Are you a Pianist or Keyboard Player?

[Jazzwee]

When I first started posting on KC, I was quick to label myself a keyboard player. I don't know what happened. I think it was because my jazz teacher said I didn't sound convincing with organ sounds.

 

Now I seem to have evolved into a pianist. For now. I may have to learn to fix what wasn't so convincing before. But at least I figured on a label.

 

Besides jazz pianist is probably more common terminology than jazz keyboard player.

 

Maybe the selection of the label Keyboard player is tied to genre. Maybe the term keyboard player is cooler in Rock. Though I would probably refer to Bruce Hornsby, Elton John, Billy Joel as pianists. Maybe it's frequency of axe choice. Maybe it's weighted axe vs. unweighted. I don't know. You tell me.

 

So what are you and why? Don't tie this to your hardware/synth collection. Look into your heart for an answer. Obviously I have multiple synths regardless of my label choice.

 

Is there any negative or positive connotation with the choice of label?

 

 

 

 

 

[mikecorbett]

I was asked this question by someone the other day, what I considered myself to be, pianist or keyboardist ( I think she thought she had insulted me by calling me a pianist!) My honest answer was and is, both. They both work the same way although there are differences in technique and application. Oscar Peterson once said about genre labeling that there are two kinds of music, good and bad. I'm sure he's not as convincing a B3 player as a pianist, still I reckon he'd knock a tune out of it!

 

I dont think its good get hung up on labels. You can obhiously play both keyboards and piano. I wouldn't take to heart too much what jazz teachers have to say, some of them just need to feel superior cause they aint got no gigs!

[Jazzwee]

This just for fun, Mike. I'm thinking more of an emotional attachment to whichever label (again not necessarily attributed to function or number of synths).

 

 

 

[mikecorbett]

oh FUN! I remember fun, it was that strange feeling I had once back in the 90's. Don't mind me then, I'm just a pianist with a keyboard purchasing addiction!

[SK]

I'm both, but I say I'm a pianist. That's because it's my first love, I learned on piano and played piano all my life. But I've played keyboards, synths, Mini-Moog, Hammond and Rhodes for many years too. There are aspects of each I enjoy.

 

Piano is more physically demanding and requires a more dynamic touch than other keyboards or organs. Although it lacks variety of sounds, it gives a special satisfaction. And if you're a pianist, a piano has a keyboard too, so you are a keyboard player.

[Dave Horne]

Depends on who's paying.

[NoahZark]

For me, I'm a pianist masquerading as a keyboard player. I learned the instrument the traditional way -- studying classical piano -- and, although I've been playing piano for 30+ years, my "keyboard/synth" experience is limited to the bands I played in back in high school and college and my re-entry into the band world a couple of years ago. Maybe for me the answer boils down to answering the following question: What best allows me to demonstrate my abilities as a musician (however limited they may be)? The answer, for me, is sitting at a piano.

 

 

[spotty]

This just for fun, Mike. I'm thinking more of an emotional attachment to whichever label (again not necessarily attributed to function or number of synths).

 

Oh man! I totally understand this. I have this horrible need to have an identity tied to my instrument. And its gotta have some prestige. Like calling myself a keyboardist is too generic. I wanna call myself an organist, but I don't have a real hammond, or even a clone, and I don't have pedals, and I don't want people to think of me as sitting at a Yamaha Electone when I say 'Organist'.

I'd have to say keyboard player, but to me this could conjure up images of limping through crappy 80s pop tunes on a $60 KMart keyboard.

Auugh! Help me!

[BluesKeys]

Much like Noah, I am first a Pianist. It is what I learned on and really what I am best at. I love to play organ now that I have a clone (for the road) and M3 at home. I struggle with the pedals so I can't call myself an organist. Synth? not my thing, I struggle with pitch bending.

 

 

[mate stubb]

I don't know what to call myself. I started on piano when I was 4, and played it exclusively for 10 years before my first rock and roll band. Whereupon I switched almost exclusively to organ for 8 years (there were no pianos to be played onstage in those days) and took a detour into early analogue synths as well.

 

I survived the synth infested 80s, and now have settled back into a lot of organ and a lot of piano.

[MikeT156]

If you've read Billy Joel's interview in this month's Keyboard Magazine, we ALL should reconsider what we label ourselves. As for me, I'd say I'm a piano player, I don't qualify to be called a "Pianist".

 

I know, pickie, pickie, pickie.

 

Mike T.

[Bill H.]

Keyboard player I guess. But I'm playing piano parts more than half the time.

 

Actually, singing keyboard player because my vocals are what most of the rooms I work pay the most attention to.

[ProfD]

I'm going to take keyboardist for $1k Alex, er, Jazzwee. I have not spent nearly as much time on piano or organ as I have on keyboards.

 

One day I may be a pianist but for now, I'm just a hack of a keyboard player.

[Mr. Nightime]

I prefer the "Keyboardist" label. Unlike most, I grew up playing organ, and seldom touched a piano. I was used to having multiple manuals with different sounds.

 

Now I never go anywhere without at least 2 boards, piano and organ. I like the sonic flexibility. I have played gigs with just one or the other, but they're not as fun.

 

The image that comes to mind when I think of a Pianist is a player like Brubeck, Peterson, or any of the other great players that specialized in Piano. Organist, I think of Jimmy Smith, Joey D, Jon Lord, and others. Keyboardist, Joe Z, Emerson, Wakeman, Greg Phillinganes, to name a few. Nothing wrong with these labels.

 

[Trill]

I'm a musician who plays keyboards

[MidLifeCrisis]

The image that comes to mind when I think of a Pianist is a player like Brubeck, Peterson, or any of the other great players that specialized in Piano. Organist, I think of Jimmy Smith, Joey D, Jon Lord, and others. Keyboardist, Joe Z, Emerson, Wakeman, Greg Phillinganes, to name a few.

 

You nailed it. When you label yourself as a pianist you paint a piture of yourself as a great artist of that instrument. For the last 30+ years I have been honing my chops to fit within the context of a band. I focus on rhythms, licks, solos and sounds which compliment what the band is doing. Therefor the keyboardist label fits me best. When I sit down at a piano in a solo situation I am lost. I lost that overall feel a long time ago.

 

[MusicWorkz]

Considering what my primary genre is (gospel), you'd think I'd readily call myself a pianist. While I can play the piano, I don't ever call myself a pianist. I much more consider myself a keyboard player and I don't see it as a negtive label to be one.

 

Why? Because that is what thrills me when I play. To be behind keyboards and synths, providing textures, atmosphere, and ear candy is where I am most at home on stage and in studio.

 

To be a pianist, I feel one has to have been able to master the instrument where it is truly an extension of oneself. Images of Monk, Tyner, Hancock, Corea et. al. come to mind. I probably have as much pianist in me TOTALLY as they have in the cells of their pinky nailbed.

 

Add to the fact I am a technogeek at heart, the whole technology and production side of music drives me in a way that typical pianists, at least in this genre, aren't adept at. So being a keyboard player for me encompasses so much more than just the playing.

 

It is amazing to see people that leave the ivories smoking end up lost at the most basic of production concepts and practices, something that is second nature to me. I take those epxeriences with me to gigs and sessions, regardless of my role, and use those things to define me as a keyboard player.

[Jazzwee]

Fun responses! I like it. Everyone is looking into their heart for once, not at their gear.

 

The idea that pianist conjures up an image of solo playing vs. band for keyboards is an interesting observation.

[kanker.]

At the end of the day, if you took away all my keyboards, the one I'd kill over is the piano.

[Joe P]

I have been honing my chops to fit within the context of a band. I focus on rhythms, licks, solos and sounds which compliment what the band is doing.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself, MLC. My job is to make the band sound better, and that is what I focus on.

 

I'll be moving my acoustic upright into a different room this winter. Hopefully, I'll get some more time on it to regain some of my solo chops, which have suffered due to my band focus and two kids wreaking household havoc.

 

Regards,

Joe

[linwood]

Well, since I don't own a piano (how bad does that suck?) I guess keyboard player or virtual instrumentalist.

[Dana.]

I tell people I play keys. It defies labels and keeps things universal.

[Jazzwee]

Well, since I don't own a piano (how bad does that suck?) I guess keyboard player or virtual instrumentalist.

 

Hey man, not for this thread. Remember what I said - look into your heart, not at your gear (or absence thereof ).

[Legatoboy]

I've been at the piano now actively studying and working for 20+ years as my primary musical focus. So I would say I am much more of a pianist nowadays than I used to be as a kid when I played alot of rock organ/elec. piano/synth, but in terms of the majority of my overall work publicly even now I would probably be viewed as a keyboardist, sometimes an organist, which I am truly not other than in the keyboardist sense.

 

I will play solo piano or piano with a horn or bass at cocktail hours now which I would never think of doing 12 years ago.

 

lb

[Edgar Summers]

Well, since I don't own a piano (how bad does that suck?) I guess keyboard player or virtual instrumentalist.

 

Hey man, not for this thread. Remember what I said - look into your heart, not at your gear (or absence thereof ).

 

I REALLY like my synths. I've owned some kind of synth for 30 years (see my Icon for my 1st one in 1977)!

 

Having said that, I LOVE playing piano. It feels right. I can't really practice on a synth, not in a way where you improve your chops. Only on a piano for me. I'm a pianist 1st/electronic musician 2nd

 

Linwood, I've had many years where I've had to go somewhere else and play a piano. Some of you might remember my piano thread from awhile back. My first piano turned out to be a lemon! I ended up getting rid of it (although hopeful for a new one soon!).

 

So not owning one doesnt change the feeling. I feel a lot more comfortable playing a piano

[tarkus]

I'm a keyboardist - who am I kidding.

[DanS]

I guess if I had to give up one or the other, I'd keep my piano.

[Cliffk]

I'm a singer who happens to love imagining I can play keyboards a bit, preferably semi- or weighted ones. Playing a piano makes me feel special for some reason, while playing a Rhodes or clavinet feels most natural and moves me the most - perhaps because my natural style is rhythmic, I dunno. That said, any organ intimidates the heck out of me and I'm perfectly content to watch someone else play it! As to synths, delving into the DNA of a soundwave lies outside the realm of my musical talent, if any.

[Mark Schmieder]

I used to be a pianist, but now I'm a keyboardist :-).

[Moonglow]

Interesting, thought-provoking thread. This question utilizes a forced-choice metric: Pianist vs. Keyboardist, with the implication that these are nominally-scaled, mutually exclusive categories. While this may be a false premise, framing the question in this fashion may cause one to dig a little deeper, toward more reflective contemplation. My first thought was, Well, I play my keyboards a heck of a lot more than I play my acoustic piano. So my initial inclination was to say keyboardist. However, an inherent confounding variable is that many keyboards can sound like pianos, and I play a piano patch on my keyboards more often than any other sound. So in those moments, I would be a pianist! Sooooo, I took it one step further: If given the choice to solely play piano (i.e., no keyboards) for the rest of my life, versus solely playing keyboards (i.e., no piano, and no keyboards with piano sounds) for the rest of my life, which would I choose? In the end, I found myself resonating more strongly toward the piano. Of course, this is probably due to some significant emotional experiences connected to playing the piano. So in applying this outcome toward a label, I guess I would say Im a pianist..not a very good one, but a pianist, nonetheless.