by Stephen N. Reed
Steinert & Sons inaugurated its “Conversation with a Teacher” interviews with this look into the process of sight-reading, specifically a pianist’s first read of a new piece, with Cynthia Sanger.
Cynthia is the owner of B Sharp Musical Studio in Newton and is also a piano instructor at Brookline Music School. Cynthia has lived in the Boston area since 1988 and has been teaching piano at B Sharp for ten years. M. Steinert is proud to partner with Cynthia and B Sharp.
Steinert’s Education Department’s Patrick Elisha explored with Cynthia a variety of factors involved in a sight-reading of a new piece.
Cynthia noted that sight-reading a new piece is both similar and different from starting a new book. On one hand, both a musical piece and a book are similar in that they have a beginning, middle, and end.
But whereas book readers are discouraged from flipping ahead to see what happens at the end, a pianist needs to read over the end in order to anticipate what’s coming and to discern how each part of the piece ties together.
Some specific elements Cynthia looks for immediately in a sight-reading include the title, the key signature, and the meter. “The length of the measures is important, as I try to figure out how I’m going to have the same number of beats in each measure,” explained Cynthia.
Cynthia noted that she also looks ahead to see any repeated themes and their variations. If the piece has a key change, she notes that as well as if the piece returns to the original key and familiar themes again.
Cynthia encourages those looking into a new piece to find one at a bit lower of a level than what they can play. This avoids the student getting demoralized at trying to play a more difficult piece.
We appreciate Cynthia helping us to kick off this first “Conversation with a Teacher” at M. Steinert!
Please watch the full interview between Patrick and Cynthia or go straight to Minute Mark 15:17 for the split-screen of Cynthia playing Haydn’s Suite 54 in G Major.
If you are a teacher interested in learning more about working with M. Steinert & Sons, visit our Educational Partner page.
by Stephen N. Reed
People naturally associate the word “Steinway” with classical music in part thanks to the company’s endorsement from classical piano titans like Sergei Rachmaninoff and Vladimir Horowitz–both of whom were Steinway Artists.
However, that reputation could give the wrong impression to many who are simply not into classical music. They might think that Steinway pianos are somehow limited only to classical pianists, composers, and their particular kind of music.
In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the contributions Steinway Artists have made in other musical genres, including varieties of jazz, blues, and hip hop.
Since 1860, Steinert & Sons has been helping New Englanders with their particular piano needs. Moreover, we have been a Steinway dealer since 1869.
Many of our customers have had a wide variety of musical interests beyond classical music. They have found that Steinway more than meets their expectations. For example, when it comes to the Steinway Spirio self-playing piano, it is recording at the highest resolution possible. Other brands rely on low-resolution MIDI files.
With Spirio, a jazz or contemporary performer will be working with the most cutting edge technology available for recording, playback, and editing. Steinway has created a proprietary data file format that captures the nuances and full range of emotion from each artist’s level of performance, resulting in a heightened level of playback.
While Steinways grace the classical music halls across the world, famous jazz and contemporary pianists have also joined the ranks of Steinway Artists and for the same reason as their classical counterparts.
They say that a Steinway piano helps bring out their best music through its subtle range of tone and color, its strength, its sophisticated and nimble touch.
Well over 90% of performing pianists choose Steinway grand piano as their preferred instrument. However, many think first of classical concert pianists when reading that stat.
Yet one need only remember that America’s jazz icon George Gershwin was a Steinway Artist. The great Duke Ellington was also a Steinway Artist.
So were some of the greatest popular songwriters of the early-to-middle 20th Century like Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. As a result, Steinway grand pianos established themselves as versatile, preferred instruments for many jazz and contemporary performers.
Today, the list of jazz and contemporary Steinway Artists continues to grow, again with leading names like pop icon Billy Joel and jazz star Diana Krall. Harry Connick, Jr. is there, too, along with Davell Crawford, Adam Birnbaum, Lenore Raphael, and Connie Han, among others.
For Steinway Artist Aaron Diehl, a Steinway grand piano is the ideal instrument for pieces that include aspects of both classical and jazz. With such pieces, a Steinway serves as a bridge between the two different genres, allowing them to blend together well.
Diehl talks about just such a piece he has added to the Steinway musical library, 15 Etudes for Jazz Piano, by Dick Hyman.
“When most people think of Études, they think of Chopin, or they think of Rachmaninoff, of the great European classical composers,” notes Diehl. “What’s interesting about this set of Études, they cover 15 different styles of 15 different pianists. It starts with Scott Joplin and ends with Bill Evans.”
“And there’s a common thread through all of these études, and that’s a steady rhythmic pulse,” says Diehl. “This is something that is very unique to jazz, the idea of a steady rhythmic syncopation that occurs from start to finish.”
For Diehl, a Steinway’s predictability, along with the uniqueness of each Steinway, make it an extraordinary instrument for jazz and other genres.
“With Steinways, there’s a standard of excellence that is always present with the pianos,” says Diehl. “What I love is that each individual instrument has very specific characteristics that differ from instrument to instrument.”
“Action is very important to me,” notes Diehl. “I typically like a moderate action, not too heavy, not too light, but one where I really feel like I have complete control over the instrument. I’m not expecting too many surprises in terms of evenness. The treble, I can feel exactly how my touch is going to resonate with the bottom of the keybed. Same with the bass.”
A Steinway Artist since 2015, Robert Glasper proves the relevance and versatility of Steinway pianos across the genres.
Gospel, R&B, and Motown were all part of Glasper’s upbringing. Motown, R&B. Glasper started performing by playing piano at his church. Later, he would join his mother for gigs on the Houston jazz circuit.
By high school, Glasper was building his musical skills at the Houston High School for the Performing Arts and New School University. There he was influenced by rock, hip hop, and pop music.
By 2003, Glasper had performed in the bands of prominent jazz artists, and his appreciation for hip-hop and R&B allowed him to develop connections in those musical worlds, both as a musician and a producer.
Glasper could have brought his experience of these modern genres to any piano maker. He chose Steinway.
“Steinway means individuality, perfection, personality, swag, diligence, and excellence!” says Glasper.
Glasper has discovered what Duke Ellington found out a generation ago.
When a piano company can point to A-listers from every generation among their roster of artists, that makes for some powerful testimonials.
George Gershwin wrote some of his best jazz works at his Steinway grand piano. When Billy Joel plays to a sold out concert at Madison Square Garden, he’s playing a Steinway.
More blues and hip hop artists are discovering Steinway’s value for their music, too.
But your opinion is the most important one when you are looking into a piano that will help you bring out your best across all genres, including jazz, blues, and contemporary music.
Come into one of our two showrooms in Boston and Newton to see if the action of a Steinway feels as good to you as it does to Steinway Artist Aaron Diehl.
See for yourself if you agree that a Steinway can bring out your best efforts as a jazz or contemporary pianist.
Aaron Diehl, Robert Glasper, Diana Krall, and Harry Connick, Jr. believe that you’ll like what you discover in a Steinway.
by Stephen N. Reed
Ready to take a deep dive into Steinway & Sons’ Essex line of pianos? At M. Steinert & Sons, we’ve been selling Essex pianos since they were introduced by Steinway & Sons. Along with the Boston line, Essex pianos were developed for many years.
The Essex line was developed by Steinway & Sons to help them become competitive with other piano companies for the entry-level of the piano market. Next, we’ll review the effects of adding the Steinway design to a manufactured piano. Does it work?
Steinway understands that not everyone can afford a new Steinway. So their challenge was to create an affordable, quality piano that retains much of the ‘Steinway DNA”–the latest design and engineering enhancements that go into all of Steinway’s pianos.
As a result, the Essex can deliver a level of musical performance previously unattainable in its price range.
Steinway began to make significant changes to the Essex line in 2006. For starters, Steinway moved the entire Essex operation to the Pearl River facility in China.
Then, as a clear indication of the seriousness of Steinway’s Essex changes, Steinway relocated their technical director from New York to China to oversee Essex production there. They even placed “Designed by Steinway” on the Essex plate for the first time.
Steinway & Sons has backed up that signature on the nameplate with Steinway-designed additions, many Steinway-specified parts, and manufacturing procedures, including the following:
For example, owing to the Steinway-designed rim shape, Essex grand pianos are wider at the tail than most pianos of comparable length. This creates a larger soundboard area, giving the Essex a richer sound.
The Steinway-designed soundboard is tapered, not uniformly thick, allowing it to vibrate more freely and provide more tonal volume.
The soundboard has to be quarter-sawn, close-grained, solid spruce. Eight grains per inch is the specification, which is very high for a production piano. Finding any specifications of this sort on similarly-priced pianos is often difficult.
Essex pianos have a Steinway-designed, all-wood action for greater durability, responsiveness, and control.
Essex’s hammers are made of 15lb premium wool outer-felt and a distinctly separate premium wool under-felt. The hammers are reinforced with compression wire (not simply glued as some manufacturers will do) and retain a pear-shaped design. The compression wire is important for reliability, and the pear-shaped design enhances the Essex’s tone.
As part of the overall Steinway design, the action parts use solid maple for all moving parts. The keys are made of spruce and are individually balanced and weighted. The keybed is made of laminated maple and spruce wood, and the dampers consist of solid hardwood heads and premium wool.
The Essex pin block is Steinway-designed, but it is in multiple layers: 19 layers, very thin, of maple, layered at 90-degree distributions. This concept, choosing maple, then placing laminations at 90 degrees is a Steinway family trait, one not exclusive to the brand but a good feature.
Strings require good steel. Like Steinway, the Essex uses Roslau high tensile wire in the treble keys. For the bass keys, Roslau wire steel core, wound with pure copper, is used. Using quality steel strings gives the Essex a richer tone than expected for its price point.
Backposts are made of spruce wood as in the Boston and Steinway lines. Backposts are for uprights only. They are staggered in the areas of highest tension and have industry-leading cross-sectional area, thickness, and width.
Braces are for grands. The Essex grand features the Steinway design of radial bracing. This is harder to do, but creates a much more solid foundation for the piano. There is no skimping here: their braces are laminated beech, unique to the Essex
Bridges must be maple, vertically laminated, capped with solid maple. This rule is the same for Boston and Steinway bridges.
All of the aforementioned details work in concert to provide a playing experience that would otherwise be impossible at this price point, design, materials, and craftsmanship that only Steinway can create in the Essex home piano.
As the least expensive line in the Steinway & Sons family, the Essex has sometimes been misunderstood and mischaracterized. True, in the early going, Essex pianos were not as consistent in some areas as the Boston and Steinway lines. Plus, the fact that the Essex was manufactured rather than handcrafted was an obvious contrast with its Steinway counterpart.
The upshot of this is that some piano customers came into the M. Steinert & Sons showroom with the misconception that the Essex was not a good piano–simply because it is not a handcrafted Steinway.
However, the amount of Steinway-design features included in the Essex give it a rich tone for a piano of its price point. Additionally, the woods and other materials elevate the Essex and make it a consistent instrument in accord with Steinway & Sons’ high standards.
Steinway drew on the talents of popular furniture designer William Faber to create the Essex with the idea that attractive piano styles and finishes should be available in every price range. The Essex is available in an array of models, styles, and veneers and features traditional styling and finishes of museum quality.
While much of the same woods, like maple and beech, are used in the Essex and Steinway, the price for the Essex is kept much lower largely due to the large-scale production techniques, in contrast to the handcrafted process used to create a Steinway.
In addition, specially-engineered materials help to bring down the price point for the Essex, along with well-selected manufacturing environments.
One other way Essex is a part of the Steinway family is through its complete investment assurance. Each Essex piano is backed by Steinway & Sons and serviced by Steinway-trained technicians.
Additionally, at M. Steinert & Sons, each Essex buyer has the same trade-in guarantee as any Steinway or Boston piano: their Essex will be given a trade-in credit equal to their original purchase price on a new Steinway grand piano at any time within ten years.
The hierarchy of the Steinway-designed piano lines has been the handcrafted Steinway, followed by the Boston line, then Essex. This placement seemed even more established in 2009 when Steinway & Sons went about “boosting the Boston” to make the Boston the main alternative to Steinway.
But today’s Essex line has come a long way.
“Today’s Essex pianos are at their best and most consistent in tone and touch,” says Vivian Handis, a sales consultant at M. Steinert & Sons since 2002. Vivian brings well-rounded depth to the piano selection process as a pianist, piano educator, parent, and product specialist.
Vivian holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Boston University and was recently elected to the New England Piano Teachers’ Association Board of Directors. Dedicated to outstanding customer service, Vivian’s transition from teacher to consultant has provided a new framework for supporting pianists of all ages and levels.
In 2013, after 11 years of service in our Boston store, she relocated to Steinert’s MetroWest location. Vivian delights in serving our growing community of piano enthusiasts, professionals, and emerging artists.
“Today’s Essex has an integrity of tone and impressive sustain,” Vivian explains. “They possess inherent beauty and color. A pianist plays but also “paints” with sound. For example, coloring is much more interesting and inspiring with a 120-color box of Crayolas than a box with just 8 crayons.”
Vivian says she was deeply moved while listening to a talented young pianist play on an Essex that inspired him deeply, “This makes sense when you realize that the little Essex’s DNA is born from the Steinway Model D concert grand,” she notes.
“Is the Essex a good piano?” The answer is clear: thanks to its Steinway design, the Essex is, quite simply, the best piano available in its price range today.
We’ve learned how the Essex came into being, as one of two lines created by Steinway & Sons to meet the demands of the piano market, particularly the entry-level end. The combination of solid materials and several Steinway-design features add value to this manufactured piano that its competitors do not have.
While the Essex may not be the ideal choice for a concert pianist or a college music department, it is an excellent option for the beginner piano student and any customer wanting to re-start their piano playing with an eye towards a future Steinway purchase through the M. Steinert & Sons lifetime trade-in policy.
For the Steinway DNA quality included in every Essex, the resulting consistency in the tone of today’s Essex, and a more than reasonable price point, this piano line has earned solid grades overall and will bring to any buyer many years of musical enjoyment.
To learn more about the Essex line, take a look at M. Steinert & Sons’ Essex line page.
(Note: M. Steinert & Sons asked veteran piano teacher Elizabeth Reed to put pen to paper regarding the kind of piano she would recommend to the families of her students. )
by Elizabeth Reed
As a teacher, I delight in sharing my knowledge and experience with parents who are buying their first instrument or upgrading their current piano. Whether digital or acoustic, new or used, I celebrate the student’s wonder and excitement about this new instrument in their home.
When a student’s announcement of a new piano comes as a surprise, my natural enthusiasm is followed by this thought—I hope it’s a good piano. Consumers can collect a bounty of information from professional and avocational pianists’ blogs, piano makers’ websites, and musicians’ YouTube videos.
For better or for worse, most customers have made up their minds about the kind of instrument they want before they step foot in a store or contact a private seller.
But like piano playing, there are nuances behind the printed notes and the public’s comments. These are some of the musical considerations I wish parents would ask their teachers.
There is no substitute for the natural reverberation of wood, strings and airwaves that you hear and feel in person. A relevant comparison is that the simulated sound of a digital keyboard is like visiting someone on Zoom.
A family’s budget is a determining factor in choosing a digital or acoustic piano. But the future value needs to be considered. For example, recently-purchased and well-maintained acoustic pianos retain more of their value than a digital keyboard.
If students begin with a digital keyboard, I tell parents that after two years (three years maximum) students will need an acoustic piano. When it comes to the feel of the action, I use mattress buying as a comparison. The keys shouldn’t be so light that you sink to the bottom at first touch.
Finally, it will be impossible to create dynamic contrasts and finger technique will be weak. The action should be firm enough to press the key at a slow and a fast pace, as if lying down gently or jumping on a mattress.
When buying a used acoustic piano from a private seller, a piano tuner should evaluate it first. No ifs, ands, or buts. Engaging the services of a good piano tuner is akin to having a competent auto mechanic looking over a used car. You don’t want to miss any easily-discovered problems before your final purchase.
I would avoid buying a used digital keyboard because prices for new ones are reasonable.
If affordable, a new piano is always the best option, due to “less mileage” on the piano, the warranty, and the fact that quality piano models are always being refined every year.
On a digital keyboard, dynamics must be produced by playing a key with a light or heavy touch–not by turning the volume knob!
Make sure there are 88 working keys. Count them. Play. Every. Single. Key.
The damper pedal, the one on the right, is crucial. The seller should demonstrate if parents have no piano experience.
A lack of space is often a primary concern when choosing a piano. But there isn’t much of a difference between a digital and an acoustic—the depth of an acoustic is approximately ten inches deeper and the general width is the same.
I suggest that parents frame out the dimensions with paper and place it on the floor to compare the difference. A student’s bedroom, a dining room, family or living room that is free of TV, even a hallway are possible locations for a piano.
I ask parents to think about a favorite place for them to sit and read. Then I ask if they can move the piano into that spot. Hung-Kuan Chen, Steinway artist and Professor of Piano at The Juilliard School of Music, studied in Germany and had a grand piano in his dorm room—and nothing else. Mr. Chen slept underneath the piano and used the piano lid as a table and desk. Pianists can find space for a piano in any house or apartment!
All teachers have horror stories about students’ decrepit pianos and uninviting practice spaces. Even if a basement is finished, there is a psychological leeriness of having to go practice—in the basement.
My two horror stories featured unfinished basements—one with a player-piano, painted green, and the bench from a picnic table for the seat. The other was an ancient piano that was permanently a half-step flat, had missing keys, stood next to the cat litter box and shared space with exercise equipment under a sagging ceiling.
Was it a surprise both students quit after only one year? Both homes were single family houses in well-to-do suburbs.
Maintenance is an issue only for an acoustic piano, which needs to be tuned at least once a year by a professional tuner. I once had a student who couldn’t practice for three weeks because the untrained friend of a parent offered to tune the piano for free. He had removed the entire action and then couldn’t put it back together again.
They finally called a professional tuner to resolve the crisis. Again, the piano tuner is like the mechanic of a car. You want your instrument to produce a consistent hum, not clicks and clacks.
One of the most neglected aspects of piano buying and playing is the bench. Tone is all for naught if the student does not have the proper height and distance at the keyboard,with feet firmly supported on a footstool or the floor. Adjustable benches can be bought for less than the cost of one season of soccer games and equipment.
A low ottoman or a $6 plastic footstool from Ikea work just as well. I have footstools that I loan out whenever possible.
If your acoustic piano is not being delivered from a store, Do Not Move A Piano Yourself or With Friends. Hire a professional piano mover and buy the insurance.
My first grand piano was craned into a third-floor apartment through the balcony (and down again) to a second-floor apartment along a narrow path and through the back porch. As I paced my apartment, I was comforted in knowing my piano was insured in case of a calamity.
My mother was a piano teacher and I have witnessed many a nerve-racking move, from the grand piano whose lid had to be taken off because of the limited height on a staircase, to the men who lost control of our old upright piano on our steep back stairs.
The piano barreled down the stairs with the bottom man holding on for dear life, when by sheer coincidence my father opened the back door, saw the impending disaster and braced both the man and the piano, preventing a crash through our cellar door and down another steep flight, this time cement stairs.
Teachers want their students to love music and to delight in the sounds of a piano. There are instruments with good sound at every price point. Do your internet research. Stay open to different options. And next time you’re looking for a piano, ask your teacher for advice!
M. Steinert & Sons thanks Ms. Reed for her frontline insights. For more information, learn more about the piano offerings at M. Steinert & Sons.
by By Elizabeth Ann Reed, January 8, 2021, Courtesy of the Boston Globe
(Ed Note: We are honored to be able to reprint this wonderful article that appeared in the Boston Globe in January 2021 highlighting the timeless role of the piano in the home, especially during challenging times.)
Piano teachers like me travel back in time to the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries every day to teach Bach’s preludes and fugues, to reenact Mozart’s operatic piano sonatas, and to regenerate Chopin’s passionate nocturnes. Just a piano and a score are needed to transport us to living rooms, previously known as front rooms, receiving rooms, drawing rooms, sitting rooms, parlors, and salons, where these musical masterpieces often premiered.
In past centuries, this room served as the center of family life. It was for formally receiving visitors, for playing games, making music, writing letters, and reading books. There, playwrights presented dramas, authors and poets read their works aloud, composers and musicians performed — all steadfast traditions. Until the early 1900s, it was also a mournful place: viewings and wakes were commonly held there for deceased relatives. When “living room” originated is unclear; the term can be found in Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr.’s 1897 groundbreaking book, The Decoration of Houses. But it’s the Ladies’ Home Journal that’s often credited with popularizing the term in a 1910 article.
Then in the 1950s building boom, the addition of a family room with its comfy sofas drew the family in to do homework, watch TV, or listen to music on stereos. Basements became rec rooms with pool or table tennis. The living room was again reserved for formal visits, the finer furniture upholstered in aqua tones and smothered in plastic.
In homes without a finished basement or family room, the 20th-century living room remained a center of home entertainment, but the plays, book sharing, and music making often gave way to the ultimate entertainer — the TV. Students’ pianos drifted to sunrooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, even closet spaces.
Now, technology rules every room. Reading aloud occurs in the car with audiobooks, or as a solo activity with a smartphone and headphones. Authors and poets read new works at bookstores. Live music is mobile through hand-held devices. And the living room?
That depends. It’s the default room for larger gatherings, and now, during the pandemic, as office space for children and adults. It’s still the most popular place for students’ pianos and digital keyboards, though some of my students have theirs in their own place of refuge, their bedrooms.
Even though I’ve been a crusader of using computer programs and iPad apps for teaching, my living room remains my refuge, where I teach my students, practice on my grand piano, and play chamber music with my daughter on violin and my son on cello.
But like everyone else’s home spaces, the pandemic forced immediate rethinking. When the COVID-19 pandemic first crescendoed last March, quarantine requirements pushed my colleagues and me into online teaching over seven hectic days. We drew on qualities required for our profession: creativity, fortitude, and patience.
The first week I bounced between FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom. Connections were spotty, sound was distorted, screens froze for minutes that felt like hours. By week 11, I had four devices connected — for Zoom hosting, mirroring a closeup of the keys, viewing online scores, and projecting the games I play with students.
Although I’ve been able to troubleshoot Internet and sound issues, the result is far from ideal. Technology hasn’t yet replaced the deep resonance that the wood and strings of a piano create.
But being forced to teach online altered my perspective. Instead of students entering my living room to play my piano, I was beamed into their living rooms, hearing them play on their instruments. Not once did I hear the perennial student excuse, “It sounded better at home!” I met their pets. I could assess if the bench was too high, too low, too close or too far from the keyboard. I heard the background noises my students have to compete with.
But most striking from this new vantage point was seeing that the living room has once again become the center of live performance.
For a piano teacher and students, the culminating event of the year is the annual recital, often held in a church or library. My late mother was also a piano teacher and an accomplished player, and I’m fortunate to have her piano studio available for performances — an open space with a cathedral ceiling and skylights, two Steinway grand pianos and seating for 60. Not this year.
I could have hosted a Zoom meeting of live performances, but I wanted better sound quality and no panic-inducing technical glitches. My students pre-recorded their performances from their living rooms or wherever their pianos or keyboards were.
My daughter produced a video to be shown on the recital evening. I recorded my welcoming and closing speeches, and high school senior tribute, all from my living room, and compiled photos of current students taken over the years for a slide show.
Did every student dress up? Was there an annual group picture? Did students race to the refreshments table to stack their plates with chocolate eclairs, mini cupcakes, and frosted brownies? You know the answer.
Then what did we have? We had a recital showcasing young musicians’ accomplishments, shared with family and friends, who followed along on printed programs and snacked on cookies I delivered ahead of time.
We’ve reclaimed our living rooms and other places of refuge to share life’s meaningful moments. During the pandemic, that’s more important than it might seem. In the end, we created the same environment of presenting music from hundreds of years ago — a wonderful, intimate evening of piano performances in our homes. W
With the aid of modern technology, we’ve gone back 300 years.
M. Steinert & Sons is honored to reproduce this work from Elizabeth Reed with her permission.
