Music Keyboards For Vocal Instructors

If you’re a voice teacher it’s essential to have a keyboard instrument in your studio to plunk out notes and play scales for your students.  Not everyone has access to or can afford an acoustic piano but there are some digital music keyboards that will work very well for use in vocal instruction.

Having a high quality piano sound is probably the most important feature to look for in the music keyboard you select.  A piano sound is accurate, easy to hear and one of the easiest sounds to tune to vocally.  All digital keyboard instruments come with a wide variety of sounds that are difficult to tune to because of their timbre, overtones, or they have a soft attack. 

Anything that can be done to create an accurate listening experience for the singing student is important for them to learn as efficiently and correctly as possible.  Be wary of the lower priced keyboards, particularly the budget arrangers,which have low quality piano sounds that can also be difficult to hear and tune to accurately.

Portable digital pianos are probably the best option in terms of sound quality and functionality for vocal instruction.  These tend to be just the keyboard itself with a basic stand (the stand sometimes is optional).  The “full fledged" digital piano, which comes with a bigger and heavier cabinetry, will also work but may be more than you need.  The advantage to the digital piano is it can be positioned so that the instructor can play the keyboard while facing the student, thus the instructor can more effectively see and hear what the student is doing. 

All digital pianos come with high-quality piano sounds (as that is what their main intent is), with a full 88-key keyboard and typically with weighted keys that feel like those on an acoustic piano.  It’s important to have at least the 76-key or 88-key keyboards to make sure you have enough notes to accommodate any low basses that can sing below a low-C (61-key keyboards tend to only go down to a low bass C).  Be sure the keyboard has a built-in sound system as some digital pianos, particularly those designated as stage pianos, require external speakers.

There are quite a few digital piano options to choose from and it’s best to go try them out at the music stores to determine which one sounds and feels best to you.  If you want to be able to do more than just play piano, you may consider looking a other types of keyboards such as workstations or arrangers, many of which also have high quality piano sounds.  As long as it’s easy to hear and tune to for the vocal student, you have a musical keyboard that works well for vocal instruction.

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