Electronic Keyboard 32 Keys

[Mandy Geise]

Butthere is a very different style of playing on piano compared to keyboard (especially in a band) -- the piano is typically a rhythm instrument; the keyboard is often more of a "sustained note" instrument.

The main factor that can affect your playing when moving from a piano to a keyboard is whether or not your keyboard has weighted key action, or is merely "touch sensitive". This, coupled with the fact that keyboards have volume controls (sometimes more than one) on not just themselves, but also on the sound system they're connected to, can make performing with dynamics tricky. On a piano, you can gauge how your dynamics are balancing with other performers, but on a keyboard this is a little more difficult because of the fact that you may not always directly hear what you play at the volume the audience or other members of your band will. Similarly, you'll find that levels might be different at different venues, so you cannot count on consistent playing to actually produce consistent results. Also be aware that different voices/instruments on the keyboards may vary greatly in how they respond to dynamics.

Something I still personally have to watch is damper pedal usage. I really don't like playing entirely without a pedal, because it makes me feel like my playing is sometimes too choppy. However, using a pedal with a keyboard, be especially aware of how it affects the various instruments/voices differently. Strings, for instance, generally don't naturally decay in volume like pianos do, and so one can wind up with a mushy mess if pedaling just like piano. However, to give a proper effect for some instruments, abrupt playing by trying to avoid the pedal may not sound right either.

Related to this, certain bass elements may get lost more easily on instruments like string or organ than on piano. Either moving down an octave with your left hand or opting for a walking or moving bass line rather than staying on repeated notes can help with this.

My main advice would be to suggest rehearsing in your performance venues when possible and recording yourself doing a few different things from a distance while rehearsing with your group so you can gauge how you're sounding as part of the ensemble to the audience. Monitors and headphones don't always give the most accurate impression.

In many praise songs, especially singer/songwriter style, the piano player does what's called "padding" - basically providing rhythmic and chordal texture for the ensemble. Assuming that you have knowledge of music theory, this is really not too hard to learn. Typically the piano player will read chords off a lead sheet in this instance.

If you're playing synthesizer (i.e. strings or synth sounds), things are a bit different. Sometimes there may be written parts, or you may still be expected to improvise. In this case, its better to provide more chordal and less rhythmic background, often to the tastes of the director.

Try out a bunch first. In my opinion, the feeling of the keyboard is much different and less desirable than that of the natural feeling of a piano. I'm not saying this will be the case for you, but before you invest definitely go to your local music store and take a few keyboards for a few runs.

Typically your acoustic guy is strumming chords in a nice rhythm, your electric is doing simple chugga-chugga or some nice single-note melody, and the keyboard is padding along or filling in some gaps with twinkly stuff.

Then you've got to make sure you don't overfill in one area of the spectrum and leave others empty. You might play keys much higher than a regular piano since the acoustic is covering the mid-range and the bass is covering... well, the bass.

On your keyboard, each different voice selection will call for a different technique. If you don't have weighted keys, the piano will feel pretty strange to you, of course. I tend to stay away from acoustic piano on any key board that does not at least approximate a real one.

But the pad sounds you reference are a different story. Any organ sound or other pad just doesn't call for the same sophistication. I sometimes find myself pressing harder than necessary, as if the board were responding to my touch like an acoustic piano. So go easy on your touch and save your wrists and small joints from eventual discomfort.

As for some touch sensitive sounds - electric pianos, for instance - you will just need to spend time with the board to see what works. Again, less is more. Your training on a more sophisticated instrument will only do you good, as long as you are hunting for a new technique that does what you need.

You have played in this band a long time, so you know how sensitive the bass player can be about doubling. The timbre of a piano is so dissimilar to most bass sounds, it is not a big issue for an acoustic instrument. With your keyboard, you will want to stay out of the bass's wheelhouse, and even cut the low frequencies of the board's EQ to make sure you are contributing in a unique portion of the band's sound scape, and avoiding the boomy bass effect that can result from doubling the bass with your keys playing any pad sound.

Unless your band is focused around you, that can become problematic. If you are not playing as a joker, you'll actually be using very few sounds from your keyboard. Once you figure out which of those really make it in your band, you might consider replacing your keyboard mainly with one that does only one thing, but does it really well. It may even be something like an "electric piano" (Fender Rhodes style or similar) with actual mechanical action rather than sensitivity curves and stuff. An accordion is also a limited sound box but probably makes less sense for a good piano player since it is neither percussive nor offers the per-note dynamics that are the hallmark of piano play.

You'll find that a lot of famous band keyboarders are known for a particular sound rather than being flexible orchestral replacements. The guys who are virtuosi with all the abilities of electronic keyboards, in contrast, tend to be studio musicians rather than band musicians. They have a professional rather than a public image. One of the most well-known generic off-line music producer is Frank Farian who employed a number of stage actors (Boney M, Milli Vanilli) to sell his music.

An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument based on keyboard instruments.[1] Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs and digital audio workstations. In technical terms, an electronic keyboard is a rompler-based synthesizer with a low-wattage power amplifier and small loudspeakers.

Electronic keyboards offer a diverse selection of instrument sounds (piano, organ, violin, etc.) along with synthesizer tones. Designed primarily for beginners and home users, they generally feature unweighted keys. While budget models lack velocity sensitivity, mid-range options and above often include it. These keyboards have limited sound editing options, focusing on preset sounds. Casio and Yamaha are major manufacturers in this market, known for popularizing the concept since the 1980s.

An electronic keyboard may also be called a digital keyboard, or home keyboard, the latter often refers to less advanced or inexpensive models intended for beginners. The obscure term "portable organ" was widely used in Asian countries to refer to electronic keyboards in the 1990s, due to the similar features between electronic keyboards and electronic home organs, the latter of which were popular in the late 20th century.

Keyboard instruments trace back to the ancient hydraulis in the 3rd century BCE,[2] later evolving into the pipe organ and smaller portative and positive organs. The clavichord and harpsichord emerged in the 14th century CE,[3][4] Technological strides brought more advanced keyboards, including the modern 12-tone version. Initially, instruments like the pipe organ and harpsichord could only produce single-volume sounds. The 18th-century innovation of the pianoforte, with hammers striking metal strings via key pressure, enabled dynamic sound variation.

Electric keyboards began with applying electric sound technology. The first was the Denis d'or stringed instrument,[5] made by Vclav Prokop Diviš in 1748,[6] with 700 electrified strings. In 1760, Jean Baptiste Thillaie de Laborde introduced the clavecin lectrique, an electrically activated keyboard without sound creation. Elisha Gray invented the musical telegraph in 1874, producing sound through electromagnetic vibrations.[7] Gray later added a single-note oscillator and a diaphragm-based loudspeaker for audibility.

In 1973, the Yamaha GX-1 introduced an early polyphonic synthesizer with eight voices.[8] The EP-30 by Roland Corporation in 1974 became the first touch-sensitive keyboard.[9] Roland also released early polyphonic string synthesizers, the RS-101 in 1975 and RS-202 in 1976.[10][11]

In 1975, Moog's Polymoog merged a synthesizer with an organ, offering full polyphony through individual circuit boards. Crumar's "Multiman" organ with synthesizer arrived, and ARP Omni combined a synthesizer with a string machine and bass in 1976. Korg's PE-1000 that year featured a dedicated saw oscillator for each note.[12][13]

In 1977, Yamaha CS-60 and CS-80 polyphonic synthesizers introduced 'memory'.[14] In 1978, Oberheim's OB-1 brought electronic storage of sound settings.[15] That year, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 offered the feature in a five-voice polyphonic synthesizer. Fender's Rhodes Chroma, the first computer-controlled keyboard, resulted from ARP's engineers being acquired by Fender in 1979. Its successor, the Chroma Polaris, released in 1984, featured the 'Chroma' port.[16][17]

Compared to digital pianos or stage pianos, digital home keyboards are usually much lower in cost, as they have unweighted keys. Like digital pianos, they usually feature on-board amplifiers and loudspeakers. Stage pianos, however, typically do not have integrated amplifiers and speakers, as these instruments are normally plugged into a keyboard amplifier in a professional concert setting. Unlike synthesizers, the primary focus of home electronic keyboards is not on detailed control or creation of sound synthesis parameters. Most home electronic keyboards offer little or no control or editing of the sounds (although a selection of 128 or more preset sounds is typically provided).

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