This was sent to a Piano Teachers' discussion group, and I'm wondering what kinds of answers y'all might have for this father. Please cc: him on the replies, and I'll foward info to the discussion group, too. Thanks! Annie-in-Iowa ***************** Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 15:48:53 -0000 From: "winphillips" <winphillips@yahoo.com> Subject: Help! Why are modern piano keys sloping? I have never played the piano but my wife does and we are about to start lessons for my daughter, who is 7. We used to have an old acoustic and have been discussing whether to start her on acoustic or new digital piano. An issue that has come up for me is that many modern pianos now seem to have keys that slope downward, as you move from the front of the key nearest you to the insertion point. On one keyboard I measured about a half-inch slope downward on a white key, and even more on a black key. This is no optical illusion - I used a builder's level to verify. If you go to the store, the very old acoustic pianos look to have keys parallel to the floor, the newer acoustics (such as Kawai) have a slight key slope, as do the digital pianos, and some of the keyboard synthesizers have even more of a slope. Piano sales persons have not been helpful as to answering why this is. Does anyone know why, and will this have an effect on my daughter learning proper keyboard technique? Thanks for any information you can give. I used to play brass instruments so I am out of my depth on this one.
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