Choosing Your First Keyboard
Do you remember the first time you saw a piano and got close enough to tap the keys? Piano keys are an irresistible temptation. You've gotta go up and bang on them. Most of these first piano concerts end when someone (mom? dad? the piano's freaked-out owner?) pulled you away from the piano. That first exposure leaves a lasting impression on some people, and makes them want to go back for more, to actually learn to play.
Today's world of keyboards is much more than piano. There are synthesizers (synths), samplers, workstations, organs and an expanding category called "portable keyboards." With the right combination of keyboards, you can make the sound of just about any other instrument. And there's something powerful about a big piano, organ, or sampler filling a room or an auditorium with a great sound.
So, you want to play a keyboard. But does it have to be a piano? The black and white keys are arranged the same way on several keyboards, including the piano, organ, synthesizer, and sampler. Of course, there are major differences in those instruments. A piano just doesn't sound like an organ, for instance, and when you play it, it feels different from any of the other keyboard instruments. Someone who learns on piano often says that other keyboards feel "mushy" to them, and organists often say that a piano keyboard feels "stiff."
But the wonderful thing about all the different keyboards, regardless of the way they feel, is that once you know your way around the black and white keys on one, you know your way around on all of them. Your fingers hold a C chord the same way on any keyboard, and they play the C major scale the same way, for instance.
So, which is better to begin on?
There are a few ways to look at which keyboard instrument would be best
for you to begin on. First, which sounds best to you? Second, do you
plan to be in a band later? Third, where will you take lessons to learn
this new instrument? Fourth, what can you afford?
What you can afford is, of course, important. Electronic keyboards tend to cost less than a piano, and 61-note keyboards make electronic keyboards more affordable than 88-note keyboards. Surprisingly capable and good-sounding portable keyboards are available for well under $500.
Beyond price, you might want to think of where you would like to learn this instrument. Go to the local music store, or check the phone book's listings under musical instruction, to find an instructor. Some may recommend that you get an 88-note keyboard, regardless of whether it's a piano or anything electronic. Some may have no difficulty with you learning on a 61-note keyboard. Your teacher might recommend that if you don't play a piano, that you get an electronic keyboard with weighted keys, meaning keys that feel like a piano, instead of the lightweight plastic ones in most electronic keyboards. Your local music dealer can help you to find one.
Why does a piano keyboard feel different from an electronic keyboard?
A piano uses a unique system in its keyboard, where the key is on a
long piece of wood that acts as a lever, which is in turn connected to
other moving parts, one of which has a small wooden, felt-tipped hammer
that hits the strings inside the piano. Every time you press on the
key, the hammer hits the strings and quickly "escapes" from the strings
so that they can ring out. Because of all the wood and mechanical parts
that the key attaches to, there's a weight and a solid "feel" to the
keys. Because a piano uses hammers to strike the strings, it's actually
classified as a percussion instrument. Go figure.
Electric organs, which came long before synthesizers and samplers, didn't need all of that mechanical stuff because to make a note, all you needed was an on/off switch for each note. So the keys were made of lightweight plastic, and they had a type of electrical contact underneath that turned each note on or off. Unlike a piano, which makes a louder note if you strike the key harder with your finger, an organ's notes were all at a preset volume. The note was either on at this volume or off, regardless of whether you pushed the key gently or hit it with a sledgehammer (don't try this at home!).
When synthesizers came along, they used organ keyboards, and then so did samplers. A lot of keyboard players complained that there weren't any dynamics under the player's control. Dynamics are the "louds" and "softs" that a player introduces by playing harder or lighter, and which give music a lot of its drama. Most current synthesizers have a "velocity sensitive" keyboard, which is a techie way of saying that it has dynamics. If you play a key softly, the volume will be soft. If you really whack it, it'll be loud.