Piano desk lamps are lamps that are designed specifically to be set up on top of your piano, shining a bright light onto your sheet music. These lamps are very useful for illuminating the music in a dark room, or if your piano is set up in a dark corner where shadows can easily be cast on the music. Sometimes, the piano is set up in such a way that the pianists themselves cast a shadow on the music. That’s an example of when piano desk lamps can help improve the visibility of the music considerably.

But are piano desk lamps really worth the money? What options do you have?

You can really spend just as much on piano desk lamps as you want. Some models can go up into the hundreds of dollars! And maybe you have the money to spend on this kind of thing; after all, if you’ve got enough money to own a nice, grand piano, you don’t want to buy a cheap lamp that’s going to scratch the piano or hurt your eyes. If you have a business teaching piano lessons or playing as a musician, a good piano lamp could be a good business investment. But for most of us, we’re just looking for a good way to make sure we can read the sheet music! Do we all really need to spend this kind of money?

Of course not. But it can be difficult to find piano desk lamps at reasonable prices. There are some music or piano accessory companies that will offer piano lamps as low as the thirties and forties (in dollars, that is,) but you won’t often find a lamp offered for any lower than that unless you go shopping in the “used” section. Fortunately, most of these cheaper lamps available new from music stores are still good lamps; they just might not be as pretty or as high-tech. Sometimes, they might not be quite as bright, but you usually shouldn’t have much difficulty with that. A light is a light – and when you’ve got a light that close to your sheet music, it doesn’t really have to be the brightest bulb available.

Checking out used piano desk lamps can also get you a cheaper deal. You may be able to find a good piano lamp for much cheaper, or you might end up spending the same amount and getting a much better quality lamp than you would have directly from the store. You should make sure you’re getting a good lamp, though; it’s being sold for a reason, and you should make sure you’re not buying something that’s broken or ill-used.