Good afternoon, Internet!

Many people seem to believe that the first musical instrument you pick up will be your principal instrument for life. Often, beginners of a wind, brass or stringed instrument have ignored the first step in learning any instrument that I believe is vital for success:

THE PIANO!!

I know that throughout my early years of learning to the play the flute, I was always one step ahead of the rest. I had reached grade 4 standard after just under 3 years of training, having just a 20 minute lesson once a week during school term time. I really don't want this to come over as 'bragging', but more an example of how learning piano aided me immensely during my first years.

Any guesses to the name of this masterpiece??

Although I have stipulated piano in this post, my first instrument I actually learnt was the electronic keyboard. I began at aged 5 after my dad had taught me a few chords on our keyboard at home. Electronic keyboard is often overlooked as an easy (and slightly 'cheesy'!) alternative to the piano. However, my knowledge of building chords and bass lines have been nothing but an advantage to me as a musician. I found during my academic music studies that I was able to analyse and understand classically written pieces better than some other classical students, from chordal structure and interesting chords. It has meant that I can analyse the scores of my graded piano studies differently to most. But more importantly, it means I can jam to any song and compose arrangements by ear (Sweet Child o' Mine is my jammm).

Turning up to my first flute lesson, I was able to read music with ease having learnt to do so for the previous 3 years. I understood key and time signatures, rhythm lengths, note pitches and tempo markings - so the only real challenge was to learn the art of making a pleasing sound from a metal tube! My more advanced sight reading skills during the first 3 to 4 years of learning the flute came in handy during those weeks where I had not practised due to other commitments (or just from sheer laziness - we've all been there!!). However from grade 5 onwards, things got a little more tricky and an hour's practice a week no longer sufficed. Still, it meant I could learn my pieces quicker!

And the other advantage? You can say you're a multi-discipline musician! Gaining knowledge of another instrument shows that you're not just a one-trick-pony, and you become a better musician inside and out (#deep).

So the short story of this post - you've gotta walk before you can run. Get out there and learn to play them ivories.