For piano teachers: Is a Grand Piano really necissary to own if I want to major in music?

Yes and no.

No, a grand piano isn't absolutely necessary for a student pianist. A good upright is a fine practice instrument through a very high level of proficiency.

Yes, at some point, you will have to practice on a grand if you intend to become a concert pianist. However, many piano majors in college don't have a piano at home. Most practice in practice studios available at school.

I always recommend to students and parents that they get the best instrument they can afford. Playing on a nice instrument can subtly encourage achievement in a student. If you can afford it and you have the space for it, a grand can be nice. However, the quality of your instrument matters more than whether it is a grand or an upright. A high quality upright can produce a better tone and response than a low end grand.

In the end, the instrument matters a lot less than the practice you put into it. I've seen more than one great musician grow up practicing on humble uprights.

I hate to say this but disregard the advice about a keyboard. If you're interested in the piano you should have a piano. That being said, if you're a band teacher, clarinet teacher who all they need is rudimentary piano skills then maybe an electronic keyboard is fine. But a piano is a piano and if you want to learn the piano you have to learn how to play the piano. Clear enough? It doesn't matter until you have a relatively high level of proficiency whether you have a grand or not. I've played as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and I've only ever owned three pianos, none of them grand. That doesn't mean I wouldn't LOVE one, in fact I'd love TWO so I could play the wonderful literature for two pianos. (My husband answered this he's a symphony conductor and has played for a LONG time).

A grand piano is not necessary at this point in your career. All universities and conservatories have grand pianos available to piano performance majors for practice.

But do get an excellent "studio upright" piano. Both Yamaha and Baldwin have very good studio uprights with action that will approximate a grand.

As a music major, I assure you there are far more music majors, even piano performance majors who don't own them than who do! When considering a college to apply for, check out the quality of the pianos in the practice room. A good school should have plenty of decent baby grands, at least.

And I disagree with the prior statement that a keyboard can replace a piano. It can, if it must. But if you are serious about studying piano you will do yourself a disservice. A good keyboard is easier to get a good sound out of than a real piano, so you will get lazy, and when you finally do play on a real piano your techinque and phrasing will come out sloppy.

If you want to learn the piano because you hope it's "easy," then you are out of luck. Music is probably one of the hardest things to do, because you will NEVER be good enough. There's always more work to do. Piano is hard, but motivation and dedication will bring rewards. I've been playing for 15 years now, and I'm a piano performance major.

I wouldn't recommend the grand piano going into college. For one, you will always have grand pianos available for practice at the university- where you'll have all the peace to practice as loud or often as you need... and few people practice at home. And second, of those piano majors who bought grand pianos while they were in college- the piano always ended up costing an arm and leg because they always had to hire movers for it, they couldn't live in most apartments because of it's weight, and they could only play it very softly at the places who would accept it... and they mostly just practiced at the university. So wait a while.

I'm majoring in music currently. If you are planning on staying in a dorm look into getting a weighted keys keyboard. After all, you aren't going to have room in your dorms for a grand piano. I have my keyboard under my bed and it is very nice when I have a piano test the next day. Most college campuses have grand pianos and piano labs that you can practice on, but a keyboard does you a lot of good. Later on, if you become more serious about piano performance, I'd invest in a grand piano. However, at the college level, the keyboard is much more practical.

I would consider checking out a full-size keyboard with weighted keys. My daughter just started piano lessons and we bought a Yamaha (YPG-625). We live in an apartment so of course a grand piano is out of the question. It takes up about just as much room as an upright. It's a bit heavy but still portable. Plus, to help with the noise, she can either turn down the volume or wear headphones. (My husband was going to get a full-sized keyboard that was less but I insisted that we have the weighted keys. So when she plays piano at her lesson, there is really no difference as far as technique goes.)

When I was a music major, students had access to the piano labs. It should be a part of your tuition and you can sign up for regular practice times.

Unless you are actually majoring in piano, I don't see why you would need a grand. If you are a piano major, you will definitely need 24/7 access so you can prepare for juries, exams, and recitals.

Hope this gives you some ideas...

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as far as technique the keyboards feel the same. as far as sound they're different but honestly... you don't need a grand piano.

i've had a yamaha grand piano ever since i was 7. it's better than most of the ones i've ever played. it was a good chunk of change when my dad bought it as well.

recently i bought a yamaha motif ES8, which is a synthesizer with acoustic piano voices. elton john & prince use them in their studios. the great thing about the voices tho is that they're multisampled, meaning, you hit the keys harder, & it sounds like you're hitting real piano keys harder. it plays a whole different sound than if you hit it lightly. i actually enjoy playing it more than my grand! it actually resonates and rings better in its own way as well. i feel like i can get more creative with it.

but i'm not telling you this to talk about myself. the motif is OK. i wouldn't necessarily recommend it. it's about $2500.

the thing about the motif is it has the best key action for an electric piano/synth. it feels just like a real piano.

if i was YOU... I... would look into getting a midi controller, like the CME VX8. it's distributed by yamaha and has an AWESOME action to it. it runs for about $1000 m-audio's midi controller is very spongy. even tho it's half the price go with the CME. now the cme isn't a synth like the yamaha, it's a controller, which means you need either a hardware module like a synth rack, or a computer program like Ivory or Native Instruments' Akoustik Piano.

i actually have akoustik piano, and i use my motif to control the sounds on it, completely bypassing its internal sounds (yes i'm using a $2500 synth as a $1000 controller.. i didn't know better when i bought it.)

akoustik piano is $299. it also has the multilayer sampling like the motif. you hit it harder, and it rings more. it even has settings for the 'Lid'! it includes a Steinway and a Bosendorfer (obviously head to head with a REAL steinway you could tell the difference, but tonally i'd definitely recommend this setup over an upright any day. you'll get all the resonance) the ONLY thing here is i don't know if you have a computer, or would be willing to hook this stuff up. personally i have a macbook pro, and it's AWESOME for doing this type of thing.

oh you'd also need some decent speakers. you're probably looking at $500 for those. tho i'm sure you could get by with cheaper (i'm using some $1200 8" jbls but not every one NEEDs that.)

another acoustic piano app that's very well made is Ivory by Synthogy.

more upsides to this setup:

* you can play at ANY hour (Headphones!)

* takes MUCH less space & a LOT easier to move

* honestly i think MUCH cheaper. you go sound for dollar, compare. you'll see, i promise.

*if you use a program like Logic it has a notation view so you can use your controller to play the midi & it'll show it as notation. you can also use Finale the same way.

* if you get any type of synth module or apps, not only do you have a classical instrument but you also have any other instruments that are included in the app (the motif synth has thousands of sounds, you woudlnl't believe the sounds of some of the acoustic instruments.) akoustik piano has 4 pianos. i also have NI Komplete 4, which has thousands of sounds...

if you'd like to email me i'd be more than willing to help you.

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actually i wanna add to this. i don't want to talk out of my butt. what i suggested to you would definitely sound awesome. but in reading some of the other posts, i might have to agree that this setup may not be as good for technical skill.

sometimes when things sound good they DO make you lazy.

BUT then again, i almost want to disagree with the person who posted about that because having the electric actually IMPROVED my technique - as the keys were harder to depress, they strengthened my fingers, so that when i did sit down at my grand, my technique and facility was more fluid, as my fingers didn't have to strain or do anything that felt unnatural. kind of the same way playing bass makes it easier to play guitar. also stylistically having the resonance and sustain in the 'virtual' steinways & bosendorfers piqued my imagination so that when i sat down on my yamaha i'd try & squeeze different sounds out of it that i normally probably woudln't have thought to do.

yeah, you know what, i'd still go for the setup i mentioned. & here's why. you WILL still have grands at the school you can play on to develop your skill.

personally i don't like the sound of uprights and i think the lack of resonance and sustain can influence a person's style and inhibit the creative development that may better occur on a warm, ringing grand.

i'm gonna get flak from this, but it's like when bach moved from harpsichord to piano. it took a couple hundred years for them to really learn how to write for the piano. :-p

same keys, but the character of the instrument DOES effect style. when i think of uprights i think of.. well, jazz & blues.

i think with the midi setup you can very actively pursue the classical disciplines (when you can't make it to the grands of course) and at the same time if you're into modern stuff (i'm a bit of a depeche mode freak) you can creatively expand yourself with synths. all on the same gear. kind of a nice bonus. :)