Never too late to learn something new

It is not uncommon when people find out I teach piano that they lament on the fact that they never took lessons, or took a few months worth of lessons as a kid but never practiced, or hated piano because their mom made them practice five days a week, or something to that effect. I have always said that it's never too late to learn, an axiom I stand behind. So here I am in February with six lessons of Violin under my belt, going for the proof that it really is never too late to learn.

I have to say....I love it.

It has been a while since I have felt so mentally relaxed even though my neck is rigid and my fingers are clamped in a death grip around bow and finger board (no this is not a good way to play). I have constantly to work on my physical relaxation as I try so hard just to get a nice sound out of the strings, but relaxing has never really been my strong point anyway so that's no surprise. What I mean to say is that learning a new instrument has become a lovely enhancement to my everyday life even though in the beginning I thought adding anything that would require a daily investment of time was a bad idea. I look forward to practicing and I am immensely challenged by the difficulty of it.

I have had to get creative with squeezing in a practice session, and perhaps a little unconventional. My favorite times are in the evening, because no one is hanging on my legs, but even my husbands patience (though he does not say so) might be tried if I practiced more than a half hour with him listening to every screeching note, so I attempt to get fifteen minutes in during the day as well. I often will send the kids outside for a good romp with the dog in the dirt and keep an eye on them while I practice on the porch (no complaints from the neighbors yet but the year is still young). Drake loves to sit and put rocks in buckets but is way too little to be unsupervised, so he likes this arrangement of practice on the porch a lot.

 I can't play the Devil went down to Georgia yet but I can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and am pretty happy about that. I decided initially to learn the Violin so I could have the versatility of teaching an additional instrument to my children (way down the road at this rate) and I didn't realize I would like it so much. Little Mason can tell me all the parts of the violin already and always points to the bow and asks "is this the frog? Why?". I love it.

As a teacher and now as a student I offer this advice:

1.  Find a teacher and take consistent lessons. Even with a background in music and an extensive knowledge of music theory I would have quit already if I didn't have the expertise of a teacher let alone the motivation that one provides.

2.  Find fifteen minutes in your day to dedicate to this new endeavor. Anyone can find fifteen minutes to put to a good use and fifteen minutes every day will make progress whether in an instrument or reading a book or in a thousand other things. Consistency is the key.

3.  Enjoy the newness, adventure and challenge of learning something you have always wanted to learn but never made the commitment to.

4.  Realize that if you have kids they love to watch their parent practicing in the same way they are made to practice. This can actually infuse your child's interest in music with a new sense of passion.

It is never too late to learn something new and you might just find another one of life's many pleasures.