What kind of piano should a beginner buy?

Yamaha Arius YDP-144 If your budget allows, a Casio digital piano or keyboard will be the best option. Casio Celviano is a highly refined line of instruments for those in search of a truly authentic piano experience.

hampsteadpianoacademy.com - How-to buy a piano guide for beginners

Where did the piano take place?

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Acoustic pianos: new, second hand or rented?

In other words, acoustic pianos are the real pianos ; the instruments that better respond to the fingers’ touch.

However… Don’t buy it if you can’t try it!

It is very important to compare and play many different models and to take your kids with you to let them try all. When they hear the sound they like, they will feel which piano is the right for them.

Buying a new acoustic piano

If you are ready to buy a brand new piano, you will make no mistake. You will be investing in your family’s enjoyment and your children’s intellectual stimulation. Moreover, an acoustic new piano has a much longer lifespan and holds its value better than a digital piano, the latter built to have a turnover and become obsolete after a while. Just like Iphones! When buying a real piano, you should bear in mind that no two pianos will ever be exactly the same. Even if they are the same model and brand, so we always recommend to try it in situ instead of buying online. The best acoustic piano brands are Steinway, Fazioli or Bosendorfer but also the most expensive. There are more affordable models from brands such as Yamaha or Kawai, or second hand pianos.

How to find a second hand acoustic piano

Used pianos are also an option, but it may be more difficult to find “a healthy one”. You will need to travel around to play each of them and then pay for the delivery to your home. In addition to all the things covered so far in this piano buying guide, there will be more checks needed: equal quality, sound and response throughout the whole keyboard, strings, hammers, dampers, pedals, buzzes, distortions… Although they will be cheaper than new, be careful, bargains could be deceptive and you might end up paying more for restoration, extra tuning or other issues. If you would like to give this option a try, bring a professional along with you to tell you the real condition and value of the piano. If it needs any work, ask for a quote and be realistic about numbers.

Renting an acoustic piano

If you are not sure if your little Mozart will quit next year or lose interest rapidly, do not take the risk and rent a piano instead of buying it. This option will allow you to see how much it is being used and enjoyed before paying a notable amount of money. It will give you more time to decide. Or you could also opt for the “home rental with purchase option”, where the monthly rent will be reduced from the total prize if you eventually decide to buy.

Otherwise, the instrument can be easily returned!

Hybrid pianos

Last but not least, ask the piano retailer for some hybrid models. They are a combination of acoustic and digital, combining the advantages of both. While these instruments work and sound as real pianos, they also offer the possibility to plug in your headphones and practice silently at any time. Available in grand and upright size, what else!

Where to buy a piano

Some piano stores in London, not too far from Hampstead and St John’s Wood, are Hampstead Pianos, Jaques Samuel Pianos and Markson Pianos Ltd.

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Is Zoom good for music lessons?

Zoom should now be ready for music lessons (whether you're a student or a teacher). Zoom is good for music lessons in most ways except that it is impossible for a student and teacher to play together and hear each other in real-time, so you can only do duets if one player is muted.

jazzworkshopaustralia.com.au - Zoom audio settings for music lessons - Jazz Workshop Australia

Zoom works well for online music lessons but you need the right audio settings for it to do what you need. Here they are. You’ll find the audio settings by clicking the up arrow next to the “mute” microphone icon on the bottom left corner of the meeting screen (also via the cog icon, top right of the start screen). The settings are shown in the main picture at the top of this post. Make sure “automatically adjust microphone volume” is NOT selected. Set “Suppress background noise” to LOW. Select “show in-meeting option to enable original sound” and select “High fidelity music mode”. Don’t enable echo cancellation or stereo sound. That’s all you should need to do in the audio settings. Go back to the main screen and select “original sound” (top left corner). If you can’t see any of these options try maximizing the zoom window. That’s it. Zoom should now be ready for music lessons (whether you’re a student or a teacher). Zoom is good for music lessons in most ways except that it is impossible for a student and teacher to play together and hear each other in real-time, so you can only do duets if one player is muted. This is due to a time delay caused by latency. To overcome this issue, you need to use different software and maybe some additional equipment. I’ve previously posted about how to play music together online. However, Zoom is excellent in many ways for lessons and group tutorials too. For example, it makes it much easier for different students to work on their own parts or at their own level without disturbing others or taking time away from other members of the group.

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