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Notes and numbers
Learning music late can lead to frustration
By Post Staff
When a child learns to play an instrument at a very young age, say 6 or 7, they have a much greater chance of reaching professional-level fluency. Childhood is full of free time for practicing and young minds are ripe for molding.
Rose Davis talked with UWM guitar instructor Beverly Belfer to understand the difference between learning music as a child versus an adult. Belfer has taught music at UWM for 30 years. She currently teaches guitar and teaches beginners as young as 5 and as old as 75.
Music is a universal language that most of us come into contact with on a daily basis. There are some of us who learned how to play an instrument at a very young age, while others take on the challenge as adults.
Learning to play an instrument is beneficial at any age, but there is definitely a difference between being an adult beginner as opposed to learning as a child.
When a child learns to play an instrument at a very young age, say 6 or 7, he has a much greater chance of reaching professional-level fluency. Childhood is full of free time for practicing, and young minds are ripe for molding. Just as children are able to learn foreign languages faster than adults, they are also able to learn how to read music more quickly.
Learning how to read notes, understand rhythm and develop the motor skills needed to play an instrument come easier to children simply because their minds arent as full of other knowledge and worries like an adults.
An adult or college students world is full of school, homework, jobs and other activities. It is hard to find enough time to practice in order to achieve success as quickly as a child could. Adults also get distracted much more easily than children simply because they have so much going on in their lives. This is not to say that it is impossible, but it can be difficult.
The biggest problem adults seem to have when trying to learn an instrument is frustration. It is harder to burn in new motor skills as an adult, but we tend to feel as though we should actually be better learners, which can lead to frustration.
The key is to have lower expectations and understand that it is going to take longer to become proficient. Setting time aside for practice is extremely important.
Obviously, you have to practice if you want to get better. You cant expect to spend only a couple of hours a week on an instrument and show a lot of improvement. It takes time to not only learn finger positions, but to build up the motor skills and muscles needed to play.
Although there are difficulties that one must overcome to learn an instrument, fear not. There are some benefits to learning as an adult as well. At this age, people decide to learn an instrument themselves. They arent taking music classes to fulfill their parents fantasies, but instead they are fulfilling their own. This automatically puts a much more positive attitude behind their learning.
Adults are also better able to judge their own progress and dont rely on their teachers words as the basis of their success. They judge progress by how far they have come and not by how far they have to go. Adults are happy with the things they have accomplished because they arent aiming to please anyone but themselves.
UWM guitar instructor Beverly Belfer teaches music differently to adults and to children. Children cant handle as much information at once. Adults can handle more things and Belfer always makes her teaching success oriented. When someone learns to be successful at something, it makes him want to continue learning.
She said that it is important not to give students too much to focus on because that only leads to frustration. Learning, practicing and the resulting success give students the confidence to continue playing and reach an even higher level of success.
The bottom line is that you can learn how to play an instrument at any age; you just have to be prepared for hard work and know that if you try your best, you can be successful.
By Rose Davis
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