Over the last year, we’ve added three new tools to our home school. In case you’re in the market for the same tools, I thought I’d write a short series sharing what we have selected and how we made our decisions. Today, I’ll talk about our piano.
We bought a digital piano, the Kawaii Concert Artist 65, through a local piano shop. I visited the shop once by myself to ask all sorts of questions, once with my husband for his follow-up questions, and once with my father-in-law for his experienced opinion. I took piano lessons for ten years, so I have some piano knowledge which helped me to narrow down the field. My husband is our resident researcher, so he learned even more online. Then my father-in-law, who is an experienced pianist and veteran piano teacher, weighed in to seal the deal.
We went with a digital piano for a few reasons:
1. Small footprint. It has essentially the same footprint as an upright, but possesses a higher quality sound.
2. No tuning! Remembering regular oil changes and dentist appointments are already hard enough for me. I did not want to add piano maintenance every six months to the list!
3. Recording Ability. It can record the music we play on a flash drive for us to share with others, including family not nearby. I like the idea that we can document their development as well.
4. Headphone Jack. The littles can practice with headphones in. This is not something we regularly use, but may come in handy for them to practice when the house is busy or when younger ones are napping.
5. Volume Control. This is especially helpful when my littlest little wants to play like her brothers.
6. Piano player capabilities. We’re part of a new church plant and thought this could come in handy.
If you can visit a local piano shop to “test drive” the pianos before buying one, I highly recommend it. The digital piano we selected has weighted keys, which feel remarkably like a “real” piano. With the range of pianos on the sales floor, we could hear the grand piano vs the upright vs the digital piano and the various model types for each of those pianos. Comparing pianos side by side really helped us make judgments on what we liked, what was important to us, and what fit our lifestyle.
Have any questions or want more specifics? Let me know! I’ll do my best to help. Stay tuned for the next post in the series when I’ll share about our telescope.
That is a beautiful piano and we too came to the same conclusions about the electric keyboard. I was so against it having had many years of classical training. I thought I could never buy a digital keyboard but I happened to find one that really surprised me in how great it sounded and felt. We have the Casio Privia 120 and for those on a more strict budget I would highly recommend this keyboard. I have had no complaints and at a mere $500 is it a really great deal. We bought ours at Clemmer Music in Harleysville. You can buy them with a portable stand or a permanent stand, which looks a lot nicer.
Christy, I felt the same way! I had this romantic notion of a traditional piano, but this choice made so much more sense. Thanks for the additional recommendation!
Thank you — we will need to buy a piano when we move. I don’t know if we will go with a traditional piano or a electric keyboard.
i’m glad you found this info helpful, beth! are y’all heading abroad soon?
Wow, I didn’t realize the right keyboard could do all of that. We inherited our first piano from a friend that wanted it out of their house. we just bought our second piano for $100 from another friend who was upgrading to a baby grand. Beth if you are patient you can find one for free on the homeschool loops folks seem to give them away a lot here in Texas.
great deals, wayne!