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Electronic Keyboards: Pros and Cons
By Yoke Wong

Electronic keyboards. Some piano teachers swear by them; others, at them.

Certainly the electronic keyboard is different from the acoustic piano. But, overall, do their differences add up to a lesser, or a better, instrument?

Pros of an electronic keyboard, compared to an acoustic (wood and wire) piano:
• Generally, much less expensive.
The top-end electronic keyboards, like the Clavinova, are still quite expensive, however.

• Smaller, lighter, easier to store and move.
Again, some of the top-end keyboards are not exactly what you’d call “portable,” and certainly wouldn’t fit in a closet; but are still smaller and lighter than even upright pianos.

• Not as sensitive to environmental conditions.
You don’t have to be as picky about where you place it. Temperature, humidity, heating & cooling vents, outside walls… No need to be concerned about these when deciding where to put your electronic keyboard.

• Less expensive to own, going forward.
Does not need to be tuned, adjusted, or otherwise maintained by a technician on a regular basis.

• Less bothersome to people other than the pianist.
Can be played in “silent” mode, so as not to disturb the neighbors. (Usually, the player wears headphones to hear herself practice.)

• Versatile in the sounds it can produce.
Can reproduce the sound of a wide range of instruments, not just the piano. This can come in handy in an ensemble.

• Recordable.
The top-end keyboards can be programmed to “remember” a performance and replay it at the touch of a button. This can be helpful, for example, if you want to accompany yourself singing, but are not quite sure you’re ready to sing and play at the same time.

Why do some piano teachers consider electronic keyboards inferior to acoustic pianos?

Here are some of the Cons that make them say so:
• Lesser sound quality.
While the sound quality on high-end, modern machines is much improved from earlier efforts, it’s still an electronic tone. The richness, depth, and harmonic overtones produced by the acoustic piano’s physical wires vibrating cannot really be reproduced by electronic means.

• Less realistic “touch.”
This is the quality of the feedback the keys give to your fingers when you’re playing an acoustic piano. In an acoustic piano, there is in fact a direct mechanical linkage between your finger’s motion and the production of a note. It’s a subtle feeling, but a real one. Again, the electronic keyboards, while much improved, still cannot fully reproduce this experience.

Do these things really matter? To some piano teachers, they do. I know one piano teacher who insists that her students obtain a “real” piano for home practice, and won’t accept them as students if they plan to use an electronic one.

For many beginning students, the subtleties of tone and touch will be lost on them. And, for students who want to move on to contemporary music, such as a rock band, the electronic keyboard is quite well accepted in these genres. Later, if you end up performing in places where you don’t know if the venue will have a piano, or what condition or tuning it will be in, you might like to have a more movable instrument, so you can take it with you. You can’t exactly schlep an acoustic piano around in the back of your minivan.

On the other hand, if you really stick with your piano studies, eventually these issues of tone and touch will matter to you. When that happens, are you going to want to purchase a second instrument?

All of these issues need to be considered before you make your purchase. In the end, only you – in consultation with your own piano teacher – can decide which instrument to buy in order to reach your goals as a pianist.

This article is written by Yoke Wong . She has published a series of piano courses , free piano lessons, piano sheet music , and many piano playing articles.

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