Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Interesting "late beginner" experience

I had an experience which I found rather interesting and which I thought may be similar in learning the piano as an adult:

As a kid, I've always been very bad in sports. As for running, I never even once completed the 400 m distance we were to run at school.

Aged 42 when I wanted to shed some extra weight, I used a scheme where running was considered a vital element. Encouragement was such that I gave it a try. I started out with max 200 m running and the remainder of a round which takes a 45 minutes walk, I walked. I went about that daily, slowly increasing the amount I ran until, over 6 months of daily practice later, I managed to run a full 30 minutes.

At some point I stopped that daily routine, was too busy, and only recently, almost 6 years after I had stopped it, I tried it again.

In line with general expectations that after almost 6 years all the training benefits would have been lost plus I am even older now, I was prepared that the beginning would be equally challenging. To my surprise - I only ran 3 or 4 times a couple of weeks ago - event the first time, I managed to run over 5 minutes, a distance which had taken me a month to achieve when I originally started and definitely a lot more than I ever managed as a kid.

Today, I decided to run really slowly and to try for 30 minutes rather than speed, and I did manage right away.

Now, that is sports, but sports is also a field where we are bombarded with "the younger the better". What I achieved today - as insignificant as that is for a sporty person - is something I had worked hard to manage when I was already over forty and which I had stopped doing for over 5 years and which I had never managed to achieve as a kid.

Could that experience be compared with learning to play the piano, that the time and effort it takes to learning it is not so much a matter of age but much more a matter of never having done anything similar before? Do you have similar experiences in some field of activity?

On my part, I am very much encouraged by this experience.

First, congratulations on starting a running program.

Yes, I think it can be compared with learning to play piano. I started playing piano last year at the age of 62, knowing absolutely nothing about piano. Although I'm a slow learner, and self teaching, I have managed to work my way through most of the Alfred Adult All-in-One book, and have several favorite pieces that I can play reasonably well.

Four years ago, remembering that I had always wanted to take tap lessons when I was a child, I joined a tap class for seniors at our local senior center. I couldn't tell my left from my right, and spent a lot of time standing watching the others and looking confused, but I caught on, and I have now parcicipated in three of their yearly recitals. I wouldn't say that I'm ready for the Rockettes, but I manage to do the right steps and keep time to the music. My friends and family are very impressed.

And last Wednesday, a few days after my 64th birthday, I joined an over 60 women's basketball team. I've never played basketball as a game before, and the last time I attempted to "shoot hoops" with my hubby and kids was probably 30 years ago. We'll see how this one goes.

So, if you are trying to say that one is never too old to learn a new skill, I totally agree.

P.S. My kids think I've totally lost it, and I love it!

mom3gram, you are really doing well, admirable!!!!

Piano&Violin, I experience the same thing.

I first started my piano lessons around the age of 9...it lasted for about 1 year then I stopped due to various reasons... Recently (5 months ago to be exact) after 16 years (I'm 26 now) I touched a piano & re-started my piano lessons again and felt it was much easier than I expected. I had thought I would struggle (well I did struggle when I was 9)!

What I learnt 16 years ago did not vanish. It feels like it's just been kept somewhere in my brains over all these years and I just picked it up again and continued. I just finished the complete "Fur Elise" piece last week and my teacher couldn't believe a "5-month" student like me can do that.

Piano&Violin,

I think you're right - there is something about returning to an activity which you've done before that helps your start-up time, so to speak. Even the very second time you've done something - like skiing, for instance - the familiarity makes it go faster, I think. You're not confused about how to buckle the boots, the "clunkiness" of walking in them isn't totally strange, you have more confidence about the speed with which you're going to slide down the bunny hill so you brake differently, and carry your body weight differently. So I think you've got the makings of a theory, there.

I am encouraged that it can happen even at our age with physical activities and I love mom3gram's idea of trying out basketball. I've thought about that, because one of my nieces is quite good at basketball and I thought maybe I'd inherited some of the same genes and I'd love to play a team sport.

I played piano a couple of years as a kid, and much of it *did* come back when I started again - particularly sight reading, and just playing the notes enough that I could sit down with a flute-playing friend and sort of work up a familiar (to the flute player) flute solo. But the things about piano which were *not* familiar to me - like playing by ear - are a bear, and I haven't put in enough time with them to make them not a bear yet.

So I think your observation is really relevant, and it's one more reminder to me to quit avoiding the unfamiliar and just do it more often - in particular playing by ear.

Thanks for bringing this up - terrific observation.

Cathy

I had the same experience with swimming. I'd never been a swimmer before but spent a summer about 25 years ago swimming every morning on the way to work. The first week 1 length killed me, next week I managed 2 or 3, but by September I could swim forever. I didn't swim again for 5 or 10 years but that was in the sea and guess what? I swam out for what seemed miles! There is some relationship to piano though I'm unclear what. I do know it takes 3 days for me to recover from running for a bus now when before I never felt it.

This reminded me of a conversation I overheard while I was on the T. It was a group of kids about 18ish talking about piano. Then one girls said something to the effect of if "you have to learn these things when you are young. It's not something you can pick up when you are an adult". Well I know for a fact that is not true. I thought it was sad that that is the message she is spreading. Everyone should be encourage to pursue their dreams at any age.

As for me... I started Tae Kwon Do in my mid to late 20's. I was definitely NOT and athletic person. However the progress is so gradual and layered that you hardly notice it until one day realize HEY! I couldn't do this before.

I believe it is the same with music. Sure if you had lesson when you were young (which I did for a short period of time) that is an advantage. But that does not mean anyone can't learn at any age. As long as you have hands and a brain you got what it takes. As I heard the Dalai Lama say... "we all have the same potential" and I believe that is true.

Oh yeah and congrats on your progress with your running program.

forgot to mention: all the stuff I learned when I was a kid came back when I started playing again. I had no idea that I knew how to play scales but I must have b/c they felt very natural to me when I was relearning them. Chords felt comfortable to me as well.