Why Every Budding Musician Should Learn To Play The Piano
The Piano is one of the most universally recognised instruments in the world. Chances are your parents or grandparents had some form of interaction with a Piano when they were younger, whether it be through simple curiosity or through their parents paying for lessons. For those of you that don’t know, I’m a pianist. I’ve been playing since I was the age of four and have been able to now turn it into a career as a performer and tutor. As such, I have always been a strong advocate for the idea that every performer (especially singers) should take the time to learn the basics of the piano.
Due to the trends within pop culture however, the majority of performers opt for the guitar instead and whilst this is perfectly fine (an instrument is an instrument after all) there are many benefits to the piano that the guitar cannot offer, especially for those at the beginning of their instrument learning journey.
The notes are laid out in front of you
The brilliant thing about the piano is that you have all of the information right there at your fingertips. It may take a short while to understand the basics but once you find “C” what looked impossible soon starts to make sense. I’ve had students that are total beginners as musicians and musical learners, all it took for them to be able to play a basic tune like “Heart & Soul” was showing them the C major scale and gradually teaching them the tune.
Will improve your musical ear
As a singer the ability to be able to pitch a note correctly is essential. The ability to do this is referred to as your “musical ear” and although some people are born with perfect pitch, not everyone is that lucky so this is a skill that needs to be worked on. If you are able to play the piano (or indeed any pitched instrument) you will find that you are able to relate what you hear to notes that you play on your instrument, therefore improving your musical ear.
Allows you to develop your music reading
The ability to read music is a skill I feel every musician or performer should develop. I was quite late to this party as I was blessed with a great ear which has allowed me to learn the majority of any set lists without having to read music. Since going to university however, I have realised the importance of such a skill. Piano is the perfect instrument to learn to develop this skill as the go-to notation for is staffed notation unlike guitar which is notated using TAB. You can get staffed guitar notation, it’s just not as common within popular music.
Will make songwriting and self accompaniment easier
When writing a song you’re going to want to couple your lyrics and melody line with chords. By learning the Piano you are able to come up with all of the components for your song without relying on one of your instrumentalist friends to do it for you! As well as this, when it comes to gigging you now have the option to ditch the backing tracks and accompany yourself on piano which will in turn give you some creative freedom when coming up with the arrangement of the songs you want to perform. As well as being able to accompany yourself, you will also be able to accompany choirs or groups which is an essential skill for anyone working within music education.
Another string to your bow
As with any career in any industry, it is important to spend time doing things to develop your knowledge and ability within your field. If you’re able to play the piano, it is simply another string to your bow and will be used a lot more than you think!
So there you have it guys, some of the reasons I feel every budding musician should learn to play the piano. I don’t have anything against guitar, drums or bass — I’m just slightly biased towards my instrument! If you have a friend who you’re trying to convince to learn the piano, show them this article, it may help!
