Tue Jun 18, 2024 3:54 pm
I think on the Organ forum there was one user who was happy with one of those keyboards that fold in half. I'm pretty sure the key action isn't great, but it probably doesn't matter.
Before we had electronic keyboards, organ players would sit on the bed at the hotel or at a table and rehearse their whole program in their head with their eyes closed, or with the music in front of them. It was common in the past if the family couldn't afford a piano or other instrument to buy or make a sheet of paper or cloth with the notes on it, and practice would be done on that. When I was first starting out piano, I was in Bermuda with no instrument to play on for some time. So I went to the seemingly only music shop and bought a cheap keyboard (though not actually that cheap!) with very basic keys and terrible action. It said it had "100 voices," and each one had a button on the instrument, but it was only about 15 voices, but multiple buttons actuated the same sound many times, with different labels. It seems crude, but that's how I learned a lot of keyboarding fundamentals! I used to play it for hours. The sound was terrible, but for what I was learning it was fine. I think I chose the voice that was closest to an organ!
That all being said, it's always best to practice on something that's close to what you'll be playing, especially if its something like organ where a lot depends on muscle memory. In the absence of that though, you really can practice on practically anything.
