WHY DO VIOLINISTS ALWAYS LEARN PIANO? If a kid likes guitar more, can she opt to learn it instead of piano OR is the piano a better instrument for composition purposes??? Further, a totally separate query - Does learning the guitar hurts the fingers as much as the cello in the initial stages? Thanks.

Basically, if you're going to do anything serious with music at all, piano is essential.

Liz

Hi Tess, I agree that piano is essential - Viohazard is facing that barrier now, as he is interested in composition, but composition students are required to have excellent piano skills.

As far as usefulness goes, he's learned a lot from classical guitar, especially about harmony.

I expected that he would get sore fingers when he started (age 7), but he didn't - maybe because classical guitar uses nylon as well as steel strings?

Couldn't Viohazard compose from guitar? The guitar is a complete instrument in itself like the harp or the piano so I suspect, he CAN compose if he has already mastered the guitar!

I'm asking out of curiosity (since our girl happens to like the guitar a lot more than keyboard). Toying with the idea of withholding her 2nd instrument till year 6 or year 7 at secondary school when she HAS to decide for herself which she'll learn. If I let her decide now, it'll be guitar, for sure. The guitar is the most popular instrument at school at present among the yrs 3 and 4 kids. Hubby said piano is a "must" for anyone serious on music so I'm just investigating and being open to what others have to say.

Any views welcomed!

i learn piano first instead of violin.but i find violin much harder than piano.

He definitely can, and yes, it is a very satisfying instrument that offers both harmony and melody. The need for piano is when you try to get into a school or university composition course...

In Japan, even at senior HS level (entrance exams around age 15), composition course candidates are expected to audition on piano, and most are reputedly good enough that they could have auditioned for piano performance.

Viohazard's teacher originally taught him a very little piano, but that soon got swallowed up in more time spent on violin. Also, being left-handed, Viohazard would switch the melody to the left hand, and then just improvise harmony with his right hand...it was obviously going to be an uphill battle, so I (maybe unwisely) didn't pursue it. Now I don't know how he could acquire piano skills without giving up either violin or guitar, or putting his daily life under considerable pressure.

Tess - no reason at all why your daughter could learn both. Three instruments sounds a lot but there are plenty of people here who can play more than that.

liz

Poor viohazard! The Japanese educ system leaves very little time for leisure activities. Tons of homework!

No money is the short answer. Am a full-time housewife.

Well that makes me an odd one out then. Here's a professional violinist who's piano skills are virtually non-existant!! - and many violinists I work with are also non-pianists too.

I know where all the notes are!!, can bash out a grade 1 piece after sufficient practice and play a few scales, but that's as far as it goes. All self-taught. However, a lack of keyboard skills didn't stop going to music college or lessen my chances of being a professional musician.



Not entirely true, unless you teach singing, school music or really need to be able to play the piano to earn a living from whatever musical career you have.

I'm sure it must be great to be able to sit down at a piano with sufficient skill to play anything up to around grade 6, but I also think it's important to consider what sort of career (or pleasure) you want from music before deciding if a certain level of keyboard facility is essential.

Music colleges seem to insist these days that non-pianist students are around Grade 5 standard at the keyboard, mainly because they want you to do things like harmonisation at sight and general musicianship skills, not because they think you should play the piano as well. Sure it's a useful ability, but certainly not a 'must have'.

I occasionally think of learning to play the piano properly but have always found a harp adequate to my needs, so assume a guitar would be too, though I do very little composing. Instruments after the first are usually faster to pick up and I imagine a determined and musical child starting the piano at 14 could readily learn enough to be grade 5+ standard by 18 which is all many universities want for non-pianists (or did back when I last looked at requirements). Personally I am all in favour of following definite preferences from whoever is learning the instrument (lets just say harp was not my parents' idea!) and remembering you can always change instruments/ pick up new ones. Decisions made at 9 (?) and not unalterable.

Guitarists often develop a very good working ability at harmony though being roped in to play the chords for songs- an ability I wish I had!

[quote=AmandaL,Jul 14 2005, 12:26 PM]
I know where all the notes are!!, can bash out a grade 1 piece after sufficient practice and play a few scales, but that's as far as it goes. All self-taught. However, a lack of keyboard skills didn't stop going to music college or lessen my chances of being a professional musician.

Music colleges seem to insist these days that non-pianist students are around Grade 5 standard at the keyboard, mainly because they want you to do things like harmonisation at sight and general musicianship skills, not because they think you should play the piano as well. Sure it's a useful ability, but certainly not a 'must have'. Good to hear this!
Wow! Amanda, how did you get away with no piano/guitar/harp skills? How did you learn harmony and composition with neither guitar or piano familiarity, I wonder? Did you have a "third" (pardon me, Tony Blair fans) way in those day? Or maybe, I don't mean to flatter but - were you so good at the violin that "it" (the lack of a so-called harmonising instrument) didn't matter?

..and "Those days" were only the early 1990's. I bluffed my way through the keyboard tests because I had some idea of what books they were likely to work from - so I got a handy bit of practice in before the audition and I could harmonise anyway, because of using double, triple and quadruple stops on the violin. In fact, I would say that there were others who got through the auditions who were also a bit dodgy on the keyboard, but yes, I guess we did make up for our lack of piano talent by making sure our audition pieces knocked their socks off.

I know of someone who's son has been offered a place at the RAM to study the Music and Applied Media compositional course. He's 19, a diploma level cellist, a very talented composer and sent the RAM a really stunning portfolio of music from TV quiz show styles to film music. To begin with the RAM reluctantly turned him down because he has absolutely no keyboard facility. All of his composition has been done using Sibelius and Cubase. However, the RAM changed their mind several weeks later and said he could have a place providing he could show some skills at the keyboard by the start of term in September this year.

So if you can't play the ol' joanna, then all is not lost, believe me! The quotes below say it all.

Piano is not essential, but very useful... I found that getting through GCSE and A Level without any real skill in piano was possible, but it was hard! I was thankful for computers for my compositions - I could write, I could harmonise, but trying to play several parts together was very hard and a very slow process.

Sarah seems to have summed it all. Piano is not essential but very useful. Think we'll try to encourage her to do piano first probably at secondary school age and then she can always pick up the guitar thereafter since she likes that very much.

Thanks, ALL.