After having played violin for a very, very long time I am thinking of giving the viola a go (in addition to, not instead of). For those who play both, what are your experiences?

The only thing I am worried about is reading the clef and also maybe getting confused... Any advice?

Cath, first of all Im not string player, though my daughter is a violinist.
However I want to tell you about a work colleague of mine who's son has just taken Grade 8 piano and his Grade 6 Viola exam is next week. He had never touched a viola until early last year when his violin teacher (he had got to about Grade 6 on this) suggested to him he might like to try , and indeed may prefer, the viola. This is exactly how it has happened and as I say he picked it up quickly enough from his violin work to be able to take grade 6. They bought a new 'Gliga' viola from our friend Liz at www.elidatrading.com, and his teacher was very impressed with it. He now never plays his violin! I don't think he's had problems with the clefs.

I only play viola and have only played violins as a play around, but still know treble well from previous stuff and singing. I can tell you with certainty that you've no need to worry about the alto clef. You'll have it sorted in a few weeks. I can read it just fine as I learned it in tandem with viola and, even if that means taking it slower than you otherwise might to start with, you'll really have no problems with it. It's a common, but totally unnecessary fear.

The clef is no more of a problem than learning the bass clef when you start piano.
Your fingers just head for the right place after a while.
It's just eye/ muscle memory, and it' comes with time and practice.

Good luck

I'm primarily a violinist, but when I'd done my grade 8, I wanted a new challenge so taught myself the viola and it's great!

Don't worry about the clef thing, it takes a bit of practice but you'll work out 'tricks' to make it easier.

Enjoy!
x

Thanks all for the advice! Maya - do you ever get mixed up when switching from one instrument to the other? Or do you find it easy to separate into 'violin mode' or 'viola mode'?

I do both but find it quite easy to separate them - except for when the viola music goes into treble clef...

W

This was going to be the year I started playing viola. I began with enthusiasm; no real problems with the clef or the wider fingering, just a tiring feeling that it was just too heavy compared to the violin.

I found that the most helpful way to get used to the clef is imagine it as part of a bigger stave, with the middle c as a reference point if that makes sense: it really is like learning bass clef as a pianist - it just becomes normal after a bit. The difference in fingering is like learning treble recorder after playing descant; it is a little confusing at first but becomes easier quite quickly.


Good luck,

N

I haven't had any problems (yet) with the stretching being different on vln/vla, but when I get tired (I do vla in orch from 7-10 on a friday night, having left the house at 7.30am and not going home in between school/work/orchestra) i do tend to slip into violin mode ie playing the notes as if they were in treble clef, but its not normally a problem cos i work out soon enough that I'm wrong.

x

I play both but the viola is obviously a far superior instrument I'm so glad you're considering learning it.

Coming to terms with the clef shouldn't take too long. Some people get a super-quick start with a book such as "Third First" in which you play in third position on viola but the notes are in the same place on the stave as if you were reading treble clef and playing violin in first position - does that make sense? Anyway not sure quite how useful that is in the longer-term because there are always key signatures to contend with, so you need to know the notes in alto clef anyway and where to find them on the instrument.

You do develop a "violin mode" and a "viola mode", and I find changing between them (across different practice sessions) is fine in terms both of coping with the size difference and the change in clef. If I try to play one straight after the other though, my brain gets really confused!

I must admit though, even 15 years on from first picking up the viola, I still sometimes get caught out by clef changes within pieces. But I think that's common to all instruments which use a variety of clefs - trombone, cello, bassoon, etc. We have a laugh about it in the viola section in my orchestra because it happens to us all, even the professionals. So don't worry about it.

Enjoy your forays into viola playing. It's a beautiful instrument.

It's a very well trodden path.

As your playing progresses and develops you will find more and more opportunities for playing if you can offer more than one instrument. Thinking in woodwind terms, many flautists double on the piccolo, oboists on the cor anglais, etc.

Trinity Guildhall exams are very enlightened too - at grades 6-8 violin and viola you can even choose to play one of your pieces on the 'other' instrument, obviously from the appropriate grade list for the other instrument.

I usually play viola (obviously) but I play violin in a Scottish fiddle group thing, and as I already knew treble clef from piano it was fine after a while. I find it a bit tricky to switch positions on violin - my hands automatically go to far! My friend plays violin, and if she tries my viola she is good with alto clef until she gets an interval above a fifth or so - you just work it out relatively, I guess.

Seems to me that switching from one clef to another is much like switching from one foreign language to another. If you know several to a decent standard, you can do this, but when it's 'on demand', then a few seconds/minutes to adjust are needed. After that, away you go.

With differing clefs in the same piece, at least most of the time we know the piece in advance, but with sight reading at any speed I can see how it could throw someone at times. That's still way ahead of my level now, I think treble clef doesn't come into the viola sight-reading exams until about Grade 6, but it's worth bearing in mind for me.

Interesting thread!