5 Compelling Reasons to Learn Piano Later in Life 🎶 (Mind, Body & Soul Benefits)

Playing the piano, something about it, just gives you joy. It's a wonderful thing. And when you're a bit older, when you're knocking on a bit, or as I like to say, when you're in your rock and roll years, there's a lot of other really good reasons why you should learn to play the piano. Not just that joy of making music, but some reasons how it improves your mind, your body, and your overall well-being. And I've got five reasons. I wrote this paper for Lancaster University students a few years ago, five compelling reasons to play the piano. And that's got all the science in it. You can download that under the video. But today I'm going to quickly run through those five reasons. I'll tell you the five reasons first, and then I'll just delve a little bit deeper into them. The first reason is it sharpens your mind. It helps you stay focused. It improves your memory and it can delay cognitive decline. I'll tell you about that in a minute. I'll tell you a great story actually. It helps you to relax and de-stress. As soon as you start playing the piano, you feel less stressed and you relax a bit. It keeps your hands young, I like to say. It keeps them dexterous and moving. I'll tell you something serious about that, about arthritis as well. It boosts your mood. You always feel better when you play the piano, and so do other people who are listening, if you can play a bit. The final thing, number five, it's the piano. It becomes your lifelong friend. I'll explain what I mean about that, but I think it's the most important thing. So number one, it sharpens your mind, keeps you switched on. I watched a fantastic TED Talk a couple of years ago by a lovely lady called Lisa Genoa. She's an author and a neuroscientist. She wrote a book called Still Alice. You may have heard of it or even read it. In the talk, she talks about a study that was done on a group of nuns. All these nuns were in their 80s, their 90s, and a couple of them were over 100 years old, but they were all still full of life, sharp, switched on, full of intelligent conversation. They all seemed absolutely fine. The scientists did brain scans on all of them, and 25% of them had all the physiological symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, the clumps in the brain and that sort of thing. But none of the, they didn't present any of the symptoms to the world that we all know about, the loss of memory, the change in character, the dreadful decline. They were all still perfectly okay and switched on. So they appeared to have completely beaten this disease. And the reasons that the scientists decided that they'd stayed mentally healthy was because they did creative things. They engaged in philosophical discussions. They all did arts and crafts. But the one thing he pointed out, or the scientists pointed out, was that they all played a musical instrument, and several of them played the piano. So making music, it fires both sides of your brain. It helps with your motor skills, and it keeps your brain really active. There's something about it makes you think, but without realizing that you're thinking when you're making music. A friend of mine, Rick White, he quotes Bertrand Russell, and Bertrand Russell said, most people would rather die than think, and they usually do. It's so true. If you don't keep that old grey matter churning, it's going to decline. So the piano is such a good way to do that. The second reason to start when you're later in life is it helps you relax and de-stress. So if you've got loads of stuff going on, and people are after you, people are ringing you up, you're on a deadline to do something, or you're just feeling stressed, sit down at the piano. I do it. I come in here, and I sit down, I go... Just improvising now. I make myself sit for five minutes, and I feel better. I can then get on with my day, and I just feel more relaxed. So five minutes at the piano is all you need to just de-stress your mind. And when you're learning the piano, people say, oh, I haven't got time. Make time, but make five minutes regularly, and you'll progress. And even if you're just playing the most basic thing at first, I teach Norwegian Wood by The Beatles. And it's so simple. You can play it with one finger doing that, and the other finger playing the tune, or even just play the tune, and it will de-stress you. The third thing is it keeps your hands young. This is a biggie. This year, I broke this finger earlier this year. I was on holiday, and I slipped on some rocks, broke this finger. Agony. Three years ago, I broke these two really badly. And apparently, it's increased the speed of the onset of the arthritis in my fingers. Ten years ago, I had an x-ray, and they said, oh, you're going to have arthritis in your fingers. It's starting. But these breakages have increased it by five years is what they've said. But the surgeon, the consultant who I see, can't believe how much movement I've got in these fingers, how well they move, and how relatively little pain I suffer. And I do suffer when it's rainy and cold, or something. I just twist it sometimes. But anyway, generally speaking, my hands work really well. And he puts it all down to the fact that I play piano every day. So playing the piano keeps your fingers supple, pain-free, and keeps your hands young, I like to say. The fourth thing is it boosts your mood. This is related to de-stressing. But the way it boosts mood, I believe, is because you sing or make the sound out loud. So if you sing a bit of a song, yesterday, or dee-dee-dee, or dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee, just singing out loud or making the noise out loud does something to your mind, which gives you happiness and boosts your mood. I recently joined the choir, and everyone's happy. You can't help but be happy if you're singing or making the noise out loud. So that's another reason to start to learn to play. The last thing is the piano becomes your lifelong friend. It's something you can always rely on. No matter where you go in the world, you can sit down at a keyboard, a piano keyboard, or an organ, or an electric keyboard. The notes are in exactly the same place. They look the same. The white notes are spaced the same. The black notes are the same. It's a constant, permanent thing that you can always come back to. No matter what's going on in your life, the piano is a constant. And the pleasure you get from playing and learning to play and getting better at playing, it gives you so much pleasure. And as you get better, it gives the people who are listening pleasure. It's just a wonderful thing. So there are your five reasons for playing the piano, for learning the piano, when you're a bit older. Whether it's keeping your hands flexible, or just finding a little bit of peace in your day somewhere. Whatever your reason for playing, it's a great way, a great reason to get started. That's what I'm trying to get at. So check out Rebel Piano. I teach older people to play the piano by ear. No reading music. That's a different thing. That's really hard. I'll show you how to play a few simple melodies, starting very simply, and then how to develop that. And we have fun. We enjoy it. And the last thing, if you'd like to download this and read all the science behind, well, it's got links to the science. But it's a five page booklet with lots of really interesting information about five compelling reasons to play more piano. See you soon. Have a lovely, wonderful day wherever you are and play the piano. Yeah.