Will learning the piano improve my accordion skills?

[Jaime_Dergut]

Hello there,

I was wondering, does learning how to play the piano helps at improving one's accordions skills? Especially for the piano accordion.

I had this feeling that practicing with a digital piano will help me develop hand independence, but I'm not sure about this. I just started playing the accordion a year ago.

It might be redundant and perhaps I don't truly needed it but I still have this lingering idea in my mind. I thought on buying a digital keyboard with weighted keys (as to develop fingers dexterity and muscle) but only if that will help me to become a better accordionist.

Thanks for your attention.

 

[pentaprism]

...does learning how to play the piano helps at improving one's accordions skills? Especially for the piano accordion.

It definitely does.

But I think if the same amount time and effort are spent learning how to (better) play accordion, it helps improving one's accordion skills even more.

Unless you like to play piano of course.

BTW, I also (learn how to) play Anglo concertina and classical guitar.

 

[Walker]

To improve PA technique, I think it is important to optimise the strength, dexterity and evenness of the fingers. Studying HANON (The Virtuoso Pianist) on your accordion could be good. Working on scales/arpeggios is great too. If you like classical music, Bach is the man for developing the hands.

If you want to take the left hand to the next level, get a free bass accordion and learn Bach and the exercises etc. For developing your stradella skills to the limit, I would recommend Quint converter free bass (same formation of notes as stradella). I am teaching myself the Prelude to Cello Suite I, played on the bass - it's harder than it looks! I think that will do more for my left hand accordion playing than learning the piano or spending decades on stradella only.

If you want to be a free bass virtuoso (not an ambition of mine), any of the chromatic free bass systems are great too, but you need to work really hard and learn the correct techniques.

I would recommend the piano only if you have the desire to play it. It's a great instrument and it may help strengthen the fingers. However, it will not make you a better accordionist. Great accordionists put the big hours in - on accordion. Learning piano should at least help make you a more well rounded musician and certainly give a clearer understanding of note pitches in the bass (pianists, organists, free bass accordionists work with multiple octaves on the bass). This is an area where the average stradella accordionist might not be so... musically aware.

 

[Dingo40]

One issue I can see is, although the piano and the PA both have keys, you "hammer" piano keys and "press"down on PA keys.
The strings of the piano keep vibrating after the keys are struck, even though the fingers are lifted. With the accordion, as soon as you lift the fingers, the sound stops.
So, the technique is significantly different.

 

[Corinto]

Imho and experience, and as a musical jack of all and master of none, each instrument brings musical experience and knowledge to the serious amateur and other instruments can benefit from this extra experience and knowledge. Of course ymmv.

 

[Walker]

One issue I can see is, although the piano and the PA both have keys, you "hammer" piano keys and "press"down on PA keys.
The strings of the piano keep vibrating after the keys are struck, even though the fingers are lifted. With the accordion, as soon as you lift the fingers, the sound stops.
So, the technique is significantly different.

Spot on!

 

[Corinto]

Sometimes you hammer and sometimes you caress and mostly it's in between, but more caress than hammer ...

 

[TomBR]

As has been said, to improve on accordion, practice accordion.

However - if you are restricted in your practice time on accordion, perhaps for portability or noise issues then a keyboard like a Casio SA47 might be worthwhile. It's cheap, the keys are accordion size, you can run it on batteries and play through headphones, and you can play it in accordion keyboard position, vertically on your chest.

 

[debra]

Hello there,

I was wondering, does learning how to play the piano helps at improving one's accordions skills? Especially for the piano accordion.

...

The answer is both yes and no. Sure the "system" of the keyboard is the same, but the playing technique is very different.
On the piano dynamics is controlled by hitting the keys harder or softer. I studied the piano for many years and it has resulted in me often hitting the keys on the accordion too hard when playing forte. When you only learn the accordion you are not learning to hit keys harder to play louder. So it's only a mixed blessing to learn to play the piano.

 

[Walker]

The answer is both yes and no. Sure the "system" of the keyboard is the same, but the playing technique is very different.
On the piano dynamics is controlled by hitting the keys harder or softer. I studied the piano for many years and it has resulted in me often hitting the keys on the accordion too hard when playing forte. When you only learn the accordion you are not learning to hit keys harder to play louder. So it's only a mixed blessing to learn to play the piano.

I wouldn't disagree with anything here.

Sometimes when I hear pianists who take up the accordion, they don't take naturally to the different keyboard mechanics. It can manifest itself in appearing like they have wooden fingers... too percussive a technique.

Other pianists are of course wizards on PA...

 

[Harrytulipan]

Hello there,

I was wondering, does learning how to play the piano helps at improving one's accordions skills? Especially for the piano accordion.

I had this feeling that practicing with a digital piano will help me develop hand independence, but I'm not sure about this. I just started playing the accordion a year ago.

It might be redundant and perhaps I don't truly needed it but I still have this lingering idea in my mind. I thought on buying a digital keyboard with weighted keys (as to develop fingers dexterity and muscle) but only if that will help me to become a better accordionist.

Thanks for your attention.

What specific skills are you talking about?

 

[losthobos]

Probably won't improve your accordion skills...
But will improve your understanding of musical arrangement...
Which is a bonus whatever you choose to play.

 

[Harrytulipan]

The answer is both yes and no. Sure the "system" of the keyboard is the same, but the playing technique is very different.
On the piano dynamics is controlled by hitting the keys harder or softer. I studied the piano for many years and it has resulted in me often hitting the keys on the accordion too hard when playing forte. When you only learn the accordion you are not learning to hit keys harder to play louder. So it's only a mixed blessing to learn to play the piano.

That never really happened to me except maybe once.
People are different.

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

Thanks everyone for the replies and feedback.

After further consideration, I think I should only buy a piano keyboard if I actually want to play the instrument, which will be nice.
However, I will like to mention that I feel I'm learning a lot about music theory by just studying on my accordions alone, especially about harmony.


So, I kind of felt redundant having to buy a piano just for that, but I'm glad I clarified this here with all of you.

 

[JerryPH]

During my days with the accordion orchestra, one other guy followed me the moment I went the path of the Free Bass, he however did not want to travel from Montreal to Toronto every week, and so he went to the local university and practiced on a piano.

His theory and knowledge improved, but his technique tanked. He pounded on the accordion keys because that is how you play a piano, it was so awful that our orchestra conductor pulled him aside and told him in no unclear way to STOP POUNDING on his accordion.

You cannot learn to drive a race car by driving a bus all day. You cannot become an expert at Karate by practicing Judo all day.

Without doubt, the most effective way to become better at one thing is to do THAT one thing EXCLUSIVELY. My accordion instructor told me once that a man cannot have 2 mistresses... choose one instrument, place all your energy in to it and enjoy the benefits.

Play piano if that is what you want to play but have no illusions that it will in some mysterious way improve your accordion skills.

 

[JeffJetton]

After further consideration, I think I should only buy a piano keyboard if I actually want to play the instrument, which will be nice.

Probably the way to go. Although I will mention two areas where having prior piano experience seems to really helps accordion players (no idea if it's the same if the experience comes after...)

1.) Since you can easily look at the keys on piano (and usually do so when starting out), I feel like pianist have a better initial "visual map" of how everything is laid out.

2.) The correct form for the right hand on accordion is essentially how the hand/forearm would naturally fall on a piano, only tipped up on its side. So I get the sense that pianists coming to accordion get to proper form pretty much right away. Non-piano players will contort their hand/arm in all sorts of creatives ways that have to be monitored and corrected--flat fingers, and/or palm at the wrong angle, and/or 90-degree wrists, etc.

 

[insert-witty-username]

My musical journey has been PA - piano - PA (but never both at the same time), and I would answer "no" to the question in the title, just from practical experience, with no elaborate theory behind it. Certainly it didn't work the other way around for me. That was my original thinking ("how hard can the piano be if I can already play the accordion"), and I was in for a surprise.
Of course, there are some skills (counting comes to mind) that are common to all instruments, so in that sense your practice time on the piano is not completely wasted even from the accordion's point of view, but that time would be much better spent practicing the accordion if that's your goal.

 

[John M]

For me, a simple spinet organ would be the closest to the accordion, since the right hand melody touch is the same. i.e; press a key -- it sounds, let the key go -- the sound quits. Also, the simplest Om-Pah (Bass/Chord) can be duplicated on the organ with the Pedal playing the Bass and the left hand playing a 3 note Chord.

John M.

 

[pentaprism]

The strings of the piano keep vibrating after the keys are struck, even though the fingers are lifted.

May I correct this statement.

The strings of the piano stop vibrating when the fingers are lifted, unless when the sustaining pedal is used.

I'd like to add one thing: the keys of the piano are speed-sensitive. The keys of the accordion (at least the non-electronic ones) are not.

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

His theory and knowledge improved, but his technique tanked.

This is a great point that Jerry brought.

I will rather be a great accordionists and have my technique mastered rather than tanked. Technique is also very important for to play.