AIBU to buy ds keyboard instead of a piano?

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My youngest son has started piano lessons and he wants a piano. We dont have the space and live in a terrace. Trying to persuade him a keyboard would be just as good but he is adamant. He is only 6 so not like a music genius. AIBU that keyboard is perfect to practise on?

PS A good quality digital piano might actually be better than a cheap, poor quality acoustic... so if you get to point where you want to buy an acoustic you should seek advice on it from the piano teacher or someone else who knows what to look for.

YABU, as others have said! I’m a pianist, I bought a Yamaha Arius YDP-S52 Digital Piano for around £600 (you can find it cheaper second hand) and it’s been absolutely fantastic and taken me up to grade eight. It plays better than most digital pianos twice or thrice the price.

You can’t learn to play the piano on a keyboard, to people who’ve never played it seems like it’s just snobbery but if you’ve ever actually tried to play they’re worlds apart and you’d be wasting your money on a keyboard.

Also obviously you can play with headphones so it solves that part of your requirements.

Have a look at gear4music

They do the full bundles, digital piano (88 keys), headphones, stand and bench to sit on.

I'd be interested in what any of the music teachers on the thread think about children doing their piano practice on a digital piano with headphones on. I'm only a parent with no particular musical expertise, but it sounds like an inherently bad idea to me. Practice is only beneficial if you are practicing the right thing. Playing something incorrectly repeatedly just makes things more difficult, and that is surely a risk if a child is doing their daily practice with headphones on? DH or I still listen to our son's practice even though he is now way ahead of anything we attained ourselves both in theory and practical levels. But we can still tell whether he is making repeated mistakes, or is getting frustrated with something and needs a gentle nudge to move onto another piece. We don't sit in the room with him but we always have an ear out. Now he is in 6th form he has started doing his practice in free periods at school some days and I miss my daily concert! If they practice with headphones on, how do you know they are doing it right- or doing it at all in fact?

But it’s not for parents to judge if the child is playing correctly, it’s for the teacher. It’s the child’s activity and hobby. And it’s for the child to want to practise.

A stage piano is exactly what you want. Rolands, yamahas are all good- just make sure it has the full 88 keys.
Do not dismiss your6yos enthusiasm though. My eldest began piano at 7. When she sat at the keys, it was like an extension of her, she got so much out of playing even when she was at basic level. She now studies at junior conservatoire, and her piano has been worth every penny we spent on it in terms of her enjoyment, self-development, opportunities etc.

Would have thought headphones only relevant for late evening/early morning? Again at 6 you're not talking hours of practice a day.

Digital pianos do have volume controls and depending on the make adjustable feel such that you can adjust for a heavier feel to develop finger - DD started on default and eventually set heavier to get closer to teacher's accoustic

(It's also possible to record a performance and use eg museScore to generate a score and check the performance for note accuracy - useful in the early days for those of us who can't follow the keyboard)

Preference for accoustic is understandable I guess, but if its to be 'better' than a good digital piano then there are a raft of considerations, floor, room resonance, humidity range, finding a good tuner and maintaining in tune - what's better for a student - learning on an out of tune piano or an always in tune digital? (88 key, weighted, touch sensitive etc) Do avoid the X stands though.

Re. headphones, I tend to agree for 'proper' practice that it's better done out loud so parents can overhear what they're doing. Headphones all the way for when they just want to jam, no problem with that - it encourages improvisation.

Some digital pianos have two headphone sockets for teaching and duets, not sure about the model OP linked.

@Frankiestein402 - "record a performance and use eg museScore to generate a score and check the performance for note accuracy"

Did you actually do that? I would have thought that the score MuseScore (or any software for that matter) would generate from a random live-performance midi file would be absolute garbage - nothing like what was originally notated! I suppose it would at least have the same notes in the same order, but even then it would only make any sense if you'd recorded each hand separately. Or has automated MIDI transcription has improved transformatively in the last couple of years?

One of my children gave up playing the piano when we had an acoustic piano. Lacking confidence, they felt self-conscious when playing and didn’t want anyone to listen. It got a lot worse when their younger sibling started to learn and swiftly overtook them. They stopped piano soon after. I do think it was a shame.

But there has to be some sort of compromise until it's established whether he's going to keep up the hobby? Yes, the compromise is a digital piano. How does he know if he wants to keep piano playing if he's actually playing a keyboard rather than a piano? They're different instruments.

Re. headphones, I tend to agree for 'proper' practice that it's better done out loud so parents can overhear what they're doing. Goodness, I would never have practised if I'd thought my parents were listening! As it was, I practised happily with no reminders, got to grade VIII with a lot of enjoyment, and still play occasionally 50 years later.

Re museScore - yes did this quite a lot in early days when dd was getting pulled up by teacher for mislearning bars/pieces - only useful for confirming note accuracy, lifting and timing - obviously no chance for dynamics, fingering etc.
If you think about it, upto say grade 3 the lh/rh are relatively distinct in most pieces - the transcription almost always got the key and time signature but the quantization often translated minims as multiple shorter notes and occasionally created chords across lh/rh ;) however quite a way from absolute garbage! (I used to do a quick pass and move notes across clefs where necessary to simplify the score comparison)
it got us out of that inaccurate phase, though it might have happened anyway, it's not like I've any experience in this other than dd.

The other thing about digital piano (& keyboard) is that you can change the sound from grand piano to eg electric piano, harpsichord, vibraphone, strings, organ etc or even scat!
Useful IMHO to destress a practice/stop early & keep it fun cf - "do you think that would sound better as organ or celeste?" I found DD would/still does sit and compose random stuff for her videos using these as well as pure piano

I'd be interested in what any of the music teachers on the thread think about children doing their piano practice on a digital piano with headphones on. I'm only a parent with no particular musical expertise, but it sounds like an inherently bad idea to me. Practice is only beneficial if you are practicing the right thing. Playing something incorrectly repeatedly just makes things more difficult, and that is surely a risk if a child is doing their daily practice with headphones on?

Headphones aren’t ideal but if it’s a case of being able to practice daily/whenever the mood takes them with headphones or not being able to practice at all due to disturbing others/being limited to certain times of day, headphones win. Not every kid wanting to learn the piano is fortunate enough to live in a detached house with lots of space around, many are in flats with irritable neighbours or have baby siblings etc!

Also in my experience, unless a child has a parent who is also a musician it’s pretty unlikely that their mum or dad is going to have the knowledge to be able to pick up on errors/frustration etc. especially beyond the earliest grades when the music is more nuanced. With regular lessons it’s only a week or two until the teacher hears what’s been practiced and can course correct.

I actually think headphones can encourage some kids to play more as they’re less self conscious about others hearing them getting it wrong!

Practice is only beneficial if you are practicing the right thing.

Also, practice is a process of learning how to play something well, and in the long journey from first seeing a piece to mastery almost every step of the way involves playing something ‘wrong’, realising, trying to play it right, adjusting how wrong it is to become more correct, etc. If your practice is only ever playing the right thing then you’re playing pieces that are below your edge of improvement!

We bought a secondhand electric piano for £100 off facebook.

It's a yamaha & has weighted keys, built in metronome & various other things. It also has volume control & a headphone socket.

It's brilliant! My DD has her lessons using a baby grand piano & goes between the two easily but struggles a bit using a keyboard at Grandparents house because it feels so different.

Also a bonus of having an electric puano is it doesn't need tuning & can be moved easily.

Agree with most, get a digital piano. Seconding Gear4Music, I have one of their own brand stage pianos and it's fine, lots of choice there.

Keyboards are shorter and tend not to have the full seven octaves that an actual upright piano has. This can be limiting as he progresses. But at 6, I hardly think he’s playing Rachmaninov.

Digital pianos (we have a Klavinova) are the next best thing to a piano, with weighted keys and headphones to practise in silence (tho when my husband plays with the headphones on, I can still hear the keys thumping). But we are in a mid terrace and I think this is an ideal solution.

Digital weighted keyboards are ace! Headphones a godsend.

Both my daughter and I are learning.

My husband brought us a new one as a present but I actually silently despaired as I'd shown him loads on eBay and Facebook market place that were like new and half the price.

I dithered about the weighted digital/ real piano dilemma. I read an article about how concert pianists practice in their hotel rooms late at night and it's not on a grand piano! I have lessons on a real piano and have no issues transitioning between that and my Yamaha at home.

My background is that I'm a music graduate, specialising today in producing recordings of historical keyboard instruments, but with a lot of playing and piano recordings behind me.

Thank you for asking this important question.

In my opinion, for home use, a really good digital piano from a reputable manufacturer is suitable. This means properly weighted keys, a good sustain and, of course, the full compass. There is absolutely no substitute for the subtlety and tone of a genuine acoustic piano, but the ability to practice at any hour, and experiment with any kind of composition or exercise without risking the irritation of other household members or neighbours, are good things. Also, the instrument will always sound good, and never need tuning.

Avoid gimmicks, such as any kind of automatic accompaniment. Your child can learn to provide their own.

Do ensure that any headphones used are not so loud as to damage hearing. Please regularly check this.

And insist on regular practice of scales, arpeggios and other technical exercises as a supplement to and pieces, so your child's hands and fingers learn instinctively, over time, where to go. Please also regularly check playing posture and freedom of movement: an adjustable stool is worthwhile.

I wish your child many happy years of learning and playing once the initial technical difficulties are overcome. It has been a great joy to me.

DD learnt on a keyboard, bought an electric piano when she got her Grade 1.

We have a digital piano and it's great. I learned the electronic organ(two keyboards and pedals) and the digital piano is far better. And means the children can also play a "proper" piano.

My daughter started with a cheap keyboard which has 5 octaves. We got her a cheaper one as we didn't know whether she would stick with it. It was okay initially but as she practised for her grade 1 exam it wasn't as good as the keys aren't weighted. We are now looking at getting a Yamaha p45-b which has weighted keys and comes with a pedal. It is available for about £315 on Amazon.

If he's going to do his grades and you want him to get high marks, piano all the way. Don't know about these mimic keyboards. Will they be the same when he goes to his exam and has to play on the piano?