Who among you started studying music as an adult? How do you do it?
I am about to rent a piano with a silencer, driven by the desire to start studying again, and tonight after dinner I thought "but on a day like today, when would I have played?".
Like many forced into the dehydrator of the white-collar work spirit, I leave in the morning and return in the evening, aided also by various yoga/gym/cinema/theater/opera.
And I don't have children! I live with a partner and at forty years old the idea of having to further give up my interests disturbs me. But I fear it is more my own problem than an objective obstacle...
How do you do it? How do you reconcile everything (work, family, music, children)? Did becoming fathers/mothers change things a lot for you?
Thank you
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ttw
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Reply 2 by ttw
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277
Perhaps a detail is being missed, this is a profession where you are always studying ... regardless of when you start, it's not as if once you finish your academic studies it ends ... so ...
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Dino
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Reply 3 by Dino
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277
Renato wrote:
the idea of having to give up my interests even further disturbs me
If you have a love for music, the absence of everything else shouldn't weigh on you... and I don't know, for example, how compatible the gym is with piano studies
I believe that a passion for music should always be encouraged, at any age of life. And in particular, I believe that making music actively, rather than limiting oneself to its passive use, is extremely important and can be very rewarding, if done the right way. Therefore, I advise you to try your hand at it; time management is important, but in the meantime, it is good to get started to taste the quality of this experience.
do you only see the sacrificial part? studying music does not mean isolating yourself from the rest of the world, especially if you decide to do it non-professionally. You won't have concerts to prepare, you won't have anyone chasing after you, so if for one evening you prefer going to the cinema instead of playing Bach, peace; the value of making music remains regardless of the results you achieve
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riccardoM
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Reply 7 by riccardoM
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39
if you are not lucky enough to be on your mom and dad's shoulders, studying even just two hours a day requires a lot of sacrifice. My advice is to set aside two evenings a week for the piano and for no reason postpone those appointments. Saturday night go out with friends and Sunday when you get up after 10, play from 10:30 to 13:00 everything that you enjoy without doing any boring exercises. Generally at the beginning you are very motivated, then moments happen where you are repeating for the 3000th time that piece that won't come out and you feel down...
Never miss your two weekly commitments that you have made to yourself, despite having scheduled one week every 2 months in which you will not touch the piano
if you are not lucky enough to be on your mom and dad's shoulders, studying even just two hours a day requires a lot of sacrifice. My advice is to set aside two evenings a week for the piano and for no reason postpone those appointments. Saturday night go out with friends and Sunday when you get up after 10, play from 10:30 to 13:00 everything that amuses you without doing any boring exercises. Generally at the beginning one is very motivated, then moments happen where you are repeating for the 3000th time that piece that won't come out and you feel down...
Never miss your two weekly commitments that you have made to yourself, despite having scheduled one week every 2 months in which you will not touch the piano
i disagree with almost everything, but oh well, everyone has their own methods...
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riccardoM
Member
Reply 9 by riccardoM
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39
oh well, when you leave the house at 07:00 and return after 19:00 and have many domestic responsibilities, maybe you will understand
snob?! Excuse me, but did you read what I recommended?! I don't believe in your normativity, in your advice to set a fixed study schedule. For me, those who have organizational, work, or family problems must consider music as a pastime, a passion, not an obligation or impersonal training. Add that one should only play things they like, fine, then I don't see why one should force themselves not to miss even one of those appointments. That is what I am criticizing. There is no minimum or maximum number of hours dedicated to music; for me, you can play the piano even for half an hour every two weeks, the important thing is that it is done with pleasure, passion, and being fully aware of what one wants to achieve (leisure? Improvement? Relaxation?).
I am not a parent, but I have a partner (and a kitty...). This alone makes me very flexible in my musical passions (on the occasions when they are passions). I have never identified moments of the day where "I sing and nobody must disturb me"; that wouldn't make sense to me, as I don't sing or play as if it were an obligation I prescribed for myself. I sing when I can and when I feel like it. And the motivation has lasted for years...
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Natan
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Reply 14 by Natan
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239
Thallo is right, never more than in a situation with a small child, must the rules be rigid... simply because it's not you but the child who makes them... who will hardly understand that you have to study "x" hours a day
And then you will realize that there is nothing more beautiful in the world than looking after those little rascals and the desire to study outside of scheduled hours "will pass"... or you will truly struggle a lot. You will be required to have willpower of steel and, as Ludovica says, good physical endurance
I believe that every person has their own context of life and family relationships. If one loves music and wishes to cultivate it, one must seek the spaces (even mental ones) to succeed, but it is not always possible.
It is absolutely impossible to provide a valid recipe for everyone. Therefore, I limit myself to offering only encouragement: find your own space! (moreover, it is a good general rule in every family, beyond music).
in reality Bach had two wives, Maria Barbara Bach, his cousin, who gave him 7 children (4 survivors...) and Anna Magdalena Wilcke, 13 children (6 survivors). Some think that Anna Magdalena was also a composer; she was certainly a noted singer employed at the court of Koethen. But after the death of her husband Bach, none of the children took care of her, and she died in misery (it seems)...
a plowman doesn't forget his mother, but the composer does
Anyway, the comparison with the society of that time is difficult: everything was different in terms of family organization and the relationship between man and woman.
Today there are other problems; perhaps the greatest is finding a balance between the various needs of family members (assuming a situation of equal opportunity: we know it is not always like that even today).
