I LOVE Having a Keyboard in My Studio :)

I got an email this afternoon from my choir director asking me if I had time to make a recording of the children's choir anthem for Sunday and send it to her before their rehearsal tomorrow. I walked into the studio, recorded the anthem, hooked my thumb drive up, copied the file, transferred the file to my laptop, and sent it on its way. Just like that, in less than 20 minutes I was able to take a song, record it, and turn it into an audio file.

I used to be an acoustic piano purist. And when I started to teach I vowed that I would always use an acoustic piano for my students. I couldn't imagine teaching on one of those 'fake' electronic keyboards, much less even owning one!

Well, as I've learned over the years, I spend a good bit of my life eating my words! Not only have I owned a keyboard for about 2 years now, I teach from it and I have found it an invaluable asset to my studio.

I originally bought the keyboard to have as a good alternative for gigs. When one plays for private events, one quickly discovers that the ritziest locales can end up having the crappiest instruments. They just don't understand the value and difference a quality (or at least decent!) instrument makes. I got tired of my music sounding terrible because of the instrument I was stuck with.

Then I got married and my keyboard moved with me to our condo. After a few months, I started toying with the idea of opening a second studio location in our home. At that point I couldn't afford a piano, so after a lot of deliberation I decided to temporarily teach using the keyboard.

This past November I finally purchased my piano for the studio! I was so excited to have a quality instrument to play and teach on. But, surprisingly, in the interim between opening my second studio location and actually buying the piano my perception of the benefit of a keyboard changed dramatically. My students loved being able to come to lessons and try their pieces on a variety of settings and experiment with different sounds. A second instrument in the studio is an invaluable asset. And while I haven't yet experimented with recording my students, it's something I definitely want to explore in the future.

So while I still believe that there is no substitute for the acoustic piano and will never change my opinion on that count, I have come to acknowledge the keyboard in it's own right and appreciate what it has to bring to the modern music studio. Technology and music can be a wonderful partnership!