Second instrument

[Pip290]

DD is in Year 3 and currently Grade 1 piano. She practises daily of her own accord and clearly loves it.

She has started asking about a second instrument. When is a sensible time to introduce one?

At the moment she is leaning towards the violin, which I admit I greet with mild dread given the well known “several years before it stops sounding like a distressed seagull” phase. That said, she likes that it works for both classical music, especially as friends play in the orchestra, and also for jigs and sea shanties, which for reasons known only to her appeal. She has also said she likes the cello, which I personally think is beautiful (although a friend said that can sound like a dying whale for a year or two).

Should I gently steer her towards the cello, or let her try the violin if that is what she truly wants, and if a second instrument is reasonable, when is a good time to start?
My slight worry is time and energy. Prep is already a step up and she does get tired. I am unsure how realistic practising two instruments alongside sport and everything else will be.

Alternatively, should she simply stick with the piano for now, given she genuinely loves it and it is wonderfully versatile, covering everything from classical to jazz to Disney and musical theatre.

@NobodysChildNow That’s so English. Why oh why do we sit through these technically brilliant kids I just want to hear something a bit duff. 😄

@Aluna there is something just so charming watching kids struggle on their complicated oversized instruments!

Violin prodigies are so overdone. 😆

If you want to consider flexibility and the likelihood of sticking with a lifelong instrument, then I would say brass or woodwind (clarinet or sax) are a better bet: there are far more opportunities for a brass player to keep going with their instrument after the school years. The only string players I know who have kept it up in adult life are ones who have made a career of it. Loads of brass players carry on playing casually as adults in brass and concert bands, jam nights, open mics etc.

@Pip290 - most of DD2s opportunities came on viola - they are usually in short supply. As a young grade 5 violinist she did get opportunities but having switched to viola over the course of a year she then was inundated with people wanting a Grade 6 violist. Harpists are less in demand in ensemble work as there is less orchestral repertoire requiring one so it tended to be seen as an extra special add on to her viola and singing. It might initially take her slightly longer to get going than violin as the viola uses a different clef but DD picked it up very quickly.

I'm inclined to agree with @NobodysChildNow about the influx of rigidly overpractised violin "prodigies". They can make music festivals deathly dull as they give a technically accurate but musically deficient performance of pieces that are way beyond their emotional abilities. I have noticed that there is a bit of a backlash amongst adjudicators in recent years - I guess it is a dull for them as it is for the rest of us.

I’m not sure how we’re defining “prodigy”, in my book a prodigy would be excellent at both technique and expression.

I’ve certainly heard far more musically deficient performances that are also technically deficient.

I used to play the viola (and regret getting rid of it now). It's more portable than a cello and in my opinion has a nicer tone than a violin, especially with a beginner or not very good player. The main downsides are that there isn't as much solo music for it and you need to learn to read the alto clef, but if she already plays the piano then she knows two clefs and understands how they affect the position of the notes on the stave, which should make that a bit easier.

I don't think I've ever personally met a person who started out on the viola without having played the violin for a while first, but there's no logical reason why someone couldn't. Even if she's smallish, violas come in several different sizes and younger children sometimes learn on a violin strung as a viola.