Emmy is 6 and has been wanting piano lessons for a few years now. we J. started looking into it. there is a school of rock here which looks good BUT they only do keyboard lessons.
what are the key diferences?
will learning keyboard make it harder to switch to other instuments in the future? she has a kids drum set and kids acoustic guitar she loves at home so I assume she'll eventually want to learn other insrtuments.
thanks=)
My son practiced on a key board for years but took lessons on a piano. If the place only does keyboard lessons you might want to see if it's a special kind of key board. Some have weighted keys which make them more like a piano. Keyboards are easier to transport and they don't have to be tuned and that may be why they do keyboards.
As a pianist, I would say the crossover from piano to keyboard is much easier, not the other way around. There is a certain level of dexterity and strengthening that comes with playing the real thing that you don't get with playing a keyboard- even a weighted one. There is J. something about a real piano that cannot be reproduced in a non-hammer and string instrument.
Also, probably the rock lessons are going to be much different than a traditional piano lesson. I would assume that rock keyboard theory is geared more towards learning chords, chord progressions, and using the piano as more of a back-up, supportive instrument. In a lot of rock music today, the piano is seen as more of a percussive type of instrument, providing beat and filler, not melody or lyric. I think that learning classical and chords are both important, but the meat of the instrument and theory comes with the more traditional training.
Anyway, I hope this helps!
Learning on a keyboard only effects learning on the piano later, not other instruments.
On a keyboard you press the key a sound comes out. No matter how you press the key the same sound comes out. A piano is an instrument so you press a key lightly you get one sound hard a different sound. Someone who plays the piano can always play a keyboard but not the other way around.
J. last week I asked a similar question - but from the other point of view. Here is the link, the answers might be helpful to you...http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/14862096288287227905
When I was a young child, I began organ/keyboard lessons. However, a music instructor then informed my parents that if they wanted M. to seriously study music/be classically & formally trained, I should learn/study piano. They switched M. over to piano lessons, which I found to be more difficult than the keyboards to play. I guess every child is different, but I would begin with the piano if you can. I think it would give her a good, solid musical foundation (provided she has a good instructor).
I'd have to come down on the piano first side. Learning to read piano music is tremendously helpful if she later plays percussion.
Piano is a percussion instrument. Both my kids play drums but they have played all kinds of instruments with their middle school and high school percussion group and marching band (13th in the state of Texas!). They play xylophone and mirimba and both require reading piano music.
Doing that made it easy for my youngest to play keyboard at church. It would not have been as useful to J. know chords on keyboard.
