A digital piano for a child — what to look for so as not to put them off?

A child rarely gives up playing for lack of talent. Far more often it is a keyboard that is too heavy, a bench at the wrong height or no headphones. A practical guide for parents.

When a child stops practising after a few months, parents usually look for the cause in motivation or in the teacher. Yet very often the problem lies with the equipment — and with things nobody mentioned in the shop.

Below is what genuinely affects whether the child sits down at the instrument tomorrow.

A keyboard that doesn't tire

A child of 6–10 has weak fingers. A keyboard with full hammer action may simply be too heavy for them — after a quarter of an hour the hand tires and practice turns into physical effort.

On the other hand a completely light, sprung keyboard teaches nothing. The child has no way of feeling the difference between playing quietly and loudly.

A sensible middle ground is a semi-weighted keyboard — it offers enough resistance to teach dynamics but not so much as to discourage. It is fitted to the models V5N, V5WN and V5NB.

If the child is older, has been playing for a while or attends music school, it is worth moving to hammer action — for instance the V9N.

A full 88 keys, even at the start

During the first year a child mainly uses the middle of the keyboard, so it is tempting to buy something smaller. That is a false economy — a shortened keyboard starts to limit exactly when the learning begins to bear fruit.

Bench height — the thing most often overlooked

This is one of the most important points in this guide, because it is the most often dismissed.

A child seated on a kitchen chair sits too low. To reach the keys they raise their shoulders and slouch. After twenty minutes the neck hurts, and after a month they "don't feel like playing".

The forearms should be roughly parallel to the floor and the feet supported — if they don't reach the floor, a footstool is worth putting under them. The HS1K, HS1B and HS1W benches are made for playing, unlike an ordinary chair.

Headphones — peace for the whole household

A child practises when they feel like it, not when the house happens to be quiet. Without headphones, playing becomes a source of tension: "turn it down", "not now", "dad is working".

A headphone output removes that conflict. It is worth choosing over-earheadphones, more comfortable during longer playing, and keeping an eye on moderate volume.

If lessons take place at home, two outputs come in useful — teacher and pupil hear the same thing. They are fitted to the models V9NB, V10NB and V11B.

A metronome, but used wisely

A metronome is indispensable for working on steady tempo, but for a child it can be a source of frustration. The rule is simple: slowly and accurately first, faster afterwards. The metronome is there to help, not to chase.

Playing along — the best way to keep them at the instrument

This is the thing that raises the appetite for practice most. Playing to a ready-made accompaniment sounds "like music" rather than like an exercise, and the child returns to the instrument more willingly.

The V5 models have 206 accompaniments and 80 demonstration pieces, the V9, V10 and V11 models — 160 accompaniments and 60 pieces. On top of that comes Bluetooth Audio: the child can play a backing track from a phone through the piano's speakers and play along with it, without any cables.

Learning apps

Apps can turn practice into a game with points and progress. For an app to see what the child plays, though, the instrument has to support Bluetooth MIDI — a different function from Bluetooth Audio.

The whole Versoni line supports both modes. The range of possibilities depends on the particular app, its version and the device's operating system.

Recording — it shows progress

A recording from a month ago set beside today's is the best proof that practice makes sense. For a child who can't see progress from day to day, that can be very motivating.

Where to put the instrument

Not in the child's room "so it doesn't disturb anyone", if that means playing alone behind a closed door. Younger children practise more willingly when somebody is nearby and hears the results.

More important still is that the instrument should stand ready to play — with no chairs to move and no things to clear off the keyboard. Every obstacle shortens the practice.

What to avoid

• An instrument "to grow into" with a very heavy keyboard, if the child is six.
• A toy keyboard with small keys — it teaches the wrong proportions of the hand.
• Treating the number of voices as a virtue — the child will click through them on the first day and go back to the grand piano.
• Pressure at the instrument. The equipment is there to help; the rest is no longer a question of shopping.

Summary

For a child, four things matter most: a keyboard that doesn't tire, a bench of the right height, headphones and the option of playing along. They decide whether the learning will be a pleasure or a duty.

You'll find the models, the benches and full specifications in the digital pianos.