Keys or keyboards?

[Clifton]

Does anyone else dislike the label 'keyboardist'?

 

I'm a piano player. I play some other piano-esque instruments as well, like the rhodes and the wurlitzer.

Additionally, I know how to use strings, pads & various synth sounds to an acceptable level. I can also play a drawbar organ in a pinch.

 

But I'm a piano player at the end of the day. There's no such instrument as a 'keyboard'. Why are we labeled as such? 'Keyboardist'...it sounds like a computer programmer or something. It bugs me, lol.

 

So when people ask what I do in the band I'm in, I say 'I play keys'. Keys sounds cooler

[DanS]

I'd rather be known as a keyboardist than a piano playerist.

[Rod S]

Saying keyboardist here in Brazil usually gets understood that you play a Yamaha PSR series instrument - you play simple melodies over an auto accompainment. So I try to avoid that label at all costs.

 

Everytime you see adds for lessons, you'll usually see two categories:

 

"Teclados" (Keyboards) meaning some guy will pull out a PSR and teach you melodies on some cheap PSR series keyboard.

"Piano" (duh!) Where you'll see a couple of different direction, classical, mpb/jazz, and 'popular'.

 

So I'll usually say I play piano. Saying I play keys makes no sense in portuguese...

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

Better than being called a small pianist...

 

"The dude playing the small piano-thing over there"

[Dave Horne]

I refer to myself as a piano player. If the job pays extremely well (which usually means the guests are even better dressed than I - that rarely happens), I'm then a pianist.

 

Piano player sounds right.

[retrokeys]

Since my main instrument is the Hammond (or equivalent) I suppose "organist" is appropriate although it gets one in trouble with the AGO pipe organ crowd. I do also play piano, both electric and acoustic and clavinet (would that make me a clavineticist?)and synth if necessary. "Keyboardist" works for me. "Keys" sounds too much like the automotive equivalent of playing the spoons. There are enough odd percussion instruments (and percussionists) out there already.

[resigned]

My usual gig is as a soloist, and if someone asks what I do then I'm a "professional piano player". My promo and business card says I'm a "piano/keyboard entertainer". Descriptions of my music say "piano with synthesized accompaniment".

 

When I sit-in with a band then I am their "keyboardist".

 

If my clients ask what to call me I tell them to call me first.

[ProfD]

I have no problem with being called a keyboardist. It captures the essence of the instrument I play.

 

 

[stepay]

Since I don't own or regularly play a piano, I don't call myself a piano player, though in the grand scheme of things I am. When someone asks me what I play in the band, I say that I'm the keyboard player. Keyboards are electric and very portable. Pianos are usually not electric, and never very portable.

[kanker.]

I play piano, organ, synths, clavinet, Rhodes, Wurly, etc... They are all keyboard instruments, thus I am a keyboard player. At the end of the day, I guess I ultimately am a pianist as that is where I started, and that's what I would call home, but I have no problem calling myself a keyboard player as that's a more accurate assessment of what I do.

[Bobadohshe]

I bill myself as all things to all people. If I'm on a casual I'm the pianist or piano player. If I'm gigging with the multi board setup I'll say I'm on keyboards. If I am playing piano and organ on a gig, sometimes the band leader will say 'On piano and organ' when introducing me to the crowd. I dig the multi instrumental list. On a recent album of my friend he listed me in the liner notes as playing piano/organ/analog synths, which sounds a lot cooler than 'keyboards', and implies that they are different instruments with different playing techniques, which they are. For whatever reason the phrase 'on keys' rubs me the wrong way.

[oscarr111111]

I'm a bassist; whether I'm playing keyboards or Bass guitar, I'm always holding down the bass.

[K K]

There are also pianozaurusists.

[resigned]

Since I don't own or regularly play a piano, I don't call myself a piano player, though in the grand scheme of things I am. When someone asks me what I play in the band, I say that I'm the keyboard player. Keyboards are electric and very portable. Pianos are usually not electric, and never very portable.

 

Digital pianos are always electric, usually portable, but primarily it makes one sound over any other: that of a piano. I play a digital piano more than any other keyboard so I lean more towards being a "pianist" than a "keyboardist". When I play with a band and I'm playing more than just a piano then "keyboardist" would be more appropriate in that situation.

 

I think it comes down to the sound and instrument you are most associated with... for example, the sound I play the most is by far the sound of an acoustic piano though I may get that sound in a variety of ways, including playing an acoustic grand which not every keyboard player does, so I refer to myself as a pianist. If my primary sound was synthesized then I might prefer "synthesist" or "keyboardist" just as if my primary sound was that of a B3 then I'd probably like to be known as an "organist". Sometime more than one label might be appropriate, such as for the "pianist/organist", or even "multi-keyboardist".

 

This is mostly important when marketing your services... someone wanting a pianist is probably expecting something different from someone wanting to hire an organist or keyboardist.

[ProfD]

This is mostly important when marketing your services... someone wanting a pianist is probably expecting something different from someone wanting to hire an organist or keyboardist.

 

I guess it depends on how knowledgeable the marketing director. I have run into quite a few who call every type of keyboard instrument a piano or organ anyway.

[keyclick]

That reminds me of the episode on one of the yahoo groups, probably 'organ-ized', in which the use of the term 'organist' was fiercely debated. Some AGO type (actually a pretty famous with CDs out) classical guy took offense at anyone who played single manual 'organ' (clones) or even B3's without pedals. The implication being unless you sat at a console, and used three body parts to play, you were a 'organ player' at best. And while we berated him mercilessly, and sent him packing, I 'kinda' agree with him. Yes, I'd like to be considered an 'organist',say in the jazz trio realm, but you gotta have appreciation for what it takes to play real hard-core baroque organ music like that. Standing at a one manual clone doing one handed rock riffs is an order of magnitude less demanding than that. (and thats what I do most of the time anyway!)

 

Good times!

 

 

 

Since my main instrument is the Hammond (or equivalent) I suppose "organist" is appropriate although it gets one in trouble with the AGO pipe organ crowd. I do also play piano, both electric and acoustic and clavinet (would that make me a clavineticist?)and synth if necessary. "Keyboardist" works for me. "Keys" sounds too much like the automotive equivalent of playing the spoons. There are enough odd percussion instruments (and percussionists) out there already.

[Joe P]

What about the term "keyboarder"? I noticed that several of the Forumites from Scandinavia used this term. I thought it was kind of funny when I first heard it. Surfer, skate boarder, keyboarder...

 

I can see the logic to it for someone for whom English is a second language, though. I kind of like it actually. Sounds modern & global.

 

Regards,

Joe

(Keyboarder)

[matted stump]

Keyboards is what I play, and I am proud to be called a keyboardist.

 

I played and studied classical piano for years, classical pipe organ for more years, had a period in there when I played Hammond exclusively, owned and gigged clavinets, wurlis, rhodes, and innumerable synthesizers.

 

All these instruments have their own quirks, require different techniques to play, and have their own vocabulary to master.

 

Being called a keyboardist is a badge of honor that means to me that I have mastered multiple instruments that just happen to share that particular user interface that we all love.

[DirtyRubberDuck]

 

Personally, I prefer the title of "Stud Muffin", although "Keyboard God" works too

 

DRD

 

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Guns don't kill people, bullets kill people

[DirtyRubberDuck]

 

Yikes! Gotta fix my avatar.

 

DRD

[SilverDragonSoun]

Personally I prefer to be addressed as an Ebony and Ivory technician.

[raddtunes]

What's in a title? - plenty. Try calling the person who administers your next radiology procedure (X-ray,MRI,etc) a "technician." You'll be promptly educated in the proper term: "Technologist."

[Dave Pierce]

Hey, I'm just happy if they don't call me the "old fat guy".

 

Seriously, I don't mind being called a keyboardist, organist, keys player -- whatever. I actually DON'T call myself a pianist. To me, that implies a guy that plays solo piano, or accompanies a vocalist. Definitely not my strong suit.

 

When someone asks what I do in the band, I usually say I "play keys". Works for me.

 

I met a friend of mine at a jam once, and he got their first. Told me he had already put my name on the list. Turns out he had a little joke for me. When the bandleader called me up, he called out -- in the microphone -- exactly what was written on the sign-up sheet: "Dave and His Big Organ".

 

That crowd calls me DBO to this day. I guess I kinda like it, but I pretend that I don't.

 

--Dave

 

[marino]

I've learned to differentiate: I'm a "pianist and keyboardist", as in "saxophonist and clarinetist". :grin:

Picking nits: I suppose "keyboardist" includes "synthesist", that is, one who program his own sounds. On the other hand, it seems to also include "organist"... While I certainly make my sounds myself, I don't specialize in organ playing... so maybe "pianist and synthesist" would be a better pair of terms. But then, I'd be afraid people would think I'm a pianist and an anaesthetist, or something... :grin: :grin: