<story><title>My First Piano</title><url>https://www.jeromeleroy.com/complog-content/2022/10/31/my-first-piano-a-story-of-hurt-healing-and-joy</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>reikonomusha</author><text>First, to clarify, there are &amp;quot;keyboards&amp;quot; and there are &amp;quot;digital pianos&amp;quot;. Keyboards typically have 60ish keys, keys that are light or thin, and sound that is low quality. Digital pianos, on the other hand, have full-sized keys that are weighted like a grand piano, have a connection for a traditional piano pedal, and usually have a good sound quality. Keyboards are not appropriate for learning most kinds of &amp;quot;serious&amp;quot; piano music.&lt;p&gt;A digital piano is perfectly fine to learn on. They&amp;#x27;re pretty good quality these days. You can put headphones on and not disturb anybody. (Grand pianos are comparatively loud.) There&amp;#x27;s no question that you can reach an advanced level of playing on a good quality digital piano, like the better ones from Roland, Kawai, or Yamaha.&lt;p&gt;However, you lose a lot of really fine-grained control of sound. I&amp;#x27;m talking about &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; fine stuff that classical pianists appreciate. For instance, pressing the pedal on a digital won&amp;#x27;t give you any feedback from the felt rubbing on the strings. Most classically trained teachers would recommend an acoustic over this fact alone.&lt;p&gt;An acoustic grand also has more opportunities to change and shape the color of the tone. A technician can make the piano warmer or brighter for example.&lt;p&gt;Some teachers claim an acoustic will lead to vastly better physical technique. I haven&amp;#x27;t seen this substantiated by any actual experiment though, so it might just be a tale among teachers.&lt;p&gt;With that said, an acoustic grand is &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; an investment. Maintaining it costs $100s per year. Keeping it in tip-top shape costs $1000 every 5 years or so, in top of the $100s paid for tuning. They require TLC to keep them in good condition.&lt;p&gt;Acoustic pianos also slowly break down. The crown of the soundboard flattens, the strings lose brilliance, the felts compress, the hammers wear out, etc.&lt;p&gt;But an acoustic will probably give you the greatest degree of connectedness to your music that a digital could not.</text></item><item><author>jrussino</author><text>For someone who knows next to nothing about pianos: If I (or perhaps my children) want to learn&amp;#x2F;play the piano today, what are the benefits of having a real piano at home vs an electronic keyboard? It seems to me that a low-end&amp;#x2F;&amp;quot;budget&amp;quot; upright or baby grand piano costs around as much as a high-end electronic keyboard. What are the differences in sound and&amp;#x2F;or over-all playing experience?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jefftk</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; First, to clarify, there are &amp;quot;keyboards&amp;quot; and there are &amp;quot;digital pianos&amp;quot;. Keyboards typically have 60ish keys, keys that are light or thin, and sound that is low quality.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I describe myself as playing &amp;quot;keyboard&amp;quot; and call my instrument a &amp;quot;keyboard&amp;quot;, even though by your definitions it wouldn&amp;#x27;t be one -- I don&amp;#x27;t think that&amp;#x27;s how the word is usually used?  I think most people, including most musicians, would consider a digital piano a kind of keyboard.</text></comment>
<story><title>My First Piano</title><url>https://www.jeromeleroy.com/complog-content/2022/10/31/my-first-piano-a-story-of-hurt-healing-and-joy</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>reikonomusha</author><text>First, to clarify, there are &amp;quot;keyboards&amp;quot; and there are &amp;quot;digital pianos&amp;quot;. Keyboards typically have 60ish keys, keys that are light or thin, and sound that is low quality. Digital pianos, on the other hand, have full-sized keys that are weighted like a grand piano, have a connection for a traditional piano pedal, and usually have a good sound quality. Keyboards are not appropriate for learning most kinds of &amp;quot;serious&amp;quot; piano music.&lt;p&gt;A digital piano is perfectly fine to learn on. They&amp;#x27;re pretty good quality these days. You can put headphones on and not disturb anybody. (Grand pianos are comparatively loud.) There&amp;#x27;s no question that you can reach an advanced level of playing on a good quality digital piano, like the better ones from Roland, Kawai, or Yamaha.&lt;p&gt;However, you lose a lot of really fine-grained control of sound. I&amp;#x27;m talking about &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; fine stuff that classical pianists appreciate. For instance, pressing the pedal on a digital won&amp;#x27;t give you any feedback from the felt rubbing on the strings. Most classically trained teachers would recommend an acoustic over this fact alone.&lt;p&gt;An acoustic grand also has more opportunities to change and shape the color of the tone. A technician can make the piano warmer or brighter for example.&lt;p&gt;Some teachers claim an acoustic will lead to vastly better physical technique. I haven&amp;#x27;t seen this substantiated by any actual experiment though, so it might just be a tale among teachers.&lt;p&gt;With that said, an acoustic grand is &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; an investment. Maintaining it costs $100s per year. Keeping it in tip-top shape costs $1000 every 5 years or so, in top of the $100s paid for tuning. They require TLC to keep them in good condition.&lt;p&gt;Acoustic pianos also slowly break down. The crown of the soundboard flattens, the strings lose brilliance, the felts compress, the hammers wear out, etc.&lt;p&gt;But an acoustic will probably give you the greatest degree of connectedness to your music that a digital could not.</text></item><item><author>jrussino</author><text>For someone who knows next to nothing about pianos: If I (or perhaps my children) want to learn&amp;#x2F;play the piano today, what are the benefits of having a real piano at home vs an electronic keyboard? It seems to me that a low-end&amp;#x2F;&amp;quot;budget&amp;quot; upright or baby grand piano costs around as much as a high-end electronic keyboard. What are the differences in sound and&amp;#x2F;or over-all playing experience?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>iainmerrick</author><text>&lt;i&gt;However, you lose a lot of really fine-grained control of sound. I&amp;#x27;m talking about&lt;/i&gt; really &lt;i&gt;fine stuff that classical pianists appreciate. For instance, pressing the pedal on a digital won&amp;#x27;t give you any feedback from the felt rubbing on the strings. Most classically trained teachers would recommend an acoustic over this fact alone.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I actually agree with you for the most part, but I think the digital experience is (or at least can be) even closer than you realise.&lt;p&gt;I have a digital piano that does a very good impersonation of half-pedalling, and when you press down the pedal you can hear the whole soundboard gently vibrate. It was high-end when I bought it over ten years ago. Sound quality has improved a &lt;i&gt;lot&lt;/i&gt; since then, touch and feel is at least as good.</text></comment>