If your child is starting piano lessons, you will soon have a very important decision to make. you will need to purchase a quality instrument for them to play in your home. Now the big question…should i look at a digital piano? The answer is yes. Today, your child is learning at school and home thru technology. A true digital piano will give them technology, room for growth with an acoustic piano touch and sound. All of this combined will encourage your child to spend more time at the instrument and to not avoid practice time.
“Midi” is and still is a big part of the digital piano. This allows your family to plug the instrument into your computer and open a new world of programs that are conducive to playing and learning music in general. They can add sounds, controls, and work with several recording programs. What now makes the digital piano even better is the fact that they have USB ports to make recording easier, or can be use directly with an iPad. Your app store is full of great programs for your iPad right now. Children learn very fast, and they love a challenge.
They are not afraid of new things like many of us, and they learn by trial and error. Once again, this keeps them at the instrument instead of being in front of a television.
The new digital pianos have a graduated, weighted piano feel and a spring type return that makes the key bounce back as if a real wooden action were in the unit. This is what is needed in classical playing and fast piano pieces. Some of the higher end digital pianos even have the same piano key tops as what you will find on many grand pianos. The part I love, as a parent myself, is that they are always in tune. Hearing perfect pitch all of the time will train the student to hear the perfect sound. This also means when they play an acoustic that is “out of tune,” they will know immediately! This is perfect ear training! This also means there is no tuning expense for dad. The headphone jack is a great application also. Your child can play any time day or night without disturbing other activities going on in the home.
The digital piano is not for everyone. I would never say it is. However, if you have children and are at this point in their musical education, it is definitely something you should try before making your final decision.