The sound of the piano makes the world a better place and evokes emotions that we believed to be deeply hidden …
You can play the piano from earliest childhood, such as the revolutionary Ray Charles, the prodigy Mozart or the wonderful Nina Simone – and on very different instruments of the same family as the grand piano, the digital piano or the e-piano .
You can play the piano at a certain location or, wherever you like, thanks to a portable keyboard (= digital piano).
You can play the piano for notes – for those who want to read classical scores – or improvise while playing the piano – for creative free spirits.
You can become a composer, a great pianist, or simply play for your enjoyment – but first of all you’ll have to learn piano .
As it is generally advisable to obtain piano lessons from a qualified music teacher, it is best to buy your piano from a professional salesman and rely on his recommendations and advice.
Let’s discover together what’s so special about the piano.
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A piano for children: which model?
It sings, it dances or claps its hands – parents are happy about the first musical steps of their child!
Whether or not it was born into a musical universe, its parents are musicians or not – the early musical education of a child should be fun and child-friendly.
Many music schools offer music courses especially for children under the age of 6 years to discover instruments, melodies and rhythms (usually called early musical education ).
When the child decides to play the piano, it should be encouraged to practice the scales and to be able to play the piano even better by learning how to score and to constantly improve their skills.
The piano is actually an ideal instrument for children and offers access to almost all musical repertoires such as jazz, classical, pop, rock and even rap!
However, it is also quite expensive and relatively noisy.
Before you purchase a piano for a child, we give you the following advice :
- Rather prefer to buy a piano first than buying one right away. Children are known to change their mind quickly. So do not go for a long-term and expensive investment.
- If you want to buy a piano, rather buy a keyboard instead of an acoustic piano. A keyboard / digital piano is much easier and easier to carry, it takes up less space, the costs and maintenance costs are much lower.
- Decide on a keyboard with headset and volume control, so as not to get into the acoustic enjoyment of finger exercises and scales every day …
And when it’s time, you’ll find Superprof the perfect piano teacher for your kids!
Learning to play the piano: How to play on a grand piano?
The peculiarity of the grand piano
The grand piano was created at the beginning of the 18th century in Italy by the instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori. In English he is called Grand Piano .
This instrument – from the family of hammered instruments – is a masterpiece in itself.
The grand piano offers a stronger sound than a “normal” piano and is more playable – perfect for concerts.
He is, so to speak, the Rolls Royce of keyboard instruments.
Structurally, a wing consists of :
- The body, so the outer contour,
- a cast iron plate, the supporting element inside the wing,
- the soundboard, which contributes to the sound characteristics of the instrument,
- the voice post in the front part of the body,
- the play mechanism, which is the wing mechanism that transmits the power of the key to the hammer striking the strings,
- about 230 steel strings,
- a keyboard with 88 keys
- a lyre with pedals – the component to which the pedals are attached is called a lyre.
The different types of wings
Over the centuries, the grand piano has evolved in size, sound and practice.
Wings are being built in different sizes today:
- Prick or Mignon wings (length about 140 cm to 180 cm, weight about 280-350 kg)
- Salon, Conservatory or Studio Wing (about 180 cm to 210 cm, about 320-450 kg)
- Half concert grand piano (about 210 cm to 240 cm, about 400-500 kg)
- Concert grand piano (about 240 cm to 308 cm, about 480-700 kg)
However, one thing always remains the same: No matter if professional pianists or bloody piano beginners – for all who want to play the piano (piano), the wing exerts a special fascination !
What are the special features of learning to play keyboard?
Anyone who decides on a keyboard or a digital piano, decides for modernity.
It is less expensive than an acoustic piano, easier to use and offers more features.
The digital piano is for the family of keyboard instruments what the digital camera is for photography .
There are two forms of digital pianos that should help you quickly make your choice:
- Keyboards that also convince in the living room as a piece of furniture, but have the disadvantage that they are too heavy, as that you can simply change, let alone take away. Its advantages are the sound quality and the design aspect.
- The Portable Keyboard: This is the version we see in café theaters and at concerts – practical and much cheaper. Its shortcomings lie in its less fine sound and the absence of pedals.
The advantages of the digital piano
The digital piano has many advantages that make it so popular .
For example, it records – in digital form – what we are playing.
It’s a practical, easy, and effective way to listen to your own play, review your progress, and discuss with your teacher – or even record your own compositions.
The different keyboards of a digital piano
Regardless of the brand, price, or alleged quality of the digital piano, there are three types of keyboards:
- The weighted hammer keyboard
Weighted keys are characterized by a slight resistance when pressed down. This resistance is achieved by small weighted hammers attached to the keys.
The vast majority of pianists appreciate the weighted keyboard because of the natural feel of the game.
- The velocity-sensitive keyboard
Touch response is the volume response of a key to a lighter or stronger key stroke of the pianist.
If a digital piano has touch response, softer keystrokes will produce softer tones and louder keystrokes.
- The velocity-sensitive, hammer-weighted keyboard
There are very significant differences between weighted keyboards. These special keyboards are only interesting for advanced players.
The more expensive a digital piano is, the more you approach an acoustic piano in terms of feel and sound.
Some digital piano models, rare and expensive, also have a real acoustic piano keyboard.
However, even cheap digital pianos are now designed so that beginners are well served with a normal, weighted keyboard and will enjoy playing games.
Which are the best electric pianos for piano learning?
64 keys? 88 keys? Which keyboard?
Electric pianos are not the same. Unfortunately, you do not have the time to test all the electric pianos in the world.
So let’s take a closer look at the different electric pianos for piano lessons !
The electric piano from Wurlitzer
The legendary instrument with 64 keys and a unique sound you will hear in many musical works of the 1970s.
It has suffered a bit from the competition of the Rhodes electric pianos, but it offers a characteristic sound that can be heard on the albums of the following artists:
- Supertramp
- Ray Charles
- Daft Punk
- The Doors
- Sun Ra
- Neil Young
- Queen
The electric piano Roland RD-300 NX / RD-64 / RD-800
The brand Roland, which should be well known, offers the RD series, which consists of 3 models, all of which are suitable for concerts:
- RD-300 NX, which seeks to reproduce the feel of an acoustic piano. The price is 700 euros.
- RD-64, which offers the sounds of piano, grand piano, digital piano and organ for the modest sum of 1200 euros.
- And the RD-800, around 2200 euros.
The electric piano Korg SV1
This electric piano has a retro design with chrome buttons and sound editing software. It is available with 2 keyboard models: 73 keys or 88 keys.
The electric piano Kurzweil Forte
This Kurzweil e-piano has features that outshine all other 16GB pianos.
The keyboard consists of 88 keys with aftertouch. In addition, this electric piano offers excellent sound quality, very good effects, a flexible controller keyboard and plenty of user memory.
Now you are spoiled for choice!
