Why it's never too late to play a musical instrument

There’s little that’s more small town Americana than a community band. My introduction to our local city band occurred serendipitously when I stumbled on a performance they were giving to commemorate the dedication of new pickle ball courts in a local park. Their set list of patriotic tunes was charming, but what really thrilled me was that nearly every member of that group looked to be over 70 years old. The players radiated joy, even the ancient cymbal player who needed the drummer to tell her when to start and stop playing. As I stood and watched them play all I could think was, “this is what it means to be a lifelong musician.”

In my many years as a piano teacher, I was asked multiple times by adults of all ages if they were too old to play the piano. My answer was always the same: no. Emphatically no! It’s never too late to play a musical instrument. I’ve had students who started piano in their 80s and surprised themselves by being able to play quite musically. I had a student who refused to let her confinement to a wheelchair keep her from developing into a fine intermediate player. And then there’s the woman who was part of a group class I led who was struggling with dementia. She wasn’t capable of playing complicated pieces, but every time she played sounds she loved, she glowed with pleasure.

Music is for everyone and it is for life. And until we started separating the professionals from everyone else, music participation was part of worshiping, celebrating and mourning with others in the community. From dances to church sing-alongs, making music was part of making a life. This is something we’ve lost. Now we’re passive receivers of music, either in concerts or through our computers and phones. We believe the myth that amateurs should not embarrass themselves by daring to participate. And in too many lives, the notes so many people have to offer die within them. Is it any wonder that we struggle to find funding for music education when we’ve told so many people that they aren’t good enough to participate in it?

One of the things I found most interesting about a class I took years ago on the music of west Africa was learning that within many traditional African cultures, spectators didn’t exist. Everyone present needed to be part of the musical circle, either through drumming, singing, dancing, or clapping along. This is a philosophy we need more of in the west. The cult of leaving music to the professionals has drained music of the life-giving and affirming power that it offers everyone. Sure, performance standards have risen, but at what cost? Isn’t it possible to create a society where we stop apologizing for not sounding like the pros and start enjoying the simple human act of making music?

As pianists of all ages and levels, we can help make this happen. We can stop being self-conscious about our own playing (regardless of our level of ability or experience). Through group lessons, choirs and bands, or community sing-alongs, we can offer safe spaces for the timid to explore making music. All it takes is looking at our own communities and finding ways to invite others into the joys of creating music.

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92), was a French philosopher most famously known for his writings about living a good life. In his oft-quoted collection of famous sayings, it is fitting that a man who believed that “Life should be an aim unto itself, a purpose unto itself,” would have written this about making music late in life.

“There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent.”

So, join a choir. Take up piano lessons. Brush off that old guitar. Try your hand at songwriting. And in the process, reconnect with the sheer joy of expressing yourself through the language of music. This is our birthright as humans. And next time you ask yourself if you’re too old try, remember this: It’s never too late, and you’re never too old.