Start playing piano at late age

[keyburn]

I wonder is it fine if I never played before and start practicing playing an acoustic piano at 31? I know that I am not gonna become a Rockstar/Concert pianist nor have I got delusions of such and neither do I want to become something big, just a hobbyist, I merely want to tickle the ivories for fun, I got inspired by youtubers like panpiano, caliko and such who are not concert pianists afaik, presuming I have enough time to practice or have someone teach me could I be decent at it?

Hopefully I might start uploading to youtube once I might something remotely decent, as I've said before, I wanna play for fun.

So is 31 a hopelessly late age? Neither me or my family had a piano at home so, I'm considering getting an upright one soon.

[ranjit]

No, it's not.

[topianist2022]

I don't think it is ever too late. I started at 57.

[keyburn]

Ok, Thank you all

[anacrusis]

31 is not hopelessly late. As you say your goal is not to be a Rockstar/Concert pianist so you can just get started, work intelligently, and see how far you go!

[keyburn]

I hope that I'll get somewhat decent at it in a couple of years, say like 5 years of playing, yeah.

[skypert]

No way, I started in my 40s and have only been playing a few months and have seen great results.  It is almost like meditating and also a good brain workout.  Although motors skills are harder to acquire, you have an advantage over a child in didication(no pushy parents) and a higher intelligence to understand what is required.

The only advice I can give to not to rush and listen to your body if you get any pain..  Really work on fundamentals like proper sitting position and hand positions and quality playing as oppose to my beginning where I was happy to accept sloppy play which I am now working on undoing.

[keyburn]

I see, thanks, nice to know you made great results at 40, this makes me feel confident.

[timtim]

I see, thanks, nice to know you made great results at 40, this makes me feel confident.

It's never too late. Just get a teacher at least for the first year or two. It's extremely important to get good habits and technique. I am not talking about being virtuoso, but some fundamentals which are necessary, otherwise you may injure yourself, being tired from playing, struggling with it and so one.

While there are a lot of things we do in our life just by practice and have them written in our DNA, piano playing is not one of them ;-)

Oh, and having a teacher at the beggining will save you a lot of trouble and hard work when you will progress and your technique will be limiting to you.

[j_tour]

Oh, and having a teacher at the beggining will save you a lot of trouble and hard work when you will progress and your technique will be limiting to you.

Yeah.

I wouldn't, if I were in a position to give advice, ever, ever mention the "you could hurt somebody including yourself with those hands!"  Although it's certainly true that tendons are not something that should be treated with dismissal.

But, nobody who has not experienced such injuries is likely to believe any anecdotes about such injuries, and these very real injuries are probably dismissed as fables or "just-so" stories.

However[/i], it's a true fact that many aspects of performing and even rudimentary playing are not easily discovered from the recordings or even videos.

Save oneself a bunch of time and wasted effort by using the correct tools, even if it the tool is a teacher,  is how it is.

[keyburn]

While there are a lot of things we do in our life just by practice and have them written in our DNA, piano playing is not one of them ;-)

Still I hope to get somewhat good or decent with it, everyone loves to make progress and I don't see how playing the piano would result in my injuring myself, When I'l get my own piano I will probably make like an hour or half everyday, I don't see how that would result in injury, I believe injury would be for when you practice piano for more than an hour.

Besides I spend alot of time on my gaming computer, so I spend alot of time on my computer keyboard, so does spending many hours on a pc keyboard helps exercising tendons/fingers?

Yeah, I'l go to a teacher first ofcourse, go to a course or something for young adults (31 are young adults right?) to get me started before buying my own upright and when I see it feasible buy a grand in like 10 years or so.

[skypert]

I can only speak for myself here with regards to injury. It isn’t anything to be scared of but just using your body in a new way can create a bit of stress.  Especially for older people who recover slower. In my experience, an hour of sight reading would mean I have played 100 notes in that hour, so unlikely to do damage… but if you for example took Hanon and followed his instructions and with poor technique(possibly any technique as a beginner) then your fingers would be destroyed very quickly. I certainly found early on that my motivation exceeded my physical limits.  Again I have very little knowledge in this field

[ranjit]

Still I hope to get somewhat good or decent with it, everyone loves to make progress and I don't see how playing the piano would result in my injuring myself, When I'l get my own piano I will probably make like an hour or half everyday, I don't see how that would result in injury, I believe injury would be for when you practice piano for more than an hour.

It's not exactly about the amount of time you spend. You can injure yourself if you play very fast and loud for an extended period of time (even 15 minutes may be enough if it's really bad). I wouldn't worry about it at your level unless you are very tense. But as you advance, the difference between healthy technique and injury prone technique gets narrower. That's the point at which you should be especially careful. While I have never actually been injured, I've had some close calls. I've had a slight tennis elbow which thankfully resolved itself in a couple of weeks, and tendon pain which took a few weeks to get better. If you don't rein in and fix technique when your body tells you to, it can cause issues. You don't have to be paranoid if you're only playing basic stuff, but you need to be mindful.

[keyburn]

I see, idk about the future but for the first years I aim for the basics, so thanks for the advice.

[brogers70]

I started at age 40, from scratch, although I'd played classical guitar and viola as a student. I worked hard without a teacher and did not get all that far until I retired at 54. Then for 8 years I had a very good teacher, who took adult students seriously. By which I mean she didn't assume that all we wanted was to be able to struggle through the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata or Traumerei. She taught just as though we would one day want to apply to a conservatory. After those 8 years of working with a teacher and practicing 3 hours a day I was able to give a house concert playing the Bach French Suite in Eb, Beethoven sonata in E major Opus 14 #1, Chopin Nocturne in Bb minor Opus 9#1, Brahms Intermezzo in A and Romance in F from Opus 118, and the first movement of Janacek's In the Mist. Not dazzling virtuoso pieces, but interesting enough that it's definitely worth the work. Since then I played in some other local recitals and at churches, nothing much, but enough to get me to enjoy spreading the music around.

So my advice is be ambitious and don't be ambitious. Take yourself seriously and aim to play some serious, emotionally complex music, but don't be in too great a hurry. Figure out how to enjoy working on little technical problems, make small realistic goals. Also, make sure your teacher understands your goals and wants to help with them. Listen to lots and lots of music, not piano technical show pieces, but lots of orchestral, chamber, and vocal music from lots of different periods and composers. If you don't know much music theory, get a college level text and work through it, or find an online course. There are few things more absorbing than music - I go to bed at night looking forward to what I'll be able to practice in the morning. You'll have a great time.

[keyburn]

That's a very informative post brogers70, yes, I am willing to take my time, this I know, it will take years, so yes I am willing to take years practicing to make progress and I presume it would work, I understand that to get good you have to take a lot of time, so yeah, I'll apply for a teacher first to help me on piano.