best keyboard in lieu of a piano?

what keyboard would be best in lieu of a piano? something portable that would not be too horrendous. by best, i mean within the $300 or therabouts price range.

i am thinking of taking up the piano again after having stopped a very long time ago. taking it simple with some elementary chopin etudes and maybe a polonaise or two for fun along with some preludes of rachmaninoff and bach so the keyboard does not have to be very advanced.

i have a feeling that digital keyboards cannot handle the fast trills i once could do on an analog piano but that's okay, i may never get back the dexterity i once had, no matter what.

forgive me if the subject is taboo, i am a newbie here.

s.wharton.upenn.edu> writes

Not taboo at all!

However, the 'feel' of a keyboard is significantly different and in the price range you mention, more like the organ.

Maybe you would consider taking up the organ?

Also I don't know at that price whether you even get touch-sensitive keyboards - so you really do have an organ!

The 'feel' of digital pianos can be just as good (IMO) as the best grands. I use a Roland FP1 which has a top-class sound and touch (and is portable but heavy) but out of your price bracket. I paid about $1500 for it over here in the UK. And it needs an external amplifier. My only complaint is that the 16(?) note polyphony and that the decay is *very* rapid compared to a real piano.

Regards

Bernard Hill Braeburn Software Author of Music Publisher system Music Software written by musicians for musicians http://www.braeburn.co.uk Selkirk, Scotland 01750 21854 +44 1750 21854

Not at all.

_Elementary_ Chopin etudes?

For classical music, you really need a digital piano rather than a digital keyboard, i.e., 88 weighted keys, but I doubt you would be able to get anything decent in your price range. Several years ago, I made the very same mistake: I bought a digital keyboard for about AU$800 thinking that it would be good enough, but it simply went unused. I found the keys were too springy and my fingers tripped over them, and the stand wasn't stable enough and the music and keyboard shook dreadfully when I played it. Just a month ago, I bought a digital piano, a Yamaha Clavinova CLP880 for AU$3300. I got it somewhat cheaper because it was from an older series (the new ones are the 900s), but I am very happy with it and it does what I want it to, with the exception that the decay is somewhat more rapid than I would like.

Sébastien Hew.

:> maybe a polonaise or two for fun along with some preludes of rachmaninoff :> and bach so the keyboard does not have to be very advanced.

: _Elementary_ Chopin etudes?

Sure.

Sonnarat/Jeff can be expected to weigh in here, since he just published two-ish-word characterizations of all the etudes. But _Chopin_ didn't give his students his etudes until they were well along in their

There have been quite a lot, in depth, discussions on this topic in rec.music.makers.piano maybe the best idea is to search the archives of that group. BTW the works you mention demand a lot of both instrument and pianist.

Chel van Gennip Listen to http://www.mp3.com/SergvanGennip

Adam, I don't think you will get 88 full-size touch-sensitive keys with any sound at all for that price in a new instrument. Your best bet is to go to an auction like eBay and seach for 'electric piano'. Your best bet quality-wise is a Yamaha or Roland; Suzuki makes an inexpensive electric piano that retails for around $995, but the sound is not as good. I would expect to spend, um, more than $300. I would not buy a Wurlitzer or Rhodes for the purpose that you want to use it.

Mike

Peter, there are etudes of Chopin which are not particularly difficult. E.g., the a minor and E major in Op. 10. I would grade them as 'intermediate', but 'elementary' is not an unreasonable way to describe them.

Back over to you, Sonnarat.

IIRC, Etudes mean 'studies' and studies were for advanced students. If you can play the Revolutionary Etude and consider it elementary, you should spend really good money on a piano and enter competitions.

I'm thinking that the Etudes are most likely arranged etudes so that a more elementary student can play a song that's kinda like the real deal. I was so happy when I learned to play Debussy's Clair De Lune. Little did I know it was an arranged piece which totally gutted the faster middle section. I still have trouble with that section (I'm not that good).

Or maybe we're underestimating his skills.

Meaning you don't need all the bells and whistles?

This really depends on your level and what you can feel. I'm early advanced and use a Yamaha P80 (~$1000). Works great, but needs external speakers. Good velocity sensitive keys, full size 88 keys, 64 key polyphony. It feels like a grand piano (to me), and performs much better than the spinnet at my parent's place.

A friend of mine is much better and uses a Disklavier(?) also by Yamaha. I think it's around $2500. He likes it.

For $300, you'll get one that'll feel plastic and sound less than decent. Unless things have changed drastically since I bought my P80 (about a year ago), I'd say a $300 piano would be a waste.

You might also want to try rec.music.piano.makers (or something. Search on piano). That's where I did my search and where I heard about the P80.

The best thing to do is go to the store and check some pianos out to see for yourself.

You are absolved of your sins.

: you should spend really good money on a piano and enter competitions.

: I'm thinking that the Etudes are most likely arranged etudes so that : a more elementary student can play a song that's kinda like the real deal. : I was so happy when I learned to play Debussy's Clair De Lune. : Little did I know it was an arranged piece which totally gutted the faster : middle section. I still have trouble with that section (I'm not that good).

: Or maybe we're underestimating his skills.

Now you make me feel sad. Actually these were the real thing, and I did learn to play the Revolutionary only because I liked it so much. But I did not have the patience or interest to get up to competition standards. So I actually sold my piano which was a large upright called an Estey, almost 5 feet tall to someone who had the piano rebuilt from the bottom up. He had to, since I took it all apart to get it to him, all of it, including all the keys and the harp which weighed several hundred pounds? He loved the tone and I was moving to a third floor apartment. A very stupid decision on my part.

In any case, I did not mean the Revolutionary but a couple of the Etudes which are relatively simple, as someone pointed out, they could be viewed as intermediate.

But I was not advanced as someone who could take Chopin's Etudes, turn the book upside-down, and then play them. Do you know anybody who can take a piece of complex music, maybe not the tricky Etudes, turn it upside-down and play them? Kind of deflating to even think there are those that good.