# Would piano lessons help or hinder me?



## Ingélou

I am in my sixties and 18 months into a passionate return to the violin I played as a child. I practise every day and have stopped doing quite a lot of things I used to do because I haven't got time now.

I'm making progress but usually with things I can call up from my childhood. Lessons then didn't include minor scales - music theory - harmonies, and a lot of other stuff. That's because I never had private lessons but learned in a class with peripatetic teachers who never stayed long & couldn't spend much time on the niceties. So now I have a sort of ingrained resistance to theoretical matters, as well as the slowness to learn that comes with getting older. 

But I'd still like to know.

My teacher is going on tour for a couple of months in the autumn. I will be sticking with him - definitely - and will have plenty to work on while he's gone, but a cunning plan a la Baldrick has popped into my mind.

Would it be beneficial to me to take basic piano lessons for six months to a year to learn about scales and keys and harmonies, or would it just interfere with my fiddle progress?


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## hreichgott

I am contractually obligated to say that piano lessons always help and never hinder. Just kidding. Piano lessons are great of course, but six months to a year might not teach you what you want to know. In that timeframe you'll get a really good sense of what it is like to think about two parts instead of one, you'll learn to read in bass clef, you'll get totally confused about the finger numbers and then un-confused again (on the piano your thumb is finger 1), and you'll learn about the vast differences in tone production between violin and piano. 

If what you're after is to learn "scales and keys and harmonies" in six months to a year, maybe try finding someone who teaches music theory? Or if you are near a university you could inquire into auditing a music theory course. 

Or maybe you might find a piano teacher who is happy to teach primarily what you are interested in -- and you can both agree that the lessons will NOT primarily be spent on learning to play the piano!


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## mamascarlatti

Unless your aim is to play the piano for its own sake, i would definitely suggest sticking to violin. For all the scales, you could use a theory book/site and if you need a visual reference for the violin, some kind of fingering chart so that you can work out the scales etc on the violin:










I like this site

Music theory.net


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## DavidA

Don't let age hinder you. My wife has successfully taught quite a few older people - some even from scratch.


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## Taggart

Some other useful sites:

Tonality Guide

Irish Harmonies


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