Practicing on a Roland, lessons on a Steinway

[bernadette60614]

My teacher has told me that I am never going to develop good control over dynamics while practicing on my Roland digital.

While this is undoubtedly true, any pointers on how I might improve my dynamics and the "translation" from digital practice to acoustic lessons?

[brogers70]

The limitations on your ability to control dynamics and voicing almost certainly do not come from your use of a digital piano. They almost certainly come from your technique. But that's a good thing, because you can improve your technique over time. The reason that I say that is that I used a digital for 10 years; my teacher was always able to get a much better sound out of the digital than I was, better tone, better dynamic control, etc. Which means to me that the limiting factor was my technique, not the digital piano. When I finally got a grand piano the transition was a pleasure, but getting excellent dynamic control was still a technical issue for me to work on. A lot of older teachers have a reflex reaction against digitals; just smile, nod, and then do your best on your digital piano.

[hfmadopter]

Much depends on how this statement is applied. Lets suppose you are going to play digital piano, maybe your own Roland and that's it. Then in that case your teachers acoustic is something to get used to when there but the acoustic may not really help your technique on the piano you will play almost always otherwise ! Complete reverse of what your teacher has told you. Your teacher is speaking in terms of if to play acoustic, if you play your digital exclusively other than lessons then really you need to learn technique based  on how the digital responds. And at that, some things cross over anyway. It also depends on the exact Roland and how it's set up and how the action is on the acoustic grand.

Many digitals today are not so hugely different from grands. There is an exception when comparing the best digitals to a grand. Digital will sound below the escapement no matter how gently you sneak up on it. However, if your touch isn't that light you may never notice. It could lead to some laziness though if you use the acoustic a lot but practice on the digital exclusively.

Some low end rather lousy digitals have pretty lousy action or basically non, so the model of Roland you are speaking of has some play into this statement of your teachers.

Now, on the other hand, if you intend to be a top performer on an acoustic grand piano then get yourself an acoustic grand piano !

[pianist1976]

What Roland model do you have, how old is it?

[iancollett6]

I have an upright accoustic and a yamaha digital. I love the accoustic and I use it whenever the opportunity is there. When the kids are in bed I use the digital.
 I feel the digital is an acceptable substitute for scales, arpeggios and learning notes of pieces Im playing.
 However there is no way I could be satisfied with only having the digital.
 I understand that if someone only has the option, for whatever reason of having a digital then that's how it is, but in my opinion, to have the full "piano"experience,..accoustic!
 A digital cannot fully express the emotions of a piece.

[hfmadopter]

 A digital cannot fully express the emotions of a piece.

 I can't agree with  the line above, I literally bring my wife to tears with some pieces I play on my digital and goose bumps to some others. So I'd say it's faithful in reproducing my emotion .. My grand sounds a bit different than the digital but I express similar emotion through it. It's resonance and tone are different . I've physically dialed in the dynamics of the digital to respond similarly to my grand in terms of EQ ( using EQ to get keyboard zoning to produce volume similar to how the same areas of the grand produce volume or capability, I should say) and finger dynamics, my Kawai is of a level that you can do that with and responds accordingly. It's a very dynamic digital piano.

Digital is still different from the acoustic, yes. I get that warm fuzzy feeling when sitting at the grand that I really only could get from sitting at a grand and that's without playing a single note but more the shear fact that it's a grand ( throw back to my younger years). Uprights don't do that to me, the better quality uprights make great sounds too but I don't get that feeling and generally the action is different on an upright. A good digital has action more like a grand actually. A lousy digital and even some good digitals but maybe lower end have basically no action and not much control over adjusting dynamics.

Adjusting dynamics on a digital piano is only effective if you can play it with the dynamics intended. My digital is very responsive to my emotion and is infinitely adjustable to be more or less sensitive, bottom line. Actually I'm surprised with it in this regard and the more I work with it the more I learn about how it can be made to produce for me ( I've also learned some boners to not duplicate again in the setups !).