Chookie wrote in message ...
In article ,
"gale" wrote:

violin. it's lovely to hear how much he enjoys what you enjoy!

Why violin? Even my violinist friend seems to think piano is a better
starting instrument, for some reason, as does my very-talented-friend-who-can
get-a-tune-out-of-anything (though she started on piano).

BTW, are (cheaper) electric pianos as good as the Real Thing for music
students these days, or is a Proper Piano still advisable? I am aware that
the very good ones are at least as pricey as a piano.

There was a thread on this not too long ago.

Here's my two cents worth:

An electic keyboard with high quality weighted hammer action keys and at least
64 note polyphony will be plenty good for a student for many years. It
is certainly better than a worn out, or out of tune acoustic piano.

The quality of the cabinet, and the number voices, midi editing ability, etc.
can have a big effect on the cost, but you can save money here.

Other advantages of a keyboard:

HEADPHONE JACKS AND VOLUME CONTROL!!!!
Doesn't need to be tuned.
Transpose key (great when you want to sing along, but the piece is not in
your key)
Much lighter and easier to move than acoustic.

Ours also has:

Built in metronome
Lots of voices
Percussion tracks
Can be hooked up to a computer