Two annoying traits of a piano I play . . . .

[alzado]

I have a nice grand at home, but at my lesson I play a Pearl River upright.  Let me hasten to add, this posting will NOT be a slam at this nice little piano.

But . . . .  there are two oddities about this piano that puzzle and irritate me.

1.  The music rack is not large enough to accomodate full sized music books.  There's a protrusion that represents an extension of the upper lid.  When one tries to place a music book, or even current items of sheet music, on the music rack,  a bind occurs. (Not enough vertical room to accomodate the music without scrunching it.)  I find this quite mysterious.  How could this have happened?  I have a few items of sheet music that were produced overseas that are somewhat smaller than similar sheet music printed in the USA.  Could this be it?  Perhaps the piano was designed for a different part of the world?  Has anyone else noticed this?

2.  The keyboard is lower than the keyboard on my grand.  It is very noticeable.  When I sit to play and put my foot on the sustain pedal, my knee presses into the underside of the keyboard.  It is quite uncomfortable.  To mitigate this, I tend to sit a couple of inches further from the piano than I would ideally like.  One possibility here is that the bench may not be the bench actually made for this particular piano.  Another possibility is that the piano's keyboard may have been set at a lower height to accomodate kids.  They have to reach the pedals with their little short legs, after all. (Of course, if a shorter bench were supplied to help kids, a man of my size would feel he were practically sitting on a footstool.)  Has anyone else had such an experience?  What is going on here?

In fairness, I do like the little piano.  It is an economical piano, but it is enjoyable to play.  It has a nice sound -- no one would expect it to sound equally good with a much larger grand, but it is quite satisfactory.  If dollars were very short for a family, I am sure this little instrument would be quite pleasing and very much enjoyed.  The problems I have experienced with it may not be the fault of the manufacturer -- esp if the studio has matched the piano with the wrong bench.  A person cannot tell just by looking at it, since the colors match. 

And of course, not every piano is going to please every person who plays it.  That is why we have many models, brands, and prices.

Has anyone else run into some of this weirdness?

[quantum]

I've noticed the same traits on some Kawai's that the uni I attended had.  Everyone used to practice with the top lid up because standard size music books did have that annoying bind and crunch.  Also I found that on these Kawais the pedals were not positioned back enough so my legs were in an uncomfortable position.  It was either cram your feet under and use improper pedaling posture, or extend your arms at an uncomfortable length. 

Not a slam to Kawai or anything like that.  I wish case designers would take these into consideration.