| "I heard that an upright piano is better than a baby grand."
We've heard this, too, but never from an actual pianist, teacher, or music professional! The upright piano is a popular option for people who live in an apartment or condo. Most are mass-produced in much larger numbers, and so low to mid-range quality uprights cost less than baby grands. These are legitimate reasons to buy one!
However, the design of upright pianos and baby grands are radically different, affecting not only the ease of playing, but the way the sound reaches your ears.
This picture illustrates the moving parts, or action, of one key on a grand piano.
This picture illustrates the action of an upright piano.
The first thing that you might notice is that the key on the upright piano is much shorter. When we have a child try the pianos out, they instantly notice that the keys on the upright feel heavier, particularly at the back of the key, and less balanced. Also, the baby grand piano has a mechanism for repetition that is missing in the upright. If you play a note on the upright piano and try to repeat it softly, or too quickly, there is no sound!
The baby grand is easier to play; the keys require less strength in the hands and arms, and there is much more control of volume and expression.
This picture illustrates the design of the baby grand piano
This picture illustrates the design of the upright piano
Sound reaches our ears from two sources, the vibration of the wooden soundboard, and the vibration of the strings. The soundboard of the upright piano is on the back a few inches from a wall. The sound does not come to us directly, but from inside the case, and bouncing off of the wall behind the piano. We get almost no sense of the vibration of the strings at all, and the sound can be described as "enclosed" or "muffled". The baby grand piano is "open", and the waves of sound coming off of the soundboard and string resonance come to our ears directly and intimately. It's hard to describe, but the player feels more connected to the music.
Of course, the exception to all of this is when a poorly made or badly maintained baby grand is compared to a high-quality upright in good tune - we would take the upright every time!
As for the space requirement of the baby grand, don't make up your mind until you've tried putting a piano template on the floor - a 5' x 5' small grand piano takes up less room than you think! Call us at (858)586-7000 if you'd like to see whether a baby grand piano will fit in your room.
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