Hi
I am looking to take up a new instrument and i was thinking viola or violin.Any suggestions ,i am currently grade 6 piano and grade 3 flute.

Both violin and viola are lovely instruments but producing notes and tone is quite different from the piano where you produce the same notes every time you press the keys (and almost that when you key the flute, surely)? Strings take a lot of work at the beginning but once you get somewhere they are very satisfying to play.

For viola you need a teeny bit longer reach and bigger stretch but I have heard of small instruments that would probably suit a smaller hand. If you wished to join a student or amateur orchestra violas are in short supply and you may be accepted at a slightly lower standard than say a first violin. There has to be a deterrent, of course......a new clef.

My own preference is violin for several reason, one being the amount of music available and, you can always play the vocal line of songbooks. I play (played is perhaps better!) the piano but it never quite caught my enthusiasm like the violin. I love the fact that I can just take it wherever I like (and in my household I'm sometimes incarcerated in the breakfast room with a three-pronged ebony mute!!!
I shall try a viola once I get a few things sorted out on the violin.

Best of luck.
Peggy.

Hi

I think you should start Violin because its the most populor out of Viola and Violin Plus I play Violin, currently on Grade 4 and i think it is a very nice instrument to learn.

Hi

I think you should start Violin because its the most populor out of Viola and Violin Plus I play Violin, currently on Grade 4 and i think it is a very nice instrument to learn.

Speaking from a violinists point of view there are pros and cons in both the violin and viola.

The technique for both is very similar, so it wouldn't be out of the question to play both instruments - although from my own professional experience you'll find lots of violinists who play the viola, but very few dedicated violists who will even attempt the violin.

The violin uses the treble clef, which you already know, but viola players are in fairly short supply so you would always be in demand for ensemble playing - even as a newcomer to the instrument.

Perhaps you should listen to both instruments being played and choose to play the one you prefer the sound of - irrespective of what music is available for it, or the clef used. It has to be enjoyable to your ear, otherwise you won't want to play or practise.

As far as hand size is concerned, I have very small hands but cope with a 15 inch viola without pulled muscles or a bad back. Having said that, even a small viola is appreciably larger than a full-sized violin - after playing the viola for an hour or so, a violin feels positively tiny by comparison.