A friend of mine forwarded me this ad on Craigslist:

http://houston.craigslist.org/msg/1797497781.html

I was curious what the teachers here thought of it. At first blush, I found the advertising copy to be slightly (or even overtly...) insulting to teachers. And of course the claims are clearly oversold. I'd love to see the dealer's expression if you came back to the store and said you hadn't solved a rhythm or fluency problem in 2-3 weeks and wanted your money back.

But I was also wondering if there were any truth to the claims. We've talked a lot about the disadvantages of most (all?) digitals in learning piano. Is there any way in which they might *help* in teaching some difficult concepts?

Monika, hasn't the Houston Piano Company been involved in some scams which were highlighted in the Piano Forum a few years back? Perhaps I'm recalling this incorrectly, but it does seem it was a Houston piano firm of some kind.

Anyway, they leave themselves an out, by stating "This piano nearly guarantees it!" in the text.

Ahhhhh yes, the "nearly" clause. Gets you every time.

I think it's a different dealership, John. That was Scott Covington of the Piano Store (indeed located in Houston), which the last I heard of had filed for bankruptcy. Covington's father, however, paid off most or all the people who were owed money, which is a rare and welcome occurrence.

btw, one of the many things that annoyed me about the ad was the use of "she" to refer to piano teachers. Men can and do teach piano, too!

Yes, I caught that, but blew it off as typical sexism!

Monica, I have found that digital pianos can be really helpful working with students who are struggling to understand voicing. By splitting the keyboard and having different sounds for each hand students tend to understand the concept of using a completely different touch for each hand very rapidly. Digital pianos can also be useful for students recording themselves - We are all surprised to hear our errors repeated!!!

I've found students will practice the same section of a piece longer if I get them to experiment with which sound to use.

And students can record a duet part and play back with themselves - or improvise over their own riff.

Having said that, all my students have acoustic pianos and if there is a digital piano it's the *second* piano.....

Looks like a Roland HPi series piano (likely a 7s based on the price). We looked at these a couple of years ago when we were shopping for a(nother) digital. It has myriad built in lessons. I would say that given a family situation where the parents (or anyone else) is unable/unwilling to sit with a beginning student and the student has a teacher whose curriculum matched the pianos (and/or a teacher who was willing to understand the type of lessons the piano has to more closely match what is being taught with available lessons on the piano), _then_ this could possibly be helpful. It could also come in handy for a precocious learner. Other than that, it's just another DP (though with a color LCD, oooh, aahhh).

I have a Roland rd700gx in my studio, and it has a selection of voices that include such things as dogs barking, explosions, trains chugging, whistles, door slammings, rockets, people laughing, people screaming, etc.

Each of those is pitched according to the key played, and can be selected by turning a selection wheel.

My youngest students get to play notes as I spin the wheel back and forth ONLY as a reward if they have practiced and had a good lesson. I get great results from it with certain young boys.

Also, I have all my students play a simple piece that they know by heart while I spin the wheel. They have to focus on hearing the music in their head while playing it, because playing each note in the song results in a random selection of the sounds mentioned above, rather than hearing the notes themselves.

It is a great tool to help people focus on the music in their head, and to give them encouraging proof that they are progressing, because if they can play it while hearing that crazy feedback, they have progressed to learning that piece deeply, and playing it solidly.

I know some will think this is blasphemy, but it works.

While the ad's claim is certainly an exaggeration, it's no more an exaggeration than some of the claims held by at least one member of this forum with the "teaching method" they employ (and sell).

I will go head-to-head with that piano any time, any where. Any student, any age, any ability level. I'll even let the VP of Roland Marketing judge.

Team Them: $5000 = Fancy Piano

Team Me: $5000 = $2400 used upright, $100 for books, and two years of lessons with me

I will MOP THE FLOOR with that sack o' circuits. Throwdown. Bring it.