Piano Talk (Why a Keyboard Isn't a Substitute for a Piano)

Hi Jazz Fans,

Over the summer I've been fortunate enough to have only had to play one gig with a digital piano (keyboard). A number of my pianist colleagues refuse to play digital pianos and I have to say that I can't blame them one bit. In fact, of my 5 top call pianists in Seattle, only 2 of them will play on a keyboard.

Digital pianos have their advantages: they're portable, they don't have to be tuned (neither do banjos right?), they're durable, you can plug them directly into a sound system (if you're into that sort of thing), etc. The disadvantage is, of course, that a digital piano, no matter how nice, expensive, modern or advanced, does not sound like a piano.

A digital piano works (in layman's terms) by taking a whole bunch of digital recordings of a real piano and then linking them up to the keys. Different samples are played when you play a key loud or soft, short or long, etc. It's a pretty impressive technology to be honest, but it's no piano.

Now some people will say "oh well you haven't heard the latest blah blah blah model from blah blah blah company." Well probably not, but, coincidentally, people were saying the same thing 10 years ago when I used to sell digital pianos at a retail music store.

So why doesn't the digital piano measure up?

First: digital. We're talking about digital samples so they don't have the warmth, depth, or accuracy that an analogue sound has.

Second: A real piano has an infinite range of dynamics and articulations; a digital piano only has as many sounds as it has samples in its bank. That means if I hit a key with x pounds of pressure and hit the key again with x+.0001 pounds of pressure, the keyboard is either going to round that 2nd one off to the sound it uses for x pounds, or it's going to maybe use sample x and alter it by +.0001 volume. It's just a simulation. Also, the keys themselves don't have the same response under the finger tips that keys on a real piano have. The pianist you've hired is an artist. You're going to miss out on the subtlety of your pianist's real style with a digital piano.

Third: As dancers, we're more concerned with rhythm than any other element of music: the pounding of drums, the chunking guitar, the slapping bass, the electronic cone vibrating as a result of samples from a keyboard - wait what? Pianos are percussion instruments; keyboards are not. Keyboards are electronic recordings of a percussion instrument - like electric drums. Now if someone showed up on a gig with an electronic drum kit, EVERYONE would raise an eyebrow.

This matters to us as dancers because what we feel when we have live music, as opposed to recordings, is the percussiveness of the instruments. The actual physical sensation of a hammer hitting a string is like the sensation of a drumstick hitting a drum head. It's kinesthetic. The feeling (AND sound) of a half-a-ton piece of wood and metal is different than its electronic representation.

A keyboard fills the same sonic space that a piano does - it plays the same part in the ensemble, but it doesn't provide the same sound, force, or drive that a real instrument does. This affects not only what the audience hears from the piano, but the way that the rest of the band plays. The keyboard doesn't help drive the rhythm the way that a piano does, and the band feels this. Additionally, keyboards must have monitors on stage to be heard which plays havoc with stage volumes (I've gone into stage volume in other places so I don't feel the need to reiterate it all here).

It's always a dilemma for me as a band leader when it comes to gigs where there's no piano. Do I bite the bullet and use the keyboard, sacrificing the quality of sound and swing of the band? Do I leave the piano out and just play with a 5 piece band (that means just playing head charts instead of our 6 piece arrangements)? Do I use an accordion instead (at least it's a real sound, but it doesn't add rhythm either)? As musicians we always want to put on the best show possible, but it's some serious work for a band leader to keep side-men from phoning it in when they have to play with a keyboard in the ensemble - it's just a drag.

WHERE TO GET ONE

Alright, so we've established that real pianos = better show = better dancing = more fun. So what can we do about it? Here are a few ideas that an event, venue, dance studio, or local swing organization might consider in procuring a piano for their live performances.

Regular Venues

If you have a space where you can store the piano, these options are a great way to go. A venue that you patronize regularly is very unlikely to object if you ask permission to store a piano there (after all it makes their space more desirable for other renters and you might even make some of your costs back if others want to use your piano). If the piano is being used only one or two times a month and isn't being moved around a lot, you can get away with doing a tuning every 6 months or so, which will run you about $100, so maintenance is not too bad. (Make sure you have it tuned when you first get it).

1. Piano rental: It only runs $35-$70/month (depending on cost of living in your area) to rent a basic, in tune, working piano. (It's $49 a month in Seattle.) Many places will let you rent to own a piano as well, so after 3 or 4 years the cost is gone all together.

2. Piano Purchase: Call your local colleges and ask for the music departments. Ask them what time of year they do their piano sales. Most music departments sell off all or many of the pianos in their practice rooms at the same time every year at an unbelievable discount. You can score big discounts on more expensive pianos this way. Don't expect to get something for less than about $1000-$1500, but what you'll get for your $1500 will be much nicer than if you bought it at retail.

3. Piano donation: You'd be shocked how many people out there have pianos that they don't use that they're looking to donate. Some of these pianos are actually really good - we have several pianos we use at Seattle Opera that have been donations. Put yourself out there as an organization! Tell people you're looking for a piano. Ask some folks in your scene with grown kids if they have a piano sitting in their house that never gets played and they'd be willing to donate it to the organization. (People often buy pianos for their kids to learn on and once the kids are out of the house the instrument is unused.)

Events

If you're putting on an event a piano is a MUST! Borrow one from someone in the scene, rent one, do whatever you have to! You will spend $200-$400 R/T having it moved in and out of your space, and another $50-$200 to rent it. All in all it will run somewhere between $250 and $600. Organizers should plan for the cost of a piano move when they're budgeting in the early stages of an event.

Another option to consider for folks who throw events regularly is to purchase/have a donated piano stored at someone's house in the scene that can be moved into venues for events. If you're doing events on a regular basis and you can get your hands on a piano, it will be a little more cost effective over time since you'll be paying moving/tuning fees but not rental fees.

IT IS WORTH THE MONEY AND THE EFFORT to get a piano for your event or regular venue!!! Cutting corners on a piano is like flying in fancy dance teachers and then not giving them mics to use in their classes with 100 people in them, or telling them they can't wear shoes to teach their class and that it has to be taught on a cement floor - it makes it so the people that you've hired to make your dance/event great can't do their very best work.

Pianos are out there just waiting for you to love them. They will make your musicians happier; they will make your dancers happier; they will make YOU happier! They will make your whole scene swing harder. Take a look around your town and you might be surprised what you'll find: one never knows, do one?

cheers,

Glenn

2025 Update:

Since writing this article I stopped accepting gigs with digital pianos altogether. The last one I did was in 2012. This was one of the best decisions of my life. I lost some work over it, there was even an effort to blackball me from playing dance events over it (which turned out to be a blessing in disguise), but all in all, I'm just a happier person for having made the decision.