Topic by harrogate078

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Topic: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

Hello there. I need some advice please.

I just have received  my son's statement after his 2 weeks piano campus.

..I had five piano lessons with James during his staying in piano campus. I worked with him to shape his hands and relax arms. We also spent a lot of time to learn note values from eight notes to whole notes and quarter rest. I also explained to him beats and how to „count music”. James understood the whole concept right away and started creating his own rhythms. He also asked about sixteen notes which I explained to him. He used all the note values with ease.
During our lessons I improvised with James. I had him play on black keys only while I accompanied. Right away he noticed that I used certain white keys while playing and wanted to know why I could use white keys :-) Then he tried to use those white keys that worked with our accompaniment and he did well.
His aural skills are amazing. James had five lessons with another teacher and in our opinion he has perfect pitch. However, someone qualified in this subject should checked his skills again to make sure.
James needs more attention with his arms and hands movement while playing. He has difficulty to keep them relaxed and he also wants to play fast which makes his arms very tense. James needs to be reminded to slow down a lot to help him keep his arms relaxed. He definetely needs more attention with shaping his fingers.
James is smart and „catches” information very fast.""


This is what the teacher has said about him. I am a person without any music and instruments knowledge but I really would like to help him to find out a good digital piano as our bungalow is too small for upright piano. . I looking for advice from people who do understand the ''perfect pitch'' gift and curse as my son after morning wake up plays on his poor quality keyboard and cries, as the keyboards notes are not the same as his notes in his head. Once he hears any music and likes it -  he can sit and play it. It is amazing but... he needs our help to get the peace on his mind. Any instrument suggestions?  Which digital piano would you recommend? I was thinking about Yamaha Clavinowa or Yamaha Arius ( YDP). He is beginners.

Last edited by harrogate078 (04-04-2016 23:46)

Reply by fubarable

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

Congratulations on your son's abilities and progress; it should do you proud.

Fortunately the quality and durability of digital pianos have come a long way, and so your options for getting a good one at a decent price are wide. I recommend that yes, you look into Yamaha, but also strongly consider other keyboards from high-quality producers such as Kawai and Roland. Then new Roland FP-30 and the Kawai ES 8 have gotten good reviews, and should be considered. Also strongly consider Casio. While this has been looked down upon for years as a producer of cheap low-quality keyboards, they've recently upped their game considerably, and in my own subjective opinion create some of the most cost-effective keyboards around. So if budget is a prime consideration, they are definitely worth a look. Myself, I own both a Casio and a Roland keyboard and love them both. You will want to figure out a budget first, and then try to compare keyboards from various producers that fit your budget and then go with the best.

Also check out the old and new threads in this forum and at the PianoWorld forums: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthre...amp;a.html

As well as the Keyboard forums: http://www.keyboardforums.com/.

Reply by Ross

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

Kawai ES-100 is the category killer I think. The category of pianos below 1000$.

The main features is good long-key action, 16-steps authentic pedal, per note sampling.

See also here.

Last edited by Ross (05-04-2016 15:36)
Combine velocity curves: http://output.jsbin.com/cukeme/9

Reply by harrogate078

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

Ross wrote:

Kawai ES-100 is the category killer I think. The category of pianos below 1000$.

The main features is good long-key action, 16-steps authentic pedal, per note sampling.

See also here.



Great resource - Thank you

Reply by harrogate078

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

fubarable wrote:

Congratulations on your son's abilities and progress; it should do you proud.

Fortunately the quality and durability of digital pianos have come a long way, and so your options for getting a good one at a decent price are wide. I recommend that yes, you look into Yamaha, but also strongly consider other keyboards from high-quality producers such as Kawai and Roland. Then new Roland FP-30 and the Kawai ES 8 have gotten good reviews, and should be considered. Also strongly consider Casio. While this has been looked down upon for years as a producer of cheap low-quality keyboards, they've recently upped their game considerably, and in my own subjective opinion create some of the most cost-effective keyboards around. So if budget is a prime consideration, they are definitely worth a look. Myself, I own both a Casio and a Roland keyboard and love them both. You will want to figure out a budget first, and then try to compare keyboards from various producers that fit your budget and then go with the best.

Also check out the old and new threads in this forum and at the PianoWorld forums: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthre...amp;a.html

As well as the Keyboard forums: http://www.keyboardforums.com/.

Thank you for your opinion and Keyboard forum link.

Reply by AKM

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

Consider Casio Privia PX-150/160 which is a closest competitor to Kawai ES-100.

Last edited by AKM (06-04-2016 00:48)
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Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

I had created a topic about perfect pitch :   http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/viewtopic.php?id=3107


Maybe this can help you check out your kid's skill. Hope you enjoy it.


In music, relative pitch (about tell the interval between music notes) it's so or even more important than perfect pitch. It's diferent things, despit the fact that with perfect pitch you can spot two notes and count the space betwen them.  With relative pitch the interval it's more direct, without need to count itself, even if you could not find what exact notes was played.

Last edited by Beto-Music (06-04-2016 23:39)

Reply by Beemer

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

I am pleased for your enthusiasm to help your son make progress.   Did you mean to say "I am a person without any music and instruments knowledge"?   How the were you able to play on white notes with him on the black?    Also if you are not familiar as you said how did you come here to a specialist forum for software piano?

What keyboard instrument  do you have at present and what instrument was he playing on the piano campus?

ian

Reply by dhermanson

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Re: 7yrs old autistic boy with perfect pitch - which digital piano?

When dealing with "perfect pitch," a phenomenon that varies in intensity and scope, and seems to be somewhat more common among people who experience life through the spectrum of autism related disorders two things come to mind as being important: Tuning or pitch control and temperament.

As a conservatory trained musician who spent many years working in behavioural health settings, I've known several autistic young adults that seemed to react badly to any music in the typical modern specified "normal" tuning of A= 440, but responded well to a classical recording where an older instrument which was tuned much lower (probably below A = 428) was fine.  Tuning or pitch control is something you will find specified any any good electronic pianos.

More expensive units also offer temperament control, offering various alternate traditions from the way in which we divvying up the distance between notes. I know of one autistic girl (and only one) who responded well to another temperament system. The chances are if your son is reacting well at school and poorly at home that it is simply the poor quality of your son's practice instrument that is at issue. I would recommend (as have other's here) the Kawai ES-100. It's running about $850 with Kawai's stand and pedal board or $700 bare bones from Amazon. Unless you need height adjustment, the stand and pedal board deal is very reasonable.  It's got a good touch, easy to adjust temperament and tuning controls that you can set and leave, and comes from a reputable company that seems to care about the musicality of their instruments.

I've played ES-100's on many occasions and highly recommend the unit for its touch and good quality piano voices. I use the Kawai MP7  - the company's stage piano in my studio (stage piano's have no built in speakers) and sometimes use its fine set of piano voices, but technical reason record using Pianoteq voices via MIDI. It's my second Kawai and I've come to respect the company.

I'd reccommend buying either from a quality local music (not piano) store or a national chain like Amazon with a good return policy- just in case the issue for your son is not the piano but some other unknown problem. I recommend you not by from a local mall based "piano store," as many of these are traps for the unwary. They're a dying breed- thankfully.

I trained on Bosendorfer and Steinway pianos at conservatory, and am very sensitive to the touch and feel issue. I tried Casio, Yamaha, and Korg, finally settling on the Kawai. It would be a piano your son could grow into and use for many years.