How far in grades do you think one can go if only practising on a keyboard.

Lack of pedals springs to mind, so I'm thinking grade one or two at the most. Plus the correct feel on touch etc....

I am teaching two sisters, who I have just found out do not have a Piano. One took grade one a few years ago with another teacher. Parents want her to take grade two. The younger of the two had aPrep Test earlier this year, and recived a very good report. But as she is slower in learning it will be a while before she is ready to work on grade one.
The parents don't seam to want to spend money on a piano.
I encoraged the elder one to take grade one theory, which she did reluctantly. I am pleased to say I got the results this week and she passed with 96 Distinction.
Do you think I should go on about a piano again when they come round to collect the cerificate? I'm not really sure what to say.
I don't want to lose them both, because I don't have many pupils at the moment, as I am fairly new to this area. As you all know it takes time to build.

The main thing which is making me worried about talking of buying a piano is the eldest one told me she is only doing the music lessons because it was the price she has to pay for being aloud to have riding lessons.

What should I say? all idea welcome

serrano

Some teachers are very particular about this and some aren't.
Likewise some people do manage to do quite well in spite of not having a suitable instrument.
I'd point out that somewhere around grade 3 they are going to run out of notes as well as it being less than ideal to be practising on what is after all a different instrument than the one they are wanting them to take exams on. One way round things can be if they have access to a piano at least for 2 or 3 practice sessions in a week.
If there is no real interest it's probably not going to happen. I remember when my goddaughter had the same teacher as me he said that he'd have pushed the piano question more if she'd have shown any interest in learning.

One of my pupils went up to Grade 2 on her keyboard before getting a digital piano, and seemed to do fine with it.

Another had a rather backwards situation, since her piano is so old it lost a couple of strings, and she ended up using a keyboard instead (don't think her parents can afford to replace the piano at the moment). She sat her Grade 3 at the last session, and got a high merit, though I think she did manage to get some practice in occasionally at school.

Beyond Grade 3, though, you start to lose a lot without the proper instrument.

Hi Serrano, I'm not a teacher as you probably know but....


...perhaps you could put it to them that they'll actually be *saving* money if they get a piano

... if the children aren't practising at home, they're having to spend part of their lesson time catching up with what they did the previous week - if they had a piano at home, lessons could be much more cost-effective and therefore she wouldn't need as many. Also progress is slower if they can't practise in between lessons - so little Johnny down the road has already taken Grade 2 (and got a distinction ) after only x months because he is able to practise every day at home Obviously you'd like their child to take the exam as soon as possible as well so that the child feels that progress is being made and doesn't get bored, because if she gets bored, she won't learn as quickly, and then that will take even more lessons

The sums are that a lovely 76-key portable digital piano can be bought for £220 including sustain pedal, mains adapter, music rest and keyboard stand (I know this cos I've just bought one ) and that equates to around 9(?) lessons. Let's say that for every hour a week the child spends practising, the parents save the cost of a lesson - so they would recoup the money after 9 weeks. (I think I've blinded myself with science here, not sure if the logic is correct, but hey it's getting late and it sounds feasible )

Anyway you get the drift - what they spend on the piano, they will save on lessons. And they'll be so pleased at your altruism that they'll recommend you to their friends

None of this answers your question about what level can you go up to on a digital instrument (piano might be different to keyboard), but at least they wouldn't be spending too much if it got her up to G3 and by that time they would have some idea whether she was going to stick with it and make it worthwhile buying a full-size piano.

Depends on the Keyboard and the pupil I think.....

I am happy taking some pupils who can't afford a Piano past their Prep Test and onto perhaps Grade 1, though I know teachers that will take them past this point, perhaps to Grade 2 or 3. The Keyboard has to be of the right quality and standard to do this though and the pupil should get a chance to rehearse on a real Piano if at all possible. I know of a pupil of a friend of mine who had been practicing for her Grade 1 exam on a second rate Keyboard, got into the examination hall and couldn't get used to the weightedness of the keys on a Piano... she also played the pieces an octave lower as the register of a Keyboard isn't as big as on a Piano. It was pointed out to her nicely by the examiner I think, and she did pass but only barely. I'd be worried that if taking a pupil into an exam situation, they may be flummoxed by the difference in feel and tone than the Keyboard they are used to. I'd be wary of this if possible.

Really??

Did you not read the phrase I put directly after that

Yes really




The piano was £159 and the sustain pedal was £28. They could do without the other accessories if they wish and just spend £187.

The piano has adjustable graded touch, MIDI connector, the facility to connect to computer, 2 grand piano voices, 2 organ voices, strings voice and several other voices.

Now now skylark, hold the sarcasm...perhaps the full questions was "Really? Where from? Details, details, details, please, so we can all go out and buy one!"

I want one

That wasn't what she asked though...


It's the Yamaha NP-30, I started a thread about it a few weeks ago in the Piano forum... this is the link

I got it from Gear4Music - this is their web site with the NP-30 spec


I'm really pleased with it, and if the OP's pupils can get by with a portable digital piano of this nature, then I think this particular model is extremely good value for money and lovely to play.

An electronic keyboard is fundamentally unsuitable for learning piano technique, though it is adequate for the lower grades. How far you can go depends entirely on the determination of the student.

A modern digital piano with graded weighted keys, touch sensitivity, and a sustain pedal is quite different, and good enough to go to a high level (Grade 8 or beyond). The higher your standard the more important it becomes to supplement work on a digital piano with some time at an acoustic piano - whether an upright or a grand.

By the time you reach diploma level and beyond it becomes important to have some access to a grand piano, but useful practice can still be done on a digital piano.

The only thing I find a little bit odd about my 76-key portable digital piano is that Middle C is off-centre. But it's a small price to pay for an instrument which in every other way does just what I want it to do.

I should say that I haven't tried the sustain pedal yet so I can't comment on how easy/effective the sustain pedal is.


Edit: I've just seen another thread which has reminded to say that there isn't a left and a right pedal - I don't know how much that makes a difference to its suitability for learning for exams

I will forgive your sarcasm. I was just amazed that a digital piano could be so cheap. I paid £2,200 for mine.

Is yours portable? If not, that could account for the difference in the price. When I was looking, I didn't see a portable digital piano on the market for more than around £1500 and most of them were considerably less than that.


Email me if you want to try it out!

Mine's a Clavinova CLP 170. I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'portable'! Yes, it can be moved and isn't as heavy as an acoustic, but I couldn't carry it around easily!

That looks lovely, and going by the spec it sounds well worth the extra cost

Many thanks to everyone, it as been interesting to read about your piano skylark, I think I'll go on site and take a look at it, and also see what else is available. 76 keys, that will be 6 octaves I think, guess thats why your middle C it not centre.
I'm still not sure what to say on Sunday, they are coming round to collect certificate, and discuss next terms lessons. By the way skylark she only has one 45min. lesson each week, so I don't want them to cut done on that for the cost of a piano, or I will feel like I'm buying it. ( if you get what I mean).

I think I will just say Congratulations for doing so well on the theory exam, give a little hint, that with some extra practise on a piano you may get a distinction for practical gd 2. Suggest to mum and dad they ask at school if she could be aloud some time to work on her exam pieces. That may be enough to make them realise a piano would be a great benifit.

P.S. I have a digital Piano, it is of very good quality and it cost well over 2 grand, also have an accoustic, but I really prefer playing on the digital, it is also good for recording the pupils progress, I think It also adds a little bit of pressure when I ask them to record their piece. The other thing I find helpful is that I can change the weight of the keys, so they get the feel of playing on a different piano.
serrano