Why it can be Beneficial to Start Learning a Musical Instrument as an Adult

Are you thinking about learning the piano, guitar, singing, or any other musical instrument a little later in life?

Whether it be for the first time, or the first time in a long time — learning an instrument as an adult can feel daunting at times.

It might seem as though children who start at a younger age seem to pick up the fundamentals of music with a lot more ease than us. And it’s true to a degree. Children are sponges. They come to the classroom — often with a blank slate and incredibly “plastic” minds (meaning they are easily shaped). Children can absorb new concepts quickly — and this can give them a foot up when it comes to learning a musical instrument.

As adults, we all have past experiences and specific genes that shapes our worldview, abilities and desires to learn, and these are all things we can draw from to benefit our ability to understand, retain and apply the new concepts we may learn in a private music lesson.

There are a few great strengths when it comes to learning an instrument an adult. Perhaps advantages that children may not have, due to lack of exposure to prior knowledge and concepts, purely because they haven’t had as many experiences as we adults have.

Here are 3 reasons why it can be beneficial to start learning a musical instrument in our adulthood:

1) Adults decide to learn a musical instrument driven by intrinsic motivation

Children often (but not always) start learning an instrument because their parents know the benefits of growing up playing music. They often rely on extrinsic motivation, encouragement and incentives to practice during the week, and continue showing up to music lessons.

Adults, on the other hand will often (if not always) start learning because they genuinely want to invest in themselves and pick up a new skill. A creative outlet. An art-form that will allow them to express themselves in a different way.

Choosing to start something because of a deep intrinsic drive or pull is the greatest place we can draw our motivation from. Choosing to learn a musical instrument driven by internal motivation means that we don’t need an external reward or source of encouragement to persevere with something.

When we have a clear idea of why we want to start learning — it can yield incredible results. Whether it be in your sense of:

• Joy

• Mindfulness

• Connectedness

• Accomplishment

• Or just being able to learn and play that piece on the piano or guitar you’ve always wanted to learn.

Learning to play an instrument with that internal drive that comes from within means that we’re more likely to persevere with it, enjoy time we put into practicing, and understand that the return of investment of purchasing the instrument and committing to consistent lessons is — at the end of the day, priceless.

2) Adults have a wealth of experience and knowledge that they’re able to build on when learning and applying new musical concepts

We established earlier in this article that children often learn music from scratch with a blank slate. On the flip side, as adults, we have a wealth of knowledge that we can build on.

Learning to read and play music is a complex yet rewarding endeavour, and there are actually benefits to starting to learn as an adult as we’re able to build on the constructs that we already know.

E.g. Rhythm is a massive part of music, and it is quite mathematical. For young ones who may still be learning mathematical concepts at school — this can be a lot to apply, including sight reading the notes of the pieces that they learn. But as adults, we know basic maths. Like 2+2=4. This can give us a quick advantage when it comes to understanding the fundamentals and foundations of music theory.

Sometimes, when we learn new concepts — we need to unlearn certain things. E.g. The traditional musical alphabet consists of 7 notes - C, D, E, F, G, A, B. We need to forget about all the letters between H - Z when it comes to music, and it’s just what it is.

Going back to the benefits — when we learn new musical concepts from scratch (or jump into learning after a long time) we can streamline our learning process by finding connections. A.K.A. Trying to intuitively and logically recognise the patterns that we might pick up on.

Learning an instrument as an adult can be incredibly enriching as we will have the capacity to build on our prior knowledge to develop a firm understanding of musical concepts.

3) Learning an instrument as an adult means intentionally investing in & prioritising our mindfulness, creativity & self-care

When it comes to playing and practicing an instrument, it requires us to be present.

We can mindlessly listen to music in the background whilst driving, cooking or cleaning — but playing a piece, whether by reading sheet music or improvising — requires all of us.

This intense focus can otherwise be understood as Presence. In our modern society, we’re all juggling more than we may often be able to handle, and there will always be responsibilities to attend to, problems to trouble-shoot and uncertainties in the future to ponder about.

In the sometimes chaotic busyness of life, choosing to invest in music lessons means choosing self-care. There have been incredible research findings that reveal countless benefits of music on our mental health, mood, energy, ability to retain information and even physical benefits like helping strengthen our hand-eye coordination from a young age, and protecting us from dementia in older age.

When we choose to learn an instrument, we are choosing to prioritise our mindfulness. Practicing is no longer a chore, rather a sacred time we get to reconnect with ourselves, as we connect with the incredibly healing, calming art of playing music.

If you’ve been thinking about learning an instrument, we’d love to connect with you.

Music on Purpose is a music studio is based in Maroubra (2035), Sydney, NSW. We offer piano lessons, guitar lessons and vocal / singing lessons for students of all ages. Adults included! We’ve got incredible piano, singing and guitar teachers who genuinely care for their students and tailor their lessons to meet each of their students’ learning needs and desires.

Click the button if you’re looking for music lessons in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney! We’d love to hear more about you, and how we can best help you.

www.music-onpurpose.com | Music on Purpose | Piano, Guitar & Singing Lessons for All Ages