# Hello - advice requested



## delliott

Hello all,

I am pleased to be a new addition to the forum community. Please forgive any typos as I am writing.on my phone. 

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a relatively young professional - late twenties. I have absolutely zero experience playing an instrument. I have never played an instrument and have no idea how to read music. I can dedicate 30 minutes a night to learning and several hours a day on weekends in addition to a weekly one hour lesson. I do not have grand aspirations but would like to become proficient eventually. 

For the past several months, I have been serious considering learning to play.an instrument and I am seeking your advice in that regard. 

The first consideration seems to be which instrument to learn. I am interested in learning either the violin or the piano. Is one instrument better suited to a total beginner? We do have a forty year old piano in the home which we inherited but it has not been used in at least thirty years. 

I live in Maryland and work in northern Virginia and there seems to be a wealth of instructors in the area. If anybody is from the area, do you have any instructors which you can recommend? Any stores which you recommend where I can go try some instruments out?

Please let me know if you have any questions or require any additional information. i promise to reply promptly. 

Thank you!

-David


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## Taneyev

I don't play any instrument neither, but as an old listener I strongly recommend you the piano. Violin (as any other string) should be learned very early if you want to get something. Besides. you have a piano already (first thing is make it cleaned and tuned by a professional)


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## delliott

Odnoposoff said:


> I don't play any instrument neither, but as an old listener I strongly recommend you the piano. Violin (as any other string) should be learned very early if you want to get something. Besides. you have a piano already (first thing is make it cleaned and tuned by a professional)


Thank you. Why should stringed instruments be started early, whereas piano can be picked up later in life?


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## Ukko

delliott said:


> Thank you. Why should stringed instruments be started early, whereas piano can be picked up later in life?


Neighbors tend to tolerate children assaulting their hearing; adults not so much. the violin/viola/cello can make some godawful sounds, and they tend to keep doing it for a long time during the learning process. The piano, not so much.


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## delliott

Hilltroll72 said:


> Neighbors tend to tolerate children assaulting their hearing; adults not so much. the violin/viola/cello can make some godawful sounds, and they tend to keep doing it for a long time during the learning process. The piano, not so much.


Excellent point.


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## Lunasong

You'll also be pleased with your results faster on piano. As soon as you start using two hands, it can start sounding very nice even if you are playing simple tunes.

Piano is also ideal if you are just starting to learn music theory and notation along with your playing. It's very visual.

 You've had a piano in your home for thirty years and never once thought to play it?


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## delliott

Lunasong said:


> You'll also be pleased with your results faster on piano. As soon as you start using two hands, it can start sounding very nice even if you are playing simple tunes.
> 
> Piano is also ideal if you are just starting to learn music theory and notation along with your playing. It's very visual.
> 
> You've had a piano in your home for thirty years and never once thought to play it?


Well, the piano has not been used in thirty years and it is about forty years old. However, I've only been in this home for nine years. Does that make it any better?


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## emiellucifuge

I also recommend you go for the piano rather than the violin. String instruments require a very automatic set of movements and postures in your physical memory and this is very hard to do at an older age.


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## Ukko

emiellucifuge said:


> I also recommend you go for the piano rather than the violin. String instruments require a very automatic set of movements and postures in your physical memory and this is very hard to do at an older age.


It took a friend of mine at least 15 years to make the transition from good guitarist (learned as a teenager) to good bluegrass fiddler, a ton of practice, many less-than-pleasant sounds. He got there maybe 5 years ago. Now he is 75 years old and feeble, can't fiddle for more than ~15 minutes at a time.

Personally, I feel that's too long to suffer for the return he has gotten - but musicians are funny that way.


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## Rasa

I think string instruments are not as great an idea as the piano as they seem more prone to cause joint discomfort (and burns on your fingers)


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## delliott

emiellucifuge said:


> I also recommend you go for the piano rather than the violin. String instruments require a very automatic set of movements and postures in your physical memory and this is very hard to do at an older age.


Thank you for your input. That makes a good deal of sense.


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## delliott

Hilltroll72 said:


> It took a friend of mine at least 15 years to make the transition from good guitarist (learned as a teenager) to good bluegrass fiddler, a ton of practice, many less-than-pleasant sounds. He got there maybe 5 years ago. Now he is 75 years old and feeble, can't fiddle for more than ~15 minutes at a time.
> 
> Personally, I feel that's too long to suffer for the return he has gotten - but musicians are funny that way.


I'm sorry to hear that your friend is unable to play as much as he would like now. I wish him all the best.


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## delliott

Rasa said:


> I think string instruments are not as great an idea as the piano as they seem more prone to cause joint discomfort (and burns on your fingers)


I had no idea! Thank you for the heads up.


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## delliott

Thank you all for your input. I'll definitely go ahead and begin with the piano. Now, to find somebody in the area who does cleanups / tuning.


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## Jeremy Marchant

You've made a good decision! You're intending to get the piano overhauled (essential) and to have regular lessons (essential). You say "I can dedicate 30 minutes a night to learning and several hours a day on weekends in addition to a weekly one hour lesson", so I calculate that at, say, 7 hours a week. So you'll be aware of real progress after a couple of months and have got somewhere worthwhile after six. Just note that, as with all things, you'll hit plateaus and seem to be putting in a lot of effort for not much progress at times. Just keep in mind the bigger picture and the fact that, like Mr 72's friend, there is pleasure to be got from playing at whatever level, and in noticing how one improves week on week.


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## delliott

Jeremy Marchant said:


> You've made a good decision! You're intending to get the piano overhauled (essential) and to have regular lessons (essential). You say "I can dedicate 30 minutes a night to learning and several hours a day on weekends in addition to a weekly one hour lesson", so I calculate that at, say, 7 hours a week. So you'll be aware of real progress after a couple of months and have got somewhere worthwhile after six. Just note that, as with all things, you'll hit plateaus and seem to be putting in a lot of effort for not much progress at times. Just keep in mind the bigger picture and the fact that, like Mr 72's friend, there is pleasure to be got from playing at whatever level, and in noticing how one improves week on week.


Thank you Jeremy. I'm looking forward to finding an instructor.

I tried out the keys on the piano even though I have no idea what I am doing. Some of them seem to stick a bit and others sound quite muted. It definitely needs some work.


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## Jaws

I would recommend that you start the violin. I know lots of adult late starter violinists. The big advantage of the violin is that you can go out and play it with other people in ensembles. I get very fed up whenever I hear people talk about the myth that says that you need to start the violin young. I have no idea where this myth started, but it is very annoying. There are lots and lots of people who start the violin young who are no good at playing it, and there are lots and lots of people who start the violin as adults who are. String quartets are great fun.


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## Moira

With the piano you can start working already. Placing your hands one octave apart preferably on C and then play the first five white notes up and down. Concentrate on hitting each note evenly at the same force and evenly with tempo. Also make sure that each note you hit is at exactly the same time with both left and right hands. 

Fingers are numbered as follows if you hold them in front of you, palms down:


Pinky (5), ring finger (4), middle finger (3), forefinger (2), thumb (1).

Do exercises using the fingers - for example left hand 53135, right hand 13531. 

Make up your own exercises, keeping tempo and 'force' even. Faster is not better. Even is more important than fast. 

Hold your hands evenly throughout, never dropping your wrists, keeping your hand and wrist in a perfect line.


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## Ukko

Moira said:


> [...]
> Hold your hands evenly throughout, never dropping your wrists, keeping your hand and wrist in a perfect line.


Does that describe the Gouldian method? or the Horowitzian?


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