Acoustic and Electronic Pianos

First of all, what do we mean by an acoustic or electronic piano? Well, an acoustic piano doesn’t need to be plugged in anywhere. When you strike a key, a felt-covered “hammer” strikes the strings to produce the sound that we hear. In other words, this is purely a physical, acoustic process. By contrast, when you strike a key on an electronic keyboard, the sound is generated electronically (or “digitally”). As opposed to the sound occurring naturally in the room (as with the acoustic piano), the electronic piano’s signal needs to be fed to a speaker system in order to be heard. The speakers might be located on the electric piano itself (as with many “home keyboards”) or they may be part of a separate amplification system (more common in professional setups).

A lot of people use the term keyboard to refer to an electronic instrument (as opposed to acoustic). This can be confusing, as the arrangement of black and white keys on both acoustic and electronic instruments is also known as the keyboard. Later in Section 7, we’ll go into much more detail about all the different types of acoustic and electric instruments available. For now, here is a quick summary of the pros and cons of acoustic vs. electronic instruments:

Acoustic

Pros:

• Distinctive and unique sound… the “real thing.”
• Physical responsiveness and sensitivity not easy to duplicate with electronic instruments.

Cons:

• Higher cost, higher maintenance, take up more space, harder to move, harder to record.

Electric

Pros:

• Lower cost, lower maintenance, smaller footprint, better portability, easier to record, continually better approximations of the “real thing” (duplicating the sound of the piano).

Cons:

• Keyboards often lack the weight, responsiveness, and sensitivity of the real piano, and need electricity and a speaker system!

The term piano is actually an abbreviation for pianoforte, which in Italian means “soft-loud.” This instrument was invented in the early 18th century by Bartolomeo Cristofori, and for the first time enabled notes to be played with great dynamic range (softly or loudly). The predecessor of the piano was the harpsichord, which had a consistent volume level and a more primitive, “plucked” metallic sound.

In the paragraph comparing acoustic to electric instruments, reference was made to the “physical responsiveness” of the acoustic piano. Because of the weight of the keys and the physical process by which the sound is created on the piano, the keys feel heavy to push down, especially when compared to some electronic pianos and keyboards. Some modern (electronic) keyboards feature a “weighted action” which purports to duplicate the feel of the real acoustic piano keyboard. However, there is much variation between makes and models, and what will be right for one player will feel totally “wrong” to another.

If you primarily play or practice on electronic keyboards, DO NOT expect to be able to make an immediate transition to the heavier “weight” of the acoustic piano, particularly for extended periods of playing time.

Acoustic pianos almost always have 88 keys, equivalent to 7-octaves and a bit… (More about octaves shortly.) The largest electronic keyboards may have 88 keys, but keyboards with either 61 or 76 keys are also common.

See Chapter 25 for more about various types of pianos.