It's Never Too Late To Learn To Play Music

Photo credit: Andy Jones @ Organic Light Media

One of the most common things adults say to me, usually with a half-laugh, half-apology, is: “I've always wanted to play an instrument.” When I ask why they don't start now, the answer is usually something like: “Oh I could never do that now,” or “I’m just not musical.”

I understand where that instinct comes from. Music education is framed almost entirely as something you do when you’re young. School band. Childhood piano lessons. Recitals with folding chairs and parents holding phones a little too high. Then at some point, the story quietly ends. The assumption is that the door closed.

A 2024 Atlantic article put it plainly: adults don’t stop making music because it stops being valuable. They stop because it starts to feel like school. As one music-education professor quoted in the article said, “When it looks like a school-based thing, it looks like something you age out of.” That framing alone keeps a lot of people from even trying.

In the article, Musicologist Michael Spitzer argues that the belief that anyone can make music is something that is “taught out of us.”  Instead, many of us believe that making music is only for the special, talented people who are in touch with mystical musical powers. (Spoiler: that's not true.)

Adults also have something else working against them: they're Good At Things already. Most of us have had years, if not decades, to build expertise ranging from mundane (driving a car) to recreation (gardening) to cerebral (epidemiology). It's enjoyable to feel competent or even excel at something. For adults who are really Good At Things, it can be difficult to be a beginner, to feel incompetent, confused, or embarrassed. So naturally, many of us shy away from activities that make us feel like, well, beginners.

Kids bang on drums, sing loudly, play badly, and keep going. In other words, they are very good at being beginners! They experiment and play (because it's fun) and, with time and guidance, they develop competence and skill. Adults feel they need permission or evidence they’ll be good at it before they even allow themselves to start.

At Green Room Music, we see something else play out all the time.

One of our students started guitar in his early 70s. He had never touched the instrument before—no childhood lessons, no secret background, no “I used to play a little.” I saw him eyeing our demo guitar at SeptemberFest and asked him if he played. "Oh, no no, I don't play..." I waited for a moment. Then: "...But I've always wanted to." And just like that, he opened himself up the world of musicianship (and started lessons the following week!).

Another student, in his late 60s, wanted to learn to play the drums. He had never played music before. In fact, he (and his family!) said he didn't have a musical bone in his body. Well, a few weeks ago, at our adult student showcase, he walked onto stage and for the first time in his life and played drums with a band.

You do not need to be "talented" to make music worthwhile (honestly, what does "talented" even mean?). You do not need to practice hours a day. You do not need to sound like the professionals you hear on Spotify. You need a space where it’s okay to be in process.

Music is not an activity for children or for those special people with mystical, magical powers. It’s a craft. It just requires repetition, practice, and a willingness to be a beginner.

One of my favorite lines in the Atlantic article comes near the end, when the author reflects on learning recorder as an adult, saying that “making music, even when it’s silly—perhaps especially when it’s silly—is just a whole lot of fun.”

So whether it's with us or elsewhere, it's never too late to go have some fun!

Photo credit: Andy Jones @ Organic Light Media