I have 2 grand pianos, but in separate rooms. I'm thinking about buying a digital piano to use in my teaching studio, along with my small Yamaha grand. Any suggestions/advice/comments on this? What brand, what features, etc. Thanks, BJD

-- Billie Derham (pnowoman@yahoo.com), August 05, 2001

Answers

I've only played on one digital piano for any length of time, so my opinion shouldn't be thought of as conclusive.

For about the last two or three years I've been practicing at the church I attend on a Roland KR-1070 Digital Piano. It's only a few years old and it has *lots* of bells and whistles like a 16-track arranger, a chord sequencer, and several different voices. In other words, lots of stuff we never use. Some of features you might find useful are the built in metronome, the ability to record yourself, and the fact that you don't ever have to tune it (default tuning is A = 440hz, however you can adjust that to your liking and you can choose from several different temperaments). It's shaped like a baby grand, however in place of the strings there are, of course, speakers. And I would have to say that compared to ANY electronic piano I've ever played, this is the closest to an acoustic sound that I've ever heard. Also, the keyboard is weighted quite nicely, and you can adjust just about everything.

The more advanced I get at the piano, however, the more I favor acoustic. There are just certain things about an acoustic piano that cannot be reproduced electronically. But that didn't matter to me when I was a younger student. So if you teach mostly younger students, I would say the digital piano could be a valuable tool, and definitely a practical one. As your students progress and start to get more serious about playing, they may want to switch to the acoustic.

I hope this helps. If I missed something, ask me about it.

-Andrew

-- Andrew (superfriend2k@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.