Beginner Piano? Should I upgrade?

[seandoherty]

I am currently using a Kohler and Campell baby grand piano. My teacher has a Steinway, and it sounds much better and I can much better and various sounds than I can on my home piano.

Is practicing on a bad piano holding me back? Does practicing on a higher quality piano equal a better pianist?

Or, perhaps pianists who practice on crappy pianos are better because they must try to create a good sound out of a only mediocre piano. Once they perform on the high quality pianos, they sound  great?

Thoughts?

[iansinclair]

There's nothing seriously wrong with a Kohler & Campbell, or at least there shouldn't be.  Not top of the line, but...

Do you have a decent technician to work with you on the instrument?  Tuning, regulation, voicing?  Do you have specific complaints about it?  Perhaps someone can make suggestions.

If the piano is genuinely bad -- out of tune, poorly regulated, uneven voicing, etc. -- then it certainly isn't helping you any.  But no, practicing on a higher quality piano does not equal a better pianist.  Nor, however, are pianists who have to make do on poor instruments better.  Indeed, if they have been playing for a long time on a poorly regulated, genuinely unresponsive instrument, they may have picked up some rather unfortunate habits, which can be hard to break.

See if you can find a technician to work with you on improving your instrument.

[hfmadopter]

I couldn't agree any more than I do with iansinclair's response,  nor add much of anything substantial to it ! Dead on advice.

[ranniks]

It is not the piano that makes the pianist, it is the pianist that makes the piano.

Or something like that.

My piano is 200% heavier compared to any yamaha grand I've tried up till now. Even most uprights I''ve played are not as heavy. And because of that I can practically play on any piano without messing up too badly because of the weight.