcome doesn’t meet our ultimate expectations. The same should apply with music, one might argue.

So, just enjoy practising and try to improve your piece as much you personally want or as much as your musical circumstances, well… dictate. Remember, that we must always observe the composer’s will, and at the same time we should acknowledge that every musician is different and has their own interpretational strengths and weaknesses.

← Which is the Best Musical Instrument? Can I Teach Myself the Classical Piano? →

Which is the Best Musical Instrument?

by Nikos Kokkinis | Jun 20, 2015 | 0 comments

In order to appreciate the following article, a good sense of humor is needed…

Well… you guessed right. In my humble and unbiased opinion, the bestest, the beautifulest and the funnest musical instrument of them all, is, well… the piano.

One of the main reasons as to why a piano is so great is because it can be easily noticeable without too much effort. If you played the piccolo, for instance, you need to go out of your way to show it off to your friends, since you will need to remove it from its case and you need to put it on a table or somewhere easily viewable, making it much harder to brag about your musicality, whereas you can’t hide the elephant in the room; piano is always there, sitting in the living room.

Piano is also the greatest instrument to learn because you can use it as furniture replacement; you can’t put a doily or a candlelight on a cello, but you can always place them strategically on top of a piano, depending on the occasion of course. On special occasions you can always add plates with food on top; just make sure you keep the lid closed.

Piano is also the best, because it’s easier to blend in with the rest of your furniture since it comes in many colors and finishes. In my opinion, choice of color can help your interpretation too; you can’t really perform classical composers on a pink piano, for instance.

It’s also better for your social status to say that you play the piano. It doesn’t sound prestigious enough to say that you’re playing the tuba, for example.

Piano is also the best because you cannot feel guilty if not practising when on holidays. Since you cannot take it with you like other smaller instruments, you can always pretend that you had no other choice but to not practise because you were away from home. Just make sure when you are booking a hotel for your holiday to ask if they have a piano. If they say that they do have one, just say that you’re very pleased and never call back again to complete the booking.

Fun aside, the frequently asked question of which is the best musical instrument has no real meaning. Every instrument has its merits. Depending on our needs and on our personalities, every instrument can help our inner need for expression and creativity.

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Why Piano is Hard

by Nikos Kokkinis | May 29, 2015 | 0 comments

Even though every instrument has its own difficulties to master, however, I believe that we do have to play one of the hardest instruments, albeit being second hardest to the triangle.

So, here are some of the reasons piano is so hard:

a) One of the usual answers as to why the piano is hard to play (let alone to master) is because we can grow to not like it. To put things into perspective, it’s like liking food; I don’t know of anyone who finds eating ice cream hard. Whereas, I know a few people who find eating broccoli hard, even though it’s healthier than ice cream.

b) Piano is also hard because we can’t be bothered to practise. If you look closely in this website, piano requires practising and in addition to that, a few other qualities such as patience and strategic minds. So, if we don’t want to suffer in the practice room, we must understand from the beginning that piano requires spending a considerable amount of time sitting on a piano stool.

c) Continuing into the hardness twaddle, piano is also hard for a reason that many music thinkers forget to consider: its anatomy. If, for example, you play the violin you have, in essence, more control over the outcome of the sound, because, to cut to the chase, you have a more direct, physical contact with the strings and the bow and so, there are less “mediators” between you and the instrument in order to control it. Whereas, in order to play piano a pianist will face a few more issues, such as

1. Every piano has its own idiosyncrasies; and quite often a pianist will have to perform in a different instrument.

2. Each key can be differently adjusted to the next one.

3. Depth of keys varies from one instrument to another.

4. Response of hammer felt can differ from instrument to instrument and from note to note.

5. Pedaling can be challenging as it is, but having to adjust in a new piano makes producing your desired performance even harder.

6. Keys size and overall response can differ from piano to piano.

By trying to resemble the singing of the human voice and also the polyphony of the orchestra, piano adds unique challenges to the pianist too.

Performing with the piano is like trying to create a sand sculpture not with your hands but with some sticks connected to strings; it’s much harder.

So, keep practising and just see how it goes. Famous expression of the day: No pain, no gain.

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