More Information about Keyboard Lessons and Digital Keyboards
Are keyboard lessons any different from traditional piano lessons? Well, the terms have become garbled over the years. Is someone who practices on an acoustic piano engaging in keyboard lessons? Or is someone who only has a small digital keyboard at home really taking piano lessons? Confusing enough? Well, to learn piano well, one should make a sound decision as to what instrument they want to buy for their home to avoid pitfalls in the future.
We can put ‘keyboard’ instruments into 3 categories. The first is the classic acoustic piano which creates sound when a hammer strikes any piano string. Then is an electric keyboard which is much more compact and generates sound through a speaker every time a piano key is depressed. And finally, we have state-of-the-art synthesizers which use advanced electronics to create a huge variety of sound but often has less piano keys than the traditional acoustic 88 keys.
These days many 88-key (or perhaps the smaller 76 key) electronic piano keyboards come along with a standard AC adapter, Compact disc software, wood stand and sustain pedal which are everything you need to get started with simple keyboard lessons. But more advanced models will even consist of a song bank of one hundred songs, 375 musical instrument voices and 100 complement designs to gain information about, familiarize and emphasize keyboard pieces. So a mixture between an electric and electronic synthesizer seems to be the new wave of the future.
One option is to get a so-called roll-up piano keyboard which for under $100. This digital piano keyboard may very well be a wonderful alternative for people dabbling in music or even those taking advanced keyboard lessons as it is very portable for practice anywhere, whenever. However, a more important factor in developing good piano technique is the weight of the keys. Numerous keyboards today have “weighted” keys, although only higher end boards have totally weighted keys. More on that in a second.
The Yamaha YPG 235 (or even DGX 230) comes with a “graded smooth touch”, which non-weighted, but has a bit of resistance and also offers a wide selection of high-quality instrumental tones. Other Yamaha digital keyboards offer the full weight of a conventional acoustic concert grand piano, requiring an energetic touch while playing the piano. Beginners who are learning piano may even find them a bit too heavy. Understanding this distinction will make it far simpler for you to switch one day between playing piano on an electric and acoustic piano.
The factor of ‘weight’ in successful keyboard lessons
Some keyboards do not have fully weighted keys (it is keys are “semi-weighted,” which means they they are 1/2 the weight of acoustic piano keys, but aren’t as bad as synthesizers). They also feature touch sensitivity and you also get the advantage of having the full 88 keys of an actual keyboard. The Keystation 88 ES is an example of such a machine. Older or perhaps cheaper synthesizer keyboards have keys produced of light plastics that can feel extremely “snappy” and easily bounce back to their original position following being pressed – these are terrible for honing a very good keyboard technique, but often provide you with a spectrum of cool sounds which you won’t get on an acoustic musical instruments.
As we mentioned earlier, an additional important difference is the fact that the keyboard keys are larger and heavier, making it more difficult to practice for newbies. Likewise, piano players who are used to regular ‘heavy’ acoustic piano keys might discover that these ‘light’ keyboards tend to be highly uncomfortable and challenging to practise effectively when taking their first keyboard lessons. Most keyboards in the several hundred dollar cost spectrum won’t provide you with weighted keys that simulate the feel of a accurate acoustic keyboard keys, so expect to shell out at least $1000 for these models.
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