Keyboards

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Original post by Mithrandir
[...] realised [...]

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OMFG an American with British-style spelling!

well typing probably made your fingers independant and grew slightly more muscles...

But on the other hand, when you type, you only press one key at a time, and your hands are completely still. When you play the piano, you''d be pressing more keys in very different combinations than typing on the piano.

But i encourage you to practice 5 hours a day for the first 2 monhts, you;''ll be intermediate in no time.

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Original post by Pouya

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Original post by Mithrandir
[...] realised [...]

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OMFG an American with British-style spelling!

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Yeah I still don''t know where I picked that up from. You can stop nagging me about that any time now, I get enough of it from my editors, thanks.

Damn pouya for his pouyarisms...

And why is Pouya ignoring me on AIM?! Wahh

As someone who can type 70 wpm, and plays piano, I can assure you that is not the case. In fact, my typing was nearing 80 wpm before I started piano, and I''ve actually lost some typing skill. My hands were also quite weak when I first started playing piano, even with all the typing.

It is true that unlike normal people, my left hand is stronger than my right hand, which I believe is because I type.(all the important keys are under the left hand). However, all the bad typing habits I have show up on the piano, including bent wrists.

You type in bursts, which is much different than playing the piano, when you need to keep a steady rythm. Typing usually does not have indepentant movement between the hands, usually it is an alternating motion.

The last thing is, all pianist suffer from carpo tunnel syndrom. If you use the wrong technique, your wrists will probably hurt for a day or two. Ususally it shows up when you''re more advanced. If you already have weak wrists, you might prefer just staying with wind insturments. An instructore can tell you different things to keep your wrists in shape. My teacher during her college years actually wore wrist guards inorder to keep her wrists straight while she slept. :/

~~~~~
"dede dude" - bishop_pass
Download and play Slime King I.

No

Proper use of a piano requires the use of your entire arms, not just your fingers. Your hands to more at a time on the piano than on a keyboard, and your fingers have to stretch more. Good keying skills will probably help a bit, but I don''t imagine it will help much.

Having a bit of music theory behind you will probably help considerably more than several years of typing.

So is it a worthy endeavor? Perhaps.

CM

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Original post by Nervo
Damn pouya for his pouyarisms...

And why is Pouya ignoring me on AIM?! Wahh

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Curses.

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Original post by dede
It is true that unlike normal people, my left hand is stronger than my right hand, which I believe is because I type.

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Sure, Mr One-handed-typist...

Listen to dede. Typing will not help you at all with playing the piano. I could type 220 WPM at my absolute best when I started playing piano and it made no difference whatsoever. You''re employing your finger twitch muscles differently and more vigorously.

Case closed.

I agree with Dede.

Although typing and playing a keyboard instrument have some similiarities(sp?), they are different in the way how you "approach them". When playing an instrument, as you already know, you are dictated by the tempo and note durations. While typing, you can slow down and speed up as arbitrary as you please. I play the piano myself, or try to, and it took some adjustment just to get the "dexterity" of my fingers up enough to play some exercises. I guess you can look at it as an orientation aspect. You are utilizing another object to carry your work: it is ,in part, something of a different layout. I know some great piano players at my school who type slower than me and make more mistakes. Never the less the same piano players are able to play almost any piece of piano music presented to them with very concise accuracy. I have another analogy, tennis to ping-pong - about the same layout and about the same movement except one needs more power and utilizes more of your body (although that can be discussed somewhere else).

If you are going to play a keyboard instrument, go for it. The more instruments you know, the better. This will only serve to widen your experience and help you later in life. Your developed sense of timing will help you while you are learning and cite reading will be a great help.

I don''t really know any sites on teaching the harpsichord, but there are a lot of sites on how to play the piano. I guess that would be "kind of like" the harpsichord. If you need any help, I''m sure the wide diversity of the Gamedev forum is at your disposal.

Good luck.

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Very good programming site:Programmers Unlimited

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Original post by Mithrandir
I realised yesterday that I am extremely adept at typing, having been writing professionally for over two and a half years now.


I''ve always been very much into music, but I''ve never really been interested in playing a keyboard-like instrument of any type (1 year of clarinet, 4 years of alto sax, 5 years of baritone sax), and it just hit me that since I have great typing skills, I may also be great at playing a kayboard instrument of some sort (I''ve always had a fondness for the sound of a harpsichord).


Does my reasoning seem sound? Would playing a keyboard instrument be a worthwhile endeavour for me? If so, does anyone have any advice or know where I would start?

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Some truths:

* when playing a keyboad instrument you''ll want to have three things/abilities/qualities: technique, flexibility of hands (and possibly feet - the piano can be very tricky with its three pedals) and coordination (of your limbs - the brain, once you know how to play the instrument/a song, is generally useless: I often just play and my mind is so elsewhere, usually sorting out issues at school or chicks)
* your typing well can give you, at the very most, some flexibility in your hands. I don''t type at all fast or well, but I play the keyboards a lot better, so they''re generally unrelated.
* you can''t learn to play the hapischord, which is a keyboard instrument, plus it''s damn difficult to play for a beginner because it has no pedals. I''m fairly confident you won''t find a place they''ll teach you how to play the hapsichord - you''ll have to learn to play the piano and then you can practice playing without pedals and excessive sustains, such as is the case of the hapsichord. You might want to try out a synthesizer (although mine sustains hapsichord notes like a happy baker - fortunately I can adjust the attack and release times, though...) first, altough I strongly recommend against it because all it does is mess up your "feel" of the "real thing".

In a nutshell: your typing skills mean squat (well, to the most part), but your natural ability to sychronise hand/finger and foot movement will take you a long way. Oh, and of course - if you''re dead inside (which I believe you''re not since you play the sax, which is only like the third cooles instrument, like, ever), please don''t play the keyboards - they yearn for a sensitive touch.

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