I am looking for that excellent blend of reassurance and information that I think of as one of the best parts of the blogging world. Sure, I suppose I could ask all my local friends and acquaintances one by one what they know about X, but that would take ages—and, statistically speaking, few of them would have any information. OR, I can ask HERE and have instant access to THE GREATEST MINDS OF OUR GENERATION (please resist madness/starving/hysteria kthanx).
Okay! So do you remember when I wrote about children and instruments? After that, with my mind tidied and bolstered from the aforementioned reassurance/information, I signed both Rob and William up for piano lessons. Ahhh, the relief of TAKING ACTION after months of fretting! Why didn’t I do this MUCH SOONER?
…And that’s right about the time the panic set in. Wait: WE HAVE NO PIANO. How will they PRACTICE?
You may be looking at me right now with an expression of incomprehension and disbelief, wondering how did this HAPPEN? Who would arrange for piano lessons without having a piano? Who DOES that? But wait! You should hear my side before you wonder if it’s time to up my fish oil or what. Follow my pattern here: I signed Rob up for clarinet lessons, and then after that we acquired a clarinet. I signed William up for trumpet lessons, and then after that we acquired a trumpet. I signed Rob and William up for piano lessons, and then…OH CRAP.
It’s been NORMAL to first consider the lessons, and then acquire the necessary instrument. BUT PIANO IS DIFFERENT. Piano is not in the “Oh, let’s contact Uncle Music [my musical brother, who has made it his personal mission to acquire instruments for my children] and thus acquire this instrument!” category. Even if pianos were FREE, I would not WANT one at this stage of things. *panicked panting*
Okay. So this is where I turn to you. Because for all I know, this is UTTERLY TYPICAL. Maybe almost NO children who take piano lessons have pianos at home! Maybe the piano teacher would be surprised if we DID have a piano! Maybe it is absolutely typical for schools and piano teachers to have…some other solution to this. I’d been thinking, “Oh, they can practice on our keyboard,” but do you know how many keys our keyboard has? THIRTY-SIX. Do you know how many keys a piano has? EIGHTY-EIGHT. This solution is NOT GOING TO WORK.
I am trying to calm myself with thoughts such as: “Okay, okay, everything will be fine. AT WORST, we cancel the piano lessons, cancel the class Rob is taking next school year and find something else for him to take among the remaining scraps of unsigned-up-for classes, and I’ll feel completely embarrassed and foolish in several directions.” (It is not a very helpful thought.)
How about a keyboard? You might even be able to rent one from a music store.
They can practice all the basic stuff on a keyboard, even a small one. It’s not ideal but will be fine for a few week’s worth of lessons. Pianos are often practically free though, if you would be willing to get one (and able to fit one in your house somewhere). Check out estate sales or craigslist – there are usually lots of people who would love to get rid of theirs if you’re able to pick it up. If either of the kids remains interested it might be worth considering down the road.
Inexpensive, easy fix: get a keyboard. Especially until they start advancing that will be sufficient. Ideal, maybe not, but certainly sufficient.
Ok, don’t freak out. A lack of piano is not a disaster! And you don’t need 88 keys at the beginning stage of learning – that’s 7 octaves!
Practicing on the keyboard should be fine to start off with, I would imagine,as long as the keys are a reasonable size. However, they will soon grow out of a 36 key instrument.
I think, if I were you, I would look into a weighted keyboard – but don’t rush into buying anything! Discuss what their piano teacher recommends. Pianos and decent keyboards are expensive – but you can buy ex-show models, second hand instruments or use credit deals (at least, this is true for the UK). Your current keyboard should be sufficient to start with. If you do invest in a bigger, better keyboard, weighted keys are the single most important factor; piano dynamics are determined by the strength behind hitting the key. Without weighted keys, there’s no way to gauge this (I speak as someone who learnt piano on an unweighted keyboard)!
Good luck to you all. The teacher will have the best advice, I think. Speak with him/her.
My sister took piano lessons for most of her Elementary School years. At first, our family did not own a Piano, she practiced on a keyboard and it seemed fine. As she advanced, the pressure for my parents to acquire a real piano built. As I understand it, more advanced pieces require access to more keys and to the petals of a piano. So, maybe, a keyboard will suffice for your boys to practice on, at least for a while. Perhaps, long enough for them to figure out if they like the Piano enough to continue on with it and justify your having to obtaining such a large instrument. Then again, as your boys are older than my sister was when she started her lessons, perhaps they will be playing more advanced pieces and needing a real piano for practice sooner than my sister did. Sorry, I meant this comment to be more helpful than it turned out to be, after that last bit.
I have the opposite problem. We got a piano (FREE) from my mother-in-law with the intention of signing the kids up for piano lessons. Um, that was 2 years ago. And she asks monthly if anyone is using it. But it is a good place to set family photos. And my 3 year old pounds on it, so it does get some use!
I agree that starting out with a keyboard is likely fine until you see if it is something they want to pursue. If you do want a piano eventually, check Craigslist. I know lots of people who have gotten “free” pianos if you are willing to move it or pay to have it moved.
Deep breaths. DEEP BREATHS.
I started playing piano before my family had a piano. My grandparents, who lived next door, had a piano. Eventually, once it was clear my sister and I WERE going to play, we acquired one.
I think piano teachers will generally assume that kids have access to a piano to practice, but/and I would start there, if you could handle the potential embarrassment factor. Ask him or her what her students who DON’T have pianos do. Yours are surely not the only ones. The school may already have some sort of system in place. (Even better! Life lesson: help Rob and William script out some questions for the teacher and make — er, have them ask!)
It surely depends somewhat on where you live and if you have an active Craigslist or Craiglist-y community, but I should think it wouldn’t be too hard to acquire a piano or a more appropriate keyboard on the cheap. I know you said you didn’t want a PIANO in your house right now – at present I have an almost full-sized/keyed electric piano that is almost as good as a real piano but a much more portable instrument. You have options besides a baby grand or even an upright, is what I’m saying. Even if you ended up buying an electric piano new or almost new, they can be much cheaper than pianos. There are also seasonal piano sales.
Other options for practicing that do not involve a piano-like structure in YOUR house would involve some pants-hitching up and wine for strength, but you could look into some sort of trade or swap with a family who DOES have a piano. Babysitting for piano time, or something like that. I know your family is not super religious in a practicing sense, but local churches generally have pianos. As do community colleges. With two kids playing, the logistics may be too complex to be worth it – but then again, if the kids have to go offsite to practice at specific times, that may circumvent some of the struggles about when to practice.
Finally, IMO you still have some time to work this out. Beginning piano does not start out using all 88 keys. ;) The different size and feel of the keys may actually be the issue that pops up first, rather than access to ALL those notes.
Good luck. I’m looking forward to hearing how this goes! (In an “I believe in the Swistles” way, not a trainwreck-y way.)
Does your keyboard have normal-piano-sized keys? Because if it DOES, then it should be totally fine for the first couple of years of piano lessons. I took piano lessons for 4-5 years, and i barely progressed past those 33 basic keys. (Of course, i wasn’t very GOOD, but still. For a couple of years you should be fine unless one of your children turns out to be a Mozart-type.)
If your keyboard is the type with the extra-skinny keys, though, i would look for a different piano for them to practice on. A lot of piano is muscle memory, and when the size of the keys keeps changing, it’s really hard to hit the right notes. Does one of your neighbors or friends have a piano you could use? Does your school?
They should be able to practice on a keyboard for the first year or so of lessons, possibly longer. The outer keys on a piano are typically only used in pretty advanced pieces, and working the pedals comes in a little later. I actually know a kid who is concert level player and all his family owns is a keyboard.
Sometimes schools will have pianos that they can practice on in off periods or after school so that may also be an option.
But the keyboard should work just fine for the time being.
My husband and I often have a very short conversation on this topic. He thinks they should take piano lessons. It goes like this:
Him: We should have the boys take piano lessons.
Me: On what?
We have no piano. We have no access to a piano as our friends who had a piano sold it a couple years ago. We have no money to buy a piano & we have no place to put the piano we cannot afford buy. I’m not entirely sure we have money for piano lessons as I have so far avoided trying to find a teacher due to the aforementioned lack of piano. Our tiny rural area schools lack instrument music classes except for 4th grade recorder lessons and high school band class populated I suspect by gung ho go getting parents who are willing to drive 30-45 minutes one way to a private class.
Or maybe there are a ton of music instructors teaching at home as part of some underground music teaching movement & I have yet to learn the password to gain the information to their locations.
I’m certainly not going to ask people. I suck at asking people. If the info isn’t found on the web & I actually have to talk to a human being the odds are good nothing will happen.
My thoughts – similar to those already expressed:
1. I agree the size & feel of the keys is more important for a beginner than the actual number, because you spend your time in the middle, and don’t use pedals at first. So if your keyboard has full size keys you might be good for months.
2. As for accessible piano, what about a school, a church, a rec center, a “music center” (you have to pay for those in our city, but you can just sign up for a block of time to go play), a senior center almost always has a piano.
3. I don’t think this can be THAT unusual – lots of people don’t have room for a piano – so I agree that asking the instructor is a good step.
4. Electric keyboards that have more keys (even up to 88) are really good nowadays and are close enough to an actual piano that it should work, but is cheaper and more space-saving than a real piano. If you start watching prices they may do back-to-school sales – or if you are able to let your music store know what you are in the market for, they may keep you in mind. People trade-in instruments and perhaps you could get a deal?
I kept typing “paino” in this comment. Good luck!
We are in the same boat! My daughter wants to take lessons, but our home is too small for a real piano even if we could afford one. And I was feeling conflicted, because using a keyboard might not be the same thing. (Like if we paid for lessons, maybe the teacher would be judgey about it. “Oh, you practice on a KEYBOARD.”) But last night, at our end-of-the-year-homeschool-extravaganza-thingy, one of the 2nd graders did a piano performance. He was really, really super good – and he played on a keyboard. I think it was more of a fancy-pants level keyboard because it had a pedal. (He also brought a special folding table and bench that was just for his keyboard.) But it made me feel reassured – that if we do sign her up for lessons, using a keyboard won’t be weird.
My husband is a musician for a living, so we have both a piano and a keyboard. But when my son who is 7 started taking piano lessons this spring, his teacher encouraged us to have him practice on the keyboard, because she said that kids enjoy using the different sounds on the keyboard and it helps keep them interested in practicing.
It might be a good idea to check with the teacher you signed up with and see if she/he on board with them using the keyboard, at least to start? Also, we have seen many pianos both acoustic and digital on craigslist even in our small town, so maybe you can find something not to expensive.
Well, it’s not the end of the world. They definitely need SOMETHING at home to practice on. At their ages, they will likely be expected to practice 30 minutes per day. A keyboard will be fine, at first, though I agree with the suggestions of getting a “weighted” key board. The keys feel more like a real piano that way, and will be way more helpful in learning technique.
As far as school goes, mine did have practice rooms you could reserve. They were for all instruments, theoretically, but each contained a piano that took up half the room (small room) so were mostly used by those needing to practice either the piano or something accompanied by it (like small groups that would sing with piano accompaniment).
You’ve gotten all the advice you need, at this point, and it’s all excellent, so I will just repeat for emphasis: don’t panic. Keyboard will be fine, at first, especially if the keys are standard sized. Check with the instructor (bring the keyboard to your first lesson!). Lots of people are in the same boat as you, don’t feel shy/embarrassed. Depending on your keyboard and your kids’ skill, you may need to upgrade soon, but you’ve gotten good advice for that. Good luck.
A small keyboard is really no worse than a big piano that is out of tune and where some keys don’t work, which is what some kids have.
Oh – I wouldn’t try to move a piano yourself. Holy moly those things are heavy. Fork over the money for professionals.
I asked a friend who teaches piano lesson about this once. Her opinion was that a year or so of practice on a keyboard was acceptable, but after that, they should really get a piano.
We have a keyboard that is full-sized has full-sized keys. I don’t recall how much it cost, but I do know that it wasn’t very expensive – we bought it when my son was getting interested in music, but I know we didn’t pay much, since he wasn’t taking lessons or anything yet (and he never did do piano/keyboard) – it was just a “fun” purchase. It would do the trick until you were sure it would be worth it to consider a piano.
Not for Swistle, but for the rest of you who are wondering how to get a piano: Pay a piano mover. Someone will give you one.
I am in the throes of emptying out my in-laws’ house, and there is a piano. We have to pay to make it go away, because there are more pianos out there than there are people who want them. And when people accept that they cannot sell their piano, they start wishing that it were at least not necessary to pay to get rid of the thing.
You may have to repost on CL or freecycle, but someone near you is trying to shed a piano. Keep asking, Someone will come across. Trust me.
This is incredibly true. We actually THREW AWAY a piano because no one would take it. I had to pay actual money to the dump for the pleasure of hauling it there and shoving it into their dumpster. WE got that piano for free from Craigslist, thinking we would use it (we didn’t) and we could keep it tuned (we couldn’t – it needed major repairs I wasn’t willing to spend tons of money on). We threw it out because my parents wanted to give me THEIR piano, the one they bought for my childhood lessons, because they were taking my GRANDMOTHER’S piano, the one she bought for my mother’s lessons.
There are a LOT of pianos in the world. Someone will give you one if you’re willing to pay $100 for the movers.
My daughter practices on a keyboard. It does have weighted keys (so it feels like a real piano), and a full sized keyboard, and even includes a pedal. Her teacher suggests we get a piano, but we really don’t have a good place to put one (open floor-plan house, not much wall space). My mother offered us the piano she has had for many years, but the teacher said people don’t seem to understand that pianos are not just pieces of furniture, they’re instruments, and that they don’t last indefinitely, so I suppose we’d have to have it completely gutted and redone, at which point we might as well have bought a new one.
Also, if the boys do take to the piano and want to start a band, they could take a keyboard to all of their gigs (heh).
I am adding to the chorus saying “buy a full-size keyboard”…or perhaps rent a keyboard from the music store for a while to make sure it’s what the kids want to do before making the commitment to buy.
But I also love what “Slim” said above: someone will give you one. Even so, you might want to rent a keyboard for a couple of months before making the commitment.
It is going to be ok, honey! My eldest went for about 4 months with no piano, no keyboard. I wanted to make sure he REALLY liked it before I spent any money.
Then, I scored a Yamaha Clavinova for around $400. And we got a backup keyboard from Amazon for around $50. Not 88 keys, somewhere around 60 something.
Everyone else has provided exactly the same advice I’d give, so instead I come to offer reassurance that you are most certainly not alone. I played the piano for over 10 years after begging my parents to get me lessons. My parents were totally unprepared for me to take piano or to really love taking lessons and ended up renting a piano for 5 YEARS.
My mom is a pianist/piano teacher and has been for 40 years or so. She used to require that her students have a real piano before she would take them on – so this topic would come up with the parents before they were even able to sign up for lessons. I would think that if your chosen teacher thought similarly, they would have brought it up at the outset.
I told her for years I thought the requirement was a bit classist and discouraged kids whose families couldn’t afford a piano. Fortunately she has loosened up on this requirement considereably in the past few years, and I gather most of her piano teacher friends are also open to the use of a keyboard for practice – at least for the first year or two. That said, I do think the quality of the keyboard remains important. You want something that “feels” as much as possible like a real piano (see a couple of the comments above regarding the weight or action of the keys).
So, um, I have absolutely nothing useful to say except for the news that I find “pianic” to be one of the more charming made up words I’ve ever heard.
You’re totally good with the keyboard at first. They will be at that stage for a while (certainly weeks, much more likely months). You are actually smart not to acquire a huge heavy piano until you know which way the lessons will go.
We got our current piano on Craigslist, free in exchange for painting the owners garage (and hauling it home). $75 to have it tuned and we were all set. I wish you lived near me, you could use our truck.
Having finished reading, I was about to shut the tab when I noticed “Pianic!” What a hoot!
I am not even kidding but I am in the same situation! I put my oldest on the wait list with the neighborhood piano teacher and she called me TOday saying she will have a spot for him in mid July. I need to have a piano or at least a keyboard (apparently you can buy these with weighted keys-for a more piano-like experience) I don’t even know where to begin to look (Craigslist maybe) but it needs to happen pretty much now too. So I’m going to go back and read what everyone else wrote and hope to find an answer.
I am also dealing with a husband who thinks piano lessons are “fancy” and we’ve gone round and round on this for a few years. Neither one of us ever had music lessons as kids. He is finally on board with it but didn’t want to get the piano until I knew we had a spot. Good luck Swistle ! Hoping for an outpouring of “piano wisdom”…
my son (13) started piano in january. turns out he is pretty good… he has a casio keyboard (64 keys i think) which the teacher said was fine to start with..maybe fine for a long time. well.. he is pretty god.. and i wanted a ‘real’ piano because keyboards don’t have foot pedals (though i guess some do) and the keys are ‘weighed’ differently.. so i talked to his piano teacher and looked oncraigs list and found a really nice intermediate upright (the taller the better the sound by the way) for $2000.. there were tons more ranging from $200 to $5000+. so get a keyboard and see how it goes for awhile. i got my son the $2000 i found and it has worked out really well.
If you they do get to the point where they need a real piano, but you still don’t want one in your house, you could get a digital piano. It’s different than a keyboard in that it feels and sounds exactly like a real piano (mine was sampled from a Steinway grand), but it’s much smaller and lighter. I’d say mine is about 5’x2′. I got it specifically because I lived in an apartment and didn’t have room for a real piano. It cost me about $1500, which is a significant investment, but still, not as much as a real piano. (I will echo what some other commenters warned about the free pianos on Craigslist. A 60-year-old piano that was poorly maintained is not going to play much better than a Fisher-Price piano with rainbow keys.)
I used to always think I would eventually get a real one, but now I don’t think I ever will. My digital piano never needs to be tuned. It sounds and plays like a Steinway, which I could of course never afford. And my husband and I can move it by ourselves. Best part: you can plug headphones into it :)
I realize this won’t help anyone now, however should someone be looking for a keyboard during Christmas season (so mid-September the way retail goes?) Costco has really good options. This past season they had three different levels ranging in price from around $100-$300. And then they went on coupon so they even better. Plus they came with a stand!
I have never wished for a “Like” button on replys until this post! As a piano teacher, I would like to confirm that you have received great advice. Also, I encourage questions from parents about anything! So hopefully you have a teacher that understands that you have never done this before. I would strongly urge you to inquire if 36 keys is sufficient – for most teaching methods, it is sufficient for months if not longer than a year, but some teachers use a method that uses more keys, at which point you would want a larger keyboard. Also, if the lessons are at the teachers locations (that is, the teacher is not coming to your home), the teacher will need to know what kind of instrument the student is practicing on in order to teach accordingly (see size, weighted keys). Great job! Good luck!
One other thing – to the poster who felt that the band students were all receiving private lessons – that may not be the case. I was in band for 9 years (starting in the 4th grade) and I can probably count on two hands the number of students who took private lessons in addition to band. That may be a feature of where I lived or the school, but maybe not.
I’d go with the digital piano too: almost as easy to put away as a keyboard but it has the pedals and weighted keys. And even the connoisseurs among my friends find it an acceptable alternative.
If you live near a college or university with a halfway decent music department, it is probably also likely that it has practice rooms with pianos that you could rent or borrow periodically.
I took piano lessons and had a keyboard to practice on. It wasn’t really a problem. For the rare times I didn’t have enough keys, I would just mime that note and shout sarcastically towards my mother “I ran out of KEYS again!”
A keyboard can be had for about $100. And it’s fine for practice, ESP when they are novices.
I didn’t take piano lessons growing up, but my friends who did and didn’t have pianos at home practiced at church. They would go over to the church a few days after school/whenever in the summer, and practice for an hour or so on one of the pianos scattered throughout the church.
I have nothing to add to anyone else’s advice except that while the teacher of the private piano lessons might have different requirements/suggestions, my best guess would be that Rob’s school won’t have more than one or two pianos and will likely have any kids taking music classes practice on keyboards for much of the time anyway . This is, granted, based on my very limited experience with high school and junior high music programs, but pianos are large and expensive, and don’t travel well (e.g., for marching band). Usually, the ones the school has are played by choir and band accompanists, not the students. If the school has instruments for the kids to practice on, they might well be keyboards. It seems like waiting it out the three months of summer lessons then seeing what the school has/expects Rob to practice on should do for now, and you could probably explain as much to the private piano teacher – that you don’t want to make such a big investment until you’re sure your kids aren’t going to hate it.
My 7 year old is on year #2 of piano lessons and he still practices on a keyboard. I made sure to tell his teacher that’s all we have right now, and she was okay with it, especially since he wasn’t sure he’d want to keep going after this past year. Now that he’s loving piano and does want to continue, I’ll be looking at used SMALL pianos. So yes, a keyboard is perfectly fine for the beginner. BUT… one place we looked into signing him up last year would not do so unless you had a real piano to practice on. No thank you…. that place wasn’t for us.
I’m a pianist/music teacher. You should get a weighted keyboard if you don’t want an actual piano. A non-weighted keyboard means they can’t practice dynamics appropriately, and that concept is usually introduced pretty early. Playing on a real piano feels very different than a non-weighted keyboard. My past students who had non-weighted keyboards always had technique issues.
Im sure this has already been said, but a keyboard is fine for the first while. Piano will have to be practiced between lessons so a keyboard is a minimum requirement. An actual piano wouldnt be needed until much later.
I am a piano teacher and have a degree in music education. A small keyboard is fine for the first year, no more. After that you need either a piano or a digital piano with weighted keys. I recommend Craigslist for when you’re ready to have a piano in you’re home- people don’t know their worth and sell them for under $500 all the time! Play it before you agree to buy it and make sure all the keys function. It will need to be moved professionally and tuned a few weeks after it arrives in your home.
A weighted keyboard (“digital piano”) is smaller than a console piano (or god forbid a GRAND, can you imagine trying to add THAT to your house) and has the 88 keys in the right size. This would be a great thing to learn on if a piano isn’t available. Also, since it doesn’t have a sound board you don’t have to worry about putting it on an interior wall, which opens up the options of where-the-heck-do-i-put-this.
OR there might be practice rooms at the middle/high schools for the band/orchestra kids. In my experience at least half of these tiny, one-person practice rooms have a piano in them, mostly for kids to tune against. Even if your kids aren’t in band/orchestra you might be able to talk the administration into letting them in there to practice.
Everyone has covered this already, but from another piano teacher (I am one! I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on my blog, but it’s true): you don’t need 88 keys or a real piano, but you DO need weighted keys that are full sized. More than 36 keys + the pedal are for later, if it turns out your kids are going to continue :) But I really would stress that getting a keyboard with weighted keys is important – relearning the “touch” of piano keys is quite frustrating if you’ve only played on a keyboard where all pressure results in the same loudness. However, I personally don’t even have a piano – I have an “electric piano” aka a nicer-than-standard keyboard with fully weighted, fully sized keys (and pedals).
I just checked CL in my area, and it looks like some music stores will rent out electric pianos monthly (and the one I saw waived the delivery fee!)
I’m probably not adding much to this conversation but maybe just one more “don’t panic” comment will help you uh…not panic:)
I agree with this: If you live near a college or university with a halfway decent music department, it is probably also likely that it has practice rooms with pianos that you could rent or borrow periodically.
also, I played piano from age 9-20-something. It’s a huge investment! You are wise to wait to see if the boys really like it or enjoy it. A keyboard is TOTALLY fine for beginning – it’s not like everyone who “might” like piano can just run out and grab one!
Other than that, I think piano is a wonderful foundation to future instruments. I know the boys have already tried some but what is great is that they learn to read both treble and bass clef which means that later, it’s much easier to pick up another instrument as they can read the music. I started cello in 6th grade for that very reason – they needed a cello player and I didn’t want to do the “music appreciation” class because I was bored, since I already knew piano/how to read music. Win-win!