Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards What is the diffrence beetween 'waterfall' keys and hammer action keys?

I never played a 'waterfall' key piano/organ and I would like to know how it works...

Rather than the standard white key on a piano which has a lip, waterfall keys are rounded and without a lip.

I would strongly dissuade ANYONE from getting a piano with "waterfall" or bevelled white keys! It's absolutely awful to play these pianos as your fingers have less of a surface area on which to play ... the fingers literally "fall" off the keys.

When you are used to a white key being a certain length, the 3-5 mm of length that are subtracted from the white keys on a "waterfall" keyed piano have the effect of causing the pianist GREAT frustration and I believe your controll of dynamic range is also, consequently, greatly limited.

If you tend to "stroke" the white keys at times -- and I think most intermediate and better players do this for expression and putting their whole body into a piece -- then you will be driven crazy by the waterfall feature. If you don't know if you "stroke" the keys or at least at times do a far reach that allows your finger to barely grab the END of a white key, then carefully watch (or have someone watch you play) yourself play for 2 minutes. I guarantee you will notice why a white key is supposed to be as long as it is with the standard "lip" that Christopher described above.

My sister has one of these pianos. I really enjoy playing the piano ... but I simply HATE playing hers b/c of that feature. So, I rarely, if ever, play her piano during the week each year I visit her (out of state).

I will admit that my sister is quite a good piano player (she was a music minor in college and is a piano teacher to about 10 kids) and doesn't seem to be bothered by her piano. I will accept that I am more precise and technical about things than compared to a lot of people, but, I personally think she has a brain-block somewhere to be playing that mess and also be teaching on it. She has a much greater tolerance for inferiority in that area of her piano. I would scrap that piano in an instant! Objectively, I think anyone would advise you to get a traditional "lipped" white key piano.

STAY AWAY FROM THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GreatLakes

Thank you GreatLakes and Christorpher...

You're welcome.

GL

ditto, your welcome!

It's personal preference. If you're into organ playing and want to do the cool tricks that organ players do, you need the waterfall keys.

Gregjazz,

I've never played the organ nor watched anyone play it w/ attention to the detail of what they are doing w/ the keys. What "tricks" are you referring to and how do waterfall keys help?

With "waterfall" keys, in addition to what I mentioned above about expression sacrifice, I'd say my reach is two keys fewer b/c of the smaller surface area on which to strike the key. Doesn't that sacrifice in reach drive an organist nuts?

GreatLakes