Piano or violin for 9 & 11 year old, complete beginners

[Explodingatomickittens]

Hi there, my dd's want to learn an instrument, what is the easiest one to pick up. They have a choice of piano or violin. Thanks.

I think Piano as it can sound good quite quickly. Violin can sound screechy and awful for years.

You need to take them for an assessment with a teacher to talk about different instruments.

I agree with the above in theory, although my 9 year old has just taken up violin and is really enjoying it. She didn’t get on with piano at all, she found the two-handed playing very difficult and reading two lines of music at once.

Either easy to pick up. So they fancy playing in an orchestra? Or playing solo . My 7 year old is doing fine with the violin ( making much better progress at 7 than 6) . Piano sounds better perhaps but have you got room for the piano at home?

Don’t pick piano unless you have one at home.

What do your children think? At that age it’s important to pick something they are keen on, otherwise getting them to practise will be impossibleS One of mine was desperate for piano lessons, but ultimately found it tricky and switched to a woodwind instrument after a couple of years.

Violin can sound pretty awful when you are learning (if that’s a consideration!)

An instrument trial is an excellent idea if that’s possible. They might not go for piano or violin.

DC1 started piano and had taken to it like a duck to water. They only have a simple shirt keyboard at home and that’s been fine to get them started with, sat on top of a chest of draws so barely take up any room. A year in now and we now need a proper piano or full keyboard, so it’s perfectly possible to give it a try without full piano.

Piano 😍

No we don't have one or have room for piano. They are excited to learn an instrument! They are going to an extremely musical secondary school & I think it would be good for them to have some sort of musical training! The violin is slightly more appealing as it's so portable!

If you don't have a piano, then she can't learn the piano, so that's straightforward. Instruments have to be practiced, ideally daily if any progress is to be made. At that age I think it would be better to consider something more fun that violin eg saxophone, clarinet, flute, trumpet.

Her secondary school presumably has ensembles she can join, which would again argue for not piano

I started violin at 7 and loved it. Ended up playing in the school and County Youth orchestras when I got a bit older it was all very sociable.
By the time Igot to a certain grade in Exams I was made to learn piano in order to do the theory exams and I hated piano.

(I'm sorry to say I never kept it up and by the age of 16 I stopped playing either and I can't play the violin/piano or read music any more. )

Yes the school has an orchestra any child is free to join, lunchtime concerts etc.. The school puts a huge amount of effort into it's musicals etc..

I would always recommend an instrument that you can play in an orchestra, so it has a great social side to it. Playing the piano can be lonely.

I have one that learnt piano (lonely instrument) and one that does violin (joins ensembles) - I'd vote for violin purely because you can join an orchestra / play in concerts / carry with you etc.

@AutumnIsMyFavouriteSeason I think violin even though it's harder would be better as like others said it's portable & sociable..

Which ever one they want to learn.
Why the restriction to those 2 instruments? There are loads of possibilities, but something they can practice on at home would be pretty important.

Definitely a smaller, portable instrument which opens the door for orchestras, ensembles etc.

Can I ask why violin? There are loads of other possibilities, including "endangered" instruments which aren't played by many and there are a number of schemes in place to encourage people to play them, such as free/discounted lessons etc.

They are going for a trial at a music school which offer many instruments. It's just tomorrows trial is convenient time wise & it's 30 mins violin followed by 30 mins piano..

It will be interesting to see which they prefer.
If they prefer piano I’d be tempted not to go for violin just for the sake of portability. You can ask the music school for advice.

I think that you should see if you can trial a wind instrument as well as they can be easier to pick up -- harder to get into an orchestra but not a problem if the school also run a wind band. As they are a little older to be starting it might also be worth asking about viola rather than violin as they tend to be a bit on the scarce side so usually get better opportunities than violinists of the same standard. (Mother of a reluctant practising violinist who switched to viola and was instantly put into all the top ensembles.)

Looks like the piano won out! I was secretly hoping for the violin! Will need to get a keyboard to start with..

Definitely violin as it's more social and that can be a real encouragement to keep going. Piano on your own is very boring unless you happen to be a genius who progresses fast

Also piano as a second study later would be quite quick to get up to speed with if you already play the violin (or any other instrument)

You must have a piano or full size weighted digital piano if they are going to have piano lessons. Violins are very portable and can be bought cheaply at first (if they stick with it they get £££)

OK I'll push them towards to violin so! One loved the violin the other the piano... Can't afford 2 sets or instruments & lessons. Recorder, drums & flute also on offer but they weren't interested..