When people think of piano lessons, they typically think of parents signing their children up for classes. The piano is a great introduction to playing music, so parents who want to develop a child's musical talent often start with this instrument. Children learn very quickly, so they're often able to learn to play instruments quickly as well.
However, piano lessons aren't just for children — adults can take them as well. In fact, adults have some advantages over children when it comes to learning how to play. If you're an adult who wants to learn how to play the piano and you're worried that you're too old, you don't have to be — read on to learn three advantages that adults have over kids when they're learning the piano.
1. You're Able to Practice More Often
Whenever you're learning a musical instrument, it's important to practice consistently. For the piano, this includes practicing new songs and performing fingering exercises in order to improve your technical skills. This is one area where children often struggle — children can easily become bored when they practice the piano frequently, which means they have trouble staying consistent. As a result, children are sometimes slow to improve. When you're an adult, you know that practice will slowly pay off, and your skills will continue to improve as long as you continue to spend time practicing.
2. You Can Choose What Genre You Want to Learn
Another disadvantage that children often have when they're learning to play the piano is that they're typically forced into learning how to play classical music — this is considered the traditional way to learn how to play, so it's the default choice for most parents when they're looking for a piano teacher for their children. Learning a style of music that you have little interest in is a quick way to make learning the piano a chore. Thankfully, learning to play classical music isn't the only way to learn the piano.
If you'd rather learn to play pop music, hymns, or Christmas carols, you can find piano lessons that focus specifically on that type of music rather than classical music. Of course, you always have the option of learning classical music if that's what you're interested in playing. Focusing on the type of music that you want to play makes learning more fun, and children often don't have the luxury of choice.
3. You Won't Get Frustrated as Easily
When you're learning how to play piano, you'll sometimes encounter music that seems impossible to play. This may involve abrupt key changes, time signatures that you struggle to keep track of, or chords that are difficult to play. When children run into these while they're learning the piano, they often become frustrated and stressed because of their inability to play the music correctly. When you're an adult, you're better able to handle these types of obstacles. Through repetition and steady practice, you know that you'll eventually be able to play even complicated pieces of music.
While children are able to learn musical instruments very quickly, they don't always have an advantage over adults. Adults are able to persevere better throughout the learning process, and they're learning the piano because they want to rather than because they were forced into it by their parents. If you want to learn the piano as an adult, you have several advantages over a child that's trying to learn the piano. If you're an adult and you want to learn, contact a teacher in your area who has experience teaching private piano lessons to adults — a good teacher will allow you to rapidly improve your ability to play. Contact a teacher that provides piano lessons for more information.
