About the weight of the piano keys?

[felipe717]

Well, I've never had a piano to really play, but I've played keyboard for about eight years...
But I don't give almost no attention to the "keyboard music", and I only play the "piano music" on the keyboard. My music teacher said (about two years ago) that I was more than ready to have a piano. And I'm extremely sure that it wouldn't be a waste of time (because I study about 5 or 6 hours everyday). My teacher said that I can play some musics better than her, and if I had a piano, I could study better and harder.
So, my parents and I have been looking for a piano. We've found a excellent piano, well conserved. I think we will buy it. It has ivory keys and is with no defect.
The only problem is the weight of the keys... I can play relatively well (I play the first of Pathetique, the first and second of Moonlight, the most basic Beethoven sonatas, some waltzes, etc.), but on the keyboard.
I would like to know if, with much practice, dedication and study, I will get accustomed with the piano keys... People can do it, or any pianist has difficulty with the piano keys?
How do you become accustomed to the keys?


I really love the piano, I really love to study. I really will do my best to study music, I just want to know if the keys will be a problem forever, or if with practive I can forget it.
Thanks, and sorry about all this explanation...

[keyboardclass]

Good to go!

[pianoplayjl]

You so need a piano. Unweighted keys will obviously impede your piano studies and your technique. IMO I'd rather have a very heavily weighted key than a light weight key. There was a recent discussion about the touch in Performance..

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=44835.0

[jtguru]

Like yourself, I also started out playing on a keyboard (due to a complete lack of money to spend on a piano), though only for ~3 and a half years. I had worked on a few Chopin etudes in that time; it killed my arms to play them on a real piano, and the sound was not great. As soon as I got the opportunity to buy a digital with fully weighted and scaled keys, I took it (I still don't have an acoustic). I thought it would be difficult to get used to, but within a week, maybe two, I no longer noticed the weight. During those couple weeks of getting used to the weighted keys, I exclusively learned new material; I did not try practicing the old stuff on the weighted keys because I knew I would have learned it with bad habits. But after several weeks of learning new material on the new piano, I unconsciously changed my playing habits and techniques, and I could then play my Chopin etudes and such with relative ease on weighted keys.

tl;dr Don't be discouraged, it is much easier to get used to than you think; just don't hurt yourself practicing too much before you are used to the weight.