Why You Should Practice Piano as a Second Instrument

Why You Should Practice Piano as a Second Instrument

You've probably heard some teachers or musician friends say that you should practice piano as second instrument, but you may never have really heard why. If you ask them why, they may not know the answer, only that it's "helpful".

It's true, playing piano as a secondary instrument is VERY helpful for your musical ability regardless of what instrument you play. Some colleges require you to take piano as well as lessons for your primary instrument when you are studying for your B.A. or your B.M.

But why is it really helpful? Let's back up and talk about your primary instrument first, let's say it's the viola. The viola has 4 strings, each strung an equal fifth apart (A, D, G, and C, top to bottom). By keeping the fundamental tones of the strings exactly a fifth apart, this determines what kind of finger patterns will be necessary to produce music, and the range of the instrument.

For another example, let's use the guitar. The strings on the guitar (E, B, G, D, A and E) are fourths apart, save second and third strings which rest at thirds. This determines the finger patterns and "shapes" necessary to produce chords and find specific individual notes on the instrument.

In both of these examples, there is a non-linear, unequal way of looking at theory and technical because you have to think it specific sets of intervals when moving from one string to another. For example, as a violist I would know that first finger on the C string is the note D, while first finger on the G string is A. The same applies to guitarists. You have to move not only left and right, but also up and down with your fingers.

To sum up, you can't visually "see" the patterns in a linear way, but rather in shapes or stretches. However, this is not true on a piano. Scales, chords, and patterns are all VERY linear on a piano. In fact, there is no way to not be linear about it. Each note ascends or descends left to right, where as on a guitar or viola not only can notes be left or right of each other, but also up or down from another. In same cases, this left, right, up, and down motion can be very confusing when trying to learn the theory and mechanics behind music, chords, pattern, progressions, etc.

However, on the piano, you can only move in a straight line left or right. This helps the brain process more effectively the theory and mechanics you are trying to learn by putting it an logical, straightforward sort of way that requires less brain power to process.

This allows you to think about the specific notes you are playing. For example, I know on a piano a C chord consists of C, E, and G. I can play any combination of those notes and still get a C chord. I can literally see this on a piano, where as on the viola I would more probably think something along the lines of, "first string, third finger first string, second string". Do I know what those notes are? Certainly, but I can't think about it to linearly, because I have to shift across and up strings. On the piano, all I have to do is play C and move up a third, and a third again. I know what notes I am playing, and will always know that those are C, E, and G. I will always see in my head my fingers playing a C chord on the piano when I hear someone say "C chord."

Is this really necessary? Well, most would argue no. But it has been an invaluable tool for me to be able to take a rhythm, a note progression, or anything strange I find in my music to my piano, plunk it out, and then play it out on the cello with the linear vision of the music in my head.

Does this work for everyone? Probably not. Does it work for most? Yes, most people think in a straight line better than they do on a roller-coaster pathway, even if they are used to thinking like a roller-coaster. This is why we make lists, charts, graphs, so we don't have to just have pages and pages of information. We organize it, we process it, we arrange it into a MORE understandable fashion. This is what the piano will help you to do when learning music theory and mechanics.