The primary purpose of an agraffe is to hold down the strings near where the hammers strike up. They keep the strings from being lifted up by the hammer blow and pulling them out of tune. At the top of the piano's range, the agraffe and the plate it screws into would get in the way of the hammer, hence other alternatives are employed..

Using agraffes is generally more expensive and it is generally considered "better" than not using them. It is however, but one small factor in the design and build quality of a piano.

Agraffes are also not necessary on uprights, although some do have them.

For completeness sake: Picture 1 of 4 is a point screw for a Yamaha flute. Picture 2 of 4 is a violin Bridge. Picture 3 of 4 is a grand piano Steinway agraffe 7/32". Picture 4 of 4 is an Octave Rocker Key for Selmer saxophones.

90% confident that it will have a negative impact. A lot of learning comes from the ability to feel the keys/hammer, and to control how much / fast to strike them. Your reactions / responses are according to what you heard, and you train your muscles memory based on these. Unless the training is purely for getting notes right, at the stage where expression doesn't matter, and just accuracy matters.

Albert and Soo Hin, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I have the inkling that the current situation is not ideal but unfortunately, it is unlikely to change. I love my upright and would like to keep it in its original form. :)

Will keep the muted practice for getting the notes right or for loud passages. I agree that the softer/more delicate passages should not be practiced with the muted pedal at the first instance. If the passages are meant to be soft, I think it is still ok to practice without the muted pedal even at 10+ pm or 11 pm. :p

Wow.. designed by archi students!! Impressive.

Just realised it is mentioned also by thepiano.sg too!
https://www.thepiano.sg/piano/read/bringing-piano-our-daily-lives

Have you heard Yanni's "Until the Last Moment"? When I first heard it, I thought it was another Richard Clayderman's piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R4xEB-v_dE

I listen to a lot of Clayderman, so there is no way I can mistake Yanni's music as Clayderman's. One obvious giveaway to "Until the Last Moment" would be the missing Alberti bass variation you would expect to hear in most of Clayderman's songs.

Most of Clayderman's pieces are arranged by Oliver Toussaint and Paul de Senneville. Their arrangements are very distinct and in the class of soft pop music. Mean people might call his music "elevator music", but whatever the case, it is because Clayderman's music is composed for the masses and not for the elitists (see article link).

Not really, they are new age pianists. But then the term "new age" is kind of a misnomer and we could also argue that the term easily crosses over with easy listening and light piano music. So as not to be too ambiguous, I wouldn't accept Yiruma and Kevin Kern. Consider my list the "old guards". Why don't you start yours featuring only new age pianists, like Jim Brickman, and others.