Keyboard vs. Piano - How do you Decide?

The Keyboard or Piano is actually a very easy instrument for you to start with. In fact, you can start this instrument really early on in life, at the age of 8 or so. It’s probably the first instrument that we recommend you learn, especially as a child. 

A lot of students also ask this question - “If I learn to play the Keyboard, can I learn to play the Piano and vice versa?”  The answer is YES! Of course, you can play both because the layout of the keys are the same. So, what really is the difference?

There are a few differences between the Keyboard and the Piano.

How it Feels - the Piano keys are harder, heavier and keyboard keys are very lightweight. 

Playing Style - The way you play and the style of playing differs on the keyboard and the piano. The Piano can be used for more clear, rich tones but it can’t create any other sounds. Whereas, with the Keyboard, you can be your own one-person-band! You can play beats, use different voices (like guitar, piano, violin etc.) and so much more!

Sound Quality - when you are playing a piano you get that rich sound. You can also change the way it sounds by playing in lighter or heavier depending on what you want to achieve. This is something that is very important for a musician when creating music. Many students also love this about the Piano.

Look & Size of the Instrument - Piano is big, made of wood and looks quite majestic. Keyboard on the other hand looks like a poor cousin - small, made of plastic and cheap in comparison.

So, make sure you consider all these different aspects when choosing between the piano and keyboard. Now, once you have made your decision, then the question becomes - what to purchase? Which models?

Below, we are going to discuss the several recommended models for both Piano and Keyboard split by beginner, intermediate and advanced levels so that you can get started on your musical journey.

Purchasing a Keyboard

Main Factor of Consideration: when you're buying a keyboard you have to check if the keyboard has the following features - touch response, beat, metronome, auto accompaniment, digital display and a sustain pedal (or sustain button).

Beginner Keyboard models

For beginners, we would recommend CASIO as the first brand of choice as it is reliable and inexpensive. The basic model we recommend will be the CASIO CTK 3200. Do not go below this model number as it won’t have the features you need to continue learning. The price of these keyboards would be Rs. 7500 and upwards.

If you prefer to purchase YAMAHA, then you can go for the E363 and above. Do not go below this model number. The cost of these keyboards would be Rs. 9000 and upwards. We highly recommend the YAMAHA keyboard, because the overall quality of sound and the features are superior to other brands in the same category. 

So, if the budget permits, we highly recommend the Yamaha keyboard.

Intermediate Keyboard models

For intermediate level players, we recommend YAMAHA as the brand of choice. The basic model would be the S500, S670, S770 or the S900. The costs of these keyboards range from Rs. 30,000 upwards. These models are really worth it for the price - they give you a lot of features, sounds and versatility. For instance, you can upgrade the rhythm if you want more choices as you expand your repertoire. You can even upgrade the digital display which is really useful when you are playing LIVE gigs. Finally, there is something called ‘Registration Memory’ that helps change rhythms quickly - this allows you to save your settings so that you can recall it whenever you need to. Finally, the speaker quality of these keyboards are quite superior and you will definitely notice this as you become a better player.

You can also go for the ROLAND keyboards. The basic models are EX30, BK3, BK5 and E09. The costs of these keyboards start from Rs. 25,000 onwards upto about Rs. 80,000.

You can also consider the KORG keyboards. The basic models here you can consider are PA300, PA500, PS600 and finally the PA900.

At this level, all of these keyboard brands and models are comparable however there are some distinguishing factors. For instance, the YAMAHA keyboards have the best sound. The ROLAND keyboards have good computer integrity (technical) and sampling features. The KORG keyboards are good with Rhythms and you can tweak your sound according to your taste - it gives you a lot of options to layer and use split features. However, if we had to pick, our choice would be the YAMAHA X900 or the KORG PA900.

Pro-Level (Advanced) Keyboard models

For advanced or PRO level players, there are several options. For instance, in YAMAHA, you can go for Tyros or Geno. These are a little expensive as they start at Rs. 3 Lakhs upto Rs. 6 lakhs.

You can also consider the ROLAND keyboards, models P8000 or PA 4X PRO. These keyboards are also in a similar price range from between Rs. 3 to 5 lakhs.

One last thing to consider is that, if you want a keyboard which has a feel of a piano but delivers all the features of a keyboard, then you can consider the DGX 66B by YAMAHA. This starts at about Rs. 55,000 and goes up to Rs. 1-1.5 lakhs. 

Purchasing a Piano

If you are planning to buy a Piano but your budget is less that Rs. 50,000, you can go for CASIO PREVIA series piano. The sound is quite nice and the feel of the key bed is much better than most of the PRO keyboards.

For a slightly higher budget, of between Rs. 60,000 to 80,000, you can look at the KAWAII piano. This is a good brand and you can consider the model KDP UH 70 series.

If your budget is a little higher, for instance between Rs. 80,000 to 1 lakh, you can consider the YAMAHA CLP series - 645, 545 or 745. They are very similar except for the feel and some features (like metronome or bluetooth) so we would recommend that you try these out before you purchase.

In this range, you can also look at the ROLAND pianos, model RD2000 and above. This series of piano will cost you Rs.1-2 lakhs

In Summary

One, last piece of advice, if you are planning to purchase a Keyboard or a Piano, try to go to a nearby store that has the products and try it out. Listen to how they sound, see how they feel before you finalise your decision. If you are unable to try the products out, check out reviews online. See videos of the products on YouTube and then take a decision. Make a list of the pros and cons I’ve mentioned and see what your preferences are. This will help you make the right decision in the long run. Your relationship with your instrument won’t be short lived. Some people keep their first instrument with them all their lives. So, make a carefully thought out decision. If you want to see a video about this in detail, please see https://youtu.be/C8N25OMvRYQ

Finally, having an instrument does not mean that you can magically start playing and become a maestro. You need to be guided properly and correctly. You need to develop the right techniques and playing skills. That’s where Music Pandit comes in. Music Pandit is the best place to learn Music online. Why? Because on Music Pandit, it’s not just about lessons. When you learn something in a lesson, then that is applied in a practice routine. Practice Routine is a teacher guided practice session that helps you develop the techniques and skills taught in the lessons. Then, to know how you are doing, you can send your video to Music Pandit and your instructor will evaluate your progress and then respond with personalised details on what you did right and where you can improve. Finally, there are quizzes and certifications. So, it’s a 360 degree learning approach to Music. So, check out https://musicpandit.com to start your musical journey today!

If you want access to detailed guided practice routines, do check out our lessons on musicpandit.com for access to step-by-step lessons that cover a whole lot of topics like vocal projection, improvisation, vocal vibrato and so much more.

We hope you enjoyed this topic and it was useful to you. If you want to know more about such topics, please comment below and we will definitely address it. Please make sure you follow our blogspot to get access to more such content.

Music Pandit brings you the best and the most effective way to learn music online with a complete 360-degree approach to learning music.

Music Pandit offers Online Video Lessons with the support of Personalised feedback from our Music Pandits, curated step-by-step lessons, extensive content - you can choose multiple instruments, carefully organised Practice Routines, a Musical Community, Creative Challenges, Goal setting and so much more – so you can learn Anytime, Anywhere at your pace! Sign up today on https://musicpandit.com 

5 Ways to Extend your Vocal Range

Can you really extend your vocal range? The simple answer is YES!

 

Whether you've been singing for years or days, you can always work on developing your vocal range. And unless you are able to sing with Mariah Carey’s vocal range, there is always room to grow and expand your range. Singing those hard notes with ease is the difference between an amateur and a professional singer.

In this blog, we are going to discuss five ways you can expand your vocal range without damaging your vocal cords.

1. Understand Your Abilities

Have you ever checked your vocal range?

If you haven’t, let’s see if we can figure it out together. Hop over to your keyboard or download a free mini piano app on your phone. Start with the middle C also known as the C4 as it’s the 4th C on the keyboard. So, let’s go down in pitch from here to see your low range. Make sure to right down the pitch name when you reach your limit. Once you have found the lowest note on your vocal range, let’s figure out the highest. Let’s go up in pitch from here to see your high range. Make sure to right down the pitch name when you reach your limit.

It's important to know that your vocal range isn't the highest and lowest notes you're able to belt out. Your vocal range actually exists somewhere between the lowest notes and highest notes you can sing comfortably and consistently.

Some people ask, Is it possible to increase your vocal range by one octave? Yes, but it is quite a big task. Your vocal cords are only capable of so much. However, a lot of that depends on how developed and trained your vocals currently are. If you've never taken the time to practice singing, you will likely notice a significantly broader range of pitches that you can hit once you begin training. If you have been singing for a long time but have just recently decided you'd like to expand your range, it will probably not grow quite as much as a novice.

2. Use Proper Technique

It's very dangerous to extend your vocal range without employing proper singing techniques.

Using the wrong technique, or no technique at all, can result in injury to your vocal cords.

Here are some of the basics to be mindful of:

Good posture is very important. Stand up straight and make good use of your breath support. Don’t compromise your posture as this tends to put stress on different parts of your body ultimately impacting your breathing and therefore your singing.

Breath from your diaphragm instead of your neck and shoulders - When new vocalists sing outside of their normal vocal range, they tend to force more air through the throat, which will jam up their vocal cords, or restrict air flow, which will lead to a breathy sound.

 

Maintaining the proper technique will help you avoid those situations.

3. Practice Regularly

The best things in life take time, right? Simply put, expanding your vocal range won't happen overnight. The hardest part for most vocalists isn't the vocal range exercises, it's having the patience to wait. With consistent exercise, you're doing much more than just trying to add a few notes to your range. You might not be able to hit that stubborn high note, but you'll notice your voice becoming stronger and lasting longer than when you first started doing the exercises.

You'll also notice on your good days that notes come out much clearer and with much more confidence.

I also want to request you not to overdo the exercises. Be patient while trying to expand your range and don’t overdo it. Don't try too hard during a warm-up, practice, or a performance. If your voice gets tired, try more low impact warm-ups like lips rolls or humming to avoid any irritation. If it feels bad, don’t do it. Pushing through strain or not giving yourself enough rest when you need it can damage your vocal cords and set you back further than if you would've just taken a break. Never try to sing through pain, and don't feel guilty about needing to skip a day or two to protect your voice. A rest is as important as a practice day - you should definitely give your voice rest for one day a week. Be patient, protect yourself, and take care of your vocal cords.

4. Take care of your Vocal Health

Singers have gotten a bad reputation for not taking care of their vocal cords. Many of us are guilty of this. It's easy to talk too loud at a party, over-sing at a show, or cram in too many practices before the next big performance comes up. It's not always possible to keep your vocal cords in perfect health, but there are a few things to do to make sure you prioritise your vocal health. Try to get a good night's sleep. 7-9 hours a night is ideal. Try to drink at least plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated. Protect yourself from viruses by washing your hands and using sanitiser as needed.

There are also certain foods and drinks you should avoid before you sing. Any food or drink that dries your throat, like coffee and alcohol, should be avoided. That being said, also avoid foods and drinks that can create mucus to your throat, like most dairy products and sugar. One important tip: Most singers opt for water leading up to, and the day of, a show. While this is strongly recommended, there is a catch. Try to stay away from ice cold water. It restricts your throat and can cause tension. Want to know a simple tip? If you don't have access to a ton of water but need to hydrate, steaming has been proven to be very effective. You don't have to avoid these things all of the time, but avoid them before you sing, because singing through dryness, mucus, or constriction will cause significant strain on your vocal cords.

5. Vocal Exercises 

Here are some simple exercises that can help work on your vocal range. Start from middle C or C4 and sing every note (including the black ones) in sequence until you cannot sing anymore. Do this for both the higher pitch and lower pitch notes. Ideally, do this exercise 3-5 times depending on how much time you have and how you feel (remember, never sing through pain - it will only get worse!). Do this regularly to see a real improvement in your vocal range. Here's a video link to the vocal exercises - https://youtu.be/cKkrHf6GAr8

Finally, one very important point – while developing and working on your vocal range is really good - vocal range isn’t the most important criteria when it comes to vocal performance. Of course, it helps. However, some famous singers don’t have very big vocal ranges and yet produce incredible music – take for instance Adele. Her vocal range is just 2 octaves but what she does with it is what makes her noteworthy.

If you want access to detailed guided practice routines, do check out our lessons on musicpandit.com for access to step-by-step lessons that cover a whole lot of topics like vocal projection, improvisation, vocal vibrato and so much more.

We hope you enjoyed this topic and it was useful to you. If you want to know more about such topics, please comment below and we will definitely address it. Please make sure you follow our blogspot to get access to more such content.

Music Pandit brings you the best and the most effective way to learn music online with a complete 360-degree approach to learning music.

Music Pandit offers Online Video Lessons with the support of Personalised feedback from our Music Pandits, curated step-by-step lessons, extensive content - you can choose multiple instruments, carefully organised Practice Routines, a Musical Community, Creative Challenges, Goal setting and so much more – so you can learn Anytime, Anywhere at your pace! Sign up today on https://musicpandit.com 

How Long Does It Take To Learn to Play Instrument?

This is a question that is regularly asked by almost every beginner student, from young students to adults. It is natural to want to know how long it will take to be able to play an instrument. However, most people often forget the fact that it is their practice time and commitment towards the instrument that will determine their progress. Then again, there are some other factors to consider which determines the duration of their progress. Since we usually have two different age groups of students, namely young students and adult beginners, let’s discuss these two groups individually under specific parameters.

Young Students (Aged 8 years to 12 years) 

Approach to Learning: Young beginners should have fun with their instrument. As they are just getting to know the instrument and the skills they can achieve while learning it, it is very important that it excites them and inspires them to work toward progress. As they are young, theories and basic reading should be introduced in a progressive and practical way so that they can take in the details and master one aspect at a time. Over burdening these learners with a lot of Music theory can lead to them losing interest in their music learning.

 

Objective: Their objective should be to perform in about a year with the knowledge they have gathered during that time. They should be able to connect with their instrument and play the tunes they want to play. Once they can execute the music they hear, there is a sense of achievement that inspires them to learn further and therefore accelerates their learning progress as the instrument catches their interest.

 

Duration: If you are a complete beginner and aged between 8-12 years, it may take you about 6-9 months to have a strong command over the fundamentals, especially certain techniques such as chord shifting, pitch change and the coordination of both hands or hands and feet (as this requires advanced motor techniques), etc. Students aged above 12 have the capacity to take in more information and process a bit quicker, so they might be able to have better command on basics in 4-6 months.

 

 

Adults

Approach to Learning: As an adult, there is an interest to learn and play the instrument that has been there a long time but you haven’t found time or you had other commitments that prevented you from taking it up earlier. There are also cases of adults who’d learn from the ever-growing internet (mainly YouTUbe) but are either unsure due to too much information or stuck at a point where their progress has been constant for a long time (they don’t know where to go next). First as a working adult, you have to decide what you want out of it. Is it just to play in front of friends (as a hobby) or gather knowledge to be able to play in a band or release your own compositions, or for therapeutic, stress release or other reasons. Whatever the reason is, you should ensure that wherever you are learning from should be flexible enough to suit your timings as well as your goal. So, it should be a goal or result oriented approach. Music Pandit, has been created with just such a goal in mind. It’s the perfect destination for an adult learner.

 

Objective: The objective should be able to measure your progress and layout a practice schedule that works for you. Keep in mind what you want to achieve and spend time on that. Try to excite and inspire yourself during practice which will help you commit to the instrument more. Keep playing the songs you love other than just the exercises your teacher might have given you for your improvement and make a conscious effort to understand what you are executing.

 

Duration: If you are just beginning, it will take you at least 3-4 months to have good command over the fundamentals and then further take it to the level where you will be able to play along with certain songs and even hum it yourself. It also matters how you see yourself playing the instrument, if you expect yourself to be able to jam along with other instruments, it will take a little longer especially if you're just beginning to learn your instrument.

 

The duration is just an assumption, and not always exactly true but it is the average time one takes to finally understand their instrument based on our experience. There are other factors that determine how long it takes to progress including daily practice of the exercises and lessons given to improve muscle memory. So, make sure that you set your goals and follow them with plenty of regular practices and commitment to achieve them in the duration. Music Pandit has curated Practice Routines to counter these issues of not knowing what to practice. Whatever you practice must have a direct application and should build your skills for your learning purpose - that’s where Music Pandt comes in.

 

We hope you were able to get an educated understanding of how long it takes to learn to play an instrument with this blog post. If you want access to detailed guided lessons and practice routines, please do check out our Guitar courses on https://musicpandit.com – On Music Pandit, you get step-by-step lessons  that are designed to get you playing your favourite songs as quickly as possible. The lessons cover a whole range of topics including easy chords, popular strumming patterns, how to be creative with your playing and how to apply your techniques on any song!

 

We hope you enjoyed this topic and it was useful for you. Please follow our blog so you don’t miss out on any upcoming blog posts. If there is any topic you want to know more about, just comment below and we will definitely discuss it.

About Music Pandit

Music Pandit brings you the most effective way to learn music online with a 360-degree approach to learning music.

Music Pandit offers Online Video Lessons with the support of Personalised feedback from our Music Pandits, curated step-by-step lessons, extensive content - you can choose multiple instruments with One subscription, carefully organised Practice Routines, a Musical Community, Creative Challenges, Goal setting and so much more – so you can learn Anytime, Anywhere at your pace! Sign up today on https://musicpandit.com