Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum What made you decide to learn to play piano later in life?

I played piano through high school, but moved away from home after college and stopped playing partly due to lack of access to a piano. Many, many years later my parents informed me that they were planning to sell the family piano, the old spinet/upright they'd purchased when I was five years old. Somehow I couldn't bear the thought of the piano no longer being in our family, so I offered to split the cost of having the piano shipped over 2K miles to Seattle. I figure I can't be the only person to have paid more to ship a piano than said piano was actually worth (in financial terms, anyway)? :-)

The piano sat in my living room for a few years until I started taking harp lessons from a teacher who also gives piano lessons. Every time I went over to her studio for a harp lesson I'd see her Steinway grand and start thinking about taking it up again. Two years later I finally did :-)

I am 37 and got bitten by the bug to learn how to play just two months ago while doing research to help a blind girl I know who is a professional musician by trade, but who does not play piano, choose a digital piano from an online source. After actually listening to the piano samples I began to develop a love for the sound of the piano and began listening to those, "piano music to study and relax by", videos on YouTube of very slow and simple piano melodies. I actually discovered this was my favorite type of music and I just have to learn how to play.

Being disabled and having a lot of time on my hands means that I do need something to do but I must be cost conscience. I had recently had to give up on my hobby of beer brewing because I could no longer lift all of the equipment and boiling water necessary for brewing due to a rapidly deteriorating back. I decided to sell all my brewing equipment and buy my own digital piano and try to learn. I do not have it yet but will be ordering it the day after Christmas.

To be honest piano is a means to an end. I actually enjoy organ music most of all. This is one reason why I went with the Casio PX-350 since it actually has so many good organ sounds and once I learned to play piano well enough I can experiment with some of the organ tones. Of course the fact that the Casio is the only thing in my price range that offers a wide range of tones and features was another selling point for me.

I will be teaching myself (hopefully) because I cannot afford formal lessons. I do have some excellent resources however, and feel with time and patience I will succeed. Hopefully down the road when I get my Social Security, or I have the cost of the and original investment in equipment paid off I will take some formal lessons. In the meantime however, I will amuse myself because as I said I have a lot of time on my hands and with so much time I can practice quite a bit.

So to sum it all up I would say that the main reason I decided to play is that I just fell in love with the music so much and I wanted to be able to make the music myself. I also have to admit there's a little bit of the competitive side in me and I wish to show off my acquired skills in our piano recitals.

I won a Yamaha Clavinova in a raffle at work. It seemed the right thing to do to learn a song to play to accompany the kids. At a banquet to thank our volunteers, the whole school sang "Today is Monday" and I played with them and it was fun.

Why not continue?

I used to work a VERY stressful job, which gave me heart palpitations sleepless nights. It was a macho job where on the job bullying was normal and accepted.

To cope I used to get VERY drunk and spend time online chatting in my drunken state. The silliness approached epic levels. Realising my health was suffering badly. I had a serious breakdown, literally in tears at my desk...

I then spent a year on walkabout as aussies say. Doing the things I had always wanted to do.

I returned but the drinking and online life continued. My income dropped by 80% I was still working but in a different field.


I came to realise I was spending $$$$$$$$$ on beer which I could ill afford. Also I was wasting a lot of my life doing very little.

I wrote down a list of desires as a child.

One of my strongest memories was my sister playing on a big shiny black piano as a child,

I wanted to be in a similar position.

8 months later here I am. Still very much a beginner, but I've felt I've grown so much, there is still a long road but I'm enjoying the ups and downs.

Lucky sod.

I saw a clavinova today. Had a play then noticed the £8000 price tag. When I regained conciousness. I shuffled over to the Casio part of the store which I can afford.

Unquestionably lucky. (mine wasn't in the 8000 range though, even in US dollars)

For the raffle, I was thinking it would be great to win some minor league baseball tickets. Our boys are a farm team for the Angels.

I know that feeling. I almost had my heart set on a CVP 501 but then when I found a price list somewhere and found that how much they were I was heartbroken. Who knew digital pianos could be so expensive? I thought they were inexpensive.

Back during the electronic piano and organ craze of the 1980s my grandmother was going to get me one, and a very nice one at that, if only I would've agreed to take lessons. Oh how stupid I was to turn that offered down. Of course I know that even a budget Casio is better than the electric pianos and organs that cost a fortune in the 1980s, I still would've been a lucky little boy and would have known how to play the piano by now.

This one is my favourite. That Clavinova was clearly meant for you x

I don't know precisely. I just felt the need to play music. I did all my life but I ignored it and went on to study business. But I realized at some point after I spent a few months in the USA that I can do anything I want with my life. If I wanted I could stay in the USA illegally and forget my past life in Europe. I could also go home and move to another town, start a new life. Anything. Especially since I am so young. But even then I felt like I was a prisoner, so I had to introduce something new to my life. Something I had been dreaming of but never dared do

What irks me is when people who have had no musical training try to think they know all about music. They say because they listen to music then they know all about it. Not so. I once played for someone who told me I was rubbish and the piece should have been played such and such a way. I nearly said to them... I am no expert but at least I have sufficient training to know that I am playing it CORRECTLY

What irks me is people who think they know everything about anything because they saw it in a book or had someone tell them what to think or do.

My Father taught piano (some Organ) for many years. I asked him once "why are your students so old?". Being a teenager at the time, old was anything over 40 . He replied that, that is when people want to learn.

I understand this better now. In my case, I picked up some things over the years, being around it so much in my childhood, but never with a disciplined approach. I was happy to be able to play a few things and make some nice sounds as a teenager and young adult. But, it was not until much later that I rekindled my interest and motivation to what it is now. Years went by where I barely touched the piano. Now though, I can't seem to find enough time to practice.

Playing piano has always been on my "someday" list. "Someday" when I have more time. I played as a child, but I only had a couple years of lesson and then just dabbled around with the piano until I went to college. I never lost the love for piano though.

As I grew older, the "Someday" seemed like now or never! After my husband and I sold our business and retired, I bought a piano. I have been hooked ever since!

When we left the States and moved to Switzerland, I was without a piano for a couple of years. I found that I really missed it! So, in January 2011, I bought another piano and have been playing ever since!

Did I miss something in the thread or did this come out of nowhere?

Never mind.
Just carry on.

Peace on Earth and good will toward all forum users.

I was making a point that somethings that disturb people can be polar opposites and share common attitudes. adultpianist is "irked" by the opinions of those unschooled musically who criticize her playing, whereas I am "irked" by the highly skilled who think their opinions are the only correct approach to any means of learning or doing something if it's not grounded in formal education.

I dealt with this before I retired, when working alongside engineers who had more degrees than a thermometer, regarding something I had proven worked before that they couldn't find proof that it was possible in any of their books, hence my opinion was discarded. Sometimes to their embarrassment. Nothing personal just an observation.

Merry Christmas to all PW members

Listening to piano music does not catch me much. Anyway, I really love its sound.

I have had the experience from other instruments (especially drums) how much playing an instrument can occupy me, demanding 100% of all my senses and concentration, demanding full selfcontrol on body and mind. It has the power to perfectly disconnect me from stressfull life (especially my very stressfull profession) and brings me in contact with other musicians, a social community which I prefer over others for my private time.

Well, loving the sound of a piano and unfortunately not having the possibility anymore to continue to play drums (they are loud!) in my new environment, learning to play piano (on a digital piano, it is silent and always tuned) seemd for me to have the potential to susbtitute for my beloved drums.
And it worked out fine. I am a very happy adult beginner on the piano now, frequently disconnecting from harsh life times by again making music. I really enjoy to immerse into my peaceful worlds of piano sound, and little by little also discover some joy in listening to other´s performances on the media!

Because now is the only time I have the opportunity- it never arose before- and certainly not in my childhood- we were too poor.

I always wanted music lessons when I was a kid but it wasn't possible. As a young adult, I taught myself to strum a guitar, but never took lessons, & I learned basic recorder, also self-taught. But my guitar was stolen almost 20 years ago, & my recorder has mostly been gathering dust. Then, a few years ago, a friend mentioned needing to store her upright piano. & something lit up in me. I was living in a tiny rental apartment at the time, looking for a condo to buy, & I asked if she could leave it where it was till I found a condo. The place I found has at least 5 other piano players in the building, & I started taking lessons as soon as I moved the piano in; I bought it from her about a year later. I recently bought a digital too, to extend practice hours - even a building with 5 piano players has limits (so far unstated) to how early or late you can play! I've taken to piano 'WAY more than I ever did to guitar or recorder - partly it's because I have more time now than I did when I was younger, also that I've had teachers this time, & maybe most importantly, it's so much easier to understand theory on a piano than on a guitar.

That's a fun story; how many units is your building, joyoussong?