Guide to Buying a Piano

Posted by Ellen on January 8, 2013 in Music School | Comments Off

Buying a piano is a big investment in a number of ways. As well as it being a large financial investment, it takes up a lot of space in your house, and will in all likelihood be with you for a long time!

This article is aimed at both adult students and parents with children who have piano lessons. Note also that this is intended only as a guide – certainly talk with your piano teacher about it as your piano teacher will be able to assess your specific needs.

There are essentially three main options for you to consider, all available in Brisbane, which have been addressed below:

• a traditional piano;
• a digital piano; or
• a keyboard.

I myself own one of each of these instruments (for varying purposes, of course) at Fireworks School of Music.

Buying a Traditional Piano

The traditional piano includes the grand piano and the upright piano. The grand is the ultimate piano – if you have the money and the space for it! But did you know that when comparing quality with price, there is an overlap between grand and upright pianos? It is definite that a good grand has a bigger sound than an upright, but the top range of upright pianos are better in sound quality than the cheaper grand pianos.

Be very careful when buying second-hand pianos – it is better to buy from a reputable dealer willing to offer you a warranty, than to buy from the classifieds, if you have little knowledge of the instrument. Pianos are hard to repair when they have been neglected – not everything can be fixed! If you do want to buy from a private seller, ask a piano tuner or repairer to go with you for an inspection to give you their opinion on the value of the piano. Alternatively your piano teacher may be able to go with you.

Musical instruments are a bit like cars – as soon as you buy them, their value drops. But as with cars, a new instrument can give you the security of a good warranty. Your piano teacher will agree that second hand pianos, when treated well and kept in good repair, hold their value very well. I have a Yamaha U3 that I bought second-hand from Ellaways in Brisbane, which is currently used for piano lessons and I am very happy with it. When I bought it, it was 17 years old. It looked and sounded like new!

Buying a Digital Piano

A more recent addition to the piano market is the digital piano. Not to be confused with the electric keyboard, digital pianos have weighted keys, and they feel and sound like an upright piano. They often have the option of being connected through your computer to use midi capabilities, and record and playback facilities are often available. They are smaller and lighter than an upright piano – in fact while you should get a professional piano removalist to move your upright any distance, two people can lift a digital piano between them. Digital pianos do not look like upright pianos, so if you are looking for the combined pleasure of a nice piece of furniture as well as an instrument, a digital piano might not be the best choice.

If you are worried about the tone qualities of digital pianos, I might convince you of their new-found respectability by telling you that the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) approves the use of selected digital pianos for practice and piano exams up to Grade 4. The AMEB site gives more information. Likewise, piano teachers are beginning to use digital pianos more frequently.

Buying a Keyboard

Your piano teacher will advise that a keyboard is often not appropriate for piano lessons and practice. Even for home practice, they often do not strengthen fingers enough to give any benefits. They have a number of drawbacks:

• The number of keys is less on a keyboard than on the average piano, so piano students often find they “run out of notes”.
• The keys are often slightly smaller than on a normal piano, so students miss-hit notes when they play at piano lessons.
• Keyboards don’t have fixed pedals.
• On some keyboards you cannot sustain more than one or two notes, so if you play a three-note chord the first note drops out as the keyboard’s memory gets overloaded.
• Keyboards take much less muscle strength to play, therefore students who practice well at home on a keyboard often leave piano lessons upset because they suddenly can’t get anything right. Piano teachers who have had students learn on keyboards at home have many times heard the phrase “but I could play it at home!!”

If you go to a reputable music shop looking for a keyboard, you might soon notice that the staff members perceive most keyboards as toys rather than musical instruments. If you look at the range of keyboards available to you, you will see that many of them are designed as toys – look at the 300+ voices and the DJ functions!

What keyboards are good for is a small investment before you take the plunge on getting piano lessons. Buy it for your child as a toy and then watch. Do they use it often? Do they try to pick out their favorite tunes? Do they get friends and relatives who learn the piano to teach them things? The keyboard can be a good barometer of whether your child is interested enough in the piano for you to look at a better solution.

Summary – Talk to your Piano Teacher

It is worthwhile to check with your piano teacher before you make a decision, as your piano teacher will have their own opinions regarding your purchase! I hope that this article has been of some use to you.

Ellen Harle