One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Want to know the main difference between taking piano versus taking violin as a young child?

Violins come in different sizes. You start with the cute tiny violin, then go up in size as you get bigger.

Piano? Not so much. It's a one-size-must-fit-all kind of situation. All the more reason why teaching proper technique is so important for young children.

After all...left to their own devices, kids will figure out solutions that would make the world's greatest contortionist cringe.

Of course, some piano makers decided to come up with a solution to this.

 You guessed it. Smaller-sized pianos. (Real pianos, though...not the toy that's basically a xylophone inside a plastic grand piano.)

You can buy them in two different varieties. There's the smaller piano outright. Or, you can replace the keys on your existing piano with smaller keys that will still use the same strings.

If you're willing to make the investment for your kid, or your small-handed self, sounds great, right?

Not so much. Here's why.

Yes, the smaller keyboard size may allow smaller hands to do more things at the piano.

But...every other piano they ever play will be the normal size.

Unless they can move the mini-piano to the recital hall for their performance, all the practice done on the customized piano will be useless. It won't apply when they play any other piano.

So while these mechanisms have been invented, I don't know a single person who's ever bought one.

A smaller piano can't help a small human adapt to all situations.

And a normal-sized instrument may require some patience. To play with proper technique, and wait until we grow a bit more to tackle certain repertoire.

But we make it happen. And the journey is entirely worth it.