Color Coding Musical Instruments for LD & Special Needs Student Success
Does your student confuse the notes on the instrument? Learn how color coding musical instruments leads to LD and special needs success. Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
Keyboard
The archive contains posts with teaching tips for playing and notating keyboard music. Plus, there are posts that deal with traditional music theory and also the theory of micro tuning keyboards.
Keyboards
Do you want to know how to choose an electronic keyboard instrument?
Keyboard Instruments
A keyboard is a device that contains keys, such as the one I am typing on now. However, in music the term keyboard gets used from keyboard instruments. The name comes from the black and white keys that control the sound making part of the instrument.
Instruments such as the piano, organ, and harpsichord get termed keyboards instruments. Nevertheless, these days when someone talks about a keyboard, they mean an electronic keyboard.
The forerunner of the electronic keyboard is the electric organ (such as the Hammond organs) at least in its function within popular music, if not in its structure.
A few classes of keyboard exist:
- Budget Instruments
- Digital pianos
- Stage pianos
- Synths
Types of Instruments
Budget Instruments
The first group I called budget instruments, because I thought that sounded nicer than cheap instruments. In fact, budget keyboards come in a wide range of quality and price. They serve an important niche as low cost, beginner level instruments suitable for lessons and practicing.
Instruments adequate for lessons will have 40 to 60 keys, touch sensitivity (plays soft and loud), built-in speakers, and a plug-in pedal. Avoid instruments that have the mini keys as students will develop the wrong feel for the keyboard with the smaller keys.
Digital Pianos
The next level up in sound, playability, and price, digital pianos as a rule have a full 88 keys. They also feature touch sensitivity, weighted keys (feels more like a piano), and built-in speakers. Often, they include a frame that may, or may not, mimic the piano’s outline, as well as having built-in pedal(s).
However, more often than not digital pianos have a limited number of internal sounds. Also, the cost for these instruments vary considerably. Some are high quality with the higher price tag that goes with it. While other digital pianos clearly cater to the budget market.
Stage Pianos
The workhorses of professional players, stage pianos usually have more sounds, higher quality sounds, and higher quality playability. Designed to be plugged into an amp or PA, they do not come with built in speakers.
Synths
Basically, synths are like stage pianos, but they have the means for making new sounds. Synths create sounds programs in a number of ways, such as sampling, FM synthesis, and subtractive synthesis, to name a few. This means that a player can make one-of-a-kind sounds for either recording or live concerts.
What you plan to use the keyboard for will decide what type of instrument you get.
© 2021 Geoffrey Keith
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Color Coding the Fingers for Music Learning Empowers Special Needs & LD Student’s Fingering Accuracy
Does your student use the wrong fingers? Color coding the fingers for music learning enables LD students to accurately finger the music for smoother playing and faster response time. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Intonation and Supplemented Equal Temperament
Tired of having your guitar or synth sound out of tune? “Intonation and Supplemented Equal Temperament” shows how to make them sound amazing! Estimated reading time 12 minutes.
Learn How to Get a Killer Sound for Your Band
Do you want your band to sound better? Have you ever been frustrated that your guitar or keyboard sounds out of tune when you play chords? Learn how to get a killer sound for your band by retuning your keyboards and guitars using Supplemented Equal Temperament. Supplemented Equal Temperament works with equal tempered instruments. It also works with variable pitch instruments such as voices, violins, and winds. Estimated reading time 5 minutes.
Sing in Tune with Synth Settings
Does your choir have pitch issues? Retune your synth to make examples of good sounding chords. After years of hearing pianos tuned to equal temperament, many singers cannot sing harmony accurately. The piano is a bad model for how well-tuned chords should sound. Read more to learn how to sing in tune with synth settings! Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
How Chords in Supplemented Equal Temperament Work
Are you frustrated that your synth chords sound out of tune? Supplemented Equal Temperament is designed to play chords that sound more in tune than the regular piano tuning: equal temperament. Learn how to better tune your chords in Supplemented Equal Temperament tuning. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
How to Micro Tune the Keyboard to Make the Chords Sound Awesome
Does it ever bother you that the piano chords sound out of tune? The guitar is not the only instrument that can be retuned. Retuning the keys to Supplemented Equal Temperament (SET) yields chords that sound better than equal temperament – the standard piano tuning. In SET, the triads sound incredible. Learn how to micro tune the keyboard using SET for awesome chords! Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
Are You Passionate About Singing? Learn How to Sing in Tune Like an A Cappella Singer
Want to train your ear to harmonize in tune? All you need is a guitar. Read more to learn how to sing in tune like an a cappella singer! Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
How to Tune the Blues Rock Open D Sound Using Harmonics
Frustrated that the guitar’s chords don’t sound in tune? Learn to tune the blues rock open D tuning using harmonics so you can play chords in tune. You will also learn the song “Jumping Jack Flash.” Estimated reading time 3 minutes.