Article If you were forced to take piano lessons and quit as soon as your parents would allow you to you might be feeling some regrets today
. If other kids got to take piano lessons and you didn't you might wish you could have the opportunity. Whatever happened in the past doesn't really matter because now is the best time to learn to play piano.
You don't have to be a kid to learn piano. There are actually some advantages to learning when you are older. For one thing you have been listening to music a lot longer. Even though you may not understand any music theory at all you have music stored in your brain and in your nervous system and in your soul.
As an adult your years of listening to music have made neural pathways in your brain that will give you an advantage when you attempt to learn to play. Some teachers try to duplicate this advantage by having parents play music for their children as soon as they are born. The best learning comes from a desire to learn
Thanks to modern technology now you can learn to play piano your way on your schedule. Instead of having to miss baseball practice to go to an old lady's stuffy parlor and play old songs you never heard of you can be in charge. You can learn to play what you want when you want.
There are benefits to learning music as a child and adults can benefit in many of the same ways. Music uses and develops different parts of the brain than are used in many other tasks. It encourages discipline, develops hand/eye coordination, better listening skills and memory.
Studying the piano can serve almost as a form of meditation. Practitioners of Zen say that as one perfects ones art the whole person is also perfected. The time spent focusing on a music lesson is time away from other thoughts and problems. Students often find that after a lesson they are refreshed and refocused.
All these benefits are just byproducts, however. The real goal of learning to play the piano is to make music. Whether you want to play professionally, be part of a garage band or lead sing-alongs at family parties it all starts with learning to play piano.