Listening to music is a wonderful leisure time activity, but playing an instrument is even more rewarding and fulfilling. This goes for all types of individuals and every age group – from little kids to seniors. However, a report reveals that only 5% of adults in the US actually play music.
If you are thinking about joining the group of older but inexperienced musicians, then you should definitely ask for help and follow some of the basic studying tips. Our goal is to help you with that, so keep reading to see 10 things you should do if you want to learn music as an adult.
1. Identify Your Favorite Type of Music
Learning something you love is much easier than studying something you don’t really enjoy or appreciate. The same logic applies to art, so you must first identify your favorite type of music. This means analyzing different genres, composers, or bands to find the style that suits your personal preferences. Jake Gardner, a psychologist at Pro Papers review, says this type of love and passion toward a certain music type gives adults a lot of encouragement to start strongly and maintain the same level of consistency throughout.
2. Think About Your Culture
A lot of adults are trying to reestablish connections with their ethnic cultures by exploring traditional instruments. This is yet another possibility to think about when deciding what to learn and it usually comes with great success since older students are proud to go back to their roots. The list of traditional instruments is long and interesting, ranging from Scottish bagpipe and Armenian duduk all the way to Chinese gu-zheng and Hawaiian ukulele.
3. Choose an Instrument
Now that you know everything about the favorite genres or music tradition, you can easily choose the best instrument for your practice sessions. There are hundreds of musical instruments to choose from and everyone can find something appropriate.
However, we do have to highlight one more issue here – try to select an instrument that won’t be unpleasant. For instance, individuals with short fingers should probably avoid guitars. Another example is people with back issues or neck pain – they should avoid playing piano because it requires a strong posture and stamina.
4. Talk to Your Peers
No matter what you choose to play, you can probably find lots of other adults who decided to do the same thing. It’s a big privilege because you are free to contact someone who shares the same problems and exchange opinions. It gets even easier in the age of social media as there are tons of music-related communities where you can discuss studying details with people who understand exactly how you feel.
5. Find a Mentor
If you are trying to learn music alone but don’t seem to progress too quickly, perhaps you should find a mentor to help you out. It doesn’t have to be a professional musician whose services cost you a lot. On the contrary, it is enough to find a person who has more than the basic experience with music playing.
6. Be Patient
This goes without saying, but we need to emphasize that an adult who wants to learn music must be very patient. It’s a long and challenging process even for younger students, so be ready to invest weeks of hard work in this project. Every music student faces ups and downs along the way, but rest assured that the end result is extremely rewarding.
7. Create a Schedule
This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one because the best way to remain patient is to create a schedule of work and follow it long-term. It is essential to practice every day at least for a little while.
Music instructors at Edu GeeksClub and My-Assignment.Help even claim that it is better to exercise 30 minutes every day than to spend seven hours playing once a week. If you need help organizing your time, we recommend you to use online tools like Google Calendar for scheduling.
8. Eliminate Distractions
Another valuable advice is to eliminate all distractions before you begin practicing. Turn down your mobile phone, forget about social media, and go to a quiet place. However, expert writers at Rushmyessay UK shared one more piece of advice with us.
They suggest using an app called Stay Focused to boost self-control and improve learning efficiency, so make sure to give it a try.
9. Use Online Learning Sources
The Internet offers you a plethora of interesting learning sources. You don’t have to go beyond YouTube to find valuable music learning lessons, but there are also sites like Read Music Free, Musicians Way, and many others.
10. Think About Possible Investments
The last tip on our list is not going to help you with learning, but it can definitely help your budget. If you don’t want to spend a small fortune buying and maintaining instruments, avoid items like pianos, French horns, top-class violins, guitars, and so on.
Who says music is only for the youngsters? If you feel fresh and passionate about this form of art, then you should definitely make a move and start learning to play an instrument. Of course, you don’t want to enter the game unprepared, which is why we discussed 10 things you should do if you want to learn music as an adult. Out tips won’t make you a virtuoso straight away, but they will help you to learn more efficiently, so make sure to remember and use them in your daily practice sessions.