Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Help a junior organist out

hey guys. I'm going away to college in a few hours (I should be sleeping now) hahaha lol. But the thing is, I've finally started to get the hang of playing hymns and church music. Unfortunately for me I'm leaving for college so I wont be able to practice as often and even worse I don't have a a keyboard to practice with. But due to my drive and love for the music ministry in the church, I don't want to lose out on quality practice time. I have about 100 dollars and I'm willing to shell out about 80 or less on a nice small keyboard that I can use to practice with while in college. Now I don't know what to look for. Should I go for the toy keyboards or something more complex??? Brand name or something that just plays??

What I want:
[1] 54 keys or less than 61
[2] ability to program drums / beats
[3] ability to connect to amp(external speaker)
[4] different tones to play with
[5] reasonable price (80 or less)
[6] something that will last for atleast 4 years. nothing cheap that will break in a few months

For that kind of money you already know what you will get. If you're really serious about practicing while at college I'm sure there are many pianos in many places in and around your college and they won't cost you a cent.

Make friends with a choir director when you get there, keyG. Put that hundred bucks away and save up some more.

A lot of churches will give you free access to organs for practice, sometimes with a barter arrangement. For example, you would be willing to supply, or sing in the choir or whatever. That's what I did as a kid. Before long they were paying me. (There are lots of churches around that are desperate, even without an organist). My son, for example, could barely play. A neighbour mentioned that her (Anglican) church had been without an organist for over a year. They hired him on the spot, and paid him $5,500/yr. He had a nice organ and piano work with, and actually enjoyed working with the VERY appreciative choir and parish. He learned a lot. (He picked the hymns each week not based on the lectionary, but based on the key signature! (The parish was fine with that, because now they had this nice young lad playing their organ for services. A fellow organist gave him some organ lessons for free. Churches can be a valuable resource for starving students!

keyG,

My "second" to the GOOD advice above. If your college has any kind of a music dept., you will find plenty of open practice rooms and pianos w/i walking distance. If you really MUST spend money on something for your room, look at the Yamaha PSR E223, and E323, often at BestBuy. They have the same, nice-feeling-non-wighted keybed as the NP 30. The difference between $99 and $159 is that the E323 is velocity sensitive, so there can be dynamic adjustment in your fingers, rather than with a volume knob.

$100 will only buy a little kids toy. Unless you are lucky and find a deal on a used keyboard. But you can do a lot with a low-end keyboard and a computer. Learn how to use something like Garage Band.

But if you are in school sign up for any music class and get to know your music department. They almost certainly have practice rooms you can sign out at no cost.