Recently, a curious reader emailed us about getting a piano that fit in a carry on bag. Being a travelling musician myself, I thought this was genius. It’s so easy to get inspired in a new setting, almost as easy as it is to neglect practicing- even when you want to! So, I did a little research.
First, I asked myself:
a) How light is it?
(Airlines restrict carry ons to around 12kg. I can carry up to 15kg comfortably if I’ve been to the gym, but do my noodle arms WANT to?)
b) Does it sound nice? (A fair query, considering.)
c) Weighted keys or non-weighted keys, that is the question…
Well. I figure that a decent sounding mid-ranged piano = A composed travel buddy = An ideal vacation situation, pianist edition!
Sound too good to be true? Not by the end of this article!
Some links below are affiliate, meaning that if you’d like to purchase any of the products with the link below, Artiden makes a small commission. This does not change the price, but it helps Artiden sustain itself. I am not paid nor asked to use these links.
A Portable Piano for Composing
In Amsterdam I let my nails grow out, but miss playing without them too soon after. I’ll bet most most pianists prefer it when they feel the keys, too.
If you don’t think you can groom your nails when you’re on the go, consider getting a keyboard with narrower keys. You can utilize your hand-space better, keep up with where the notes are on the board, and be able to hear them too. There’s no point in doing Hanon if your fingers are going to be splayed flat.
The Yamaha Reface CP is a portable keyboard geared towards people who want to compose and hear the notes rather than keep up their technique. It may also be useful if you teach music online, because students are concerned with seeing the sequence and range of the notes and the mini keys might fit their computer screens better.
The Yamaha Reface CP weighs 6 pounds. Seriously. The portability is so amazing that if I bought it, this would be a serious contender with my laptop for desk space.
I got caught up in what one very critical, important person in my life thinks of me. A lot of us have someone like this in our lives, and I’m getting used to the idea that people who are close to us might not always know the best for us.
Pan thinks I should see someone for my worrying. I keep thinking that I don’t have a serious enough problem to need a professional to examine my head. Actually, I was offended the first time he suggested it because it’s one thing to joke about being crazy, but another thing for someone else suggest that you’re damaged enough to need professional help. I always assumed that if I manage to get myself married I’ll need couples therapy or a shaman or whatever they go to to fix marriages, but not now – not for something as seemingly insignificant as worrying a little too much.
For my next stage of life, I decided that I want to travel spontaneously. There will be a gym bag in my closet packed with clothes and a toothbrush for last-second trips. I will drive to remote islands to lay underneath the stars on my SUV’s roof and grab my surfboard when I feel like it.
Pan and I spend hours waiting in the emergency room for a scan he has to do and while I’ve done more exciting and pressing things in my life, I’d also rather know that my best friend is okay. I am writing this on my phone in the emergency room and thinking back to all the times my piano students had trouble sight reading. Ironic, but I really liked the non technique parts of a music exam—sight reading, ear testing, clapping, you name it. It felt like a game to me.
Sight reading is the skill that lets you learn a piece of music the first few times you play it.