beginner’s guide to buying the first keyboard for keyboard classes

By Spardha Learnings | October 1, 2024

2. Affordable Keyboards Perfect for Beginners

Excited to start your music lessons? But still haven’t figured out the right keyboard that fits your budget and helps your goals.

For a beginner student going to keyboard classes, choosing the right keyboard can be a big challenge with all the different brands and models available.

We don’t want to buy something that does not serve the purpose of our learning goals. So buying the keyboard that suits your needs is an important decision to have a good learning experience.

The following paragraphs will delve into basic keyboard models perfect for beginners.

Guidelines for purchasing a keyboard

1. Size of the Keyboard:

Generally, a 61-key keyboard (5 octaves) is the ideal size for beginner students. Most parents, especially for very young children, prefer smaller keyboards. For fun, a smaller keyboard is fine. It can help the child develop interest. But for proper learning, a larger keyboard (61-keys, for example) with the appropriate size of keys and a proper reactive touch of these keys are required. Our recommendation is to start with the 61-key keyboard as once the child develops interest, they can continue learning on that.

2. Touch Sensitivity:

Touch sensitivity is an important feature of a keyboard that allows the student to play the music loud or soft with the change in pressure of their fingers (not the volume button). In music learning, a student is taught proper dynamic control to provide the necessary shading in music by playing the music loud or softer to create a dramatization or mood of the song. So a keyboard must have touch sensitivity. Its absence can hinder the learning journey of the student.

3. Keyboard Features:

Apart from the obvious buttons of power and volume, a keyboard must have a fair music database for tone (voices), styles (rhythm), and chord accompaniment features.

These features should be easily accessible for playing smoothly and transitioning between musical changes (as dictated by the music itself!!!). Many students and teachers undermine these features and the realisation sets in only after the student is about to take a keyboard exam. And the upgrade at the initial levels for an exam is an unnecessary cost that could have been avoided had there been a little bit more awareness regarding the right instrument.

If the student doesn’t take their lessons further in the future, one can still resell these keyboards at a fair value. So proper research and discussion with the teacher could help in making an effective decision.

4. Learning goals:

Your learning goals also affect the decision to buy a keyboard. For instance, if a student intends to take a certification exam for an electronic Keyboard, international brands like Yamaha and Casio have worked together to design keyboards to suit a particular exam syllabus. For instance, Yamaha has worked closely with Trinity College of London to design their keyboards to suit the different parameters of their keyboard syllabus.

For a better understanding of the factors to consider while buying your first keyboard, click here.

Affordable Keyboards Perfect for Beginners:

You can check out the following models all falling under INR 25000/- ( $300):

Note: The prices of these keyboards fluctuate from time to time and region to region. These prices are a general approximation and not the actual value of the keyboard. A quick research online will help you understand the cost better.