6 Tips for Starting a New Instrument

6 Tips for Starting a New Instrument

The Bayberry String Quartet

With the ease of apps like Spotify and YouTube, music is like water from a tap for those with a thirst for listening. There are fewer of us, however, who actually play music on an instrument. Kids often have an infrastructure that promotes learning, but what about adults? How can they learn to play an instrument?

Playing as an adult amateur is different from playing as a kid. Adults have critical thinking skills, more appreciation for beauty and subtleties, and are more likely to be organized in their learning processes. Children under the age of 6, on the other hand, are sensory learners. They learn by doing, and they readily feel a sense of joy and accomplishment from their activities. They aren’t making conclusions about their abilities, and because of this, they are more likely to improve.

Adults can learn from the way children learn by embracing the doing and embracing the process. We have to be okay being in the early learning stages, and it’s best to ignore the voices in our heads that may berate us for not being able to do something better or faster. If we’re too critical, it’s much harder to derive pleasure from our efforts, and we may give up too soon.

The members of Bayberry String Quartet teach adults of all ages, and we are inspired by their love of making music.

Here are six things you can do to start (or start again!) playing a musical instrument:

1. Go to concerts in order to hear various instruments and find the sound that sparks your interest. Maybe you’ll want to strum a guitar, or maybe you’d prefer a bow in your hand.

2. Find a local instrument store, and rent or buy an instrument (if one isn’t already in your attic). Your local library even might have instruments you can check out.

3. Play around with the instrument by making bold and even messy sounds. Just explore the feeling of holding it and how you can get it to make any sound.

4. Find a learning partner. This can be a teacher or a fellow learner.

5. Go online. YouTube and Google are amazing resources for tutorials.

6. Attend a workshop and/or join a local ensemble. Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP) has a guide for adult amateurs. Bayberry String Quartet will be giving workshops in Birmingham, AL, Ann Arbor, MI, and Hartford, CT over the next six months (stay tuned for more info!). And, if you know of workshops and opportunities for adult amateurs, let us know!

If you find yourself enjoying it, you’ll be an amateur. The word amateur comes from the latin amare, to love. You will be someone who loves to do something merely for the joy of it. We hope all of our students, young and old, become amateurs (even the ones who become professional) and find a love and joy in playing.

BSQ Cellist Laura Usiskin’s Adult Amateur Group Class, Birmingham, AL, August 2018