Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Digital/acoustic students - Can you tell the difference?

A teacher recently posted in the digital piano forum that "the results are clearly different between students who practice on a real piano, students that practice on a digital piano and students that practice on keyboards". Do all you teachers see a difference in results between students who practice on digital pianos and students who practice on acoustic pianos?

Ah. So you feel like starting a war on this forum? Of course there are differences between these students. But you will find the digital supporters won't notice these differences and will complain that the piano supporters are imagining things.

P.S. Why do you ask?

I definitely don't want to start a war. I know there is some controversy in this area, but the reason I ask is that my daughter and I are both going to be starting piano lessons in the next few months and I need to buy a piano. I had thought that I would buy a digital, but now I'm having serious second thoughts.

Maybe, in order to avoid conflict, someone might report to me simply "what they have heard said" regarding any specific differences there might be between students who practice on acoustics and students who practice on digitals.

I can ALWAYS tell when a student has been practicing EXCLUSIVELY on a digital piano. When a student practices on both an acoustic and digital I honestly cannot be sure that I can tell the difference.

There are fantastic digital pianos out there, having said that, and if you do want to go that way (for reasons of space and being able to control the volume living with neighbours on the other side of the wall, say) make sure that you get a digital piano that replicates absolute everything that a piano does: this may mean you are looking at an instrument that costs about the same as a good basic model upright acoustic piano new.

The things most noticeable about students who play digital pianos exclusively are a poorer execution of legato playing and a reduced ability to create dynamic contrasts. I had a wonderful student who had a digital piano only for the first 6 years of her lessons, and by the time the parents finally got an acoustic piano it was really holding her back! Now she's working on an acoustic she is flying ahead, but of course, she is getting reasonably advanced these days.

Moral of the story: it's a disadvantage, but a good digital piano can reduce these disadvantages to negligible for the first few years of lessons, but if you want to learn serious repertoire you absolutely need to have an acoustic piano.

I tend to think that if you are starting out and not sure if you are going to commit yourself to the instrument for years then start out with a GOOD digital piano. You will have some drawbacks, and you should be aware of that upfront, but then again, you won't have to pay great amounts of money. I personally think that basic, beginners repertoire doesn't inhibit the learning process. It's only when you start to hit the intermediate level and early advanced pieces were you should seriously consider purchasing an upright. I learned on an acoustic piano since I was young, when I started to play digital pianos at performances were a piano wasn't there, I noticed that the sustain pedal doesn't 'mesh' the sound as much as the acoustic piano does (so listening for pedal changing can be hard), I also noticed that the touch was very different and on top of that the sound wasn't the same as an acoustic piano.

I don't know about digital piano's.. but I can tell you that I can hear a definite difference between my son along with three of his friends who are all playing keyboards... and another friend who has a piano. The keyboard players fingers are not as "strong" as the boy who practices on a "real" piano. I can see where not having a acoustical or a really good digital has hampered my son's progress.

I agree with the above about getting away with it for the basic beginner.. but I left it too long. You really do need to upgrade before the 2nd year of lessons. I'm going next week to put my down payment on a new piano. Hope to have it soon enough to help him with this years recital piece.

I'm a student who practices almost exclusively on a digital piano. I always find it frustrating at my lesson to play with the right touch and volume on the Grand Piano. Now that I'm getting more serious about my lessons I'm going to try to get more practice time on an acoustic. Not all digitals are created equal however, I recently tried out the (expensive) Avant Grand N2/N3 and found the touch to be practically identical to an acoustic grand; practicing on one of those would pretty much be like practicing on an acoustic.

We are twenty yrs. into the Digital Piano Age, and yet many piano
teachers still have never played a digital piano, will
even refuse to enter a room where there is one, and will discourage
students from having one. There are even teachers who will
not take students with digital pianos, even a marvelous one
like the Roland V-Piano, which is essentially a concert
grand that will play rings around any acoustic piano.

This is probably what happened in the 19th century when the
pianoforte started to replace clavichords and harpsichords.
There must have been great resistance from diehard clavichordists
and harpsichordists who refused to give up their instruments
for the new instrument that "wasn't a real keyboard" and
that would "ruin your technique" for keyboard playing and
on which you "couldn't develop the proper technique" for
playing. These people stubbornly clung to their clavichords
and harpsichords until their deaths and never tried the
new pianoforte.

We are now in an era where digitals are replacing acoustic
pianos. Digitals have made acoustic pianos all but obsolescent
for home use. And with advances in software and circuitry,
the day is not that far off when a digital will be able to
replicate the finest concert grand.

I use a budget $600 digital that I bought sight-unseen online
last yr. This inexpensive digital is satisfactory for playing
anything, including the biggest concertos.

Yes, of course! The difference is night and day!

It's my personal preference to hear piano concertos performed live on inexpensive digitals too - but I really struggle to find performances to my preference in this regard.

Do you always know what a student plays at home? Maybe keep it as part of the records?

If not, the ones who stand out as either better or worse than average could easily get assigned to the acoustic or digital erroneously.

IRamChZ, a couple of years ago I resumed piano after almost 40 years (self taught as a child). I had played for about 3 months when I played in the house of someone I knew. She was a former piano teacher. Her first words were, "I can hear that you are practising on a digital piano." That was correct. "The development of your playing will be limited by this." which I had also already noticed.

This former teacher noticed it when I had played barely 10 minutes, and I had only been using a digital for a few months.

No, it wouldn't, and no, they will never be the same.

For the money, you're better off getting an acoustic.

Gyro, keep up the humorous posts. I haven't been back here in a year and forgot how entertained I am by you.

If this is Gyro’s attempt at humour, I vote that he now be promoted to court jester!
This is really very, very, bad and sad advise he is giving, and to me at least is living proof he has never, ever, played - and especially 'felt' - the thrill of a really good upright or grand acoustic piano.
Gyro occasionally gets close to some truths, but here instead of hitting the mark he misses by a mile in adding the word ‘any’.
Let’s get one thing clear. The Roland V-piano is an extremely fine, capable instrument. I tried one for about an hour, and did I like it? I simply loved it! And it’s certainly better than a huge number of upright acoustic pianos, and indeed certain new baby grands that I've tried. However, no way would I prefer it to many of the better upright pianos that I auditioned some while ago. I'm thinking here names like Schimmel, Seiler, even Kawai to name just a few.

No. The point is that you can tell within ten minutes (at most, as keystring attests) that a student is not playing an acoustic piano at home. It's nothing to do with being an average student - it's specifically to do with the way the student touches and approaches the keys, nothing to do with limited practice time or a failure to understand concepts. Great students practicing on digital will still be great, apart from having this distinctive (and inappropriate/limited) manner of touching the keys, which does mean that while they are great students they are struggling to be great pianists.

Elissa, could you give an indication of the manner in which a person learning on a digital piano touches the keys differently?

Generally the ability of the student to create anything close to forte is nil, while softs are well controlled (a student practicing on an acoustic piano tends to struggle more with soft than loud, and can actually create both, even if they might struggle with soft). Aside from this dynamic deficiency students practicing on digital pianos frequently fail to create effective legato shaping across a phrase. Legato also tends to not have the tonal control one sees in students working on an acoustic (that is, notes might *bump* within a smooth phrase). Both dynamics and articulation are about how you touch and approach the keys, and this is where teachers notice the significant and unmistakable signs of students working on digital pianos.

I find that those who practice on a good acoustic (grand or upright) listen more attentively to the sound they produce and are more aware of the subtle nuances that can be produced by variety of touch.

I can understand why lots of people opt for DP's where a good acoustic is just not a possibility. Unfortunately it just isn't the same. Even the new AvantGrand and V-piano (both of which I have played) can't give the kind of feedback you need. It's about more than touch and tone, an acoustic piano has character. When did anyone describe the sound of a digital as beautiful, warm, mellow, dark, rich etc. The most you can say is that they sound 'just like' a grand piano. What they sound like is a recording of a grand piano which is not the same thing from the pianists perspective.

The other thing I notice is a difference in motivation between those who have digitals and those with good acoustics. A nice acoustic is more inviting to play, it feels and sounds special. It's no surprise to me that my best students are generally the ones with the nicest instruments.

I can say, from my own personal knowledge, that I've been trying the digital keyboards from some of the best makers recently. I've been looking for a second keyboard, so I can practice 'after-hours' and so I can take advantage of the sequencer, other instrument sounds, etc. My present instrument is a 6-6 grand. The difference between them is that of throwing a switch, and of pressing a mechanical device which exploits the laws of physics to create both a 'feel' and a musical tone.

So far, I haven't found any DPs that come even close; not even close to a good upright action.

I got one of the earlier DPs twenty or more years ago (still have it), and played it for quite a long time. I'll just say that, when I started playing a real piano again, I found out pretty quickly what I'd been missing out on in terms both of sound and of the physical ability that's developed on a real piano's keyboard.

I can't bear to touch the old keyboard anymore. I couldn't recommend anything I've seen or heard recently for the use of a student.

I wondered because neither of my last two teachers asked what I had at home. We did discuss it with my daughter's teacher, as she started on an unweighted keyboard while we shopped for something better.

I practice on a digital at home, a decent upright and a grand at church. Those two acoustics are tuned regularly but not regulated or otherwise maintained, as are the great majority of acoustics. And in the church basement, in the cherub choir room, is an ancient upright next to a $50 unweighted keyboard. Nobody who's skilled EVER plays the upright, it's just too painful. Hee, hee.