I've played most of my life, and have owned both electric and acoustic instruments of various types. I would take the purist position and say that there is no substitute for a vibrating string. Although the entertainment value of lots of electronic bells and whistles attracts the attention of the young student, the rudiments that make for good musicianship are not necessarily served that way.

A Yamaha upright is a great sounding instrument, with a good feel. If the intention was to foster an *interested* piano student, that (or something equivalent) would be the way to go. I would love to have a Yamaha Grand myself, but my climate forbids such foolishness.

I am also a fanatic about tuning, so I learned how to tune pianos. With the electronic tuners available, and a book from the library, one can keep a decent piano in good shape for a long time.

If practicality requires the electric route, I would recommend against the "furniture" style of units with built in speakers. Go for a professional quality keyboard (I like the Kurzweil sound) and then get the best sounding speakers you can afford. They will make all the difference. Don't worry about different sounds, concentrate on a piano sound you want hear for a long time, one with lots of dynamics. You can always get a little external synthesizer box with a zillion sounds later, for not much $$$. (Plugs into the midi port.)

My 2 cents....

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