This is an excellent question. Sometimes bigger is not always better when it comes to putting a piano in your home. There are occasions when too big of a piano can cause too much volume yet having a piano that is undersized for the space can create too many demands for the instrument. This video and article will explain how to tell what size piano is right for you and your home.
There are two things involved in selecting the size of your piano: the volume of air in the room and the acoustic properties (or the number of reflective surfaces you have).
The general rule when it comes to pianos is that all things being equal, bigger is better. It’s especially crucial for experienced players to have a large grand to practice on because you will most likely be performing on 7 or 9-foot pianos in performance and it’s always easier to transition to a smaller piano.
In my loft, I practice on a 9-foot concert grand (Baldwin SD-10). There is a lot of volume to the room – the ceilings are very high, and there is a lot of open space – and the acoustics lend very well to a larger piano. However, I used to live in a house and would practice on the same piano – it was in an enormous room and had vaulted ceilings – but when I practiced I would need to wear a pair of earplugs at times because the sound was just too much to handle.
Now on the other side, you can have a piano that is too small for a room. As a result, most players will only play harder to get more sound out of it. Playing too hard on the piano will cause the piano to age prematurely – I have seen this many times before in schools and churches where the piano is undersized for the space.
If you have a small room with very high ceilings – let’s say 20 feet tall – you can have a much larger piano because you have a tremendous amount of air in the room. On the other hand, if you have a larger room with low ceilings, you might need to get a smaller piano.
If you have a room with carpet, drapes, and soft furniture, that will tend to absorb a lot of the sound of the piano. If you have hardwood floors and not much in the room you will have a lot more reflective noise generated.
The best thing to do is stand in the room you plan to put your piano in and clap your hands. See how much sound you get. Sing a little bit – does it seem like your voice is enhanced (like singing in the shower)? If you tend to get more sound by clapping, talking, or singing in your room you have a loud room; you will probably be able to get by with a smaller piano.
Now if you want to have a larger piano and you have a loud room, there are ways to fix this. You can put a rug under your piano and cut down on the sound quite a bit. You will certainly tell the difference in the amount of noise coming out of the instrument. Remember, half the sound of the piano is generated underneath the piano from the soundboard.
Thanks again for watching and reading. Hope you enjoyed this information and please, keep those questions coming!
5 thoughts on “What is the Best Size Piano for You?”
I don’t understand why the sound level of day and upright piano cannot be measured. Indeed it should be possible to provide a graph of now (frequency) vs. sound level for each note played forte individually.
Or a few reference pieces that could be recorded or measured. Then one could play that recording through loudspeakers in the room to assess whether the piano one has in mind is suitable.
I’m not after scientific precision, I just want to be in the right ballpark.
There are many complications to this scenario. First, a piano projects sound much differently from loudspeakers. Speakers focus the sound towards the listener while pianos emit sound from a myriad of locations.
The other issue is that different pianos of the same size can have dramatically different volume and tone. Even pianos of the same brand and model can differ substantially in the projection and brilliance of the sound due to both the inherent qualities of the soundboard, as well as the voicing on the particular instrument.
Hi Robert and thanks for sharing wonderful videos.
I have a tiny acoustically treated studio room designed for composing and producing music for film and games(size: 3.5m x 2.5m and 2.5m ceiling height). Currently using Digital Piano Kawai CN34 for both composing and piano practice. I have been thinking to replace it with a real piano Yamaha Upright perhaps, but not sure if this is good idea since the room is pretty dead. Maybe Upright piano with brighter sound in order to compensate for the loss of high frequencies? Not sure? Your advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers
Hi, i have recently moved and i want to buy myself a piano, but i am not sure how i should set it up, because i have a ballroom, and my grand piano just doesn’t sound right, too much reflection, but when i try to stup the reflection it is too low. i can send you a picture if you need per e-mail to show you my ballroom, it is very big…. that is the problem
On size of piano – in most cases people won’t have space for a grand, but will be able to fit in an upright.
(One of the major advantages you have over us in the UK is that houses which are big enough to take a grand piano are rare / hugely expensive – the cost of even a big Steinway is peanuts in comparison with the extra cost of the house!)
Having long legs, I am beginning to think that some pianos simply have keyboards that are too low over the ground, as they mean having a piano stool that is so low that there is not room for the feet to operate the pedals comfortably. In piano showrooms, I notice that most uprights seem a little on the low side, but there are a few (normally more expensive) where the keyboard is at a higher distance above the others, more than 3 inches higher in one case I saw.
Useful question for a little video perhaps?
regards
Martin