Thinking of taking up music as an adult? Do you have no prior experience and aren’t sure how exactly you can take it up at this age?
It’s true that it is easier to learn to play an instrument or music at a younger age, but don’t you worry! It is still not too late. We are here to tell you all about the important steps and things you need to do to start learning music as an adult.
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First of all, let’s start off by stating the advantages of starting to learn music in your adulthood.
Advantages to start learning music:
A more profound understanding
As an adult, you tend to develop a deeper and more profound understanding of music and arts. You start understanding music and connecting to it both emotionally and analytically. While comprehending and understanding musical theory might be difficult for most children, adults have a much easier time grasping the musical theory.
Details such as chord progressions, common motifs, and other musical notes can be sometimes too complex for children whilst adults with their experience and knowledge of language and other fields can make the connection and understand at a much faster rate than children.
While children might possess the required technical ability to learn music, adults are more mature and experienced in understanding the meaning and passion behind the music, especially the more classic pieces, such as the works of Chopin, Mozart, etc.
Greater Motivation
Adults, as opposed to children, have greater motivation and drive to learn music. Adults start to learn music because of their personal motivation, interests, and passions, not because their parents or teachers want them to.
Studies have shown that, on average, you need at least 10,000 hours of practice to master any talent or skill. Similarly, this amount of practice requires serious dedication as well as interest and concentration.
As an adult, you will most likely pay for your own lessons, so it’s highly unlikely that you will let the money go to waste, rather you will be motivated and put in effort to learn and try to master new music skills as fast as you can.
Along with the advantages of starting to learn music as an adult, there are also quite a few challenges.
Music Learning Challenges:
Commitments
As an adult, you have many more commitments than a child can even dream of! Work to attend to, family, friends and other social commitments that you possibly can’t ignore. Maybe your spouse is ill or you don’t have a daycare or trustworthy babysitter to leave your kids to.
More expectations as an adult
As an adult, you are bound to have more expectations of yourself and have a tendency to become demotivated or frustrated easily. You might think that with a little practice or understanding, you should be catching up or coming to par with your peers and favorite musicians, but this is easier said than done. Learning music as an adult requires constant practice and dedication.
Physical limitations
Most adults find it physically difficult to give in hours every day for practice. When you first start learning music, you are bound to feel some pain. Most beginners complain of neck and shoulder pain, as well as other physical limitations that can hinder your progress.
Things you should do as an aspiring music learner:
Identify the type of music you prefer
As you want to learn music, you certainly must have a preference for a certain kind or genre of music. Most people want to learn the kind of music they love so that they can play it for themselves and write it as well, if possible.
Nearly every adult has their own preferred kind of music that drives them and they can connect to it on an emotional level. However, in the case of children, this isn’t quite the case, as they are still developing their music preferences.
Choose your instrument of choice
Once you have identified the kind of music genre, you want to learn or work with, identifying your instrument of choice will be an easy task. Did you settle on classical music? Then the piano will be your instrument of choice. Prefer the Jazz and the Blues? Grab those saxophones.
Or if you want to learn more contemporary music, then the guitar is the best choice for you. If you happen to be residing in the hip-hop capital of the world, Atlanta, then you are bound to find tons of private guitar lessons in Atlanta. This will give you an opportunity to learn lessons one on one and have more to learn and absorb.
Keep an open mind
Although you might have a preferred choice of music or a favorite genre, it is prudent to keep an open mind toward other forms and kinds of music as well. Always be open to new ideas, fusion is something that can make or break you. Try to find the best possible mix for yourself.
Furthermore, the more open your approach to music genres, the more creative and productive you will be in your music lessons.
Get rid of any distractions
Even though you might have a very busy schedule and multitask while you learn your music or practice, your lessons can seem like a good idea, don’t do it. You shouldn’t be cooking dinner, helping your child with their homework, or even discussing work projects with your partner online while you practice on your instrument.
Try to practice self-discipline. Find some time to yourself, creative a conductive workplace where you can practice without any distractions. Better to set a timer and vow to practice for a certain amount every day, even though it may be hard in the beginning but eventually it will come easily to you and you will become more and more comfortable and better at your instrument with each passing day.
Conclusion:
Private guitar lessons in Atlanta are not hard to come by, as Atlanta is a major hub for music and theatre lovers as well as shows.
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