Robert Estrin - piano expert

Great Music is Storytelling

Learn how to tell a "story" with your music playing

In this video, Robert teaches you how to "tell a story" when playing to improve your performance to the next level. This concept applies to all instruments!

Released on May 4, 2022

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DISCLAIMER: The views and the opinions expressed in this video are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Virtual Sheet Music and its employees.

Video Transcription

This is livingpianos.com, and I'm Robert Estrin. The subject today is great music is storytelling.

Now, this has many ramifications. For example, a great piece of music sometimes evokes images and emotions that can tell a story, maybe not a story with words as much as with feeling and direction. And interestingly, this is also true of great improvisations. Listen to a great jazz pianist, for example, crafting a ballad, and as it unfolds, it can remind you of so many things in your life that you can't even put into words, and that's what's so great about music.

Well, what I'm going to talk about today is something a little bit off what I just mentioned, which is how even a musical interpretation, a performance can either tell a story or not tell a story so much. And I thought I'd challenge myself and play the beginning of Chopin's G Minor Ballade, and the first time, I'm to try to play it absolutely faithfully to the score. And the next time I'm going to do it and I'm going to try to tell a story, let the notes evoke something that you feel it's going somewhere and keeping you on the edge of your seat, hopefully, wondering where it's going next, which twists and turns. Can this really be done?

Well, this is an experiment because I just pressed record. I have not done this ever before. So you are now my guinea pigs in this experiment. I'm going to see if I can play this absolutely accurately the first time. Then, I'm going to go back and see if I can do something more than that and tell a story with the same exact notes and telling it with the same markings and the same rhythms and phrasing, just a subtlety of emotion that can somehow transcend the notes. Is this possible? This is what this experiment is about today.

So once again, this is the beginning of Chopin's First Ballade in G Minor. And the first time I'm going to do my darndest to play it absolutely faithfully to the score. The second time, I will be just as faithful to the score, but I'm going to do my best to try to add that extra element that I describe as storytelling in music.

So that's exactly what Chopin wrote. I'm going to play it again, and I'm going to play also exactly what Chopin wrote, but just like lines of a play that can be read, they can be read in so many different ways with the same exact words, with everything the playwright wrote in there. Yet, one actor has a completely different feeling, a different character and tells a different story, don't they? That's what I'm going to attempt to do now to see if I can take the same passage of music with all the same markings, the same notes, rhythm, fingering, phrasing, and expression and see if I can tell more than what you heard there. Let's see if this is possible.

I wonder if you could hear a difference? I'm really interested in all of you and your opinions of those two different performances. They both were accurate from a technical standpoint, all the notes and everything that Chopin wrote was in both of them. And I'm wondering what your feeling is about them, if it evoked a different sense, if they told different stories and that's what music is all about. It's telling stories that can't be told with words, stories of emotion. That's what I believe, and I'm wondering how many of you feel the same way and what these two different snippets of the Chopin G Minor Ballade did for you. You can address them in the comments, on livingpianos.com, as well as on YouTube.

And thanks again for joining me and all you subscribers and Patreon subscribers. Thank you so much. Lots more to come. We'll see you next time. Once again, Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com, your online piano resource.
Find the original source of this video at this link: https://livingpianos.com/great-music-is-storytelling/
Automatic video-to-text transcription by DaDaScribe.com
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Comments, Questions, Requests:

Fred * VSM MEMBER * on July 28, 2022 @2:26 am PST
What a beautiful piece of music.Having started to play the piano only a couple of years ago at the age of 72, your second rendition evoked an emotion of wistfulness and longing in more ways than one. Wistful for the lost youth and longing to be able to play with such beauty. Thank you for your encouraging videos.
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Robert - host, on July 28, 2022 @10:11 am PST
Glad you felt so much in the performance - thank you!
Fauna Devitt * VSM MEMBER * on May 11, 2022 @5:28 pm PST
Thank you so much for all of your inspiring videos. I’m an advanced pianist , but an average home one , and I get so much from your lessons. I particularly enjoyed this one
Please continue the great work.
Fauna Devitt
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Robert - host, on May 12, 2022 @10:39 am PST
Thank you, Fauna. You may subscribe to my newsletters by emailing me: Robert@LivingPianos.com
Peter Ma on May 5, 2022 @2:42 am PST
Yes, the second one had more emotion than the first. But the second one was also your natural way of playing it, as opposed to the first one where you deliberately withheld emotion unnaturally. Anyway, your point has been well demonstrated, which should enlighten those students whose natural style is without emotion.
Paul Niehoff * VSM MEMBER * on May 4, 2022 @7:42 pm PST
Thank you for your reply to my previous post. But further, is there any easy method learn to play 11 notes against 6 or 20 or 22 notes against 12. This could be an interesting talk if you have not done one peviously on this subject. I have found your explanations on various subjects very informative in the past.
JJK on May 4, 2022 @6:57 pm PST
Yes, another fine lesson!

I felt the second performance reach in and tug at my heart.

(And I think that’s where you played it from, rather than your “head”.……?!)
Thank you!
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Robert - host, on May 5, 2022 @8:46 am PST
You got it!
Bernice on May 4, 2022 @9:02 am PST
I loved the second one - It evoked more passion.
Jeanette Hamilton * VSM MEMBER * on May 4, 2022 @7:27 am PST
What a great lesson, Robert! The second time you truly told a story. You set a mood from the opening bars and made the listener wonder what was coming next (even though I’ve heard this piece a hundred times and even played it myself back in the day). The temp rubato and subtle gradual shifts in dynamics made all the difference. Brilliant job! You’re a very gifted pianist.
Annette Zoheret * VSM MEMBER * on May 4, 2022 @6:22 am PST
Hello Robert,
Yes, I could hear a difference. I call it 'making love to the music'. I've been striving to achieve this difference when playing my violin or my harp. Unfortunately, you didn't mention how you achieved the difference. Did you increase the dynamics, accentuate the phrasing, add just a little hesitation here and there before the next note without affecting the overall tempo? What is the secret to transforming a piece from notes on a paper to music that tells a story and evokes emotion in your audience?
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Robert - host, on May 4, 2022 @11:20 am PST
When I hear a great musical performance, it's impossible to quantify what creates the magic. Ultimately, it's letting go of the intellectualization and getting into a state of flow. Beyond that, the minutiae of techniques involved are difficult to describe.
Paul Niehoff * VSM MEMBER * on May 4, 2022 @3:50 am PST
Hello Robert, I listened to both your performances of the Chopin Ballade No 1. The first was rather dry, emotionless, the second with great emotion, much nicer to listen to. Then I listened to your recording of the whole Ballade which to me seemed rather rushed in parts, not as good as the version I listened to tonight. I hope you don't take offence. As for who I am, a 75 year old piano player who asked you probably a year ago what excerpt you were playing and you replied it was the Ballade No 1. So I have been playing it daily since then. While I know the notes, the last section is beyond my capabilities being unable to play the upper two notes in unison rather than as arpeggios. But I still enjoy playing it. My musical limits are at the level of Chopin Nocturne op 9 no 2 and Liszt Consolation no 3. I have difficulties with the timing of three sections of the Chopin Nocturne op 9 no 1, the parts with 11 or 22 or 20.
I enjoy your talks every week. By the way, I have a Schimmel upright piano which is rarely heard of.
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Robert Estrin - host, on May 4, 2022 @11:22 am PST
Every time I play the G minor Ballade, the performances are markedly different. So, next time I play it, it won't be the same! This was a rather impetuous performance. I posted it because there are so many fine performances out there, but this one isn't like any I have heard before.
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