I know we've had similar threads before, but I love hearing peoples' stories, so I'm starting another!

What was your goal when you started (or restarted) playing as an adult? Mine have changed in the 15 months or so since I came back to playing - I've learned so much on the journey so far.

I started off wanted to get back into my recorder playing, do a diploma, then the degree I bottled out of at 18. I now realised that isn't what I want to do at all (my instincts at 18 were probably right all along!) but along the way I picked up the piano again and I am so hooked. I've discovered jazz and that's all I want to do! I've got much further to go on the piano, so my timescale has shifted big time! In terms of aims: at the moment I can't see further than being good enough to play jazz with other people and performing regularly at an amateur level. I'd also like to look at having singing lessons again...

Think I could be as much as five years off my goal.

My delight in returning to music in my retirement has fuelled my ambition - to play Bach's WTC (all 48) before I die. Like Jinxi, the amount to be learnt is a higher mountain than I could see at base camp so I will not start the 48 until my technique has improved.

I was immensly cheered by anacrsis' realisation of her ambition after 20 years - all it takes is stickability.

I just wanted to learn how to play the piano.
Later on I thought I'd like to play well enough to be useful.

Like sbhoa, my initial dream was just that I wanted to play the piano. One year on, and going to take Grade 1 this summer, I think I'm adding to this being able to play more music and at higher levels, taking the rest of the grades and later the disploma (I like the idea of planning a recital), and playing with other people. Probably will take me at least 10 years to get there?? But I'm enjoying every minute on the way.

My goal as an adult learner to violin was being able to join an orchestra and play with others and be part of something. I have joined two amateur orchestras but they are such that they only put on about one concert a year and not to a paying public as I am not, and some others not good enough yet. They take on some lower grade people which is good for us to be able to be included. Though we all sound pretty good at times!

My final ambition is to be able to play in an orchestra (my local orchestra that I sing in the choir with) who give several concerts a year to the paying public. They have professional players included amongst the amateurs and bring in professional soloists and they make a good sound... and I want to be part of it.

I'm not sure I had a clearly articulated goal when I started, in fact, I don't think I've got one now. I think what I was hoping for was

- to make a proper saxophone sound, instead of sounding like a thinner, weedier, less attractive cousin of a saxophone

- to try and shed some light on this black art called improvising

- having just moved to London for a new job, leaving pretty much all my friends and family behind, to have something that wasn't work to occupy me and hopefully make some new friends

Looking back I've achieved all of these to an extent. I like my sound now, I know how to improvise and sometimes I even manage to do it, music has filled up my non-work life to the extent that it's pretty much taken over from anything else and I've made some good friends.

Of course, having achieved that there's much further that I want to go. My goals don't tend to be exam or qualification based. Currently where I'd like to get to is to be able to get up and play at a reasonable jam session on a regular basis and feel satisfied with my performance. Realistically what I need to do that is improve the consistency of my playing - on a good day it might be achievable, but recognising the extent to which nerves and just generally not being at my best impact my performance there's a danger at the moment that a bad experience could put me off.

My original dream had been to get a grade 8 in something, anything...after failing grade 7 piano as a teenager. The recorder ambitions were also no more than pipe dreams (as it were) for very many years, "wouldn't it be amazing if...?" - but I bought the music for Brandenburg 4 at about 21 when I got my recorder, tried to learn some of it a couple of years later, and predictably got nowhere, eventually stopping in frustrated disappointment. At 37 I got back in contact with a school friend from years back, who turned out to be getting recorder lessons and then doing exams, which gave me the courage to try again to learn - my husband found me a teacher a year later and has accompanied me at home, first on the piano, then on the harpsichord we were given. Four years after starting lessons with a wonderful teacher, I'd got grade 7 , grade 8 and ATCL *total disbelief* - he has now passed me on to another wonderful teacher - and the original starting goal, now comfortably under my belt, has extended on into the distance and has become more indistinct, a feeling of, "how far can I now take this?". The two pipe dreams, being a soloist in a concerto, and actually performing Brandenburg 4, have just been met.

It feels fantastic .

(and far more importantly, I'm finally getting to make music with others, and enjoying playing).

Doing as much of that as possible is the real goal for me.

My goal was to be able to play chamber music, string quartets particularly drew me.

I've been doing that regularly now with friends, though we don't perform (except at forum concerts ), and my dream now is to get to grade 8 violin. It's a long journey but I am enjoying the travel towards the destination.

Destination?! Achievement can never be a destination. Learning and achievement, like life, is an constant journey. There will be highlights en route, brief points at which to pause and take stock of your journey so far, but never a final destination.... with the exception of death, which is pretty terminal on all accounts and I don't think there's a lot you'll be learning after that point.

Oh yes there is....

Grade 8 Harp

If you want to play with other people check out the Events board on the General forum.
Some are specifically for adults and all are welcoming and supportive whatever level you are at.

I just wanted to be able to play the piano. However, because I'm a very goal orientated person I had to have something specific and measurable.

So, my goal when I first started then was to get to Grade 5 - I considered that to be the absolute pinnacle of musical ability In some ways it was actually quite depressing when I got it because I realised that I'd reached my goal but my ability was nowhere near where I wanted to be.

Ah well, roll on Grade 8 (in many many years )

And guess what...... It's pretty well the same feeling.

I thought that Grade 5 was the tops. But now, maybe Grade 6
Bev.

[quote name='janexxx' date='Apr 30 2008, 02:48 PM' post='694044']
[quote name='AmandaL' post='694037' date='Apr 30 2008, 02:18 PM']
[quote name='janexxx' post='694028' date='Apr 30 2008, 02:02 PM'].... There will be highlights en route, brief points at which to pause and take stock of your journey so far, but never a final destination.... with the exception of death, which is pretty terminal on all accounts and I don't think there's a lot you'll be learning after that point.
[/quote]

Oh yes there is....

Grade 8 Harp


[/quote]

Great - all eternity to learn! Even I could expect to have made some improvement somewhere along the way!

Hmmmm, but only if you're a person who believes in some sort of afterlife.

Thanks.. that really made me laugh

I don't have much to add to the other comments apart from the fact that as we get older, we need to work harder to make pogress. I've noticed this with my children. They seem to make amazing progress with an average of 15 minutes a day. But I need to practise a lot more before I notice a definite improvement.

One trick I discovered years ago was to work hard on a piece, then leave it just before I get too bored, and start something else. When I come back to the same piece, I approach it 'refreshed' and it makes a huge difference.

So what I end up with is a whole collection of pieces that are slowly being mastered, which is a lot less stressful than staying with one piece to the bitter end.


Steve

I don't think it's anything to do with age but with how advanced you are on the instrument. As an adult I made amazing progress on the oboe the first few months on about 15 minutes a day (all I could manage before my embouchure gave out). These days I practise for over an hour at a time and it can takes weeks for any improvement at all to be noticeable.

Maybe it's because you're now more aware of how you want to sound, so although you are still improving you don't notice it as much. Just an idea.

I knew how I wanted to sound right from the beginning (and how far I was from my ideal sound ). I think the difference is in what I am trying to learn to do and the difficulty of the music. At the beginning I was mainly learning fingering, which is, I think, the easy part and the pieces were only a couple of lines long. Now I am trying to improve tone, stamina and rapid fingering all of which are long term aims and am playing whole sonatas.

Yeah, if I ever get there I have a feeling it will be.

However, I really need something to be working towards - even if it's something I know will take years to get to.

I've agreed with my teacher that we'll have another 'exam break' after my Grade 6, there are so many pieces that I want to be able to play and I'm in no rush to go through the grades but in the back of my mind I know that Grade 8 will probably happen eventually.

So, if I do ever manage to make it to Grade 8 - what next? No way am I talented enough to go on for diplomas so I'll need to think of something else to be working towards

Alternatively, I will need to become more relaxed and not so focussed on having my performance assessed

For an unassessed performance (guaranteed lots of friendly applause) check out the events board.

Very tempted by Stalybridge - I have even printed out the application form!

*runs away and wets herself at the thought*

My goal when I first started was just to be able to play the piano. I would get to a piece of music and say to my teacher if I can learn to play that I will be happy. Lo and behold I would perfect the piece and want to move on and this repeats itself.

My life ambition was to play the piano and that hasn't changed. I have now reached Grade 4/5 standard and I know I have an awful long way to go before I will be happy with my playing and where I will feel confident enough to say, yeah, I can play the piano.

My goal now is no longer just being able to play a few tunes on the piano, but to be really good. I have reached Grade 5 theory and now working on Grade 6 and want to get to Grade 8. I also wish to do a music degree. My target, I have given myself until I am 60 to get to my goal, I am 53 now so hopefully I am allowing enough time.

My love for music grows stronger each day and I am so pleased that I took the plunge 3-4 years ago to learn to play the piano.

ET

I think that as adults, we are much more self critical than the kids. We've listened to far more music, have far more experience and so we know that we MUST play to a certain standard. My children learn pieces fast and tend to show off - like all kids - by playing them fast. Once they can play their piece fast without mistakes, that's it! They're happy.

Meanwhile, I will be analysing every f, mp, crescendo, accent... etc and trying to get it just right.


Just one comment re. the age thing. A lot of people who post on the woodwind.org forum are in their 70s and 80s and I just read about two clarinetists who are STILL gigging- one is 90, the other 94!

Apparently Heaven is getting quite hard to get into these days. Minimum requirement is a merit at grade 8!


Steve

I'm finding that although it may take longer now to get a piece to a performance level, that is in part because I'm asking more of myself, as stevensfo suggests; I'm also finding, though, that the benefit to the rest of my playing with each piece I learn is actually increasing - the more I learn, the more I find I've absorbed and am able to bring to the other music I play; and if I go back to pieces I'd learned three or four years ago, I can play them better than I used to.

Just one comment re. the age thing. A lot of people who post on the woodwind.org forum are in their 70s and 80s and I just read about two clarinetists who are STILL gigging- one is 90, the other 94!

Apparently Heaven is getting quite hard to get into these days. Minimum requirement is a merit at grade 8!


Steve
[/quote]

lol

It makes me wonder where they get the breath from. would love to have a go at a woodwind instrument but these days I don't seem to even have the breath for the recorder! lol





I have to agree with you totally on that. Mind you when I get to the point where I start feeling like I am useless because of trying to perfect a new piece, I go back to my earlier pieces and it really gives me my confidence back.

I am a former violin player (grade 5 or so) and played the recorder to quite a high standard for some years (when I was about 20/30). I also did some composing, part of which I had published by a minor publishing agency and attempted to learn the piano when I was 8 years old, then 14 years old and then ...
I was blessed to have a daughter who developed a penchant for music which gradually grew into a true passion. She's now preparing her entrance exam at Padua Conservatoire (we live in NE Italy). Some two years ago, after getting her Grade 2 piano ABRSM certificate, knowing how much I have always liked music, she said I simply must have a diploma like that and so the idea gradually crept into my mind that I, too might fit in some piano classes every now and then (the original plan was to take one class every fortnight). I began to take piano lessons (once weekly, though) with a great teacher with vast knowledge of methodology and 25 year's experience in teaching and it is working fine. I am about to sit my Grade 4 in June (piano/theory) and am enjoying the journey a lot. Not only as a means to become united with my music streak, which has always been there and which was neglected in favour of work, a family and so on, but also as a path to self-discipline and spiritual development. I put in a lot of practice every day as I am a home worker and can do small exercises during the day in between my appointments.
When I started, my goal was simply to give it a try once again and the happy combination of a consuming passion + a great teacher + the ABRSM exams and way of structuring things provided me with the framework I lacked in my previous attempts. In addition, having a piano at home - we bought one when my daughter showed real interest in music and the piano - really helped a lot.
So to everyone who's learning an instrument or music in general and especially to those who'd like to try but somehow cannot find the time/chance, etc. ... it is worth trying, and keep trying. One sooner or later finds the right inspiration to persevere and this inspiration will take you through the inevitable moments of discouragement that any learning process involves.
Concentrate on enjoying the journey and
Best to all of you!
John

In any instrument - and at all ages, as far as I can judge - it takes a long time to achieve the finer skills ... it's like losing the last kilos while on a diet ...

When I drifted back from spending 3 or 4 hours a week at the keyboard to working seriously at the piano for the first time in 20 years I had the vague ambition to prepare for the LRSM diploma - but I very quickly realized that passing yet more exams does not motivate me. What I really like to do is perform.

To quote one of my heroes (Heinrich Neuhaus):

"Our purpose is modest, and at the same time vast; it is to play our amazing, our magnificent piano literature in such a way as to make the hearer like it, make him love life still more, make his feelings more intense, his longings more acute, and give greater depth to his understanding"

That quote expresses how I feel to perfection. It states with precision exactly what I believe.


I listen to masses of piano playing, and one thing that amazes (and disappoints) me is that so many professional pianists - former child prodigies with ten times more dexterity than I will ever have, and vast repertoires in their memories - absolutely MURDER the music they are playing.

With my more modest abilities I believe I can still communicate what the music in my (much smaller) repertoire is all about far better than that. My aim is not to become a virtuoso for its own sake but, in the time that is still left to me in this life, to become as good an interpreter of music as I can be.

I study every composition that I learn with respect for the composer, the period, the style. I seek to understand each piece as fully as I can and then to develop, by whatever means necessary, the technique to convey the composer's intentions to modern audiences.

... And that is why I am practicing and studying like a maniac!

Like a lot of others, my goals have changed along the way. :-)

Flute:

Original goals - learn to play Faure's Sicilienne, do a few low-medium grade exams to get some more exam experience before trying grade 7/8 clarinet, play mostly just for fun.

What actually happened - grades 2/3/4/5/7 on flute, less clarinet playing than ever and, of course, I did the Faure for grade 5 list B.

New goals - keep playing, improve my technique and explore more repertoire. If I can sort out some tone and breathing issues (and that's a big 'if' as I have asthma), I'd quite like to do grade 8 eventually.

Completely unforeseen side effect - went to the Forums flute choir day last summer, made some new friends and started playing recorder quartets with them on a semi-regular basis. :-)



Piano (restarting without much enthusiasm, having given up aged 9):

Original goals - get grade 5 so I could start to learn the organ, get to the point where I could play a bit of church stuff if necessary

What actually happened - managed to get started with organ even without having grade 5, did grade 5 anyway (with my long-suffering flute teacher, who also teaches piano though usually to people who don't have my level of disinterest in the piano), promptly went back to largely ignoring the piano

New goals - mess around with it a bit from time to time, be able to play it as necessary for things like choir practice or for things that really don't work on the organ.



Organ:

Original goals - just to play it and to get good enough to be useful.

What actually happened - well, I'm playing it, which is awesome, though I'm not yet good enough to be particularly useful. I've got far more into it than I'd imagined, got a practice instrument at home and have developed an interest in organ building. Have done a couple of exams and played for parts of several services. But the main buzz still comes when I'm practicing at home or at church or playing an organ on a visit and sometimes suddenly think "Wow! I'm actually doing this!".

New goals - well, the original goal of getting good enough to be useful still holds, though I've probably upped my standards for what counts as useful, so I want to get my keyboard skills and choral accompaniment up to scratch as well as being able to play hymns and voluntaries.




Recorders (not from scratch, but with no previous tuition):

Original goals - just a vague intention to take grade 5 at some point

What actually happened - started to play quartets last August, found I wasn't as bad as I thought I was, took my recorder and a couple of grade 5 pieces along to my first flute lesson of the term and asked if I could do grade 5 that term (my flute teacher deserves a medal), did it back to back with the piano exam, did a bunch more quartet playing, which made me get to grips with treble fingering a little better than I ever had in the past and am now working for grade 7 treble this term.

New goals - do more ensemble playing, improve my bass playing, get grade 8 at some point.



I think people have to change their goals if they have concrete ones (e.g. pass grade x, play piece y), as once you've achieved them you need something new to aim for if you're going to keep making progress with that instrument. Fuzzier goals (e.g. get as good as I can be, do lots of ensemble playing) can stay the same for much longer, so they don't need to be updated as much.


T.

These goals don't half change,you know.

Singing:

First goal, in late 2002, was "to be able to sing a another solo in choir without cringing at the sound I make this time...assuming the conductor will ever ask me to sing a solo again after last time...."

That got me started with the idea of having lessons. Of course once lessons started, the frequency with which I got asked to sing solos with the choir went up.....

From that came the feeling that it might be nice to have some more performance opportunities. so I set up the first Adult Learner Concert, a decision that has taken off rather well.....

From that I've had several opportunities to perform a recital....all of which I have greatly enjoyed...

From that has sprung a collaboration with Andante-in-C and Carol*Piano to perform as the trio Belle Epoque, with an exciting repertoire of French Impressionist music. We have our first performance in Bracknell in early June (pm me for details if you're interested) and look forward to other opportunities after that.....


Second goal, mentioned to my husband over breakfast one morning before a singing lesson, was "It would be quite nice to get to grade 5 singing eventually"......

Well, five years later, grade 5, grade 8, ATCL and LTCL are all in the bag, work has started towards an eventual FTCL. With a DipABRSM Teaching and a complete career change along the way.....


Recorder - another slippery slope....

Originally played at primary school. Inherited some nice instruments from my husband's grandfather, but didn't play them much.

Brought one of them out to see the light of day so that I would have an instrument to take part in the Grand Finale at Jo.Clarinet's first Forums Concert.

Discovered that quite a few forumites play the recorder, and went to the odd SRP session with them.

Bought a few more recorders to enable me to play more and different stuff.

Decided I would learn to play properly, and had lessons from Andante-in-C.

Somewhere along the way decided to do the odd exam, and got grades 5, 7 and 8.

Bought a few more recorders.

Somewhere further along the way got offered work teaching recorder for the local County Council.....


Violin:

Well, this wasn't my fault. It was Andante-in-C who talked me into doing the grade 1 challenge. So I thought I'd see if there was a forums member teaching adult violin pupils who'd give me a few lessons....

Three years later AmandaL is still guiding me, now towards my grade 5......


Piano:

My experiences of learning as a young'un weren't good, and I didn't touch a piano again for years. Then, about the time my singing was getting to the ATCL level, my singing teacher happened to say at one lesson "You own a Jaguar and don't own a piano?" to which I replied that I knew how to drive the former but not the latter.

That, and the vague thought that if I were ever to teach singing it might be a good idea if I could play some accompaniments led me to overcome a deep rooted fear and take lessons from a local teacher. Unfortunately her teaching methods and my musical aspirations/abilities didn't overlap well, and that arrangement foundered. But not until I'd got a grade 5 out of it.

I made another attempt, with another, exceedingly good teacher, some time later. But my heart wasn't in it, and I quit lessons again.


Flute:

Another aborted attempt in childhood. And though I didn't dispose of the instrument, I didn't envisage using it again.

Until, that is, Andante-in-C decided to hold a flute choir day. And I decided that my elderly Yammy was a good enough passport to enable me to gatecrash the proceedings - and I discovered I still remembered how to play.

And that tempted me back into playing a little.....which has in turn tempted me into buying a new flute and asking Andante for lessons.....


What else? Clarinet perhaps? I have one my mother bought in a junk shop years ago, and which I have had overhauled so it's in good playing condition......

Katyjay,
do you ever find time to breathe, sleep and eat
Bev.

Breathing's not a problem. I do that while I'm playing or singing.

Eating and sleeping are optional extras

I staretd learning the keyboard about 2 years ago, my goals were origanally to recreate some of the music I heard over the years. My musical journey is founded on or indeed grounded on a trip to see a concert. Being a musical novice I became so inspired to play and give people the same feeling I had listening to these songs. I aquried a keyboard and took up lessons in a small local shop which taught keyboard. However although I knew little about musc , I did feel that I wasent progressing as well as I liked. This was not through impatience but rather an awareness that I felt very passionate about what I was doing. The teachers were quite mechanical and dare I say unenthousiastic. So I decided that I needed 1 to 1 tuition A chance phone call was all it took and my goals are now to enjoy music which I do as my teacher is very enthousiastic and immediatly asked me whether I was interested in exams which I replied with a yes defenetly. My goals are now to compose but I do feel that I need to get to a higher grade first. I guess my goals are to play with passion and quiet confidance!

great stories everyone