I think that there is a difference between pianos and electronic keyboards. They are quite different instruments and should be treated that way. There are acoustic and electric guitars too and there is a difference between them as well. I tune for lots of homes that have both acoustic and electronic pianos and that is where the student really flourishes. I had a wise old tuner once tell me: if the only people in the world that were aloud to play pianos were those that could afford Steinways, then the world would have missed out on a lot of good music. William ----- Original Message ----- From: Brian Trout To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 12:22 AM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Clunker vs Electronic Keyboards I've seen the electronic vs. acoustic from a number of angles. I grew up playing a winter spinet. And yes, I progressed well into Mozart sonatas and such on that little pso. I also practiced some of my first aural tunings on that pso. Fast forwarding a few years, I had the pleasure of playing and rebuilding some fine grand pianos that were both a joy to play and to work on. My preference is always to a well tuned and regulated grand with a light and responsive touch and sufficient size to produce a good tone through the bass and a crisp and clear treble. Unfortunately, that is not the reality in many of the places I have had the (dis)pleasure of playing. A piano of most any name brand or size can be miserable to play on when not serviced and tuned regularly and is nearly torture for me to either play or listen to. And since much of my playing is by ear (yes, I do read music when I have to), a piano that's badly out of tune cannot give me the aural feedback for me to even play it. Given my choice between an unserviced, untuned piano and an electronic keyboard, I'll take the keyboard just about every time. That does assume a full 88 keys as well as weighted keys. I will be quick to add that not all "keyboards" are created equal. And the better ones do cost what a real grand piano may. Actually, if I could have an extra octave on either end of thsoe 88 keys, I would use them, but that would be quite difficult to achieve with a standard piano, much easier to achieve in electronic form. But that's parhaps off topic. The touch is different for most keyboards, even weighted ones. And intended purposes may have significant bearing, no pun intended. For a piano sound that has to move a lot, such as with a band, the electronic keyboard has an advantage. For small spaces (hey, I live fulltime in an rv), it can have an advantage in both size and weight. For recording, it can be simpler as there are no microphones, only direct electronic connections. For places (churches? schools? that either cannot or will not tune and maintain a real piano or provide a stable environment, the electronic keyboard has an advantage. But for serious on-stage performance, the real thing is hard to beat IF, and I'll repeat, IF it's well tuned and well regulated. A few years ago, I played a lot of small churches. I took my keyboard with me. Rarely did I even have reason to question that practice. I wish I hadn't had to bother. But I had to deal with reality, and that was rarely even close to ideal. FWIW, Brian ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: davidlovepianos at comcast.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:31:28 -0800 Subject: Re: [pianotech] Clunker vs Electronic Keyboards It’s always unfortunate when people have to make that choice but it does happen and with the more sophisticate keyboards now it’s not nearly as clear a choice. Were it up to me I’d have all pianists learning on high quality grands as uprights simply don’t develop touch control in nearly the same way. When asked about purchasing a piano for a beginner I always tell them to buy the absolute highest quality piano (preferably a grand) that they can afford. Better for the ear, touch, control, development, pleasure. Sadly, I don’t always win that argument. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100217/a170d41f/attachment.htm>
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