Are you a beginner or an advanced acoustic piano player wondering what is escapement on a digital piano? You’re in the right place. Digital pianos come from different brands such as Yamaha, Korg, Roland, Casio, and Kawai. All these brands strive to manufacture excellent electronic keyboards that will offer the best playing experience to pianists.
In all this competition among these digital piano manufacturing companies, they include additional features to outrank each other aiming to each out as the best digital piano producer. This is what has made digital pianos so popular over the years since they keep getting additional tech features. One such feature is the escapement.
What Is Escapement?
Escapement allows the release of the hammer on a digital piano. What happens is that the hammer strikes the string and falls back, even if the key is still depressed. Without the single escapement on a digital piano, the normally would be held against the string, thereby muting its vibrations, as long as the keys are depressed.
The unique thing about the escapement is the feel that it has when you press the key. The escapement has an exceptional “clicking” feel when you depress a key about halfway down. The “clicking’ feel is a crucial characteristic of an acoustic piano. Therefore, this allows you to experience the feel of an acoustic piano on a digital piano. Some digital piano actions, such as Roland’s digital pianos, include the escapement with the authentic “clicking†feel and sound.
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Importance of Escapement on a Digital Piano
An escapement is quite important. In fact, some piano experts say that a digital piano without an escapement is just another common keyboard that doesn’t have much to offer users.
Another reason why an escapement is important on a digital piano is that without it, the hammer can easily stick against the strings. When that happens, it will prevent the strings from vibrating. This will cause a “whack†sound and some sounds might be muted similar to a clavichord.
But, it’s also crucial to note that the escapement is different in upright and grand pianos. Escapements feel different and require a different way of release of the key before playing it again. This is the reason grand pianos tend to allow faster repetition of keys compared to upright pianos.
If you happen to play pieces that require fast repetition, then it’s very important to have a digital piano that simulates the escapement. That’s because, without the escapement, you will end up learning a technique that won’t work in case you happen to play on an acoustic piano.
Therefore, this simply means that if you’re to play piano on a digital piano, then it’s important for it to have a proper simulation of the escapement. This will help you later on when you transition to play on an acoustic piano, or when you want to play a specific piece on an acoustic piano, which you practiced on a digital piano.
Conclusion
As you’ve seen, an escapement on a digital piano is quite crucial. It comes in handy and helps you with some techniques when you play them on an acoustic grand. This feature is also important because without it, it’s like having just another common keyboard without much to offer. But keep in mind that digital pianos don’t have double escapement. Double escapement allows for fast repetition without the need to release a key.
Hopefully, this post has answered this question properly. But, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us through email. We’ll be happy to help.
