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I know this is a piano forum and there probably aren't too many violinists on here. But for those of you who are or were, I'm looking for some help. I have been playing piano for the past eight years and violin for the past five. I have won numerous things on either which shows I have what it takes on both instruments. In the long run what is it that makes a violinist better than a pianist or vice versa? Not the person of course, but of the opportunities for the future. Any help would be great!

Interesting that you bring this up, and while I don't really have an answer to your question I have often compared the piano with the violin and have come to the conclusion that they are, in just about every respect, complete opposites. To me, the violin focuses on being intimate with single notes, after all, look how many different ways you can play a note on the violin! Crescendo the note from soft to loud, or decrescendo it, play near the bridge, pluck it, vibrato, non-vibrato, start without vibrato and begin vibrato, perfect sliding, hammer ons and hammer offs... all piano has with a single note is volume range, but once you've struck it, you can no longer change it. The violinist is given complete control over the single or double stop the entire time.

Just food for thought. I think I relate to the sound of the piano a bit more than string instruments, which is why I have it chosen as my instrument, but I love string instruments as well.

Philly :

Well, for starters, if you're talking about "opportunities for the future," how many pianists do you see playing in orchestras and how many violinists?

Regards,

I've been a pianist for 15 years and a violinist for 13 years (and I play some viola as well)... I am a much better pianist at the moment because I stopped taking violin lessons many years ago and I'm currently a piano major at a university, but if I had kept up my violin lessons until now, I'm sure I'd be pretty decent. In any case, I'm good enough to audition into pretty much any non-uber-professional orchestras so I guess I'm somewhat content. I'll tell you though that no instrument comes even CLOSE to what the piano is capable of. With the piano, you have the entire musical genre at your finger tips... you can do SO much with the piano... you can play ANY repertoire whether it'd be for the violin OR for an orchestra. You could practically play ANYTHING on the piano if you wanted. At the same time, I honestly believe that piano is a much more difficult instrument to play (not to say that violin is any easier!). To play multiple voices going in different directions compared to violin's single note is... well, you get the point... among MANY other things such as voice control, tone shading, etc. Sure, you can play double and triple stops on the violin but it's not like playing multiple voices on the piano. I should also note that there's SO MUCH more literature available FOR the piano. Violin's repertoire probably comes in 2nd behind the piano but the gap between the two is GIGANTIC... I don't have to list the examples, I'm sure you already know. So for me, there's no question that piano is a much more influential and powerful instrument in terms of depth and possibilities... there's just MUCH more opportunities for the piano. That being said, being a pianist is at times can become very lonely... it's not like there's an orchestra you can join when you get out of university program... at best if you're lucky, you get to form your own chamber group but those are hard to keep up with unless you are the best of the best... I guess you can become an accompanist but I'm not so hot on that idea... I don't think I have to explain why, I'm sure you already know (but this is just me... some people LOVE being accompanists so don't take this personally if you want to become an accompanist *of course this doesn't mean I don't like accompanying, because I do!*). Though one good thing about piano when it comes to financial opportunities is that you can always teach and if you're half way decent and you are somewhat smart, you can rake in students like hot cakes and have a studio full of 40 kids no problem... (easy for me to say once again since I live in areas where there are gazillion of asian kids running around looking for piano teachers!) with the violin on the other hand, it's not so easy when it comes to having a studio of 30+ kids... also with the piano you can always get a gig by accompanying and playing piano at special occasions... not to mention church gigs and religious gigs... while there may be ensemble opportunities for the violin, there aren't too many solo gigs such as the onces I mentioned above for the piano... in fact, there's probably none. Also keep in mind that there are 30-40 violins in a professional full size orchestra... even if you are the concertmaster or the 2nd violin principal, you are not being heard... you are not like the winds and percussions who CONSTANTLY play solos. Concertmaster gets solos once every 3 to 5 performances and only for seconds... chances are that if you join an orchestra, you'll be playing SAME rep over and over again and the sound you make will be part of what 15 other people are playing... and to NOT be heard stuck playing same pieces over and over again for decades... well... some people aren't so excited about that idea... and I'll leave it there.

There are pros and cons for both... but I just think that the piano opens up so many more doors for me than the violin... that and I also plan to study conducting in grad school (orchestral), and I think piano is a much better preparation for becoming a conductor than the violin (of course this is just my opinion... there have been and there currently ARE many formidable violinist-conductors). Though I guess it is easy for me to say since I DO play the violin as well.

The choice is really yours. Both instruments are extremely competitive... they are the two most competitive instruments in the classical world... as well as perhaps most rewarding for their depth and opportunities... and proportionally speaking, for both instruments, there are some decent job opportunities... (unlike the classical guitar or harpsichord!) if you LOVE playing in orchestras and LOVE the sound of the violin, then perhaps you should look into violin rather than the piano... but if you like the piano and want to be a soloist rather than an ensemble player, then I guess piano is the thing to do. Of course no one's saying you have to quit either one of them. Because I know I have never stopped playing the violin while keeping up with the piano. I still play the violin in the university orchestra, and I also play in gigs playing chamber music at weddings and such... but honestly, unless you are some hotshot genius talent, it is really in my opinion very very difficult to be TOP NOTCH in both the piano and the violin... if you spend 4-8 hours on the piano a day, it's hard to put 3-5 hours on the violin right after... I've had very few days in my life where I spent at least 4 hours on both instruments in one single day... I could literally count them. No more than 10.

Now if you were trying to play both the oboe and the english horn... then you have a better argument, but the piano AND the violin... well it is difficult... and I'll leave it at that because who knows... maybe you are as talented as someone like Teddy Abrams who studies composition at Curtis... I know he has soloed on piano with professional orchestras playing rep like Beethoven's emperor concerto, held the principal clarinet position of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra (best youth symphony in the world), studies conducting with Michael Tilson Thomas and studies composition at the Curtis institute... so yea, it is possible... don't let anyone like me stop you with doubts!

But also try not to swim in a pool of fantasies...

seems to me most of us classical musicians live in a fantasy world until we hit the real world... hahaaha!

And that's funny because it's not so funny. It's SO damn tragic...

Although this doesn't directly answer the question, one consideration is the huge difference in how the instruments are used. Strings play in groups of all sizes as well as solo, and they need to enjoy being in groups.

Piano is a much more solitary pursuit.

Do you prefer working something out on your own without having to rely on others? Or do you prefer collaborative work? These are fundamental questions of how you approach your own work and creative process -- if you have a strong preference, then picking the other thing would be really counterproductive.

Did you know Piano and violin duets sound great?

I hope the idea is not to play both at the same time.

Probably insignificant, but playing the violin is more physically demanding than playing the piano. After all, I don't think you can play the violin for 10 hours continuously. But I still think that playing the piano well musically is more difficult than playing the violin well.

why is it so that you think playing the violin is more taxing? i do think playing the piano is taxing on the body im known to collapse on the bed after some intense work at the piano. My back/shoulder aches like heck.

Playing the piano is the most physically demanding instrument!

There is much more than just one sound you get out of a note, and the difference is how you strike it, what pedals (if any) you're holding down, how you release. You can't change much after you've struck it, but there is much more than just volume control.

I don't have much experience with the violin, but just by the numbers I'd say you'd have a better chance of getting into a highly competitive position with an orchestra as a violinist (all other things equal). But, pianists also have many more less competitive positions as accompanists for all sorts of instruments and groups. I'd say keep studying both and see what happens. If you're talented and lucky enough to have a professional career with one of these instruments the opportunity will present itself.

I've been playing violin since i was four...
I like violin better since I can still have a few long(er) fingernails on my right hand...

You can quantify opportunities and doors that open and vastness of repertoire til you're blue in the face, but don't you have a yen or an instinct for one or the other? I'd go with that.

Tomasino

Ever tried carrying a piano around in a case?

Violin has many advantages if you seek a professional career.

There are a great many aspiring concert pianists out there chasing a small pool of work.

I play both, after a fashion, but I prefer piano.

Good luck with your choice.

Adrian

This is not quite related, but my teacher said something interesting recently that every pianist ought to know how to play the voilin. Somehow she said she believes it helps with producing sound on the piano because the sound on a violin is right by your ear where you can here the sound produced better and I think also the smooth wrist motion somehow.

It's possible to master both. Off the top of my head, Awagadan Pratt has managed, and I'm sure there are many others.

I don't play strings (other than having taken didactic courses in college) but two of my kids have. I think the training is invaluable for pitch sensitivity, and as others point out, the opportunities to play professionally, or just in public amateur performances are much greater with strings. I've started teaching my 11 year old, violinst daughter piano, and when I can keep her on task (a task in and of itself) she's picking it up very quickly, which I attribute to her violin training.

I think you'll have the best of both worlds if you manage both.

My current teacher holds degrees in both, and worked as a professional violinist for many years. He now is a professional pianist, on the level of concert engagements with some major orchestras. It's possible to do both, though I'm sure uncommmon.

I have a friend who once played both piano and bassoon at the same time at one of her recitals.

(The excuse was that her grandmother was supposed to accompany her on the piano, but she couldn't find her grandmother anywhere, so she just had to play both parts by herself. )

I thank you all for your insights and will just allow, like some of you mentioned, for my love of one or the other to make my decision. For those of you who play both. Isn't it a little troublesome to practice and to "keep up" with each instruments demand? I mean, when playing violin my on stage mind and on stage presence is much different then that of when I am playing piano. Any thoughts?

IMO playing the violin is more tiring because of the posture. I haven't tried playing the piano for 10 hours straight yet, but so far playing for up to 4 hours doesn't really present physical problems for me.

Did she play the piano with one hand then? Well, in any case that's pretty impressive!

Most of it was one hand piano and one hand bassoon. Towards the end, she needed both hands for the bassoon, so she played some chord clusters on the piano with her butt. Then, at the very end, her grandmother came running down the aisle to the piano, sat down, and played the last two chords.