Keyboard instrument
On the keyboard you play with sounds, rhythms and auto-accompaniment from the very start – a versatile way into pop, rock and more and, if you wish, a route towards the piano. Cuxhaven Music School is a public, non-profit music school in Cuxhaven-Ritzebüttel, run by FeMiC e.V. Lessons are open to children, teenagers and adults – whether you are starting out or coming back to music.
Klaus Behncke has taught piano and keyboard in Cuxhaven since 1992 and guides bands and ensembles through their first steps. Alongside classical piano lessons, his teaching covers pop, rock, boogie, blues, folk and jazz as well as music theory – for every age from 5 to 95.
View Klaus Behncke’s profile →We are happy to tell you in person what Gabriele Landvogt currently teaches – just get in touch.
View Gabriele Landvogt’s profile →You can start on the keyboard from around six or seven years old. To begin with, an instrument with at least 61 touch-sensitive keys and auto-accompaniment is enough. If you have a later move to the piano in mind, a model with weighted keys is a good choice. Headphones make it possible to practise at any time of day without disturbing anyone.
Klaus Behncke teaches every age from 5 to 95.
Whether keyboard lessons are also possible in pairs or in a group is something we are happy to discuss when you get in touch.
Individual lessons cost from 69 € a month (children and teenagers) or from 83 € (adults). You will find all fees – including 45-minute lessons and lesson blocks – on our fees page.
The easiest way to request a free trial lesson is our contact form – choose “Keyboard” as the subject. You can reach the office by phone on 04721 666868 on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon; the office is closed during the school holidays. You can also contact the teachers directly – their details are in the profiles on our teachers page.
You will find us in the historic Ritzebüttler Schule building:
Cuxhaven Music School · FeMiC e.V., Grodener Chaussee 11, 27472 Cuxhaven
The keyboard produces its sound electronically and comes with hundreds of voices, rhythms and auto-accompaniments – ideal for quick results and for a wide field stretching from pop to film music.
The keyboard is an electronic keyboard instrument. Unlike an acoustic piano, its notes are generated digitally rather than by hammers and strings, and are played back through speakers or headphones. Typically it has 61 (sometimes 76) mostly unweighted keys, a wide choice of voices, built-in rhythms and an auto-accompaniment that replaces a whole band at the touch of a button.
The keyboard grew out of the electronic organs and the first synthesizers of the mid-twentieth century. In the 1980s manufacturers such as Yamaha and Casio made affordable home keyboards with automatic accompaniment popular. The instrument has advanced enormously since then: modern keyboards store the sounds of real instruments as high-quality recordings (sampling) and can be connected to a computer via USB or MIDI.
Pressing a key triggers an electronic note – either from stored recordings or by sound synthesis. An amplifier and speakers output the sound; with headphones you can practise in complete silence as far as everyone else is concerned. Control panels let you choose the voice, an accompaniment style and numerous functions such as transposition, arpeggiator or recording. The keys are usually lighter and touch-sensitive, but not as heavily weighted as on a piano.
A keyboard often offers several hundred voices – from grand piano through strings and wind to drum and synth sounds – and can imitate a great many instruments. The volume is freely adjustable. Because the notes are generated digitally, the instrument is always perfectly in tune and, unlike an acoustic piano, never needs retuning.
Usually the right hand takes the melody while the left hand controls the auto-accompaniment with just a few keys: you hold a chord and the keyboard plays a matching bass, rhythm and harmony. That produces a complete arrangement very early on. Anyone who prefers can of course play the accompaniment themselves and treat the keyboard more like a piano. What matters is a feeling for rhythm, the coordination of both hands and a deft touch with the voice and style settings.
The keyboard is especially at home in pop, rock, easy listening, film music and songwriting. It is excellent for accompanying songs and for recording and arranging your own ideas. Many people also use it as an uncomplicated way in before moving on to the piano later – the layout of the keys is the same.
These three electronic keyboard instruments are often confused. The keyboard is designed for versatility and built-in accompaniment and usually has lighter keys. The digital piano deliberately imitates an acoustic piano – with a weighted keyboard and few but very good piano voices; it is the best choice if a move to the grand piano is planned later. The synthesizer, finally, is for generating and shaping your own, often artificial sounds, and is more a tool for sound designers and producers.
Almost every modern keyboard has a USB or MIDI socket. Through it the instrument can be connected to a computer, tablet or smartphone in order to record music, practise with learning apps or work on notation. Useful accessories to begin with are a sturdy stand at the right height, a sustain pedal for held notes and a good pair of headphones. That quickly turns the keyboard into a small home studio.
Hardly any instrument leads so quickly to a complete musical result: thanks to the auto-accompaniment you sound like a whole band after a short time, which is enormously motivating. Anyone who wants to accompany songs learns to read and use chord symbols alongside notation. And because you choose voices and rhythms freely, the keyboard invites experimenting and inventing pieces of your own. A few regular minutes a day are enough to practise – consistency matters more than long sessions.