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Fellow pianists! Question about playing on an unweighted board...


akliner

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My Motif is in the shop getting a new keybed. :thu:/:cry:

 

I'm left with my Triton Extreme to play around with. I've been trying to practice, but I find I'm playing piano sloppy as hell on unweighted boards.

 

Any tips or tricks on piano technique on an unweighted board?

 

:wave:

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If weighted actions keys are where you feel most at home....piano playing on an unweighted board is a humbling experience. For me, all that cool stuff that seems to just fly off my fingertips on a weighted board seem to come off with all the grace of a monkey {censored}in' a football on an unweighted board. When I'm forced to play piano parts on a unweighted synth - I revamp my parts to rely on the glissando (which I'm happy to say - painlessly RAWKs in any direction on a unweighted synth!).

 

Ya See! There's always a silver lining.....

 

The SpaceNorman :freak:

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If weighted actions keys are where you feel most at home....piano playing on an unweighted board is a humbling experience. For me, all that cool stuff that seems to just fly off my fingertips on a weighted board seem to come off with all the grace of a monkey {censored}in' a football on an unweighted board. When I'm forced to play piano parts on a unweighted synth - I revamp my parts to rely on the glissando (which I'm happy to say - painlessly RAWKs in any direction on a unweighted synth!).


Ya See! There's always a silver lining.....


The SpaceNorman
:freak:

 

TRUT.

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Entire generations of Wakemans, Banks and Emersons did it with no problems.
:thu:

 

Yeah well that is the exception. Guess what Emerson had major surgery in the 90's. He had to go to an instructor in Europe to learn to play again because his technique was {censored}ed up up. Wakeman did not learn on a non-weighed board so that is not a good example either.

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Yeah well that is the exception. Guess what Emerson had major surgery in the 90's. He had to go to an instructor in Europe to learn to play again because his technique was {censored}ed up up. Wakeman did not learn on a non-weighed board so that is not a good example either.

 

 

Well, there are plenty of pianists that have never touched a "synth" that have similiar problems, Leon Fleischer is one. Focal Dystonia and poor posture play a part as well.

 

I guess if I was a "pianist", I would hate playing a cheap keyboard. I HATE playing electric violin, it feels like a babys toy compared to a concert level acoustic.

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Well, there are plenty of pianists that have never touched a "synth" that have similiar problems, Leon Fleischer is one. Focal Dystonia and poor posture play a part as well.


I guess if I was a "pianist", I would hate playing a cheap keyboard. I HATE playing electric violin, it feels like a babys toy compared to a concert level acoustic.

 

Yeah...16 years of playing on an actual piano. It's difficult to switch. But the weighted is definitely better than the unweighted. :idk:

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Any tips or tricks on piano technique on an unweighted board?

 

 

It helps to raise the keyboard higher than you are used to. You don't need to exert as much physical force obviously, which lower helps you do, and I get a little more control over velocities with the keyboard higher.

 

You are not going to wreck your hands. But you will have to re-adjust to the heavier weighted action if you play exclusively on an unweighted one for long.

 

Piano on unweighted keys is a compromise that I'm doing a lot these days. I'll stop when someone makes me that gigging board just for me...

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Well I think you can adjust - a lot of it is a matter of attitude. At home I play a variety of keyboards from a kawai grand, to a Wurly, to a semi weighted Roland EP-50, right down to a range of synths and organs. But for gigs its nearly always just and XK-3 and Micron these days. I use the XK-3 for piano. I learnt to adjust. I'm not sure how. I reckon I could even adjust to the action on an Electro if I had to! There is a part of your brain that is used for procedural memory - its not really conscious - a bit like learning to ride a bike. You probably just need to practice a bit more. Try to keep a positive attitude about it.

 

John

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