Last week I had an interesting conversation with Peter, one of my adult pupils. I have quite a few adults learning to play the piano, both gentlemen and ladies. Some of them learnt as children, but “gave up” and have re-started. Others never had the opportunity or the inclination before, but have begun learning to play later in life. The age range of my adult pupils is quite wide, but all of them are doing brilliantly!
Adults have a particular drive to practise and improve. After all, it’s their money going on the lessons and they want value from it.
Frequently, it’s a long-held desire to play a particular piece of music, or just to play music, that provides the momentum.
And sometimes it just comes out of the blue – that inspiration to try something you’ve never done before.
This conversation with Peter came about because of a simple exchange we had as we said goodbye at the end of Peter’s piano lesson a couple of weeks ago. I was so struck by what he said, I wanted to explore it further, so I invited Peter to come along especially to discuss his views on learning to play the piano as an adult. He began his current musical journey when he was in his sixties.
My words are in black text and Peter’s words are in colour (apparently, it’s “Light Sea Green”!) If the colour doesn’t show up on the email, make sure you “View The Post” (button at the bottom).
- Hi Peter, and thanks very much for coming along and agreeing to have a chat about your music.
This is a follow-up to a conversation we had on the doorstep after your piano lesson last week.
We were talking about adults learning music, and particularly learning music as beginners, when they hadn’t played very much as children.
Because you are retired now from work, I made the rather throw-away comment that music is a wonderful hobby for retired people, and you responded, very assertively, saying, “I think of it as my work!”
I was so intrigued by that remark, I wanted to know more about it. I would love to know why you think of learning music as your work and how that fits in with your life. So – over to you!
- Well, I’ve always been interested in music. I was at secondary modern school, having failed my Eleven-Plus, and I started playing the trumpet, but only for a short time because I was very reluctant to perform in assemblies. Shortly after that, I got transferred to the grammar school, and that option wasn’t there. But I continued my interest in music, and there were a lot of very musical people there, playing in brass bands.
- Were you encouraged in your music by your parents?
- Not really, no! They just let me get on with my academic life, and they weren’t really interested in classical music. I was, and I used to go to the BBC Northern Symphony orchestra concerts in the town hall in Huddersfield, and also the Huddersfield Choral Society performances. I didn’t take up playing again, but I was always very impressed with the musical talents of my peers. A lot of them were very good players in brass bands, and there was a lovely grand piano in our school hall which pupils used to play, and I was thinking, “Cor, I wish I could do that!”
I did chemistry at university, and there wasn’t much chance to pick up music again at that stage in my life. But my interest continued with record collections, going to concerts, going to the Proms and things like that.
- So your interest is mostly in classical music?
- No! I used to go to folk and rock festivals. In fact, when I was at school my friend borrowed his auntie’s car and we rather crazily drove down to the 1971 Isle of Wight Pop Festival and saw Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix and The Who.
I worked as a synthetic organic chemist and then I went into analytical chemistry and a career in the Public Analyst Service. I was still interested in music, though, and over ten years ago I started playing the recorder.
- What made you choose the recorder?
- I won one in a raffle—
- You won a recorder in a raffle! And you thought, “Oh, I really want to learn to play this!”
- Yes! It was a translucent green Yamaha.
- Lovely!
- I started playing that slightly before I retired. My wife played the clarinet and the saxophone and I started having lessons on saxophone with her.
- So you felt the recorder wasn’t quite what you wanted? Or you wanted to expand?
- Yes, expand a bit. My wife recommended the saxophone because at that time there was a group called Saxobility, which was a non-auditioning local saxophone group, and she said I’d be able to play in that.
- But you were just a beginner!
- I was a beginner, yes. But after a year or two playing the saxophone, I did join Saxobility, and I’ve really enjoyed it.
- And you’re still a member?
- Still a member. In fact, I’m the secretary now, and on the committee! It’s very good to be part of a group. My wife teaches people who don’t actually participate in any groups and it’s a shame. I feel they’re missing out. My wife was involved with keyboard, via the Norfolk Keyboard Orchestra—
- I remember it well! But how did you get involved in playing the piano?
- Well, I was asked to help with the Keyboard Orchestra, operating the sound mixing desk.
- You did indeed. But I can remember how you got started with your piano playing. It was actually keyboard playing, because your wife suggested you needed a bit of help with sustaining accurate rhythms, and she spoke to me. We agreed that playing the keyboard with its built-in drum machine would be useful for that.
Do you remember, we started during lockdown with online lessons? You did really well. After lockdown you started coming to me here and we continued with keyboard for a bit, and then we converted to playing the piano and you’ve been doing it ever since.
How do you feel about that now, and why do you consider it your “work”?
- Well, in a similar way that you set out to go to work at nine o’clock or whatever, it happens every day and I have a sort of programme for the way I do my practice.
- Do you have a routine for your practice? Every day at this particular time—
- Not at a specific time, but I record what I’m doing which gives an idea of how long I’m practising for.
- When you say you “record” what you’re doing, do you mean an audio recording, or that you write down what you’ve done?
- I write it down.
- Do you write it down before you do it? Like, “My goal for today is to learn this passage”?
- Yes. I write down the timings and what I’m going to do that day, both for saxophone and for piano.
- Wow. Do you do this in the morning, Peter? You get up and you say, “Ok, on the saxophone I want to achieve blah blah blah, and on the piano I want to achieve – and there’s another list of fantastic bullet points?” And then off you go to do it?
- It has to fit in around other things!
- But of course, you know what those other things are. You’ll know in advance that today I’m only going to have this amount of time, but tomorrow I’ll have a bit more time, perhaps? But you’re always planning and organising how and when you’re going to do your music.
- Yes, and I think it’s better to practise in the morning because you’re better then.
- Not everyone is.
- It’s better for me, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Particularly in winter, if you want to have some daylight to get out in the garden, because practising can take place when it’s dark.
- Going back to the comment about it being “work”, that applies to your scheduling, like someone who has to be in the office by a certain time. Is there any other aspect that makes music practice feel like work? Is it hard work? It’s not work you’re getting paid for, so in what other ways does it feel like “This is now my work”?
- Because there is self-imposed obligation to actually try and practise every day, and it becomes a situation where you feel “Oh no, I missed a day and that’s not very good”, or if you’re starting a new piece, you want to keep things going. I record how long I’m doing it, and it can vary massively. If you’re struggling with something, you spend longer on it. You spend longer practising at times like that.
- Work, in the sense of working for an employer or being self-employed, is said to be very rewarding, providing it’s work you enjoy. Would you say there is a similarity there as well with your music? Do you find it rewarding, and do you enjoy it?
- Oh yes. I enjoyed the work I did when I was working, and I enjoy this. But there are certain aspects of practising music which are less pleasurable. With the piano, it’s really nice to be able to just sit down and play. Physically, it’s not as demanding as the saxophone, but mentally it’s more demanding. You’ve got to set the saxophone up, and playing it can be really physically demanding.
- All that breathing!
- Yes, breathing, and stretching your fingers. I think, with the saxophone, as my wife has commented, there’s a number of pupils she’s had over the years, where it has become difficult for them to play because of arthritic fingers.
- So as you get older, it’s more demanding physically? Whereas the piano perhaps isn’t. You’ve said it’s a strain mentally, and I agree with you on that. There is so much to think about and process. But it’s very good in that sense, isn’t it? As you get into your later years, to have something that challenges you mentally has to be a very good thing. When you’re no longer going to work and being challenged in that way?
- Yes, absolutely. I’m sure there’s a lot of thinking these days that keeping going at work does actually keep you going yourself. I see music as a similar thing.
- There’s been a lot of talk recently, hasn’t there, about how some people who are on benefits ought to be in work because it’s so much better for you.
- It’s great for you, yes.
- And this is fulfilling that same requirement, isn’t it. I’m not saying that learning to play the piano is some kind of therapy or cure for anything, but I think it’s a great thing for all of us, whether young or old, but particularly as we get older to have that stimulation and that challenge to our mental capabilities and to keep using our minds.
So do you intend to keep going with both piano and saxophone, Peter?
- For as long as I can!
- And what do you think about taking music exams, especially as an adult?
- It can be daunting. But I think working towards exams is beneficial because it takes you onto a certain point. Maybe to a point where you think it’s not going to be possible to go much further. I think, with my saxophone, I am working towards an exam, but I suspect that will be it then, because I’ve got more than enough material to work on, and doing the exam takes up a lot of time. I think I shall just continue with playing for pleasure after that.
- Do you mind telling people which grades you’re working for on these two instruments?
- I’m Grade Two in both piano and saxophone. In certain respects, I’m way beyond Grade Two on the saxophone, but not in others, but I am doing it as an exercise to try and improve certain aspects of my playing, and I think it will be beneficial.
I also continue to play the recorder. I’m in a little group which we started many years ago, playing Scottish and English folk music, and I alternate between saxophone and recorder there, depending on what the piece is.
- The recorder is perfect for folk music.
- And it has the definite advantage in transportability. When I go skiing I usually pack my recorder and some music, and if I have some spare time when I’m away on holiday, I’ll play my recorder.
- That’s fantastic. What a wonderful thing to do. You can keep your music going wherever you are.
Well, thank you so much for coming in and having a chat, and I know this is going to be really interesting to everyone. Thanks, Peter.
Since this conversation took place, Peter has drawn an article to my attention. It’s a chat between Melvyn Bragg and David Hockney for Mr Bragg’s South Bank Show, and it took place in August 2023. David Hockney talks to Melvyn Bragg about his inspiration and his art. David tells Melvyn that the first thing he sees every day when he wakes up – and has done since adolescence – is a hand-written sign, each letter a different colour, at the end of his bed that says: “Get up and work immediately.”
Melvyn Bragg goes on to say that David is now 88 and can still work for seven hours a day in his studio! I think Mr Hockney would approve of Peter’s attitude to his music! And Peter – keep working! You’ve a way to go to catch up with Mr Hockney!
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Humoresque = a whimsical or fanciful piece of music. Be whimsical, be fanciful, but play in time!
(Humoresque Number 13)