How Does Instrument Quality Influence Musical Success?
No, you don’t need to have a million-dollar instrument to succeed as a musician.
I can’t deny it: as was growing up, I admittedly developed a superiority complex about my piano playing skills. So in fifth grade, when I met a classmate who was also an aspiring pianist, I felt threatened. In a cruel twist of fate, he turned out to be the better player: his repertoire was more technically impressive, his slender fingers were more delicate, and his flamboyant performance mannerisms were eye-catching and stylish — on the other hand, my repertoire was lacking, my sausage-like fingers were sluggish and, and my mannerisms consisted of me cringing every five seconds when I hit a wrong note. But when my rival told me that he was skipping a day of school to buy a $65,000 — yes, sixty-five with three zeroes — baby grand piano because he “had just reached that level,” I put my foot down. There was just NO WAY that he, a fifth-grader, needed a grand piano to practice on every day. But that got me thinking — how important to your progress is the quality of your instrument?
From my experience, there’s two pieces of criteria that can help us answer this question:
- Your level of expertise
- The genre of music you want to play
Level of Expertise
For simplicity, I’ll break down musical experience into three categories: beginner, intermediate, and expert.
Beginner: if the instrument is functional and can produce a bearable tone along with somewhat accurate pitch, it’ll do. As an introductory-level musician, your job is to learn the basics of the instrument and build up your technique so that you’ll be able to tackle tougher (and usually more enjoyable) music later on. In fact, buying a cheaper instrument is probably the smart thing to do: grinding scales and other tedious exercises will help you realize if you truly want to pursue music months, or even years, down the road. If you decide to quit (and there’s no shame in that), it’ll be much less painful to retire an inexpensive instrument than one that cost several hundreds of dollars.
Intermediate: Ok, you’ve been playing your instrument for a while now, and you’ve gotten pretty good. Maybe you’ve played in front of a crowd and/or won some competitions. But it might not be time to upgrade yet. As a mid-level musician, switching would be smart if you don’t have an instrument that can play notes accurately and produce a nice sound. For most people, however, beginner instruments are completely usable several years in. For example, uprights — a common piano of choice for beginners — are still useful at the intermediate level.
Expert: At this point, you’ve had ample performance experience. But before you look for anything new, it’s worth asking yourself some questions.
Is your current instrument impeding improvement? Some of the issues musicians face at an advanced level are directly influenced by the quality of their instruments. For example, professional pianists tend to play exclusively on grand pianos — since the weight of their keys are more consistent, pianists more accurately work on their touch. But beyond mastering technique, musicians need to find better instruments to improve tone quality. That’s why world-renowned violinists perform using Stradivari or Guarneri violins — these are simply the best ones out there.
What do you want to achieve by playing your instrument going forward? This is just such an important question. Are you ultimately looking to make a career out of music? Or perhaps enter national or international competitions? Is your instrument your top priority, and are you spending hours a day practicing and getting better? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then you should be practicing on a top-tier instrument. If, on the other hand, you want to play for fun, but can’t make music your primary focus, then you might not need an upgrade. That being said, it’s completely up to you — there’s nothing wrong with getting a new instrument even if you can’t spend all day on it.
(Alternative: If you want to improve your performance without spending thousands of dollars, there are other options! Renting, for example, is a very popular choice amongst those who don’t need their rentals for an extended period of time.
You could also go to your local conservatory and book a practice room; you might be able to get access to grand pianos, organs, and more. However, the choices may be limited depending on where you live.)
Genre of Music
The genre(s) of music you want to play should dictate the type and quality of the instrument you’ll be playing that music on. I’ll use the piano as an example. Let’s say I were an aspiring concert pianist. To jumpstart my classical career, it would be a great idea to buy a quality grand piano to practice on, as that’s the instrument classical pianists typically use. But instead if my hopes were set on joining a rock band, a grand piano would be unnecessary, and perhaps even inappropriate, for that style of music. In fact, a keyboard would probably be better for rock because of the variety of sounds you can produce. (My Yamaha keyboard, for example, has 500 different ones saved to it.)
Piano isn’t the only instrument for which music matters. Take the violin. I mentioned earlier that a top-notch concert violinist would play on a Stradivarius or a Guarneri. However, if you’re looking to become the next Lindsey Sterling, an electric violin would be the superior option.
Ultimately, your level of experience and the genre of music should guide you on your search for the ideal instrument. Remember this, and you’ll be on your way to making some great music.
