Pink a few of my students have practiced on Clavinovas over the years with good results - never heard a complaint from them or their parents.

The only problem I found with them as a piano teacher is that the action is quite different from an acoustic instrument, so these students tend to be very 'heavy-handed' when playing a regular piano. I remember one boy who just couldn't seem to play softly no matter how much I 'bugged' him - till finally I asked him "Don't you ever play softly at home?" And he said "Oh yes, that's easy - I just turn down the volume!" I had to ask his mom to tape up that volume switch so he'd learn to control his fingers and arm weight!

That was a few years ago though, and the technology does improve every year it seems. But there are some effects you just can't achieve on a electronic keyboard - sustaining tones, "echo" effects etc. There's something about a wooden instrument that just makes it more responsive to human touch ... more 'alive' sounding and resonant ... more sonorous harmonically ...(you play one key, and that pitch causes all the strings tuned an octave/fifth from that one to vibrate according to the laws of harmonics, creating a much richer, 'deeper' sound impossible to achieve on a keyboard).

I do have a Roland digital piano which I love for it's ability to record and it's small size - and it's Midi compatible too! - but I much prefer the experience of playing a 'real' piano ...

daylia