Top 5 Reasons Why Piano Lessons Will Improve Your Life as an Adult

July 30, 2016 Jacqueline Courson

Have you “always wanted to play piano” but never had the opportunity as a child? Or have you just been too busy with responsibilities as an adult or parent to take the time for yourself? Are you afraid you might be unteachable? Or – the worst – you took lessons as child and quit because your teacher was too unpleasant or you were just too impatient?

It’s never too late to learn an instrument. And in addition to picking up that skill you’ve always wanted, there are side benefits to being a musician that can help you in your adult life.

Private piano lessons will…

1. Make you happier.

Yes, that’s right, happier. Listening to and playing music

reduces cortisol (stress hormone), and
increases dopamine (pleasure-reward hormone), and
boosts oxytocin (trust and bonding hormone; the same one you get from long hugs with a loved one!) when you play music with others.

Private piano lessons for adults provide an opportunity for you to work with an expert. An piano teacher can come up with a custom learning plan for you, based on your goals:

Do you want the classical training program you feel you may have missed out on as a child, but paced for an adult? If so, I will take you through a complete, formal program – whether you are new to music or just new to the piano.
Are you looking for that oxytocin boost from playing with other people? Add another dimension to your social life by getting out to a jam session at a local bar! Lucky for you, we live in Phoenix where there is at least one blues jam every night and hardly ever a keyboard player. As long as you bring your own keyboard to a jam (since you’ll be the only keys player), they’ll put you on stage! In addition to your formal training, we can make this a personal goal (or skip reading music altogether). I will teach you the chords, scales and chord progressions that can get you out to a jam. We’ll focus on listening and figuring out the progressions to songs you’ve never played before so you can jump right in.

2. Help you become a better decision-maker.

Want to be a better business leader? Or be better at organizing and planning in your life? Studies have shown that playing music does not just require you to exercise the “Executive function” part of the brain (related to planning, strategizing, and attention to detail) but it also provides a means to develop it! The lead researcher of one such study nicknames this part of the brain the “CEO region.”

In order to succeed and make progress in your private piano lessons, you will need to stay focused and apply your best self-discipline to reaching your goals, as I ask you to be flexible with various styles, tempos, key signatures, and technical complexity. Of course, since I am your coach and want you to stick with music, together we will make this mental workout fun – and as challenging as you want!

3. Enhance your memory.

Most people with a great memory weren’t just built with a vault in their mind – they usually have some tricks up their sleeves that help them remember the most seemingly random things. Musicians have a unique method. “Musicians exhibit enhanced memory functions – creating, storing, and retrieving memories more quickly and efficiently. Studies have found that musicians appear to use their highly connected brains to give each memory multiple tags, such as a conceptual tag, an emotional tag, an audio tag, and a contextual tag – like a good internet search engine,” as a TED-Ed written by Anita Collins explains (see the video included at the end of this post!).

In your private piano lessons, I will send you home with songs to work with on your own. While you practice these songs, your brain will be practicing making same types of connections people with a great memory do in order to understand the music and improve your performance. So without you even noticing, your brain will be working out, getting faster and more efficient at “tagging” information. As your teacher, I will there to coach you through the process.

4. Give you the freedom to express yourself.

Is your workplace feeling a little stuffy to your mojo lately? Or maybe you have some inner sadness you’d like to channel into music, rather than hiding in your house or crying all over everyone in your immediate surroundings? Either way, there’s a song for you and playing it is going to feel great.

Want to play songs that have already been written – pop, classical, jazz, or something
else? Great – I’ll teach you to read sheet music or charts, your choice. Want to write your own songs? Also great – I’m a songwriter and can help find your own voice.

5. Increase your self-confidence.

Learning something new always makes you feel great, doesn’t it? Sure, it’s a challenge, but that’s what makes it so rewarding. Instead of teaching yourself with YouTube videos and books, private lessons can be catered to your personal goals – taking you further, faster.

As your private piano teacher, I am also your piano coach – and just as a personal trainer helps you stay motivated as you work hard to get fit, I’ll help keep you motivated and on track. I will make sure you are assigned appropriate songs and drills so you are challenged and empowered, not frustrated and discouraged. As you progress, your brain is going to be releasing that dopamine, reinforcing your own self-discipline while learning to play the piano.

Start Taking Lessons Today!

Whether music is something you’ve always wanted to get into, or you’re looking to gain a new skill that will be both fun and benefit other aspects of your life, private lessons can help you reach your goals.

If you are more interested in an instrument other than the piano, the piano is still a great instrument to start with. Learning on the piano builds a great foundation of music theory and discipline that can easily be transferred to another instrument. It can also be a little physically easier to start on (no special breathing techniques or mouth positions as with a woodwind or brass instrument, no need to recognize pitch as with a bowed string instrument, a bit less coordination needed than finger-picking a guitar) so it can be a great instrument for a new musician.