Piano Video Lesson: Are All Piano Keyboards the Same Height?

Hi, this is Robert Estrin at livingpianos.com and virtualsheetmusic.com. The question today is, are the keyboards on pianos all the same height? You know, you'd think this would be a standard, but actually it's not. Many uprights have keyboards that are lower. Some old big uprights are even higher than grand pianos. And generally speaking, Asian pianos, pianos made anywhere in Japan, in China, in Korea, generally the keyboards are higher than on American pianos. Why this is I have no idea, but it seems to be a general standard.

That's one reason why it's really nice to have an adjustable artist bench so you can get the right height, which is so critical for being comfortable at your piano. Another interesting fact is that Asian piano benches tend to be at a lower height than American piano benches. So if you couple the lower height of the bench with the higher keyboard on Asian pianos, pianists like me, where most of my height is in my legs, I tend to sit really low. And on Asian pianos, if I sit down on a Yamaha, I have to have an adjustable bench or have something to sit on to raise me up high enough to be at the same height I would be on an American piano, like a Steinway where the height of the bench and the piano is just about right for me.

So that's the interesting facts about the height of keyboards on pianos. Thanks so much for joining me again, Robert Estrin at virtualsheetmusic.com and livingpianos.com.

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