Currently, I’m working at around Grade 3 on my clarinet after playing since the beginning of May without a history of learning an instrument or reading sheet music. My clarinet teacher wants me to take my grade 2 exams at the latest before Christmas but at the same time advising me to study Grade 3 stuff as well.


It sounds weird for me to decide to take up another instrument so early, but I’ve seen little Year 7’s (I'm in Year 9) with a tenor horn and a violin after only learning the tenor horn for a few years. I know a few months are different than a few years but I sound obnoxious for saying this but I think if I work at it I can manage it.


Sorry for a lengthy post, but I was wondering what are the pro and the cons of the violin, the viola and the cello. (Please don’t even advice a double bass, I’ll have enough trouble attempting to bring a cello home!)

Thanks for your time .

Viola is the same clef as cello. So easier than violin as do not have to learn treble clef.

Choose viola if you want it to be easier

Choose violin if you want more of a challenge

Actually, viola is not the same clef at all as cello.

Cello is played bass clef (and tenor clef sometimes) whereas viola uses both alto and treble clefs. Violin uses only the treble.

Therefore, viola won't be any easier than violin as you'll have at least two clefs to learn to play, rather than one with the violin.

Neither violin nor viola nor cello will be easy. Pick the one you like the sound of best.

I think the viola wold be your easiest choice, as although it is a new clef 2 learn they are very similar.
I played violin and then moved on to the cello and found that i had problems with the way my wrist turned to place my fingers in the right place, this problem won't arise with th viola.
Also the viola is alot easier to carry about.

Best of luck chosing.

As rosfrog said viola and cello are in different clefs, but also, she already knows treble clef - she plays clarinet

Therefore if you don't wanna learn a new clef, violin Other than that, it's a hard decision!

My bad. I though viola was only alto clef and cello was alto and bass clef.


Go for violin then. One clef to learn. Still difficult for a begginner, so horrible sounds will emerge for a while!

What is the problem with the clef? If you can already read music then learning another clef is trivial. The decision should be based on the instrument, and on how well you are suited to it:

SOUND:
They are quite diffferent - which do you most like to listen to?

SOLO REPERTOIRE
Lots for the violin, less for the Cello, in comparison not a lot for Viola

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYING
Orchestras use a lot of violinists, but there are a lot of them about. From what I have heard you stand a better chance with the other two. Ditto string quartets and other chamber groups.

PHYSICAL
The violin definitely benefits from slender fingers. So if you have big hands and thick fingers one of the larger instruments would be better.

PLAYING POSITION
You may not like either of the seated positions for the Cello, or you may dislike holding an instrument under your chin.

PORTABILITY
Violin and Viola are easily carried - Cello not so easily

The experienced string players will be able to point out many more things to be considered. Please weigh these up in your decision, but don't be swayed by such a tiny matter as the Clef the music is usually written in.

I dont understand.It doesnt matter what instruments you want to play.Dont judge cello by its size.I think cello would be great because the sound is great!but I prefer to choose violin because its easier to play compared to viola right?

The size of the instrument is a major consideration for many people, especially people who rely on public transport. Bigger instruments are usually more expensive too.
Quite right. But most instruments sound great if played well. It's hard to say. Everyone who plays both violin and viola will have learned one (usually violin) before switching to the other, so they don't really know whether learning the viola from scratch is easier or harder than learning the violin from scratch. My impression is that the violin is slightly harder in some respects, the viola slightly harder in others. But if difficulty is an issue, neither of them would be a good choice. In fact, if you don't want to do something difficult, learning any instrument is a bad idea.

I agree with Primrose - violin and viola are difficult in different ways - rather sweeping generalisation alert, but for what it's worth - essentially on the viola you will have to work harder physically to produce a nice sound - the inbuilt intertia of the instrument compared to violin means that - technically - you'd have to start moving your bow a fraction of a second before a violinist playing the same note if you wanted them to sound at the same time - you need more bow weight, a slightly different approach to vibrato and a more fluid idea of position changing with creative fingerings (particularly if playing on a large viola) - on the violin, these things are more standardised perhaps, but you are going to be dealing with more challenging parts in orchestra and faster passages that you rarely get on the viola - it's really swings and roundabouts.

Like I said earlier - go for the one you like the sound of. You won't regret it.

Allan

You might consider what sort of music you want to play. Presumably you play tenor horn in a brass band, but what about the clarinet? If you already play it in a good orchestra, you are either a very competent player or lucky, because in most amateur orchestras clarinet chairs have a waiting list. This is usually where the viola scores, because it's a rare amateur orchestra that has as many competent violas as it wants, so the standard you need to achieve is usually rather lower than that required of a violinist or cellist. The same applies to string quartets, quintets (especially their two-viola version) and sextets.

I'm learning the viola and the advantages are as follows:

The viola can produce a nice, rich sound reminiscent of a cello without having to lug a cello around

Violists are always very badly needed in orchestras - there's not so many of 'em about

You don't have to cope with the squeaky E string which a violin has

The disadvantages are:

You have to learn a new clef

It can be more physically demanding than the violin as violas are somewhat larger and a little heavier to handle

Personally, I my viola and I'm glad that I took it up

Good Luck with whatever you choose!

Hi mysticmaddess, and welcome to the forums

I don't know whereabouts in the country you are, but if you're in either London or Yorkshire, you could see if you could go along to either of the following groups to get a "feel" for the different instruments. The Yorkshire group has just run a "taster" day when anybody could go along and try out the instruments. Might be worth looking into if you're anywhere near London or Yorkshire. Have fun!

East London Late Starters Strings

Yorkshire Late Starters Strings

Not an option for someone still at school though! Late Starters orchestras only accept adults.

Ooops, yes of course you're right - I'm afraid I couldn't read all the original post, the purple text made my eyes go funny so I just read a bit of it and didn't pick up that the OP was still at school

Thanks for all of you advice =]

Btw, I don't play the tenor horn but I made a typing error. So you can blame me I've changed it now.

I'm in my town's and school's youth wind band - second/third clarinetist. Honestly I'm only second/third clarinetist because I got lucky. Plus I'm the only one in my band that can name a classical composer other than Mozart or Beethoven when we just played three Tchaikovsky and two Bach Pieces. Half of them are taking GCSE Music as well!

Now, I've decided when I go back to school, I'll learn the viola. It's like a mini-cello or big violin - best of both worlds. Plus I'm terrified of dropping a cello because that metal spoke doesn't seem that safe. Even if you support it with your legs, I couldn't trust myself. I've got good fine motor skills but terrible gross motors skills


Sounds a bit dumb for me to ask, but is the alto clef the one where the middle line is a 'c'? I can't find anything about it in my theory books.

Thanks again

Quick summary of the traditional clefs:
The sign known as treble labels a line G: on 4th line gives echt treble, 5th line gives French violin clef.
The sign with a straight vertical line on the left labels a C: line 1 gives baritone clef, 2 tenor, 3 alto, 4 mezzo-soprano, 5 soprano.
The spiral sign with two dots or dashes to the right labels an F: line 1 gives the clef I think of as basso profundo, but I believe it has a different traditional name, 2 bass, 3 older baritone (from long ago when the staff had only 4 lines, so there was no C line).

The signs are elaborated and evolved versions of the letters G, C and F.

Excellent choice!!

Not dumb at all. If you didn't know, you plain didn't know! Anyway, alto clef is introduced in Grade 4 theory, so have a look there if you have a graded sort of book to look at.

It isn't hard to learn the clef, I had no trouble with it at all. Lots of people have six shades of a fit about it, but there's no need to.

Not dumb at all. What would be dumb is not to ask when you don't know something. And yes, the alto clef is the one where the middle line represents middle C.

You can find everything you need to know (and a lot that you don't) on Wikipedia here, in their article about clefs

The viola uses alto clef and treble clef. The cello uses bass clef and tenor clef.

However, it's an easy mistake to make as the're both C clefs, which means they look the same, but the tenor one is just one line on the stave higher up. Alto has middle C on the 3rd/middle line, and tenor one further up, so tenor is a couple of notes lower than alto.

Something else though, viola also uses treble clef when notes go too high for alto to be used practically. So, we have two in the end, but that's slightly better than 3 with cello (which also strays into treble).

I never knew they used more than one clef That must get quite confusing though surely it doesn't switch much?

Depends on the piece. Some viola music I've seen swaps from alto to treble and back again several times. It just depends totally on how practical it is to display a series of notes in a certain clef. If it were just one note, I daresay it wouldn't be worth a clef change, but when you've several bars which would need umpteen ledger lines, then it makes sense to use treble instead.

You're going to enjoy playing the viola. I play it and I really love it. The viola swaps between the treble clef and I find it a nightmare because I play piano as well but the alto clef notes are one note higher than the treble clef. For example, a middle C on a sheet of music in the treble clef will be D in the alto clef and so on. God!! Does that make any sense. I think I've confused myself

They're one line and one octave higher, actually - but it's best not to think of alto clef as a translation of treble or vice-versa - best learn to read each one properly.

"Something else though, viola also uses treble clef when notes go too high for alto to be used practically. So, we have two in the end, but that's slightly better than 3 with cello (which also strays into treble)".


Aaahhh ...and what about 'false treble', where the music is written in treble but read and played an octave lower? (For cello). That's a tough one to crack sometimes. It means transposing while playing.