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As a piano teacher, I am often asked for my thoughts on what piano to buy, which I hope I’ve helped to answer in my blog posts on “The Dilemmas You’ll Face When Choosing Your Child’s First Piano – Part One and Part Two ”
But then I’m often asked by students or parents of students who have been playing for a while if they need to upgrade and how would they spot the signs that their child had outgrown their beginners’ piano.
I am going to assume a couple of things before I continue:
The first sign you may spot is that other pianos they play on might start to feel different and to compensate, they ‘may’ play rather loudly on yours.
This is caused by the fact that the weighting of the keys are generally grouped in larger groups with earlier pianos. As the piano range moves up, so does the specification, and within that, there is a smaller grouping for the weighted keys.
Eventually, by the Yamaha CLP775, each key is individually weighted, this is known as linear weighting. The benefit of this is that each key will respond individually to touch ensuring response to expression and emotion across the octaves.
As pieces get faster and more complex, there may be the need for repeated notes played in rapid succession. What you might notice here is that the second or third note doesn’t sound, so your child gets frustrated.
With the higher specification models, there is something called ‘counterweights’ on the keys.
What this does is improve the playability when playing softly and gives a better return when playing rapid repeated notes.
The return on the lower specification Clavinova pianos is slower meaning that it can get frustrating if you are playing something like this passage from ‘Mikrokosmos’ book 6 by Bartok as all the notes may not sound as fast as you want them to.
Personally, I like to get my students using the pedal as early as possible to ensure they develop the motor skills and synchronicity to be able to think, play two separate hands and then incorporate the pedal.
However, a sustain/damper pedal is all that is required in the early days.
The three pedals on the piano are (from left to right) the ‘una corda’ (one string), sostenuto, and the damper.
The damper pedal works by lifting all the dampers off the strings so that the sound is prolonged and sustained.
The sostenuto only works once a key has been pressed and will lift the dampers off the strings from the keys that have been raised, so in other words, only the keys that are depressed will be sustained.
The rest of the keyboard can be played ‘as normal’. In fairness, it is rarely used and there is a school of thought that discusses whether half-pedalling actually gives as good or better effect.
The una corda on an acoustic piano causes a physical shift to the right of the keyboard. This then gives the hammers fewer strings to strike when the keys are depressed. The result is a subtly different timbre. Graham Fitch describes the sound as ‘veiled’ which I think is a lovely description.
Are all three of these pedals totally necessary, honestly, probably not, but there are again, mixed opinions.
What you ideally DO need is something with a half pedal function which will give a far greater breadth of expressive possibility with the damper pedal.
This is one area that needs consideration as your child or you progress to the next level.
If you are putting in the practice and your skills are developing tenfold, what a shame if the sound coming from your digital piano is not truly as rich or representative as the playing.
Once again, as you progress through the specifications, the higher-end instruments will have slightly larger or better-positioned speakers.
Once you get to the Yamaha CLP775 there is the introduction of a transducer.
A transducer converts the signal from the keys being played to digital vibrations which are sent to the soundboard creating a much warmer sound, far more reflective of a genuine acoustic grand piano.
By the top-of-the-range Yamaha CLP785, there is also a pair of spruce cone speakers to further add to the warmth of sound.
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Watch Chris describe the richness-of-sound on the Yamaha CLP-785 digital piano
Don’t forget that we often have pre-loved pianos in stock and often you can get a high specification but perhaps a previous season for a really great price.
We also offer a part exchange service so you can upgrade without breaking the bank. Just use the form below for a quotation.
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Example products: Yamaha PSR-SX920, Yamaha P-225, Yamaha NP-15.
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For any pre-orders, we will contact you as soon as the item arrives with us to schedule a delivery with you, and update you with an ETA.
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Comments:
A very helpful article, and it is not just child learners who might outgrow their piano. As a late learner, currently using a Yamaha P125 it has given me an insight as to what I should look for in my own playing to determine when I have outgrown it.