What kind of piano does Billy Joel have?

Some people may disagree when I state that Billy Joel’s best song is “Just The Way You Are”. Some may argue that they think it is “New York State of Mind”, “Vienna” or some prefer “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”. Do not get me wrong, it is perfectly fine to think so as music can be highly subjective. I wholeheartedly agree that this is his one of his mainstream musics, as “Just The Way You Are” was his single that rose him to fame in 1970s. But for a deeper reason, this song is the very first song that made me interested in his works.

The lyrics, the song’s atmosphere, the chord progressions, and everything about the song made me fell in love with his works. This song was my first song in my final grade in piano lessons, my piano teacher introduced me to this masterpiece and … I was obviously smitten! Years pass and this song remains to be one of favorite jams.

I have listened to multiple pianists before — Erroll Garner, Bill Evans and they are Jazz legends! I do love their songs too and I am not comparing them in any way with Joel because musicians have their own ‘musical identity’.

However, Billy Joel in my opinion is one special pianist. It is hard to categorize what kind of genre he truly fit and specialize in, some people may say he’s R&B, kind of jazzy, but most agree that he was ‘kind of making his own genre’. If you hear “New York State of Mind”, my second most favorite song from him, it does have a lot of jazz influence in it (which is why I love it so much because I adore jazz) but somehow he also make it very easy-listening.

I may not be the best pianist out there to give an opinion. But from my perspective, he was a truly gifted musician and should be crowned as a legendary pianist. I remember a Youtube comment on his live performance of “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” at Long Island. The comment stated that this song was Billy’s Bohemian Rhapsody and yes! I could not agree more! Sadly, not many younger generations recognize him.

The Ability to Combine Multiple Genre

One huge reason why I made him my pianist role model is how he could combine his classical touch with another genre, making his song challenging yet very commercial worthy. I know his piano playing are influenced by classical music; well, Joel had a classically-trained father and used to learn classical music after all. However, he left classical music behind and started to pursue another genre.

I have strong hands but short fingers,” he said. So Joel put the classical lessons behind him, and he soon found his footing playing popular piano music to receptive crowds.

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This may be a very personal reason as I feel that his story aligns well and pretty similar with the story of my piano playing roots.

I started playing piano back when I was 8 years old, enrolled in a music school to study pop piano. However, back then when I was a child I always love this piano part where the pianists do some kind of acrobatic sound which I later found the term for it is arpeggio. I have to credit and be grateful to my piano teacher for this, as she is the one that actually truly opened up my eyes to the art of this style.

Because of that reason, I started to learn classical music even though at that time I was enrolled in a pop piano school — originally aimed to be trained as a jazz pianist.

I learned arpeggio heavily from classical repertoire like Liszt, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. To be honest, most of the time I did not finish the classical repertoire and not able to do the harder ones because I hate reading piano sheets.

Starting from there, I started to mix/apply many classical-inspired arpeggio to pop and jazz piano songs (and many other genres) with my own touch for improvising reasons. If my readers take a closer look to my piano playing throughout the years, arpeggio has become a big part of my piano playing identity.

You see, I truly adore Billy Joel’s ability to utilize his classical background then combine other genre’s influences into his music and his playing gave a relatable insight in how I can elevate my skills as well.

His Music is What Inspires Me to Accept My Piano Playing Identity and be a Better Pianist

I leave learning classical music behind (I still love listening it, though) because I did not enjoy reading piano sheets as I prefer to have more freedom— I started to focus more on my original roots, a pop pianist that is mainly trained to be a jazz pianist while still retaining the classical influence. I left my music school because of junior high school national exam obligations, thus had to learn the rest by myself.

However, I used to struggle really hard to find and define my musical identity. At that time, I realized I was certainly not a pure jazz musician, never going to be able to become a classical musician for sure, and also I do not feel fulfilled only just by pop songs. I do listen to other genres too, blues, rock, R&B and many more but it still did not answer my own questions. There are phases where I started to be interested in studying classical music again but from a different instrument which is a violin; I was truly struggling with my own musical identity and confused of what kind of pianist I aspire to be.

My confused piano identity became a huge obstacle in my piano skills improvement. I realized that I had been stagnating in terms of piano skills and was in need to improve. Even worse, this confusion had also become one of many factors that caused my insecurity to get in the way of my progress.

During that time, I have already smitten with the hit and played Billy Joel’s Grammy Award Winning “Just The Way You Are” many times on the piano. Sadly, I had not noticed his versatility and remarkable piano skills yet. Until recently I was burdened by a lot of college tasks and in need of a calming music, thus my mind started to think of a song.

Oh it’s Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel

Yes. I played it on countless repeats on the speaker until the song getting glued to my head. As I grew older I could not deny the fact that I grew significantly more appreciative toward music and other art forms. Consequently, I paid a much closer attention to this song more than ever.

Surprisingly after paying closer attention, the song became more appealing to me than it already was and has helped me relax during my most stressful days. Therefore, I started to listen to his other songs like “Honesty”, “Piano Man”, “My Life”, and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”. I became interested in his musical careers, songs, and his story — I look up his live concerts and could not help myself to think, he is an exceptional pianist!

Like I have stated on my previous reason above, I feel his musical style, musical story and inspirations aligns well with mine. I relate to his musical story.

This made me think that he was that kind of pianist that I aspire to be and his piano playing is what I have been looking all of these years. After that moment of realization, I made it official that Billy Joel is my pianist role model. This sense of ‘finally found my identity’ compels me to improve my skill even further through extensive individual ear training, scale training and bits of musical theory. Therefore, I am no longer feel lost because of confusion regarding to my identity.

In 2012, the Piano Man was honored by STEINWAY & SONS with a painted portrait installed in STEINWAY Hall in Manhattan. Joel is the first non-classical pianist to be immortalized in the STEINWAY Hall collection. His portrait hangs alongside those of legendary musicians including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Franz Liszt, Arthur Rubinstein, Ignacy Paderewski and more.

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I want to play the piano beautifully like Billy Joel!

That is now a simple motto I held in regard right now during my individual practice sessions, as I am no longer enrolled in a music school. His music is my inspiration in deepening my understanding in Jazz while also not forgetting my roots in classical and pop. Billy Joel’s music has also gave me a clear image of what kind of pianist I want to be and deepen my knowledge in the art of piano playing — to get out of my comfort zone and explore what the musical world has to offer.

Closing

Billy Joel has become a very influential figure for me in learning music albeit my music skills is not even close to him and probably my piano plays are not that good for some people! Obviously, I will not be the next Billy Joel, but still, his music is something that drives me to be a better pianist and giving me a clear image of what kind of musician I want to be.

This does not mean that I am not going to have my own musical identity, it is just that now I have an inspiration — an example to embrace my musical identity and a fuel to explore other genre without forgetting my own roots.

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