Children learn faster and easier than adults. Their prefrontal cortexes are still developing, making them more capable of making fast neural connections for easier learning. As a result, learning music as a child can be far easier than learning it as an adult. However, that’s not to say you can’t become adept at an instrument later in life. Learning music as an adult can simply require you to take some of the following steps:
Request Music Lessons
It’s easy to assume that only children sign up for music lessons, but most music lesson providers accept learners of all ages. For example, South Shore Piano School provides engaging and easy-to-follow piano lessons for children but also caters to adults with dedicated adults-only workshops and events. Whether you want to learn the piano, drums, guitar, or another instrument, you’re bound to find a school or music teacher willing to teach you, no matter how old you are.
Set Achievable Goals
Learning music as an adult can be overwhelming without previous knowledge or skills. Knowing that you’re starting from scratch, you might quit out of frustration, thinking you’ll never be as good as the best pianists of all time, like Sergey Rachmaninov or Murray Perahia.
However, setting achievable learning goals can simplify your music learning journey. For example, rather than having a long-term goal like ‘play like Beethoven,’ you might set short-term goals like ‘memorize note names by the end of the week.’
Set Time Aside to Practice
Life gets busy, especially if you’re working, studying, or raising a family. It can be hard to find time to practice. However, alongside attending regular sessions with your chosen music tutor, it’s important to carve time out of your busy schedule to practice what you’re learning in your lessons.
If you can’t set aside one 30-minute practice session per day, see if you can break down those sessions into three shorter 10-minute sessions instead. Studies have shown that adult learners can learn anything about any subject if they invest at least 20 hours in it.
Learn In Chunks
You won’t master an entire song right away. In fact, it can take several weeks before you master a new piece to perfection. Rather than getting frustrated that you can’t master your chosen piece from start to finish, break it down into sections and learn one part of a piece at a time. Once you’ve mastered one section of your piece, you can move on to the next. Before you know it, you can have enough confidence in each song portion to play them one after the other.
Enjoy Learning
Learning music should be a fun hobby or a passion. It shouldn’t be something you dread and don’t want to do. As frustrating as it can be not to be an immediate success with a guitar, piano, or set of drums, don’t forget to have fun. If it helps, learn an instrument with a friend and make it a social occasion.
There’s no denying that learning a musical instrument as an adult is much harder than if you learned as a child. However, there’s no reason why you can’t experience success. Take lessons, make it fun, and set aside time for practice. It might only be a matter of time until you’ve met all your musical goals.