The Piano Place is honored to be the first store in Midwest to represent the D.S. Standard keys and offer them to our local customers. These keyboards have been retrofitted onto the Hailun HU1P 48" upright and available for purchase.
Watch our customer testimonial from Rebecca:
To set a standard for alternatively sized keyboards that is recognized globally, so that pianists, whether amateurs or professionals, may achieve their full musical potential while avoiding injury and perform with confidence anywhere in the world, knowing that a keyboard bearing the DS® logo will be the size with which they are familiar.
A recent study at the University of North Texas found that 75% of their piano students wished they had larger hands. Playing a keyboard with narrower keys effectively gives the pianist a larger hand span! The current keyboard was not designed to suit most pianists - it dates from the 1880s and suited certain famous European male virtuosos of the time. Before then, piano keyboards generally had narrower keys. The problems of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ piano keyboard which is too big for most pianists:
● Those with smaller hand spans are at greater risk of pain and injury. This comes mainly from
playing large chords and fast octave passages which means hands are in a stressed positon.
● Intensive practice, particularly by those with smaller hands (applies to most adult women and
children), can lead to hand deformities, bad technical habits and injuries.
● Hands which are fully stretched deliver less power and have less control over dynamic range.
● Fingering choices are often not optimal.
● Legato and voicing of chords is often compromised.
● Increased practice time is required for those with smaller hands and more effort - both physical
and mental - is needed to overcome technical challenges.
● Career opportunities are curtailed and many pianists are unable to fulfil their musical potential.
Dr Carol Leone, Chair of Keyboard Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has recently had an article published in the summer edition of Piano Professional journal (UK EPTA). She says: 'I often witness pianists place their hands for the first time on a keyboard that better suits their hand span. How often the pianist spontaneously bursts into tears. A lifetime of struggling with a seemingly insurmountable problem vanishes in the moment they realise, "It's not me that is the problem; it is theinstrument!" Following on that, the joy of possibility overwhelms them.
