Trouble Playing Your Teacher's Piano?

[@gareth51372]

When I first started having lessons, I was using a MIDI controller keyboard, which had a very different action from my teacher’s upright acoustic. I have a digital piano now and while there are still differences in the action and sound, the biggest difference for me is the position of the music stand. On my piano it is quite low and close to the keyboard whereas on my teacher’s piano it is much higher. As I wear varifocal glasses, I struggled to read the music in that position. When I realised this, I swapped to my occupational glasses, which I use for working on a computer, which made a huge improvement. I like the tip about using different sounds on my piano. Definitely going to try that one.

[@dagmarintreble]

Oh yes, the sheet seems to be miles away on my teacher's grand. Such a long distance between sheet and looking down to see if I still have all fingers on my hand haha

[@dagmarintreble]

Same here, but for a long time I thought it is because an acoustic grand is a totally differ thing than my 1400 e-piano. Now after 2 years with my teacher I don'tfeel completely distraczed by his instrument and can adept faster. The first year I felt like I had no control over the touch. Recently we had a music fair where one could touch many pianos of different brands. I then realized how different they all feel! A Bösendorfer was so much harder than a Fazioli etc, some had faster action or slower, more grip on the keys or less etc. Now I admire professional pianists even more, who can quickly get familiar with any piano they have to play on,

[@BedlingtonGroomer]

Love hearing stories about your own experiences, Charles! Thanks for adding that in! I always learn something new with each and every video you make, and this one is another game-changer. Many thanks for a great, thoughtful lesson that fits EVERY piano student!

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

I loved the B&W tidbits where Charles shows his acting skills. But seriously, pianists are possibly he only musicians who seldom perform on their own instrument, so the ability to adapt is a must.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Lol, you are kind. The closest I ever came to performing on an instrument I “knew” well was when I was curating a concert series and we always hosted at the same venue. I’d play on a handful of the programs each season and over about 8 years of doing that, I got to know the piano and the space almost as well as being at home. BUT, that’s pretty rare! It’s far more common to have NO IDEA what piano you will get or how it will feel and sound. When I spent a little time touring, I’d usually get, at most, 30 minutes on stage with the piano I’d just met, before needing to leave and doors would open for audience. I was lucky enough to do all of that touring to university concert halls so the instruments were always in very good shape, but they still definitely each had their own personalities!

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

@@PianistAcademy1I think this is a facet many people do not consider. We go to concerts and expect pianists to play wonderfully, ignoring that they seldom perform under ideal conditions. A musician friend once remarked how excited she was to see Grigory Sokolov live in Zurich for the first time and cringed when she heard the awfully bright brand new Steinway he got to play. And the piano is just part of the equation if we consider the hall acoustic. Of course, like you say, great artists turn cons into pros, but this aspect makes me admire concert pianists even more.

[@bethanywakim6175]

When I was a teenager, I created a horrible habit of using the soft pedal ALL the time - we had a very bright, echoing, light actioned upright in a small room (in hindsight we should have gotten a rug). Cue my teacher constantly begging me for more dynamics when I played on her grand for lessons … and I still find my left foot going for that pedal way too much 15 years later. I was also getting my drivers’ license at the time - clenched hands on the wheel for 45 minutes prior to each lesson did not help the tension 😂 Great video! I’m preparing a piece with a lot of fast passages and have to play it on a piano with a much heavier action than my own. Always good to go into these things mentally prepared, and those extra bits of practice on the performance instrument really make a difference.

[@patrickshanahan7505]

My childhood piano had a soft pedal that pushed down then could be locked by sliding to the side, expressly for toning down the instrument in a small space.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Bethany, before I had my home Kawai re-hammered last year, I played pretty much everything with soft pedal down at least partially. And I had years of doing that! Totally understand! And quite funny about the driving bit too 😂

[@bethanywakim6175]

@@patrickshanahan7505 ours didn’t do that unfortunately! I honestly never figured out what the middle pedal did on that piano.

[@bethanywakim6175]

@@PianistAcademy1 glad to know I’m not the only surreptitious soft pedaler! 😆

[@stacerogers4008]

I’m fortunate enough to have a teacher that prefers to come to me most of the time. Ever since I got my big 7’ grand piano. A step up from her modest but reliable Yamaha upright. I still make more stumbles when she’s next to me, but that’s part of the journey. I also play on every conceivable keyboard instrument I’m allowed to use, which is the best advice people should take away from this video. Enjoyed your story 🎹👍

[@HorsehairBraider]

I first had a lot of trouble playing the piano my teacher used. I eventually found out that everyone at the school hated that piano, and since my teacher was the most junior of the teachers, he got stuck with it. It should have been wonderful - it was a Baldwin concert grand. But it was very unstable and was constantly out of tune and in addition you had to really punch those keys to get them to sound right. To make it worse I had a digital piano at home, and my teacher was constantly having to admonish me to hit the keys harder. I now have an acoustic, and my teacher is now using a fabulous Steinway grand piano. I still don't have the skill to play that piano properly (I only started less than two years ago) but it's SO much easier to play, and of course it helps that I'm now playing a "real" piano.

[@normanwee678]

My teacher actually allows me about 5 minutes to warm up on her piano before the lesson. That really helps a lot.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Absolutely! A scale or a quick run through a passage or two can help make a world of difference.

[@rbcm1]

Hi Charles. I can relate so much to this! I immediately wanted to watch the video when I saw the title. This is particularly true when you practice on a digital (no matter how good it is) and have lessons on an acoustic, which is my personal case. My teacher has a Steinway model O which is awesome and an absolute joy to play, but I have issues controlling the bass and keeping it low :)

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks for watching! Since you have a digital to practice on, there’s probably something you can do to more closely approximate the bass response on that Steinway… if you can, change the velocity curve for just the bottom few octaves. Or if you can’t do that, use the split point and choose a different instrument for most of the left hand, maybe a dark or more mellow piano. It’s not going to be perfect, but there’s a good chance it could help simulate the lesson piano more. Another thing I’ve found with students who play digitals at home is that they simply aren’t used to the amount of sound an acoustic piano puts out. A lot of my students who practice digital, also practice with the volume relatively low… when they come to their lesson they try to play again at that very low volume, because that’s what your ear is used to hearing. Two helps for that issue: 1) playing at a higher volume setting at home, and it can be quite high to truly simulate an acoustic. And 2) try your best to just lean into the higher volume at the lesson. Stop holding back and tell yourself, based on feel, where forte is and piano, and try to force your ear to accept those terms for the hour lesson.

[@rbcm1]

@@PianistAcademy1 that with the volume I solved recently :) I measured the volume during a lesson using my Apple Watch and now I have pretty much the right setting on my digital to be as loud as the acoustic :) When I play somewhere between “p” and “f” (let’s say normal volume), I measured about 80dB to 84dB on the Steinway

[@rjanuary]

I just started taking lessons and am running across this same thing. The action on the studio piano is much tighter than my practice piano. Sound is much brighter as well. Hopefully I can get used it taking weekly lessons. It does throw me for a loop as things I practice at home don't come across the same way for my teacher on her studio piano.

[@mickizurcher]

Thank you!!!

[@rayryan2778]

Excellent. Thank you for this!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks for watching!

[@patrickshanahan7505]

4:26 ". . . not even Rubenstein . . ." Do you remember the story about when his beloved, long time personal instrument was dropped out of the delivery truck, shattering in front of him the day of a concert? He didn't even flinch. He just arranged for another piano for the performance that evening. And had a huge success. Asked about his blasé reaction to the totaling of his piano, he remarked that it's not the piano his audiences enjoy, but his playing.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Great story! He was one of very few pianists to ever have the luxury of performing on his own instrument… Horowitz was another who was notoriously picky about the piano and could have anxiety meltdowns if something or other wasn’t right. Do you know the story of his piano technician needing to hairspray the keys so his fingers wouldn’t slip?

[@patrickshanahan7505]

@@PianistAcademy1 Hairspray?! LOL btw, have you studied Taubman or Sandor?

[@PianistAcademy1]

I'm not "officially" trained in Taubman, but the more I research it myself the more I realize that my teachers used a great deal of Taubman principles in how they imparted technique to me. I'm not familiar with Sandor's approach. In general, I favor a relaxed approach to technique, using rotation and kinetic energy in efficient ways to play, which generally aligns with Taubman. There are a few concepts here and there that I disagree with, but it's usually on a case by case (phrase by phrase) basis because *only* playing with Taubman approach doesn't, to me, ever lead to explosive playing that you need to solo with orchestra or to fill a large hall in solo recital. My 2 cents!

[@patrickshanahan7505]

@@PianistAcademy1 Worth WAY more than 2 cents! I'm really enjoying your channel.

[@mickizurcher]

@@PianistAcademy1 I wish I had thought of hairspray! Now that even Steinway is using nylon keys it’s a big difference between that and the grip or purchase ivory gives you I’ve tried everything, different lotions etc, and then was reading in a book about Chopin one of his fellow pianists carried around a pocket full of seeds, some kind of a resinous seeds he would rub his fingers over the seeds in his pockets That gave me the idea that I use daily now for a couple of years now is bow (for string instruments) resin I have a little piece of sandpaper and a dish and I sand the resin a bit and rub my finger over the little bar of resin and it doesn’t mess up the piano keys at all. It doesn’t even really leave a residue. I have to have it.😅🎻

[@brianbuch1]

I have this problem with a teacher's piano. Even though it's the same brand (made 100 years later than mine) her pedals sit about 1/2" higher off the floor. So what on my piano is a neutral position for my foot, off the pedal, is a bit more than 1/2 pedal on hers. I ended up putting a 1/2" music volume on her floor to raise my foot the required distance.

[@PianistAcademy1]

That's a great solution! The pedals should always be the same distance from the floor, but I also have encountered this on concert instruments... sometimes if they are on a large dolly, the heigh of the dolly isn't the same as the height of the original wheels/casters on the piano. Even just a 1/2" makes a huge difference in the feel of the pedal and changes our execution!

[@dwest4473]

I started piano lessons at age 65. One piece of advice my teacher gave me is focus on technique and play as many different instruments (pianos) that you can. On my Kawai electronic, I do use the different piano types provided. Technique. Technique. Technique.

[@mickizurcher]

I’ve been playing piano for many years and only recently in the last couple of years I’ve developed this very bad habit, and I can’t seem to break myself of it and that is pedaling some parts of a piece by unconscious lifting from the hip joint and my heel leaves the ground and I’m not sure how to break it? It isn’t necessarily consistent with every phrase. I don’t do it with every phrase all the time. It sounds fine and clean, but it sure doesn’t look very good. Do you have any thoughts about that or any experience about that and how to break it (now that people are talking about pedaling)?. Thank you!!

[@WSJade]

LOL your impressions are so spot on you could have considered a career in acting if you weren't already an amazing pianist/artist/producer etc., haha. 😜 But yes I struggled with the same as well. I wish my teacher actually allowed us to warmup and acclimate to the piano instead of just jumping into crazy repertoire cold. I couldn't play well on her (newly ungraded) piano towards the end as it was so muted/mellow your felted piano had more dynamic range by contrast. 😅 P.S. Wardrobe failures are the worst. 😱 I found out the worst way on stage and failed the competition and would never not do dress rehearsals again (we don't wear shoes in house but I defs dress-rehearse with shoes as well).

[@PianistAcademy1]

LOL. But in all seriousness, it took me so so so long to figure out how to acclimate to lesson pianos... even with warmups first etc. It wasn't until college with the hallways full of practice rooms, all with different pianos, that I was finally able to break myself from feeling like I needed the practice piano to play well.

[@saraniya1990]

I play horribly on my teacher's piano. Almost as if i didnt spend countless hours practicing at home. Feels like the entire lesson is wasted. 😅

[@PianistAcademy1]

I know the feeling!

[@Louise-xr5ok]

@@PianistAcademy1 me too, it’s like I haven’t spent hours in the last week practicing

[@ilovebach1010]

I had the exact same problem where my shoe was too long and it got stuck in the pedal box! My heart dropped..... The only comment the adjudicator gave after that was my pedalling!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Ugh! And in a competition or exam? I feel for you!

[@jamesfergusson546]

I play with a choral group that goes to a different seniors residences each week. One of the biggest headaches I have is the fixed height bench is never the same relative height to the keyboard. Some are much too low. The worst is when they have elevated the piano on some form of a dolly. This will raise the piano 3 to 4 inches relative to the bench. I feel like a 4 year old eating supper at the adult table.

[@PianistAcademy1]

That’s really tough, and can also be tough for pedaling too if the dolly isn’t the right height for the piano… there have been a few I’ve played on where I couldn’t even have my heel on the ground to pedal because the pedals were so high.

[@SeaDrive300]

You want me to describe *a* lesson where everything went horribly wrong? Hahaha, for me, that's pretty much every lesson, every week! Seriously, my "piano" at home is Pianoteq's C. Bechstein DG, using a modified version of the Venue preset, played with a Kawai VPC1 controller. The digital piano at school is a relatively-old Roland HP603. The sound of the Roland is so different from what I play at home that I am sometimes unsure that I'm even playing the correct notes. Weird...