In the best of all worlds, all of my students will be playing on high quality, regularly tuned pianos. Pianos should be tuned twice yearly, once the air conditioning is turned on and once the heat is turned on.
Pianos should be placed in your home where parents can keep an eye on practicing and where practicing won’t be inhibited by other members of the family wanting to watch TV, play video games, etc.
In some instances, families will need to have a keyboard/electric piano. In these cases, the instruments should have 88 weighted, full size keys. The keyboard should be on it’s own stand with a piano bench or chair to sit upon. The keyboard should have a damper pedal too. Extra sound features are not necessary. Students should NOT regularly practice with headphones.
Keyboards that sit on table tops are not acceptable, as students cannot achieve proper hand position.