Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Is it possible to become an advance player at 30s?

I’m an absolute beginner with zero music experience / background. I have been taking classes for a little more than a year and am in my 30s. I’m averaging 30minutes of practice every night. I am wondering if anyone from the forum start music late in life and it is able to make it in the advance level. If you do, what advice you would give to stick with the practice and keep progressing?

Define advanced. I took up music at age 65 when I retired in 2000. Yep, do the math.

Banjo led to rhythm guitar. Rhythm guitar led to electric guitar, that led to keyboard, keyboard and chord piano (chord accompaniment)is how I play the keyboard. Somewhere in there 4 string electric bass guitar came into my life. The bass and keyboard get most of my time now.

Will I ever be really good, probably not, but, I can, and do, hold up my end in two bands. Been with one of those bands for over 10 years now. Its not rocket science..... One way or another get with other people and play music with them.

You asked about being 30. Age itself has little to do with it, it's the time you give to your music that will determine how far you advance. Thirty minutes a day is the bare minimum to spend. If I look back when I was 30 I doubt I would have had 30 minutes a day to spare what with the job, family and putting bread on the table.

All the musicians I know have a day job. Most of us will never make enough money from music to feed the family. Enjoy the journey, its a great hobby and if a little money does come in so much the better.

Your age is irrelevant. From my perspective, thirtyish is practically a teenager, but try for at least an hour of practice a day. Thirty minutes just won't cut it. It's not unusual for serious amateurs to practice three or four or more hours a day. That's about what it takes to reach a genuine advanced level. For now an hour of focused practice each day will at least build you a good foundation. You don't have to do it all at one go. You'll find that as you progress you'll want more practice time and you'll figure out all sorts of sneaky ways get it.

(Hi -Frycek! Great post.)
Yes! I have two friends who both started piano in their 40's. Neither took lessons as children and both are now playing RCM level 9 music. How did they do it? By working with a good teacher, working hard and practicing what they loved.

The key is to get a good teacher, and learn how to practice correctly.

Started at 47 and practiced 2-3 hours a day, every day!

Yes.
Advice: stick with it and keep practising.

Good advice. I got a performance diploma in my late 40's, only because I had a superb teacher. Remember, it's not how long you practice it's how you practice.

Don't try to run before you can walk. If you try to advance to rapidly you will get frustrated and maybe even quit. Enjoy the journey and one day you will wake up with pretty good skills.

Really work on reading music and theory! Just as you learned to read text, which opened up a whole world of knowledge, being able to read music well and sight read a little will enable you delve into the vast amount of piano literature. Knowing theory will help it all make sense and facilitate learning pieces and improvisation.

Remember that most instruments are monophonic. Just because the piano is polyphonic doesn't mean that you can't produce beautiful music with even simple melodies and "easy" pieces.

Good luck you can do it just as others have said, be patient and keep at it!

BBM: Why worry about becoming an "advanced" player? "Advanced" means you can play more technically challenging pieces, but there are simple pieces of music that are utterly beautiful. If you love making music, how "advanced" you become is not that important. Sure, it's fun to play more complex pieces, and there is a nice sense of accomplishment. But the the real pleasure in all of this is the magical ability to make music, and you can do a lot of that at almost any level.

I wonder if we scared him off - - -

Yes you can if you practice every day and take lessons from a good teacher. Even if you are an average player like me, you will get there. Give it ten years with 2 hours a day. My friend started piano 10 years ago first time in life, now she is playing Bach Italian Concerto very well.

I think it depends more on the persons ability to learn rather than age. It is usually much harder the older you are though. Some peoples brains are still active enough to learn at an older age.

I'm also learning two languages at once; Spanish and Japanese. It is anything but easy. You don't remember things as well compared to when you were 15 years old.

I am sure I'm paraphrasing a well-known quote here, but just like with most things in life, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right!

I just turned 40 this year. While there's not a day that goes when I wish I took lessons much earlier, I love the discoveries I make everyday. I'm not looking to be Liberace. I simply love music and I love keeping my brain sharp.

That is the same reason why I really did it also. Another way of keeping your brain sharp is learning languages.

That will keep you going forever since it is really impossible to ever learn all of the words in an entire language.

I sure hope so BBM.Im 52 and just started taking lessons.I always loved the keyboards.and I figure with my piano i will never be bored.

LOL

If not, this might..

It is quite possible. Age is not a barrier. Time is. Sounds like I'm contradicting myself, but I'm not. I've read that it takes approximately 10,000 hours of dedicated study to become a "master" at something. So, at one hour a day, that's 10,000 days or about 27.5 years. Someone who begins at 30 and expects to be an expert by 31 is most assuredly not going to make it.. but by no means is it impossible to eventually reach your goal. It just depends on how much time you have available to dedicate towards that goal.

Individual ability does indeed play a role in how effectively and adult, or a child, can learn. However, the belief that it is "much harder", in general, for older adults to learn is a very common misconception that has been contradicted by numerous studies.

I am presently taking part in an 18 month study of retirement age (55 to 75) adults who have taken up challenging hobbies, specifically, a musical instrument or a new language and the effects on learning ability and cognitive skills. It is being conducted at a major University Medical School and the early indications are a substantial increase in learning capacity the longer one pursues that hobby. (Seems you have to practice learning too)

According to the medical professionals administering the study, their results so far coincide with numerous previous studies of older adults and their ability to learn and that is... Unless they are suffering from a neurological disorder of some type they are able to learn as quickly as younger adults and even children in some cases. Of course, there are many variables that can effect this ability and it may be necessary to "relight" certain areas of the brain to pursue languages and such but it can be done.

These types of studies continue to validate the age old datum of "use it or lose it".

Older adults should embrace challenge, not fear it as being too hard or even impossible, as it is the only known "fountain of youth" to actually exist.

Forget about the goal of becoming a certain level of pianist and enjoy the process. Believe me, you have plenty of years to become accomplished. As you probably have already gotten this message from the previous posters, there are NO SHORTCUTS. Dedicated practicing with short-term goals and a good teacher will be the key to improving.