Word: instrument
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...spirit. With a little imagination and manual dexterity, electronic keyboards can make otherwise struggling players feel like pros. Not like Horowitz, exactly; more like Flash Gordon auditioning for a garage combo, or one of those zoological enigmas who made spacey sounds in the Star Wars saloon. Keyboards can reproduce instrument sounds, even sample sound effects (from a rain forest to a barking dog), and turn any tin ear into a one-man band...
...switch. And though top-end pro keyboards can cost upwards of $3,000, general consumer models for the "hobbyist" market usually go for a couple of hundred dollars. Besides having model numbers that make them sound like racing cars, boards like the Yamaha DX7IIFD look like the instrument panel of a new Ferrari prototype. The Roland E-20 ($2,500) even has a liquid-crystal display window that flashes such information as the chord being played and the tempo being used, expressed in beats per minute. Looking at a readout to see what chord you are playing...
...studio-slick as Fleetwood Mac, if only the young musicians stick with it. "People get these keyboards at home and use them for a while, then put them in a closet," Flores frets. "With 15 minutes of practice daily, you can learn to play any instrument. You cannot get away from education." Parents who want the family prodigy to put in more than 15 minutes on the upright are concerned that serious piano lessons may be undermined by the keyboard craze...
...technique ruined by a keyboard with full-sized keys," reassures L.A. music instructor Alpha Walker, who has been teaching piano for nearly 30 years. "Kids who didn't take lessons because they didn't have pianos are signing up to work on the keyboard." The instrument has amassed all the pop impact of the electric guitar. "Everyone who presses a key can get a sound," says the jazz-based singer-songwriter Patrice Rushen. "But combining those sounds, to really use the keyboard as an instrument, that's when the talent comes...
...music lessons. Ben Margolis, 11, of West Los Angeles, has a Roland D-20 that he can mess around with when he's finished his piano lessons. "Nothing can replace the real instrument," he says, "but if you're trying to do sound effects or you don't know how to play another instrument, it's great." But Margolis already has it all in perspective. "The piano is the more beautiful instrument," he says. "But the keyboard is the more interesting...