Ever since I was young, I have loved listening to all kinds of piano music. It didn't matter whether I was listening to live or recorded music, as long as it had that piano sound that I love so much. When I began learning to play the piano, I used a small Casio keyboard that was made in the late 1980's. It helped me learn to read notes, but was decidedly lacking in many areas. So I saved my money and purchased a used 1914 Kimball upright grand piano. Though a century old, it has been well-maintained and has better, richer tone than many newer instruments. For the past decade it has been a source of great joy for me.
A few months ago, a friend invited me to play the keyboard in his band. He already had the equipment, so I agreed to give it a try. The moment my fingers touched the keys, I realized three things:
- When an electronic keyboard is connected to an amplifier, it sounds AWESOME
- Electronic pianos can have touch-sensitive keys (when I pressed harder, the music was louder, and I could play softly as well)
- Electronic keyboards have come a long way since the 1980's
After that experience, I knew I needed to get a keyboard of my own, so I saved my money for a few months and purchased a new Yamaha PSR-E433 keyboard for $250. I also purchased a sustain pedal for $20.00. In other words, for about the price of two acoustic piano tunings, I was able to completely pay for brand new, state-of-the-art equipment that needs no such maintenance.
I spent the first few hours with my new keyboard experimenting with the hundreds of different sounds it could produce. Some of the effects, such as "Piano and Strings" were quite beautiful. Later I discovered that with a free program called Anvil Studio and some piano sound samples I already owned, I was able to produce very high quality piano recordings. In addition, the portability of the piano allowed me to bring it anywhere. And, because it was always perfectly in tune, it made for a much better experience when I played along with popular recorded songs. I've even been learning to play the organ, which is something that can't be done with an acoustic piano. And when I'm playing late at night or early in the morning, I can use headphones to avoid disturbing sleeping family members.
I still play my acoustic piano regularly, but there are many, many things that my electronic keyboard does better than an acoustic piano (most of which I have yet to discover). After years of resisting, I am now convinced that an electronic keyboard is a significantly better investment than an acoustic piano.
