FrankCox I think the main issue with the small keys is how much you're going to limit yourself in terms of flexibility in terms of hardware.
Part of me agrees, but I do think that much of the concern is likely unfounded.
1) Lots of instruments come in different sizes, so I don't believe that piano is inherently more 'one size fits all'. I get that some instruments are more personal (in that the player carries their own around), where as piano performances are "you play what is there." But...
2) Most people who experience these narrower keyboards report very little trouble adapting/adjusting. For some it's a few minutes or a few hours, but most find they can move back and forth between narrow and full-sized fairly easily.
3) I suspect a lot of full-size-only-players may retreat to an intuitive (but likely incorrect) mindset of "your brain will get confused by having to adjust," similar to how people who only know one language are often heard saying "how do you process so many more words for multiple languages? Doesn't your brain get too full/confused/mixed-up?" In reality, it just doesn't work that way, talk to anyone who is fluently multilingual, and switching between languages is more or less natural. People can adapt to driving different cars, hop on a skateboard immediately after biking, switch between writing cursive and printing, etc. This is just getting used to a different variation.
However, I totally agree that the inertia is against any kind of widespread adoption, and there have been a lot of folks on PW who were actively opposed to the idea that anyone should pursue a narrower keyobard--IMHO, that's unfortunate. I do hope that with more visibility, the existence of narrower-keyboard options gets a bit wider exposure, and regardless of what the rest of us think about its practicality/learnability/etc., those who might find it useful have some resources to pursue it on their own!
