About 2 years ago I took up the cornet again, after a long break since my youth. About 18 months ago I set my sights on Grade 8, giving myself a year. I was aiming high But I have always aimed high, and some of the time I hit my mark!

It has taken much longer than I thought just to learn the scales, and get some ability back. Last week I finally looked seriously at my List A piece, and it is beyond me. I reckon another 6 months to get my fingers fast enough.



Perhaps my age is taking a toll. Perhaps the muscles and the brain cells are not as agile and as versatile as they once were Maybe I'm just awful at planning things. How will I ever be a famous jazz player at this rate? I need some magic pills.

I do think it can be more challenging to learn an instrument as an adult. Children are like sponges, but as you get older and your head gets crammed with more and more things e.g. work, family etc it can be hard. That said, as an adult you can draw on all your other learning experiences. With a range of strategies to draw upon, you're likely to be better motived and able to act on your own initiative - hich can make for far more productive lessons and practice sessions.

I think you have to have realistic expectations. What standard were you at before you took a break?

I've recently taken up piano after a fifteen year break. I'd got to grade 6 (although I had one of those teachers who pushed me through the grades without stopping to build repetoire, sightreading skills etc so I suspect I was actually below that standard). I'm 33 now and have set myself the target of doing grade 8 by the time I'm 40!! That might sound generous, but I'm trying to take into account the other demands on my time and the fact I sing/play other instruments.

I've been having recorder lessons again too. I did grade 8 around 15 years ago. I've been having lessons for nearly a year now and am just thinking about doing a diploma/performance certificate. It does take time to get back in the swing of thing.s

The old saying of 'use it or lose it' is very true, especially when it comes to the brain. I agree with others that as an adult everyone has much more to think about and deal with than just learning to play a musical instrument, but, at the same time, even after a few years out from full-time education it is very easy to get out of the habit of learning.

Think of your brain as a 'mental muscle'. Like all other bits of your body it needs a continuous flow of exercise and stimulus to keep it both healthy and active. Once you get into the habit of learning again, using your brain to problem solve and absorb new information, it will start to work faster. Your hand eye co-ordination will improve and your pace of learning will very likely increase. It has been medically proven that the brain can renew and form new neural networks throughout our entire life - it is not something exclusive to children - it's just that adults don't normally have to use their brain in an intense learning capacity and it gets out of practice.

As an analogy, if you left a car in a garage for ten years would honestly expect it to start on the first turn of the ignition?

Whatever the task, one also needs to consider natural apptitude. We are all different and no matter how much we might want to do something some tasks will prove to be a bit more difficult than others. Setting realistic goals based on your current ability is a good place to start. Whatever your starting level, learning will be a series of improvements and plateaus. Be patient and work through those plateaus, the rewards will come. Keep practice periods regular - short and frequent are preferable to a once or twice a week blitz. Think positive and not negative about that music you currently find so difficult.

I played from the age of 7, mainly in brass bands. I took grade 5 with theory at the age of 12, but then progressed very gradually, without practicing much, with no particular musical ambition (but enjoying it thoroughly). I was about grade 7 when I gave up at the age of 23.

Now that I am older I have more ambition and a much wider experience. You are right about the learning skills, but the muscles respond more slowly to compensate!


I would never plan to spend 7 years doing anything I want it tomorrow, if possible!

Do you really mean you'd never spend 7 years doing anything?! as in, you simply wouldn't have the drive to keep going?

No I mean the thought of spending 7 years doing something seems endless. But in practice I would, if I remained inspired, keep at it for ever.

Perhaps the method I use - self-delusion - is the best one. I aim for 1 year. Then after 2 years I aim for 3 years. Then after 5 years I aim for 7 years. That way, it takes 7 years and I've never had to think too far in advance.

That was a joke, by the way. I am a bit like that, but not quite that bad

Does anyone else have trouble planning how long things will take? I often underestimate it, with all kinds of things.

Oh boy I've just fallen into that one... I have a major project (non-music) which at my ideal pace would take about three years and I have just under four months left to do the whole thing (which raises the question why I'm sitting here surfing online and not working???.... )

But those sticking points in musical technique keep occurring (currently 'shifting' on my violin). My brain is constantly frustrating me just now due to a combination of age and medication... but I refuse to give in. There is a tiny voice at the back that keeps wondering where my natural ceiling is and at what point I just won't be able to improve/learn any more... I'm praying I can reach Grade 8, or 90yrs old, before that kicks in.

If you find that magic pill I could use a few.....

Strictly speaking you won't stop learning, even if progress becomes slower. The more difficult and technical something becomes, the more difficult it get fors the brain and limbs to assimilate the information, hence progress slows down. You are still learning, it's just that it at more advanced levels the uptake is not as quick.

My experience too! My betes noirs at the moment are vibrato and the arpeggios where you have to move across the strings (estimated time before exam, 9 weeks).

Ooooo I hate those arpeggios too - we have three-notes-to-a-bow slurring... ugh

Yes, you get that on cello too.