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Dear Piano teachers,

My son is seven years old and will start learning piano soon. I’d like to know if it is ok to buy a good digital piano for him to start with since currently I live in an apartment. I was told that it is not very good to learn with a digital piano because it might be difficult or not easy for player to adjust to acoustic piano in the future. May I please have some advice on this?
Also, if it is ok to start with a digital piano, what brand name will be better or more close to acoustic piano in terms of key action?

Thanks,

Spring13

Yes, your son can start with a digital piano. I think any reasonable piano teacher would accept digital pianos as the practice instrument for brand-new beginners.

I allow my fresh beginner to use digital piano up to two years.

Maybe check out a Roland RP301. The comparable Yamaha did not come close to the sound or touch. The price is quite affordable but I'm not sure what range you are considering. You might want to explore further in the digital piano forum.

Spring, I saw your other post on the Digital Piano forum, and I think any of the pianos you are looking to purchase would be perfect for your son to start on. While DPs aren't ideal, they have come a long way and considering your current living arrangements, it is the best solution at this time.

While the digital is a great value and there is no problem going that route to start, maybe you can find a way to expose your son to an acoustic at the same time. Something like a field trip to a place where he can learn about construction and tuning of the instrument. Just because it's so fascinating and he will get to have that understanding of what makes a piano and the origin of the sound. It should be possible to get this exposure fairly regularly without owning a piano. (I must admit I'm looking for this myself and not sure where to go!)

I have been playing on a DP exclusively for years now but back when I was in college I had somewhat of an obsession with grand pianos and used to find one any chance I could get. I definitely miss it and it's just not easy to have access to a great instrument. I do feel it helps to have had some quality time so at least there is a connection.

What happens to a student who passes the two year mark whose parents can't afford an acoustic, or their living arrangements (apartment, thin walls) makes it impossible?

It never happens yet, so, I won't worry about it.

I've dealt with one student like that. It's not a matter of finances or space or living arrangement; it's a matter of priorities.

It is also true that most students who begin on a keyboard quit lessons sooner. The same could be said about kids who play on very beat-up uprights. When parents don't feel obligated to pay for a decent instrument (when they obviously can afford to do so, considering how expensive lessons are), kids won't invest their attention and time, either.

Yes, this may well be the case for your student but what happens when the parents really can't afford an acoustic, when it's not just a matter of priorities?

Of course I'd let them keep practicing on their keyboards, if money were truly the factor.

But the chances of that happening is pretty low. If the parents can shell out $1,500 a year on lessons, they should be able to afford some semblance of a decent acoustic instrument.

That would have been me, when my child had lessons - and no, once the money was spent on lessons, there wasn't anything left over for anything else. It is illogical to say "If you have spent money, then you have money." I think you are saying that parents who have a lot of money to begin with tend to be the ones who pay for music lessons. But that isn't always true. Hence my "What about." to EZN.

Actually, for some families it might well be a case of the lessons or the decent acoustic instrument. To pay for both might be out of reach.

Renting a piano is about $40 per month in my area. That is about like having one extra lesson in a month. So, instead of thinking they are having 4 lessons a month, now the cost is like having 5 lessons in a month to rent a good piano at home.

I think we are getting sidetracked into cost, whereas our OP is discussing noise and apartment living. Sure Spring, a digital piano with 88 weighted keys, of any make, will be fine for your son for the first couple of years of his piano studies. It wouldn't be a big deal for him to switch later to playing an acoustic piano.

Interestingly, one normally cannot rent acoustic upright pianos at all in Toronto. Dealers have no interest.

Yamaha Clavinova. Almost any model. No need to spend extra money for the extra 'buttons'

I highly recommend it. The newer models are even closer to a real piano feel/sound.

I am sorry for sidetracked...
For apartment, if your neighbor can hear you, then just make sure being courtesy not to practice at odd hours. Always maintain good relationship with your neighbors, tell them that you are learning piano now and let them know your practice hour. If they have problem with it, ask them always communicate with you.

Sorry add on:
Yes, plenty of my clients live in apartment and yes, they have a piano after two years of studies!!
Priorities! As ANZ said before.

spring13, I have read your post, here:

subject: Can my son start with a DIGITAL piano instead of acoustic

Dear Piano teachers,
My son is seven years old and will start learning piano soon. I’d like to know if it is ok to buy a good digital piano for him to start with since currently I live in an apartment. I was told that it is not very good to learn with a digital piano because it might be difficult or not easy for player to adjust to acoustic piano in the future. May I please have some advice on this?
Also, if it is ok to start with a digital piano, what brand name will be better or more close to acoustic piano in terms of key action?

_____

Today I had lunch and two things happened. Somebody mentioned at lunch that I was playing a piano. And somebody mentioned that they knew somebody who had a baby grand piano and they never played it and I mentioned that there are millions of pianos never being play.

The next thing was I went to a fund raiser for the homeless and the needy and one of the musicians was singing and playing a keyboard of some type, looked weird but with all the noise and music, it was impossible to determine how good or bad the keyboard sounded. So what does this have to do with a 7 year old kid/son learning to play the piano.

Well, this. What we don't know is why is the kid/son learning to play the piano? Is it because the kid asked for lessons or the kid was showing a interest in piano/piano music or just general music, or classical or popular music,or did one parent once have piano lessons and thinks their son needs some lessons, too. So you get the idea. Now, again this has nothing to do with a 7 year old son learning to play the piano, but it does have to do with interest in piano playing, support for his playing because even the most enthusiastic kids have to be discretely monitored else they will go off the rails whether they play a $50,000 acoustic piano or a cheap digital.

And any kid or any adult who falls deeply and crazy and madly in love playing and learning the piano will scour the earth on their hands and knees to find a acoustic or a digital piano that he can rent, use, borrow, or look at just or to get close to a piano - and people will help him and his family because that is what makes human different....

So there is know way of knowing how the kid will take to piano because none of us know day by day how long we will still love playing the piano in the same way that people think they love someone and sometimes either one of them one day may think differently. So the kid, any kid, needs a chance and deserves a chance and that alone will make a difference.

cheers,

3D06CH

Baldwin had the solution to this issue many years ago......it was the rent to own spinet.