How to Choose a Piano Lamp: Best Types, Budget Tips, and Style Advice

Still using the traditional lamp while playing the piano?

Direct glare from a light source can cause eye fatigue and potentially impact your playing environment. You might say that you don’t feel any discomfort while playing the piano, but let me ask you this: if you need a reading lamp for reading, wouldn’t you also benefit from a piano lamp for your music sheets while playing? It makes sense, doesn’t it? In any of the following situations, you should seriously consider adding a piano lamp to enhance your piano sessions.

If your upright piano is placed in a corner that lacks natural light and isn’t bright enough for you to read sheet music even if all lighting is turned on when practicing at night or on a cloudy day.
If you have to constantly adjust the distance between your eyes and the sheet music to read clearly. This causes eyestrain as well as neck and shoulder pain, and distracts you from getting good practice.

Why Should I Use a Piano lamp? Can’t I just use a regular lamp?

Compared with the LED PianoLight lamp, which is purpose-designed for piano players, a bog-standard desk or floor lamp is not suitable for piano use for the following reasons:

Create the Perfect Atmosphere for Playing Piano

Sheet music is arranged vertically and only a piano lamp can properly illuminate sheet music with clarity.

A desk lamp placed on an upright piano can only illuminate the upper half of sheet music and leave the lower half hard to read. Designed to illuminate books laid horizontally on a table, desk lamps are not suitable for reading sheet music arranged vertically. Therefore, you need a lamp designed especially for illuminating a vertical plane.

Light Up Every Corner of Sheet Music and Every Piano Key

Only a piano lamp provides a lighting range wide enough.

A floor lamp delivers illumination to a certain point and causes glare or reflection. Only a piano lamp can illuminate all 88 keys of an upright piano. According to the recommended light levels of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the luminance ratio between current and adjacent working areas should not exceed 1:3 or 3:1.

The same principle can be applied when reading sheet music: brightness should not differ too much between sheet music and keys. If brightness differs too much between sheet music and surroundings, such as bright sheet music and dark surroundings (just like using a smartphone in the dark), eyestrain is likely to occur. Therefore, you need a piano lamp like the LED PianoLight to properly illuminate both sheet music and piano keys.

A kid playing upright piano with a black LED piano light

upright piano lamp placing on top of an upright piano

How do I choose a Piano Light?

In the market today, there are numerous types of piano lamps designed to cater to different needs and preferences. For upright and grand pianos, you can find lamps specifically tailored to each type. The available styles include clip-on, desktop, and floor stand lamps, offering a range of options to suit various setups and aesthetics. But you may wonder, how can I choose the right one among all of these? Here, we will guide you through the process.

Match the Lamp to Your Piano

First, find a lamp that matches your piano. For grand pianos, floor stands or clip-on lamps are often ideal as they can be positioned to provide optimal lighting without obstructing the piano's beauty. For upright pianos, desktop or clip-on lamps work well, offering direct lighting to the music stand and keys.

Consider buying a piano lamp featuring“color temperature adjustment”

According to scientific research, warm yellow light (cooler than 3000 kelvin) is relaxing while bright white with high color temperatures keeps people focused, if a little on edge. Therefore, when practicing piano before a competition or performance, a piano lamp can be adjusted to bright white to improve efficiency. Or simply turn the lamp to romantic warm yellow when you want to create a relaxing atmosphere or hold a small concert in your living room. In the past, lamps only provided one color temperature, bright white or warm yellow, but modern piano lamps like the LED PianoLight allow you to adjust color temperature and brightness according to your mood or desired atmosphere. They can even automatically detect surroundings to complement ambient light.

upright piano lamp with adjustable color temperature ranging from 3000K to 5300K

Consider Your Budget

Secondly, you should consider your budget. Piano lamps come in a wide range of prices, from affordable clip-on lamps to more expensive floor stand models with advanced features. While inexpensive piano lamps are readily available and convenient to use, it's important to remember that this is a long-term investment. A high-quality piano lamp can significantly enhance the quality of your practice and performance. Anything that can support your journey to becoming a professional pianist should not be taken lightly.

Optimal Lamp Height

Furthermore, when choosing the right piano lamp, considering the ideal height for different types of lamps is crucial for optimal lighting and comfort during practice. Desktop piano lamps are typically 10 to 12 inches in height.

They are designed to sit on the piano or a nearby surface and often feature adjustable necks, allowing you to direct the light precisely where you need it. As for floor lamps, many are designed to be placed on the floor to the side of the piano. These lamps offer great versatility, as they can provide light at nearly any height the player desires. With adjustable stands and flexible heads, floor lamps can be positioned to illuminate both the music stand and the keyboard, making them an excellent choice for grand pianos and larger practice spaces.

Complement Your Home Decor

Last but not least, consider your home decor. The lamp should complement the overall aesthetic of your home. If you have a modern interior, sleek and minimalist designs might be more suitable. For a classic or traditional look, opt for lamps with elegant finishes and intricate details. We understand you might say, "There is no piano lamp that can match my room." BenQ has heard you. BenQ PianoLight is not just functional but also aesthetically pleasing.The elegant design complements any piano, adding a touch of sophistication to your music environment. For those who value both style and substance in their piano lighting solutions, BenQ PianoLight offers a perfect balance.

a black modern piano lamp placing in a classical and elegant room

Conclusion

To sum up, a good piano lamp should deliver uniform brightness to all four corners of sheet music as well as all piano keys. A piano lamp featuring color temperature adjustment based on different scenarios is even better!

And don’t forget, good piano lamps use low energy consumption, long life LED bulbs. You’ll essentially never need to replace the bulb and save money on your power bill while you at it. Now that’s brilliant, pun intended.

We hope this guide helps you choose the perfect piano lamp. If you are interested in our Piano Light Series, click the link below!

How do I Choose a Piano Light?

Still using the traditional lamp while playing the piano?

Why Should I Use a Piano lamp? Can’t I just use a regular lamp?

Create the Perfect Atmosphere for Playing Piano

Light Up Every Corner of Sheet Music and Every Piano Key