A Pianist's Story
The Dream
of a Lifetime
A personal journey through decades of struggle, a chance encounter, and the piano that changed everything.
I have a confession to make.
My hands are not large, especially for a man. In a world where there is only one "conventional" piano size, I spent 3 decades of my life playing on pianos that were simply too big for my hands.
Even though I became a professional pianist late in my life, at age 30, I found myself frequently straining to reach certain notes, and excluded from playing some of my favorite composers like Liszt and Rachmaninoff, both of whom famously had large hands.
The modern piano only reached its current size during the time of superstars like Liszt and Anton Rubinstein, with earlier versions of the piano having narrower keys.
Then I met David Steinbuhler.
3 years ago, I met a man named David Steinbuhler, who owns a textile factory in northern Pennsylvania. In the small corner of his factory, he had a small operation going, where he made narrower keyboards for pianists all around the world since 1992, creating the Donison-Steinbuhler (DS) Standard®.
Focusing on grand pianos, he would create the keybed plus the entire action (which includes the felt hammers and pivots), for pianists and universities to swap out from their existing grand pianos.
David took my Kawai MP11SE, replacing the existing DS6.5 keys for a narrower, reduced DS6.0 size. To this day, my Kawai MP11SE keyboard is the only DS6.0-sized keyboard with the same wood used for premium, grand pianos.
Everything changed.
During the first few weeks of practicing, I didn't notice much difference. The main thought I had during this time was, wow, the black keys feel so narrow. Whereas on the conventional pianos, the black keys had enough surface area that you could kind of "approximate" the distance, and still hit the note, with the narrower keys, finger accuracy was paramount.
But this feeling of unease gradually went away. As time went on, the feeling that profoundly affected me as I played on this keyboard, was the feeling of complete relaxation.
For the first time in my life, I didn't have to strain to play the #1 most common interval, the octave. Pieces by Romantic composers, especially by Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff, began opening up to me, like old friends who moved back into town.
"For the first time in my life, I didn't have to strain."
I became a teacher.
After my worldwide concert tour in 2023, I decided to become a piano teacher. My students were fans of mine from my Youtube channel, many of whom had attended my concerts.
As a new teacher, I learned on the spot—how to demonstrate hand position, posture, and technique. But as I learned more about teaching, I started running into a very common issue amongst my students.
Kids (< 13)
Almost universally, students under 13 faced hand size issues. I constantly had to remind them, "don't worry, your hands will grow."
Teenagers (14-22)
Those with smaller hands struggled. I felt bad demonstrating on my DS6.0, knowing they couldn't replicate the technique on their standard keys.
Adults (22+)
Most female students complained about large intervals. While many men could play 9ths and 10ths, those with similar hands to mine, had trouble playing Romantic repertoire.
The Realization
60% of my students would benefit from a narrower keyboard.
Nearly all of my female students, and a quarter of my male students. I desperately wanted them to just play once on my DS6.0 keyboard, to feel how easy it was.
The Manufacturing Partner.
In June 2025, I traveled to Shenzhen, China, to meet the team at Ebulent Technologies Corporation and officially sign the manufacturing contract for the DreamPlay One.
Finding a factory was one of our highest hurdles. Major piano manufacturers flat-out refused to take our project because our initial production run was capped at 200 units, and the tooling required for our 15/16th size keys was entirely non-standard.
Ebulent was the rare exception. As a "custom order supplier" that manufactures smart guitars and complex LED displays entirely in-house, their facilities were uniquely positioned for the exact precision micro-engineering work we desperately needed. More importantly, they believed in the mission. With their in-house tooling stations, we were able to cast the custom steel molds required to make our narrow keys a reality.
This is a rare opportunity for the narrow key industry. Having such an invested, highly capable engineering partner is the only reason the DreamPlay One is entering production today.
Ebulent Technologies Corporation
In June 2025, I traveled to Shenzhen to sign with Ebulent. Unlike legacy mega-factories that demand tens of thousands of units, they are a 'custom order supplier' uniquely equipped to partner with us.
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