Greetings, At the KC convention, we used David Steinbuhler's B for the historical temperament classes. It had a 48" keyboard, which is a little smaller than normal, but not nearly as small as he can go. My pianist had never seen one of these, and took approx. 15 minutes of playing before going in front of the class. She did nicely, helped by the fact that temperament demonstrations don't really rely on hugely virtuoso pieces. Three days later, she warmed up for five minutes and tried out some heavier stuff of her own, and aside from the occasional ninth, she was getting comfortable with it and already beginning to think about pieces that she had had to pass by earlier. The smaller board opens up that last bit of repertoire for all but the biggest hands, and in that sense, it is not just for kids,anymore. > 1) If these were used, wouldn't the pianist have a lot of problems >when going to competitions, giving recitals elsewhere, etc. and having >to play on "normal" keyboards? Could be, > > 2) Are they designed as just a keyframe and keys and one just >installs the regular action on that frame? Or do you have to get the >entire thing? You send David a regulated action, and he builds the keys and spaces them to the whippens or stickers that you have. > Would it be feasible/practical, especially in an institutional setting >to consider getting a couple of these? One for a teaching piano and one >for a performance piano? Just some rhetorical questions possibly, but an >interesting possibility. I would like to hear others thoughts on this too, I am thinking about recommending the school purchase one of these boards for use in the kids curriculum. Ed Foote
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