Small keyboards?

[Katymac]

DD sings & can read music; she had the best part of about 6 years piano lessons

She is at college doing Musical Theatre and would like to take her enormous weighted key thing, is it a digital piano? down to college with her - but there is no way she can fit it in her room

Is there anything smaller that is pretty much 'properly in tune' that she can pick out the melody line while she practises her singing?

It needs to be able to use headphones really - but I don't really know what I should even google for as it needs to be better than a toy but not ridiculously expensive

[Ferguson]

Hi Katy - this one of my specialisms!

Much of the cost and weight of a digital piano comes from the key mechanism trying to simulate the response and 'feel' of an acoustic piano.

A touch-sensitive Keyboard will be lighter in weight, and will have some control of dynamics, but maybe not much.

Most instruments will have a headphone socket; some will have AUX in/out to connect other instruments or to an amplifier/hi-fi system for bigger sound. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) allows a Keyboard to connect to a computer; today this is often via USB, but previously there were special MIDI sockets and cables.

Many Keyboards have 61 keys, shorter than a piano's 76 or 88 keys. There USED to be 49 note Keyboards, but that is very short and I don't know if they still exist.

But as DD needs it to support her singing, and possibly not for 'performance', the restrictions of fewer keys won't matter so much.

I'll have a look what's available these days, and come back or PM you. The latest Keyboards are going in for a lot of 'tuition' systems built in (which I don't care for), and possibly connection to phones, tablets etc, which is a bit gimmicky.

I'll come back in a few days.
Cheers

[Katymac]

Thanks so much - she is getting good at sight reading, but she worried about singing what she has heard (You-tube, Videos, radio) rather than what is written & if there are a lot of sharps & flats it's only by playing it she can get it right (does that make sense?)

Really appreciate any help. Ideally it should fit underneath a single bed width ways (again that may not make sense)

& her lovely big one is a Yamaha DGX 300 but it's too big/heavy to move about regularly

[Katymac]

Is any good

[Ferguson]

Hi again -

I've looked at original prices for the NP-11 and they were £150 to £180, so should be all right. But does advert say has to be collected from Ludlow, Shropshire? [I haven't used ebay, so not really aware of procedures.]

Also saw a comment from a user that it had 'clacky keys', and I think it's only 2.5 watts per channel, but with headphones that wouldn't matter. So there could be cost of accessories, if she wants headphones and a 'sustain pedal'; I assume it should come with power adaptor.

[Katymac]

That wasn't the actual one I'm after - just the type

It looked slimmer than the this sort of thing

She will only be able to use it with headphones most of the time (flatmates & landlady ), which she has. I hadn't thought about a pedal as I doubt it will be on a stand really, just dragged out from under the bed

[Ferguson]

Yes, the NP-11 is slimmer, but a tiny bit longer. The weights are virtually the same, 4.4 or 4.5 Kg. Also both have same power and speaker size.

You can get all the dimensions and specifications from the Yamaha website:

uk.yamaha.com/

If you have any shops or dealers near you, you might find something there, especially if you explain your needs. Don't be afraid to 'haggle' with salesmen, and try to get a stand, power adaptor etc included. Older models may be cheaper than the current ones.

[Katymac]

I guess I assumed something with less twiddles would be more piano like?

I'm useless at haggling; my friend is ringing some shops for me tomorrow