Learning new instruments as an adult

DimensionsTomorrow · 2023-05-28T05:58:34.472Z

GovernorSilver:

I finally learned to play like 3 notes or whatever on the shakuhachi by going to a shakuhachi camp held in Loveland, Colorado. The camp was a 5 day camp. I played my first notes on Day 5.

On weekends they block off the streets near my place in Tokyo and have a little art market. It’s finally coming back now that they relaxed all the Covid restrictions. Anyway, today there was a cool older guy selling handmade shakuhachi for pretty cheap. I ended up buying one off of him. I’m glad I found your comment as I didn’t manage to get a note out in the 20 minutes I was talking with him. I have been studying flute for a couple of years now so I assumed I would be able to at least get a sound, no dice. Lol.

Anyway, he runs all sorts of different workshops, including shakuhachi carving, and told me to drop him an email and come by his workshop for some pointers. I don’t have time to really take up lessons seriously, but I think I’ll see if I can go by his place as he is a really cool dude so it would be good to connect with him. In the meantime I’ll mess around at home and see if I can get anything out of it.

FilipNest · 2023-05-28T06:47:23.631Z

Not sure if music theory counts as a new instrument but over the last four years I’ve been taking in-person college classes on music theory, then counterpoint, and now aural training / sight singing.

As someone with no formal training who hung around with pop / experimental musicians who said this stuff was the devil, it’s completely transformed how I play piano and partly even guitar and therefore feels like I’m picking up a whole new instrument. The aural training stuff is just mad at how your brain starts to begin to pick out chords from their sound etc.

Really want to move from my playing guitar like a double bass to an actual double bass but it won’t fit in the house.

DimensionsTomorrow · 2023-05-28T06:58:28.373Z

DimensionsTomorrow:

I’m glad I found your comment as I didn’t manage to get a note out in the 20 minutes I was talking with him. I have been studying flute for a couple of years now so I assumed I would be able to at least get a sound, no dice. Lol.

Brought it home and got sound out of it the first try. Sweet. Now I need to have a look on YouTube and learn a few things.

Also, not gonna lie, this photo of Coltrane trying out the shakuhachi on the bullet train was definitely some inspiration for picking one up.

IMG_9481503×610 52.1 KB

hausland · 2023-05-28T07:29:08.507Z

I didn’t touch any instruments until I was 30 years old. It’s so rewarding to engage with instruments as an adult (I was “forced” to learn the Berimbau, basic Conga and basic Pandeiro through Capoeira and I practice the guitar, cajon and keys regularly).

I’ve realised that I’m not rushing towards a goal with any of these instruments but want to enjoy the process of engaging, discovering and learning itself.

So in a way, just by picking up my guitar I’m already doing with it what I want to do.

My level on the instrument I practice the most (guitar) is probably my worst of all the instruments I play (with) lol, but that’s totally ok for me.

I don’t know what it’s like to learn an instrument in one’s childhood, but I love learning as an adult and find it super rewarding.

I should add that I make an effort to have plenty of “cross-fertilisation” across instruments. Learning time & rhythm for example translates to anything and everything else. Learning to have the sensitivity, patience and ear to form a nice sounding note on one instrument allows for a transfer of that sensitivity, patience and ear to the next instrument etc…and lastly I’m glad that I’m in charge of choosing the teachers I learn from - and that I can use my life experience and my self-awareness to pick the ones that suit me and give me what I need.

alexwasashrimp · 2023-05-28T11:10:27.278Z

Abhoth:

With lessons and serious effort, progressing from absolutely terrible to something useable doesn’t take that long.

Took vocal lessons for an year in my twenties, progressed from absolutely terrible to absolutely terrible.

That said, just rapping to myself for the last 2-3 years gave me so much control of my voice, I never thought I’d be able to make it sound so good. Still can’t sing though.

hausland · 2023-05-28T12:08:26.528Z

I do public speaking as part of my profession, rapping in my late teens / early tweens is a big part of why I can do that and also improvise in keynotes if the need arises.

aMunchkinElfGraduate · 2023-05-28T15:53:18.558Z

Here is a resource for learning all the scales (and all the notes) on the soprano recorder: 12 Major Scales for Recorder, Ascending and Descending - YouTube

GovernorSilver · 2023-05-28T22:08:10.748Z

Your post made me think of Miura Taro again. I was about to do a little writeup and realized I already did earlier in the thread.

I believe this is him.

neiro.org

Shakuhachi Making Workshop with Miura Taro – neiro.org

enjoy your shakuhachi journey!

MichaalHell · 2023-12-11T05:24:50.042Z

My oldest daughter started playing alto saxophone 4 months ago and it’s been such a pleasure to watch her progression. And it really shows how much more susceptible to learning kids are. She’s already got the finger technique down, she’s really good at intonation and is already better than me at reading notation.

It’s gonna be a lot of fun to see her musical journey!

Kirz · 2023-12-11T09:02:08.121Z

I have a feeling my partner got me a concertina for chirstmas - which I jokingly said that I wanted to play it ages ago.

Guess I need to learn it for real now. Hope it’s easy to learn.

DimensionsTomorrow · 2024-04-17T22:31:51.787Z

Just a reminder to anyone thinking about picking up a new instrument to do it!

Randomly deciding to start taking flute lessons during the pandemic was such an immensely rewarding decision (even though I still don’t know what possessed me).

I’m starting on the advanced program later this year. Beyond just learning a specific instrument, it has taught me so much about music. I’ve learned to read music, learned to play in loads of different time signatures and keys, developed my rhythm and understanding of harmony, and learned to play with other musicians. I’ve gotten to study and play works by some of my favorite composers, like Vince Guaraldi, Yusef Lateef, Antonio Carlos Jobim. Up next is some tunes from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, and then maybe a deep dive into the tunes off of Kind of Blue.

I’m not going to be leading my own jazz group any time soon, but I think it’s finally cured me of the imposter syndrome I think a lot of us electronic musicians face, and has opened me up to a much deeper connection with music than I thought possible. I’ve struggled with the guitar since I was a kid, and thought I’m just am not that talented a musician, but it turns out that a woodwind instrument came so much easier to me, and these studies are feeding back into my guitar playing.

Anyway, I just wanted to share as while taking up a new instrument as an adult can be very daunting, it’s actually a very achievable and rewarding experience. The key I think is just finding a good teacher/school, and being consistent. You can accomplish a LOT in just a few years.

sacguy71 · 2024-04-17T22:34:14.688Z

watch videos and see if beginner lessons of songs by popular artists that you like who play a particular instrument. I learned guitar and piano as an adult and want to actually learn drums and bass now!

moredat · 2024-04-17T23:31:54.793Z

there are not many instruments that are harder than a piano transposition-wise, so we’re on a good path as synthesists. that’s almost like being a pianist but double the xp if you count the sound design and all the bs we have to deal with mixing and mastering our (poor) tracks.

just kidding, i eager everyone to at least buy a bass guitar. it just werks and is easy to understand. comes with immediacy and good live playability straight out the box. studybass.com with free content is all you really need to get a clue.

Hoshin · 2024-04-18T12:26:33.551Z

shigginpit:

any advice other than the rote “practice, dedication” type of common sense advice?

When I was a kid, I learned clarinet (four years), then stopped. It was not my first choice and I was not playing very much. Around 18, I learned oboe (two years) then stopped and stayed in a concert band for about 4 years more, then stopped. With adulthood, I’ve learned didgeridoo, jew harp, bansuri, hungarian zither, kalimba, guitar (electro-acoustic and electric), piano. Music is a big part of my life. When I don’t play an instrument, I play in my head.

With adulthood, we have more constraint, so less time, but more patience, and there are probably fewer performance objectives. The pleasure to only play is sometimes less present when childhood. But we can progress so much quickly at young age! So with age, when we loose on some aspects, we gain on other.

As for me, I realize that I tend to stop once I realize that I have the basics. Then the “discovering time” has passed away, and another relationship to the instrument begins and most of the time I’m less interested.

Probably because I need to put more effort, more time on practice to feel the progress again. And with adulthood the time is what we are missing mostly.
I could probably have an ADD

I recently started refocusing on guitar and am taking online lessons. Coming back to the basics, the progression is soooo slow, but if I was a noob I think it would help very much. And it helps me to consolidate the basics and get back into a practice routine. But actually, the best advice would be

take private lessons, because the physical encounter engages us in a different investment. Doing this way, we are entering into long-term regularity, while it can stop overnight when we learn via internet. So this helps to stay true to your instrument, to move past this phase of discovery and enter into a more complex relationship with the instrument.
buy a GOOD quality instrument. Its sound and its beauty CAN help so much.
don’t forget to buy a metronome and play with it.
You have to stay in a dynamic of pleasure. If it’s hard or not rewarding for a relatively long period, it’s probably time to reconsider your expectations and goals. Otherwise the risk is to move towards stopping, whereas if we started this instrument, it is because there is something which aroused our interest! There is a balance to be found to keep the flame alive.

mr_bernard · 2024-04-18T14:08:02.942Z

How’d I miss this thread?!

I’ve played saxophone for 30+ years, and last fall I purchased a bass clarinet. The embouchure is different, but not foreign… but oh my… the pinky keys are a brain twister compared to the sax. I’m good with the fingerings otherwise, but it was/is a struggle to geolocate my pinkies in my mind’s eye! First new instrument I’ve learned in any adult memory (been playing keys poorly, and guitar since my teens).

As far as OP’s original question about practice advice, especially with a wind instrument… take small bites daily rather than large bites weekly. Most days, I only spent 20-40 mins on my sax, and sometime just spend that time on bass clarinet now. The only consistent daily thing is long tones and overtones, but I regularly spend time with a random thing I pick out of a practice book until I can nail it.

schoolbabyboy · 2024-04-18T14:30:35.902Z

ive started learning the harmonica the past couple months and the only times i play are on my five minute walk to and from work and on the playground with the children. i havent gotten crazy good but i significantly improved my ability to isolate notes after just a few days of short practice times. now im learning licks from adam gussow on youtube and i can actually start freestyling off of those licks just from feeling like the next note will work. its activating my brain in a new way too, its a great way to reset on my way to and from work. and it feels really cool developing new muscles in my mouth, thats a trippy post workout feeling.

Jukka · 2024-04-18T15:18:32.056Z

mr_bernard:

I’ve played saxophone for 30+ years, and last fall I purchased a bass clarinet.

Similar, only i’ve considered ( dreamed of ) the sarrusophone. Thought being it wouldn’t be something that anyone else plays and it sounds great. Double reed, but the fingering is nearly identical.

mr_bernard · 2024-04-18T15:38:48.923Z

Jukka:

Double reed, but the fingering is nearly identical.

Just looked that up! The fingerings may be similar, but my gawd, the price is not

DimensionsTomorrow · 2024-06-01T03:14:01.344Z

I found a couple of old flute song books published here in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s, and they are pure gold. Really classy and eclectic selections. One of the joys of learning to read music and play an instrument is to be able to go on a time warp to other musical eras.

In my weekly lesson I’m currently working on this theme song to a French film noir film from the 1960s called Crime on Summer Morning (in English). It reminds me of something off of a Tarantino soundtrack or something. Really cool composition.

The second song book I found has the theme from Emmanuel in it. Strange selection for flute students, but a beautiful song. Also a bunch of classic 1960s James Bond theme songs. Japan seems like it would have been a cool place to be in the 1960s–1970s. Haha.

thermionic · 2024-06-01T03:29:56.744Z

After a lifetime of thinking i was a little on pitch and sometimes okay at some karaoke, I decided to get an idea of my limitations and hoo boy it is humbling to take voice lessons from a serious instructor when you’re in your mid-40s. So many bad habits, and my body is simultaneously flexible in weird ways but stiff in neck, shoulders, jaw inoptimally to where the teacher kept trying to convince me to relax them… which only made me feel more awkward!

I’ve always enjoyed the human element of voice in electronic music, and do want to use it to ground myself in my work, but hoo doggies is it vulnerable, even before I hit up open nights!

Some stuff worth it is scary, but whaddamigonnado? Give up?