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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

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Original poster

PIANO LESSONS?

26 replies

hifi · 02/11/2009 14:05

dd has said she wants to play the piano. i am looking into lessons for her but will i need one at home? dont know wherew it would go if we did.

OP posts:

LowLevelWhingeing · 02/11/2009 14:35

Yes, you will need one at home, that's definite. She won't progress is she doesn't practice everyday. Some people buy the electric pianos which are smaller and pack-away-able like this

While these are fine for an absolute beginner, you would have to graduate to a real piano if she wanted to keep it up.

Original poster

hifi · 02/11/2009 14:40

oh i could cope with the electronic, we are moving in about a year so could fit one in then. thanks

OP posts:

Hulababy · 02/11/2009 14:41

You do need one at home or one that she can use daily, for practise between lessons. We couldn't find any tutor who wouldn't expect DD to have her own for practising on,

DD has a digital piano. It was cheaper than a rel piano but feels and sounds like a real piano. Cost about £600-700 last Christmas. This should last here for several years and she'd only need to go up a piano (either a better real piano or a better digital one)after a fair few grades were passed.

A good music shop can help you.

sarah293 · 02/11/2009 14:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

displayuntilbestbefore · 02/11/2009 14:45

Even the best digital piano doesn't feel quite the same way to play as a real piano so if you can, a real piano is best but for financial reasons more and more people are buying digitals and they do have the advantage of being able to be played with headphones if space is an issue and rooms are used for other purposes (plus children like all the orchestra and drum effects!).
Good music shops are used to people with exactly your dilemma so will be able to advise you.

LowLevelWhingeing · 02/11/2009 14:48

Sorry, I meant that the cheap ones don't have the same feel as a piano, so if you wanted to play properly you need to pay more money for a real piano or a decent decent digital version with weighted keys etc.

islandofsodor · 02/11/2009 14:52

Exam centres are able to use digital pianos these days if the keys are full size, fully weighted and have a decent piano tone.

A good digital piano is better than a clapped out real piano but neither are as good as a top of the range real piano (but who has one of those pre music college level?)unless you are very lucky.

Clary · 02/11/2009 14:56

hifi we had this issue.

I asked at the lovely lovely music shop in our town and they agreed with lowlevel that ultimately you may as well get a real piano rather than a keyboard which is only any use for about 6mo.

We were able to hire one for free for 6 mo - just paid delivery - after 6mo we can buy it or hire it from then on or give it back if he hates the whole thing. Brillo!

Our piano is worth £1600 but it's 2nd hand so no idea how that rates really.

Clary · 02/11/2009 14:59

sorry bykeyboard only useful for 6mo I mean those portable ones, not one like Hula's costing £700, which would be more like what lowlevel linked to.

LowLevelWhingeing · 02/11/2009 15:09

No! I'm not slagging off anybody's keyboards! it was a v cheap 70 quid one I linked to.

Clary · 02/11/2009 15:56

lowlevel that was a stand for £70 you linked to. The keybard was £600.

LowLevelWhingeing · 02/11/2009 16:00

Der.......

Where's me readers.....?

Original poster

hifi · 02/11/2009 17:05

lol, i did think it was cheap!

OP posts:

Original poster

hifi · 02/11/2009 17:05

thanks everyone, food for thought!

OP posts:

maggiethecat · 02/11/2009 22:57

I need to consider one for dd and friends have recommended ebay or even freecycle but am slightly dubious about what I might end up with (never played piano and dont have a clue really)

LilyBolero · 02/11/2009 23:00

You do really need a real one - to get proper arm weight use, and gradation of tone you do need an acoustic one, but to begin with you could get away with a digital one.

My pupils who have digital pianos all struggle on our piano here, because they are not used to playing into the keys. It's a very subtle thing, and I guess to most people you wouldn't notice, but to get the full range of colour and tone, you need to be practising on a real piano.

LilyBolero · 02/11/2009 23:01

Lots of piano shops will run a hire scheme, where you can hire a piano while you see if it's going to be a goer for your child, then if you want to buy it, the money already paid is taken off the price, and you have had the advantage of really being able to see if you like that piano.

snorkie · 02/11/2009 23:58

If you can possibly squeeze a real one in somehow (they don't really take all that much more space than the keyboards) I think they are nicer and better value for the quality of sound and the keys do feel different and more responsive, even to the fairly expensive digital ones.

Ours was second hand (actually it's nearly 100 years old) and is in quite good nick having been completely restrung at some point in its life. I'm told by our tuner that it has a lovely tone, except a few notes that sound dead as the sound board has 'gone' (sadly unfixable but not the end of the world for an instrument in the home). Anyhow, it was around £500 and seems to be fine for grade 8 stuff, so you don't need to spend thousands if you can enlist the help of a local tuner to find a good instrument. You do have to be a bit careful with second hand (get an expert to look it over) or you might end up with something that needs work doing that is uneconomic. The cost of restringing is huge since the price of copper went up for instance.

christinamoore · 04/03/2010 11:42

Yes, it's important that your child has his/her own piano, or someone he/she can lend to, to be able to practice everyday.

A child cannot master the lessons through online lessons, he/she needs hands-on experience of the instrument. My son used to take piano lessons at home , and the learning experience brought so many advantages oon my child's piano playing skills.

We parents should spend and give everything to our children, especially if these efforts can benefit our children

kif · 04/03/2010 11:49

Doesn't a real piano annoy the neighbours?

I'm debating getting one - but we live in a thin-walled terrace - and already try our neighbours patience lots.

Dd has just started lessons. Her teacher strongly recommended getting a real one for her - but said 'all my pupils get them off ebay for virtually nothing - so don't feel you have to pay a lot'.

Hulababy · 04/03/2010 18:00

DD has no problem alternating between her digital piano at home and the grand pianos (one in lesson house, other int he church hall) in her lessons, or the uprights she has played at school and temporarily in lessons. Granted, she is only at basic basic levels and is learning for fun. Digital made much more sense for us.

IAmTheEasterBunny · 10/03/2010 20:37

kif - with a digital piano, you can use headphones, or turn the vol down considerably, so they are great for terraced houses!

McDrewCarol · 27/04/2010 18:10

My daughter Maddie learns at home with the Arts Academy... just posted to someone else about this as they started a thread about it... its a great option for learning music privately, at home. www.arts-academy.co.uk. They also offer a hire and purchase option... I bought a piano from them and they organised the whole thing... v easy and I hired it for a few months first from them, then changed my mind and bought the darn thing! They can also provide you with electric pianos and I'd only suggest if you're having a keyboard, it needs to have full size what they call, weighted keys.

Carol.

sophiesmummie · 27/04/2010 22:06

We have a digital Yamaha keyboard piano (cost about £150) which, while not having weighted keys, is touch sensitive. DD is taking her grade 3 piano exam next month. I realise that at some point we'll have to upgrade, but for the early grades this is absolutetly fine.

snorkie · 27/04/2010 23:13

By the time you start needing to use the pedal is often the time to switch to a real piano from a keyboard. Most keyboards don't have pedals that are remotely the same as proper piano pedals.

I think pedals start to come in at around grade 4/5.

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