Did you decide to start learning piano? Congratulations! It can turn out that it was one of the most important life-changing decisions you have ever taken. Learning piano is beneficial for people of every age. It develops your brain and your ability to reach goals. It gives you pleasure on happy days and solace on days of grief. It brings you new friends and increases your horizon. You will be more relaxed and happy than before.
But before you can start your musical journey, you have to choose the right instrument. There are so many types of piano that you can be easily overwhelmed and lose the overview. Here in this article, I would like to help you to make an informed decision. Learn, what factors are to consider while buying a piano, and specifically while buying it in Malta.
Acoustic vs. digital
The first step is to decide between a digital and an acoustic piano. Many of us grew up on the acoustic piano, so am I. It took time for me to accept the digital one. But technology develops fast, and modern digital pianos can satisfy the highest demands on sound and touch. Specifically in Malta, we have a very humid environment. Acoustic pianos can suffer under humidity and untune fast. Buying an acoustic piano, you need to be prepared to tune it regularly. This would cost time, money, and also the quality of the sound in the time before tuning. Though I am a great fan of acoustic pianos, for Malta I recommend choosing a digital one.
88 keys
Some digital pianos have smaller keyboards than an acoustic piano counting only 61 or fewer keys. If you seriously want to learn a piano, you should choose a full-sized piano. It should have a standard keyboard consisting of 88 keys.
Weighted keys
You can find digital pianos with keys without added weight on the market. Some have partly weighted keys, while others have fully weighted keys. The added weight is here to simulate the heavy wooden keys of an acoustic piano. A digital piano with fully weighted keys closely resembles an acoustic piano. It is the best choice to choose.
Touch-sensitivity of keys
A touch-sensitive piano means that the quality of sound depends on how strong and fast you touch the key. Not less than piano mastery is about the ability to produce sound appropriate for a particular piece of music. When we say a musician “touches our soul with their music,” we mean they are playing expressively. Different dynamics and different colors of a sound contribute to this expressiveness. Through touch sensitivity, we can express feelings, and this is the whole sense of music.
Touch-sensitive digital pianos are the absolute must-have if you want to have a fulfilling and rich emotional musical journey. On the contrary, if you “save” on touch sensitivity, the enjoyment of your musical activity will be affected. You can give it up after a while without knowing the real reason for that.
It is especially true if you buy the instrument for your young child. They don’t have successful experience with playing piano yet. If the piano does not sound right, your child will think it reflects their ability. They will say, “I just can’t do it. It is too hard for me.” Children blame themselves and don’t even know that they are very successful with a proper instrument. If you buy an instrument without touch sensitivity for your child, you convict your child to fail. Don’t do this. Give your child a real chance to succeed and a proper instrument to train their musicality.
Price
A good piano is not necessarily expensive. If you focus on the important features listed above, you will find a good piano that you can afford. Ignore fancy, but unnecessary features.
Take your time to compare offers on the market. The price range is huge. Yamaha and Kawai are probably the most popular brands. Japanese producers like Roland and Korg are also becoming more popular. I have made a small selection of instruments suitable for beginners and affordable for everyone. This selection is not complete. I made it to give you an example of what I mean by a good and affordable instrument. It satisfies a minimum of requirements. You can go for more, but please don’t go for less. Consider carefully consequences for your child that a bad or a good instrument have.
Maltese shops are more expensive than online shops. Still, they are willing to adjust the price if you ask them for it. You are well-advised in negotiating a fair price by demonstrating that you are informed and know the price range.
The best referral you can find is the online shop Thomann. They have all you need for beginners, advanced players, and professionals.
Delivery to Malta
As I was looking for my piano, I was comparing offers in Malta and abroad. Buying abroad at that time was not easy. You needed to take care of delivery. Additionally, the delivery was expensive. Now, Thomann offers affordable delivery to Malta. Delivery is even free if you buy a piano for more than €398. This is probably the best news since it makes Thomann a real competitor on the Maltese market.
Please, keep in mind the maximum weight of your piano that can be transported for free. Big and bulky packages are expensive to be transported by Thomann. If you chose this sort of piano, you should better ask any logistic company in Malta for a quotation.
I asked Thomann’s employees for help. I wanted to know which beginner pianos can be transported for free. They gave me the list below. If your desired piano is not in this list, please write an email to Thomann directly. You can inquire regarding the costs of transport.
These pianos can be transportet to Malta for free. If you want to buy a stand and a bench, you need to order them extra.
Grant on the Purchase of a Musical Instrument
The Maltese Government supports you if you buy an instrument. They provide a once-only grant on the purchase of a musical instrument. You will receive your grant after 3 days after you have applied for it.
What you’ll get
The applicant will receive 15.25% of the expense, up to a maximium of €465.
Eligibility
The applicant has to be a Maltese resident. The form must be submitted no later than 3 months from the date of purchase. The applicant shall keep the original fiscal receipts/invoices and relevant documentation for at least 2 years. This period starts from the date of application. They must produce these documents upon request to the Commissioner for Revenue for verification purposes. The grant payment will be deposited in the bank account indicated on the application form.
You will receive this grant independent of whether you have bought your instrument from a Maltese shop or abroad. Kindly note that you must provide a proof of transport and invoice when you buy the instrument from abroad.
The application is that easy and fast as promised.