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refine my technique or not?
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Topic: refine my technique or not?
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1piano4joe
PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 418
refine my technique or not?
on: March 22, 2014, 06:07:58 AM
This may or may not be another bizarre post from me. If it is I apologize but I don't deliberately try to be a weirdo it just comes very naturally to me. So, here goes.
Okay, I was given an unweighted electric keyboard and noticed that I sometimes cause two notes to sound. Is this "normal"? Does this happen to anyone else? It seems that when playing between the black keys if you slightly touch one then an electric circuit is completed and an unwanted note sounds. Do I need to clean up my act or get a better keyboard?
I removed the front cover on my upright piano and sure enough I was causing dampers on adjacent notes to lift and even hammers to move slightly.
Obviously, this affects the sound (not that I ever noticed). Is this something I need to concern myself with? Do I really need to refine my hand shapes, placements, movements. etc.?
I doubt that I would have ever discovered that this was even happening if not for that "junkie toy keyboard".
It's portable and allows me to practice/play (sort of) wherever and whenever I want. I can't be lugging my 500 pound upright around and well, it's loud, even with the "practice pedal" it can disturb others if they're in one of their moods (which is just about always).
Also, I can practice as long as I want on this and I don't get fatigued after two hours because of my age. However, the sound is truly disturbing to my ears and the pedal moves around all over the floor.
I'm thinking, maybe I should just live with it as I don't really enjoy playing on this keyboard but at the same time I don't like the unwanted notes.
Maybe I should get a weighted digital? Certainly, the sound would be a big improvement! How far does a key have to travel on one of those to sound?
For those who have both a digital and acoustic piano how does the touch compare?
Thank you, Joe.
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hfmadopter
PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 2272
Re: refine my technique or not?
Reply #1 on: March 22, 2014, 07:24:45 AM
On my Kawai MP6 the touch compares favorably though a bit heavier than my grand pianos touch.
It depends on what you get for a weighted keyboard. I found in my research of keyboards when looking for mine that there is a pretty big difference between brands and even models within brands. But I have to say, I bought mine mostly for the silent option and now I haven't touched the grand in months. External sound will be as good as the sound system you hook it up to though. Headphones are great just don't buy really cheap ones.
Regarding the touch I can only speak for my MP6 about setup. However on decent weighted keyboards there will be no sound till you hit bottom of the travel. Sustain on my Kawai is able to be setup with both held not sustain and pedal sustain over a range from 0 to10. Open string harmonics or so called sympathetic harmonics all adjustable. Velocity the same thing, attack, tone all adjustable. It goes on and on. I'm sure that lesser models than my stage piano still have many adjustment options built in.
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Depressing the pedal on an out of tune acoustic piano and playing does not result in tonal color control or add interest, it's called obnoxious.
schwartzer
Full Member
Posts: 115
Re: refine my technique or not?
Reply #2 on: March 22, 2014, 02:08:25 PM
I have a yamaha p105 electronic keyboard that I use when I travel and can't take my grand with me. It does not have this problem at all, just not so heavy keys.
Usually, unweighted keyboards are either very low end or are not supposed to play classical piano repertoire. I recommend getting a cheap digital piano, as it's the "closest" thing you'll have to a real piano. That is, unless you're thinking about paying 2,000+ dollars for a clavinova.
Edit: I also have a version of Synthogy Ivory piano plugin in my laptop. Sure, the sound of the P105 is not bad at all, it's actually amazing with headphones. But I really miss different samples for different velocities. Take a look at it on youtube, it has a great sound.
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