Estimating the Cost of a Class Piano Lab
Also see: Everything you've ever wanted to know about Class Piano Labs
If you are in a hurry and need an official looking BID PROPOSAL for your supervisor or School Board NOW, then please skip this page and go directly to the Class Piano Lab Bid Proposal Form.
Any Class Piano Lab will consist of the following equipment:
- Individual student workstations
- A teacher workstation with a control unit for listening to and communicating with individual students
- headphones
- A standard size lab is 8-16 student workstations. If you want a Lab larger than 16 student workstations, then you may have to NETWORK 2 or more teacher controller units together or add an expansion card as with the Roland RCS-848 Conferencing System.
To begin calculating the cost of a Class Piano Lab, here are some initial considerations you need to make:
1. Measure the size of your room and calculate how many workstations the space will accommodate. Obviously, the PHYSICAL SPACE you have available will ultimately determine the maximum number of pianos (keyboards) you can consider in your Class Piano lab. A general rule of thumb for calculating how many pianos you can comfortably (and perhaps legally) get in a room can be found below.
2. Check how many electrical outlets are in the room. The power consumption of digital pianos is very low -- approx 40 watts each (the same as a 40 watt light bulb). There needs to be at least one electrical outlet for every 4-6 workstations. A typical wall outlet has 2 electrical sockets. This would handle 2 power strips with 4 keyboards on each strip. Power strips should not be daisy-chained together; however, a heavy-duty extension cord can be used to extend the reach of an individual power strip. A Lab consisting of 1 teacher and 8 student workstations would require a minimum of 1 outlet with 2 sockets. A 16 station lab would require a minimum of 2 outlets/4sockets, etc.
3. Peruse our List of Class Piano Lab Products and begin to make decisions as to which model of piano you would like.
4. Calculate cost estimates for Class Piano Labs in various configurations by using our Cost Estimate Form.
We ship the Lab equipment directly to you and then travel to your location and set the Lab up for you. When you purchase a Class Piano Lab from us, you get these services FREE of charge:
- on-site training
- up to 4 hours of free technical assistance via phone
- unlimited access to online assistance
- access to our ONLINE Class Piano ResourcesIf you are a college, you may choose to use our graded curriculum materials which are suitable for all levels of class piano for the college student, whether secondary or elective study.
If you purchase a Lab from us, we require a contractual agreement regarding payment and installation.
If you pay by SCHOOL PURCHASE ORDER, then you do not have to pay until the lab is installed and approved by a representative from your school.
If you are a private organization or studio, then half the total cost of the Lab must be paid up front and the remainder paid within 30 days of the completion of the Lab installation.
Shipping should be added to the total cost of the lab at approximately $50.00 for each keyboard workstation.
We (Smith Creek Music) do not do any electrical or mechanical work regarding room design. Consequently, when we come to your school or organization and setup your lab, all electrical, mechanical, and computer networking requirements must be met via a contractual agreement before we ship the Lab equipment.
Worst Case Scenario: You assume your room is large enough to hold all the piano workstations and that there are enough electrical outlets in the room to handle the power needs. We ship the lab to you and then come on-site to set up the Lab only to discover that the room isn't large enough and there are not nearly enough electrical outlets. Big problems for everyone.
A general rule-of-thumb for calculating the size of the room and how many workstations it will accommodate:
1. multiply the length (in feet) by the width
2. multiply the length (in feet) by 4 (minimum walking space)
3. subtract 4 from the width and multiply that number by 4
4. add the results of steps 2 and 3
5. subtract step 4 from step 1
6. divide the result of step 5 by 20The resulting number is the approximate number of workstations you can comfortably get in one room.
Here is an outline of some various LAB CONFIGURATIONS you might consider:
4 student workstations and 1 teacher station (Small Private Teaching Studio)
5 Casio PX-700 digital pianos (4 students; 1 teacher)
1 Kurzweil KCL Teacher Controller HUB
5 Benches
1 Surge Protector Power Strip
5 Student Headphone Boxes
5 sets of headphones
5 sets of wiringWe ship directly to you. You set up the Lab yourself.
Estimated cost of equipment: $6220.00
Estimated cost of shipping: $400.00Total: $6620.00
In this scenario, all equipment would be shipped directly to you. You would have to unpack and and set up the equipment yourself using our online and direct telephone help. In addition, if you are not a non-profit organization, we would probably have to charge sales tax.
See the Cost Estimate Form.
16 student workstations and 1 teacher workstation -- the 'economy' lab (Typical Elementary Schools and High Schools)
17 Casio PX-310 digital pianos (12 students; 1 teacher) @ $759.00
1 Roland RCS-848 Teacher Controller HUB
1 Roland RCS-8EXP Expansion Kit... or the Yamaha LC2 Music Lab -- they are identical units and sell for the same price.
17 Benches
4-6 Surge Protector Power Strips
17 Student Headphone Boxes
17 sets of headphones
17 sets of wiringWe ship directly to you and then come to your location and set up the Lab for you. We give 2 hours of on-site training to instructors.
Estimated cost of equipment: $18,200.00
Estimated cost of shipping: $1350.00
Estimated cost of us traveling to your site for setup and training: $2500.00Total: $22,350.00
Or, you could choose the Yamaha YDP213 digital piano @ $925.00 and this would bring the total cost to approx. $24,850.00
In this scenario, all equipment would be shipped directly to you. We would travel to your location, set up the lab for you, and give approx. 4 hours of individual training.
See the Cost Estimate Form.
The same 16-station Lab as above using the Roland MP-70 keyboards, the traditional lab would cost an approx. total of: $34,850.00
The same 16-station Lab as above using the Yamaha YDP223 keyboards would cost an approx. total of: $36,500.00
See the Cost Estimate Form.
See A Critical Overview of Class Piano Lab Manufacturers.
Back to Class Piano Lab Resources.
Contact us for information about designing and installing a class/group piano lab in your school.
