Music Video Lesson: What 2 Instruments Do You Have to Study in Conservatory?

So those are the two instruments everyone should study. Now, if you are a pianist, as many of you watching this are, you might want to consider singing your music. Hi, this is Living Pianos.com. I'm Robert Estrin, asking the question, What are the two instruments all music majors at conservatories must study? And you may be surprised to learn one of them is the piano, which you might not be surprised. After all, the piano offers you the possibility of seeing the structure of music, to being able to play chords. Think if you're a clarinetist, you can only pay one note at a time. It's kind of hard to conceive of intervals, chords, key signatures, all of that. So yeah, the piano's a natural.
Well what is the other instrument that all music majors at universities and colleges also have to study aside from piano? The answer is voice. The human voice is the most intrinsic instrument there is. It's the instrument we all have and we've all tried out and we grew up with it from the time we were born, and we have it with us all the time. Now why is it so important that you need to sing your music? Well, singing and sight singing are so valuable for developing your ear. The piano is great because you can play such complex music, but you know what? You don't really have to hear the pitches before you play them. You push the key, and it sounds. It's simple, right?
Well, suppose you want to actually hear what you're doing. Well, if you want to sing that note, you've got to know the pitch. So the best way to train your ear is by singing. However, singers at a great loss for actually conceptualizing or intellectualizing what they're doing, because it's so intuitive. It's literally coming out of them. But when you have to quantify the pitch on a piano, you have to make a decision, which key to push, when to push it, the relationship of the intervals. You can see clearly the half steps. It's all very visual. So those are the two instruments everyone should study.
Now, if you are a pianist, as many of you watching this are, you might want to consider singing your music. Do it when no one's around if you're embarrassed, but boy, you will learn a lot. The other thing you can do is test yourself at the piano. Like if you play a note, you say, "Oh, that's a C." Could you sing an E? Could you sing a G? Could you sing the different notes just from thinking them? If you can't, don't despair. There is a secret which is thinking diatonically. If you wanted think from the C to the E, you could think C, D, E. C, D, E. And if you want to count down to the G, C, B, A, G. That is the secret to being able to hear intervals and hear chords. If you can think the notes between the notes, you'll know where you are. And that's exactly what sight singing accomplishes.
I was so fortunate to study with my father, not only a private piano lessons, as my sister did and countless people, thousands over the years of his teaching career. But I also got to study in his classes, which he had weekly sight singing, ear training, theory classes, harmony dictation, all of it. So everything was sight singing. Do, Ray, Me. Everything goes into those syllables for me and that's how I hear music. So I encourage all of you to sing your music. And if any of you are not pianists, go ahead and study a little bit of piano, whatever instrument you play, it will help you in the study of your instrument to have both piano and voice. So that's a lesson for today. Thanks again for joining me here at LivingPianos.com, your online piano resource. I'm Robert Estrin.

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