How different is piano compare to violin?

August 27, 2012 at 06:31 PM · Playing the piano as compared to the violin...Hmmm. Physically I liken the Piano as two hands doing the part of the Violinists left hand. You still have to have independant articulation of the fingers to form the various chord patterns and you definately need to know treble and bass cleffs, there are 88 keys instead of 4 strings and so on....Mentally, if you can get the left hand independant of the right hand and make it sound musical there really isnt much different.

August 27, 2012 at 06:35 PM · When I took piano, many years ago now, we practiced scales with both hands simultaneously on two different octaves, making sure the finger crossings happened at the right times. My early scale and etude books indicated which finger to use on each note by number. I recommend you find a beginning etude book and work through it.

Similar to violin, drilling scales, arpeggios, chords and etudes is a great way to develop your piano backbone. It can be helpful to learn the hands separately. I always started with the left because I found bass clef more challenging to read and easier to play.

Keep your wrists and hands on a straight plane with your arms. Don't let them drop or you could end up flirting with an overuse injury. My instructor used to sit on the bench beside me with a sharpened pencil poised to poke my wrists if they drooped one tiny bit!

Don't worry about the pedals yet. In fact, don't even use them if you are practicing basics. Most beginners are way too fond of the damper, and don't know what to do with the other two. Leave the foot dynamics alone until you are a bit more advanced. Scales don't need embellishment.

Good luck with your studies, and may they be rewarding to you.

August 27, 2012 at 08:26 PM · Having learn and play both the piano and violin to a very high standard, I could shed some difference on both instruments.

With the piano, co-ordination between both hands seems difficult but once mastered, playing and practising them would be easier. I mean, how many ways are there to press down a piano key?

With the violin, you need to constantly play scales and studies to keep in shape but with piano, once scale is mastered, it stays with you a long time and need very little practise.

Saying that, to play somthing musically at a high level, both piano and violin needs lots of work and none is easier than the other.

August 27, 2012 at 10:48 PM · i would say that playing the violin does not help one play the piano. and playing the piano does not help one play the violin. in fact, both 'cross-overs' may be counterproductive. first, to learn the piano, get a teacher. but it is a great deal easier than the violin. you can play simple songs and sound good pretty quickly, certainly relative to the violin. knowing how to read music, of course, is a great help in learning any new instrument.

August 28, 2012 at 03:21 AM · Piano playing doesn't get difficult until the hands are playing different lines, which you wouldn't normally do for scales. As with violin, if you want to play well, you need to invest a lot of time and effort, and would be significantly helped by having a good teacher -- not just for technique, but also for theory and musical interpretation. Apart from the conflicting time demands, I think they're mostly complementary, and that you can benefit from the awareness of expressive capability and minute control you learn on a violin when advancing in piano.

August 28, 2012 at 03:48 AM · Steven, I suggest, if you want to test your coordination on the piano, try contrary motion scales. Start on middle C with both left and right thumbs, and play in opposite directions. Try one octave and see if you end up in the right place, and then keep adding on the octaves. Change keys as well. These scales can get very difficult especially in the harmonic minors.

Make sure your hands are nice and relaxed as well.

As a person whose first instrument is the piano, I have to say that it helped me incredibly with the violin, i.e. reading the notes, phrasing etc - all the kinds of universal musicality that applies to all instruments.

As with pressing a piano key, there is not just one way to do it. The delicacy of touch varies the way in which one would apply pressure. Obviously, one is just pressing the key, however it does take some skill to play the notes with fluidity, and expression. For example, it is like bowing the violin, we don't just forcefully go up and down, we bow with variety.

Like Kitty said, "both piano and violin needs lots of work and none is easier than the other". I completely agree with this statement.

August 28, 2012 at 08:40 AM · Playing the piano is to playing the violin as using a typewriter is to writing with a fountain pen.

August 28, 2012 at 11:34 AM · I wonder what artist like Julia Fischer who plays both instrument to a very high level has to say.

August 28, 2012 at 02:06 PM · Thank you for all your inputs! Actually I found the scale moving in opposite directions easier to play. When my friend taught me the C major scale fingering, I got it almost on the first try. I found the scale going in the same direction a great deal harder. I understand the time and effort I have to put in to become "good enough." I spent most of my teen age practicing instead of going out.

Is there a specific book or series of books I can buy to practice? Like for violin, I practice Carl Flesh, Wolfang - Dont. Are there similar scale books and etudes?

Thanks again everybody!

August 28, 2012 at 05:07 PM · If you studied violin with Suzuki books, my recommendation is to get the piano accompaniments to Book 1 and try some of those. That is how I started my violin-playing daughter on the piano and she took to it very quickly. Her recognition of the tunes was so strong that she was able to correct any mistakes immediately. Just like Suzuki Violin, I think you need to dive right in with real music in two hands even if initially you will need to go slowly.

August 28, 2012 at 11:17 PM · I can recommend "Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises" by Charles Louis-Hanon. It appears to be public domain now. Here's a link to the PDF: 60 Exercises

August 29, 2012 at 03:38 AM · Not trying to be too contrary but in my opinion the Hanon studies will be too advanced for someone who cannot yet play legato parallel scales. I learned piano and violin together, and I took on Hanon on the piano about the same time I was playing Kayser studies on the violin. Anyway I think it is better to start with simple pieces so that you can learn that there is more than one way to press a piano key and indeed this is the key to musical expression on the piano.

August 29, 2012 at 12:26 PM · Paul makes a good point. I forget sometimes what it is like to be a beginning pianist. I'm not sure what the current literature is for piano. My old instruction books are out of print. You may find the Hanon studies helpful in the future, however.

August 29, 2012 at 02:22 PM · Read Josef Hofmann's book: http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Questions-Answered-Classic-Reprint/dp/1440058660/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346249949&sr=1-1&keywords=josef+hofmann

I think it will give you a new appreciation for what one can do with a piano - at least with a good one.

Also, you might watch a video of a Daniel Barenboim masterclass, especially the one with Lang Lang as the "student."

Andy

August 29, 2012 at 04:55 PM · What are your goals in learning the piano? And are you really coming to a violin website and asking violinists to give you advice on the piano? You should only take advice from someone who plays both instruments proficiently and teaches them to an advanced level, which I do.

It is not very difficult to teach yourself piano pretty decently if you already have a thorough knowledge of music theory on another instrument. (How's the bass clef reading coming along, by the way?) Any method book will lay out a clear path for you, making sure you don't miss out on any foundational basics. Pay particular attention to detail, making sure to follow all the fingerings and obey good technique from the start, so that you don't have to undo any bad habits later. (You should make up your own fingerings only after you know how to follow them and have an understanding of how good fingerings work.)

How is the piano different than the violin? Well, a lot of ways. Since it's a polyphonic instrument, you can really explore chord structures, progressions, voice leading, and all those fine things about harmony that you can't get on the violin. Make sure to get a theory book. Also, unlike a bowed instrument, the sound of the note is solely based on how you strike the key, and immediately begins to decay in shape. For example, you cannot create a crescendo while holding one note. The shaping of a phrase happens with the attack of each note, not during the space between. You also cannot prepare notes ahead of time with your fingers or keep fingers down to save time having to place them again.

Pedalling is an art form all of its own.

Yes, turning a beautiful phrase can be more accessible on the piano, but then you have the added enjoyment of balancing voices and shaping overlapping phrases. Don't even get me started on that topic...

Yes, it's true that to play in tune on the piano, all you have to do is shell out $150 every six months.

And yes, if I were to choose the easier instrument to learn, I would pick piano in a heartbeat. However, it has its own level of mastery, and truly great pianists do ever so much more than punch keys like a typist.

I believe all violinists should have some piano proficiency, as it makes for a more well-rounded understanding of music in general.

August 30, 2012 at 04:41 AM · The early Hanon exercises are not that difficult, but they're only good as a supplement to music and scales.

I'd suggest the Suzuki piano books over the violin accompaniments as they're better structured and leveled for learning. The early violin accompaniments have a better left hand part than the early piano pieces, but because they do, they're also harder. Other early accompaniments are in violin-friendly keys such as A and D, but these aren't best for a beginning pianist.

August 30, 2012 at 09:46 AM · Well the piano can play lower notes ...

August 30, 2012 at 02:34 PM · Hello,

Thanks for the suggestions again! Bass clef was almost impossible at first but I am getting there. By no means, do I plan to attempt to master piano because I am not a professional and violin is already taking up the majority of my time. I am learning to play the piano just to have a better understanding of music in general.

As much as I love violin, I believe it has its limits. I do feel piano is coming to me pretty naturally. I did learn it for a year almost twenty years ago but it never excited me the way violin did so I quit. Really wish I had kept going even though I didn't enjoy it. It really would have helped a lot.

Anyways, thanks!

August 30, 2012 at 04:46 PM · A few more thoughts.

Emily said "Pedalling is an art form all of its own." Yes that is so true. My recommendation however is that you do not get in the habit of using the pedal too much. The pedal masks poor legato in piano scales, like vibrato masks poor intonation in violin scales.

If you do not want to pay to have your piano tuned then at the beginning stages you can learn on a good keyboard such as the Yamaha P155 Stage Piano. There is the advantage of being able to record yourself right on the keyboard, playing with headphones, etc.

Since I do play both piano and violin about equally well (neither at a professional level), I would say that it is easier to reach mediocrity on the piano, but true mastery of either is quite difficult. Mediocrity on the piano is less offensive because it is not scratchy or out of tune.