studying other areas of music that benefit your piano playing

[Bob]

Has anyone found that studying certain other areas in music has benefitted you piano playing?  How so?

[Pianostudy]

Well yes, of course.  I think any musician would tell you that studying theory and harmony greatly helps your understanding of how the music works and in turn helps your playing of it.  Also, I was a percussionist for several years and I've found that that has helped my concept of rhythm and percusiveness in certain pieces.  Hope this helps.

[pianobabe56]

Playing the flute has been a big help to me, because our director gives us a lot of theory, and a lot of information on the shaping of pieces. Also, having to listen so intently to other band members helps me hear harmonies and things that I would normall miss. I can't even describe what a huge benefit it's been. So, basically, ditto everything PIanostudy said.

[pianonut]

until taking more classes, i had no motivation to go to music libraries and study for hours.  but, they are available (at no cost) and you can come away with "steals" of knowledge.  whatever i'm studying, i always get sidetracked.  for instance, supposed to study haydn, and end up with a biography on claudio arrau.  find out he was fatherless.  his father died when he was young, and he had a rough start.  but, i didn't get to finish the book.  you see, this is my problem...i am TOO interested in TOO many things and never learn the entirety of anything.  i read one chapter.  then i thought, 'don't have time for this' and went back to haydn.  then, i went to the reference library downstairs.  there, i couldn't stop wandering around looking at journals.  there is a preponderance of subjects in music that can whisk you away at a moments notice and not bring you back for an hour.  so this is where musicians learn all the 'secret stuff.'  OK.  i will return to the reference library.  there, up to date info is available (just ask a student to get you into the music index) and you can find ANYTHING within reason.  ps  some journals are a good place to look at autographs (can enlarge them and copy).  very interesting to compare autographs with later editions.

[ted]

Listening to all sorts of music aside from European and American piano music is very important to me. I get all sorts of ideas from taking an eclectic approach. My unconscious stores everything somehow and it all adds flavour to the improvisational brew, so to speak.

I'm not so sure about theories as I prefer to create intuitively. While very interesting in itself, theoretical knowledge isn't always helpful to the creative impulse. That there is such a thing as too much learning is apparent to me from the extraordinary number of academic people, often gifted and very fine players, who seem to know everything about everything in music but can create nothing themselves. I don't know why this is the case but sadly it does appear to be very common.

So academic theory, no, not for me; other genres of music, yes, and the more the better.

[lenny]

EAR TRAINING

probably the most criminally neglected area of musicianship

i dont think youre a complete pianist unless you can hear a pop melody and playin it back by ear

[shasta]

Singing in a children's choir for ~5 years when I was a kid.  We were really, really good (traveled all over, sang at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod). 

Overall, priceless for ear training, pitch, balance, phrasing/breathing, intonation, harmony, structure, intervals, dynamics...

Singing pieces from various cultures/nations was a huge advantage as well.  Not only were the pronounciation of the languages educational, but becoming familiar with how a Chinese SATB choral work differed from a Czech SATB piece differed from an African SATB piece...  which culture preferred which intervals, scales, perfect 5ths...

Was also helpful for me when I started to accompany singers as well. I understood articulation, breathing, head/chest voice, different languages, bell-canto...

[steinwayguy]

If you're into the whole 'finger strength" (rubbish) aspect of piano playing, being an ex-percussionist helps.

[Muzakian]

That there is such a thing as too much learning is apparent to me from the extraordinary number of academic people, often gifted and very fine players, who seem to know everything about everything in music but can create nothing themselves. I don't know why this is the case but sadly it does appear to be very common.

I would not be so quick to put this down to "too much learning". I think the reasons for having so many knowledgable virtuosi with little to no creative (compositional) output are many and varied, but in my opinion having a solid theoretical understanding of music can only help. After all, Beethoven knew his stuff pretty well.

As for the original question, I'd say cultivating a love for music is the most important thing you can do for your playing... but then that's probably not an issue for many people here. 

[ted]

I suppose the world is big enough to accommodate both rule followers and intuitives, the Mozart and Beethoven men and the Delius and Ives men, so to speak. I know very little about any theories so I certainly speak from a position of ignorance in that sense. I have tried hard on and off all my life to understand the relevance of musical theory to my own aural responses, even taken expensive lessons from experts, but in retrospect it was all a bit futile.

You may be quite right, theory may do many people a lot of good - I just missed the bus with it personally, that's all.

[pianowelsh]

sightreading and improvisation classes are the most beneficial i think for me. Ability to read the music I want to read and the ability to get out of awkward holes!