Group Learning Multiplies the Benefits of Music
There are benefits associated with playing a musical instrument that can appeal to anyone at any point in life. Whether it’s overcoming inhibitions, or simply wanting a means of creative expression, learning to play a musical instrument can be a rewarding experience at any age, especially if the learning is part of a group experience.
As Sandy Orenstein reveals in Never 2 Late 2 Play, an hour-long video about adults approaching or reapproaching a musical instrument in middle age, to be successful at it, you need the right ingredients: motivation, time, a teacher, and a supportive ensemble. If you’ve been thinking about getting back to playing, or are just starting out for the first time, Orenstein and some of his fellow students from the John Payne Music Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, filled Making Music in on their experiences playing in a group.
To watch Orenstein’s video, visit the John Payne Music Center homepage: www.jpmc.us.
Turning Anxiety into Excitement
Orenstein is a former manufacturer’s rep who picked up the bass guitar for the first time about a decade ago. Though he was accustomed to speaking in front of large audiences, the most unique challenge presented by playing music again, was performing for them. “The perception that the audience was full of musicians who could hear every mistake I made was a real barrier,” he confides. “Upset, nervous, and excited all felt the same to me.” Once he grew accustomed to performing with the ensemble, he learned to differentiate between anxiety and excitement and now says he fully embraces the latter. “Once I got used to playing out while feeling excited, I noticed the audience actually thought they were hearing music,” he laughs. “They even applauded. I am still the same shy person who feared raising his hand to answer a question in the fourth grade. I truly felt, what if I’m wrong? As Dan [Weiner, instructor at John Payne] says in the video, ‘They will all laugh at me.’ But the benefit of playing is that now my stronger sense of self makes me a much more social person. You could say that picking up the bass guitar let me finish growing up.”
Building Friendships Through Music
The same can be said for Nancy Gregg, a retired forensic psychologist for whom playing bass provides a social outlet that is fundamental to her well-being. “This has been a terrific experience for about seven years now,” she says. “The folks at John Payne are indeed supportive and encouraging. It has been a challenge to play in an ensemble, but one I love.” She admits that the ensemble environment is harder than playing alone, but also so much more rewarding. “Our occasional performances feel like a triumph, even if we screw up,” she says. “My bandmates are delightful—both musically and personally. After our Wednesday practice sessions, we go around the corner for a drink. I laugh more on Wednesdays than any other day of the week. I am thankful to have these people—and these moments—in my life. Before I started along this path, it occurred to me that it would be a shame to be in my 60s and still playing an air guitar. I’m now 67, and while I do not play the bass guitar well, the miracle is that I can play at all.”
The Challenge of Relearning
For George Vasios, 61, a technical specialist at a patent law firm, the act of learning itself, is what represents the greatest challenge when it comes to reapproaching the guitar later in life. “As a seven-year-old in 1957, I was exposed to rock and roll through my 12-year-old sister,” he recalls. “I was captured by the twangy guitar riffs, and asked my parents if I could start taking lessons. I continued to take lessons for the next 11 years, and played lead guitar in several rock bands in 7th grade through 12th grade.” After high school, he focused on college, grad school, and career, only occasionally picking up the guitar for at-home playing fun. Then, around 2004, he began jazz guitar lessons. In the fall of 2008, he joined a jazz ensemble at John Payne Music Center, and in the fall of 2009, started private jazz guitar lessons again.
“My biggest challenge in learning jazz at a later age has been integrating theory and lessons into coherent improvisational lines over chord changes,” he says. “It’s extremely frustrating! The learning seems to be coming slower than as a youth, and it’s hard for me to know the true cause of this. Potential candidates include my age, the complexity of jazz vs. rock, or most likely, both.” Vasios says beginners should dedicate at least an hour a day to practice. “Repetition has been an important learning device,” he advises. “The more the better—memory, dexterity, speed, improved patience, and determination are all enhanced.”
The Right Mix for the Group
Dan Weiner, an instructor at John Payne, says that the more familiarity people have had with music, the quicker they’ll be able to build on that prior knowledge. “That being said, there is a lot of joy in seeing a group of beginners begin to understand music together,” he says. Finding the right school/teacher and their ability to craft lessons to address varying degrees of ability can be a critical component of the learning curve. “The idea is to find music and/or concepts challenging for the more experienced players, while simultaneously keeping it accessible for those not as experienced,” says Weiner. “Fortunately, there is a large repertoire of compositions to draw from that satisfy both requirements. In my own playing I constantly find new challenges with familiar compositions. The key is verbalizing to the ensemble what those challenges are and how to go about meeting them.”
Fringe Benefits
There are unexpected, side benefits to any undertaking as well. “I have been playing in a quartet for a decade now,” says Orenstein. “The bandleader called Brookline Access TV (BATV) to ask them to video record the group for broadcast. BATV said, ‘We don’t produce shows that way anymore but if you come down, BATV will teach you how to produce the show yourself.’” The quartet leader wasn’t interested, but Orenstein, 68, ran with it when he was told of the opportunity. “I wandered into BATV in September 2010 and began to learn about cameras, directing the control room, editing, and producing,” he recalls. “It turns out, for me, videography has much in common with performing music. I had a general plan, tripped over my feet a few times, and benefited from some happy accidents. I think it’s fair to say that picking up the bass guitar taught me how to produce a video for broadcast—nice surprise!”
