Piano lessons to meet your needs, since 2009
Piano lessons to meet your needs, since 2009
For beginner piano students and professional pianists alike, buying a piano in Toronto can be a large and daunting task. With prices for pianos in Toronto piano stores ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, it's important to consider your budget and match it to the highest quality piano in your price range to make sure you get the most value out of your purchase.
Consulting piano teachers in Toronto is a great way to get started. Once your Toronto piano teacher gets to know your level of playing and personality, they can suggest a type of piano and piano budget that fits your needs.
The next step is to visit a piano showroom and chat with a piano dealer/salesperson. Regardless of where you end up purchasing your piano - and even if you buy a piano online - talking with staff at Toronto piano stores will give you important insight into making your purchase. Toronto has some great piano stores with large selections of both real, acoustic pianos and digital pianos. Stop by a few of the Toronto piano stores listed below and take some time to try out the various piano and keyboard models. You won't be rushed by staff, and can play the showroom pianos to your heart's content, until you get a feel for the nuances and differences between the different pianos.
In the heart of downtown Toronto, across from the Royal Conservatory of Music and a stone's throw from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, Remenyi House of Music is a good place to begin your search when buying a piano in Toronto. Remenyi has a large showroom with a wide selection of upright pianos, grand pianos, and digital pianos - a rare mix as many Toronto piano stores tend to offer either digital or real/acoustic piano options rather than both. It's easy to trust a piano store located in such close proximity to two world-class piano education institutions.
As with piano rentals and piano practise rooms in Toronto, Paul Hahn & Co. is one of Toronto Piano Teachers’ go-tos when recommending stores to buy a piano in Toronto. It's a small, local, family-run business, dating back to 1913, and now in its third-generation run by Alex Hahn (Paul's granddaughter). Alex and the rest of the team are extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and eager to help. They live and breathe piano music at Paul Hahn & Co., and take it upon themselves to connect with the Toronto piano-playing community - professionals, teachers, students, and amateurs alike - in a way that few other Toronto piano stores would.
Depending on the style of piano music you are learning in your piano lessons in Toronto, it may be worth a trip to Paul's Boutique in Kensington Market. This magical store is a dream-come-true for pop/rock keyboardists looking for the authentic sounds of vintage fender rhodes, clavinets, organs, synthesizers, and other keyboard instruments. Paul's Boutique also carries excellent weighted 88-key digital pianos, and given that the pianos are second-hand you may find a great deal not available at most other piano stores in Toronto, which focus more on selling new pianos.
Steve's Music on Queen Street West is another of Toronto's mainstay piano and musical instrument stores. Steve's Music carries all the current top digital piano and keyboard models (no real/acoustic pianos), and the staff knows their gear. Grab a set of headphones and rotate from one digital piano to another until you find the piano with the sound and touch you love the most, and be sure to ask the sales reps which pianos are their favourites too. (As a side note, Jonah, the Director of Toronto Piano Teachers, bought his first digital piano at Steve's.)
If you have a decent budget and are interested in going straight to the top of the pile of piano stores in Toronto, the Steinway Piano Gallery should be your destination. Steinway pianos are well-known and recognized as a top brand in piano-making, and are worth considering especially if you are interested in a baby grand piano or a full concert grand piano. Steinway Piano Gallery has two Greater Toronto Area locations in Mississauga and Markham (you need to get out of downtown Toronto to have space for all those grand pianos) and have retail hours on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and weekends.
When buying a piano in Toronto, don't forget - your Toronto piano teacher is there to help. Ask your piano teacher for advice, make a trip to the Toronto piano stores to check things out, then consult your piano teacher again before making a final decision. Buying a piano in Toronto is a major purchase, and it's usually better to buy a high-quality piano that won't need upgrading in the near future as your interest and ability to play piano increase. Hopefully buying a piano in Toronto will be a fun and exciting adventure, marking the birth of a beautiful relationship between you and your new piano.
