Choosing the right keyboard for your music IAN BRADSHAW, marketing manager of KORG UK, offers some guidance on the latest keyboards for the modern church
[
MUSIC HAS ALWAYS played an important role in worship, with instruments of varying types, sizes and complexity accompanying the human voice. The pipe organ is probably the instrument most commonly associated with music played in church: indeed, organs have been used in churches for hundreds of years, with the reportedly oldest playable pipe organ being located in the Basilica of Valère in Sion, Switzerland – built almost 600 years ago. Going even further back, the earliest precursors of the pipe organ appeared in ancient Greece around the third century BC – the term organ deriving from the Greek órganon, a generic term for an instrument or a tool. Over the past 50 or so years, keyboard instruments have been developed and improved at an ever-increasing pace, frequently adopting exciting and innovative technology as soon as it emerges. The range of keyboards currently available provides hundreds of options to suit a very wide range of applications and budgets. Such a vast amount of choice can be bewildering, so this piece aims to make readers aware of some of the most important considerations when selecting an instrument for use in a worship setting. I’ll look at the different keyboard categories, their features and benefits, what you can expect in terms of performance and how they should be installed. Providing a simple introduction to these wonderful instruments will help you make a well-informed purchase decision, whatever the application.
Decoding keyboard categories Throughout this piece, I will be referencing the principal keyboard families. The majority of instruments will fall into one of five of these families, but occasionally an instrument may bridge two. By understanding the general terminology, you should be able to significantly narrow down your choice. Digital pianos: These typically have 88 keys and entry-level models will have at least 10 ‘sounds’. Typically, these will include a few acoustic pianos, a similar number of electric pianos, a harpsichord and a handful of other simple sounds such as strings, church and tone wheel organs, and sometimes choir. There are many digital pianos at a similar entrylevel price point with 100’s of sounds, automatic rhythms, and recording. Consider those with caution, as including that level of functionality at a low price point is only possible by compromising on sound, keyboard quality and reliability. The majority of digital pianos include built-in speakers and amplifiers; those without lean more towards digital stage pianos or tend to be very low quality. Workstations: This family is one of the stalwarts for Gospel and professional players. The genre
36
www.ecclesiasticalandheritageworld.co.uk
The elegant and understated KORG G1 Air digital piano was firmly established in 1988 when KORG introduced the best-selling M1. Workstations are completely self-contained instruments possessing a huge amount of flexibility. They will also boast the broadest range of high-quality sounds, including essentials such as pianos, organs, woodwind, string, vocal, guitar, bass and drums, as well as radical synthesizer voices. Sounds can be played individually, layered, or combined to create complete soundtracks or arranged into a full score using a built-in sequencer, with final production polish through multiple digital effects. In terms of complexity, entry-level workstations have been cleverly designed to be very intuitive, with the majority of functions immediately accessible. At the higher end of the price range, they too have similar simplicity, but also have greater depth. Whatever level you chose, the user can edit and make changes to every aspect of the sound. With higher-end machines, you will find more accurate instruments, beautiful touch screen interfaces and extensive connectivity. Built-in amplification is not usually found within these types of products but, due to the broad user segment, a choice of keyboard configurations is usually available.
interface that lends itself towards editing sounds ‘on the fly’. They can quickly recall sounds and they’ll feature a high-quality keyboard action. You will also find a variety of connections for external pedals and switches, as well as plenty of options for connecting to professional sound equipment. Just like workstations, they have a broad range of sounds, but with a particular focus on the various types of pianos and solo instruments. With more recent stage keyboards, the different instrument groups are often separated on the panel with dedicated controls allowing for streamlined and intuitive control. Built-in speakers are rare, with the KORG SV2S being a notable exception – boasting studio-quality speakers developed by pro-audio specialist K-ARRAY.
Stage pianos can be elegant yet retro, as with the SV2S
KORG’s latest workstation, NAUTILUS, features a colour touch screen Stage keyboards: As the name suggests, these are designed primarily for live performance. Usually, they are robustly built and possess an
Arranger keyboards: The roots of these keyboards lie in the two-manual home organs, which enjoyed huge popularity between the 1970s and 1990s; and just like their predecessors, these provide an autoaccompaniment in almost every imaginable genre. The accompaniments allow the player to perform immediately as if backed by a group of several musicians. The two-manual configuration is no longer mainstream, with just a handful of
