Learning musical instruments later in life

[Fritzo]

I'd read that he played some of it, but hadn't seen it until now. My mistake.. he clearly doesn't play past the initial tuning part, if that.

Too bad.., but I think he tried to learn it for real -- more than would have been necessary for just faking it, and had they just focused on faking it, perhaps the faking would have been better.

It takes years to become comfortable enough to play any instrument to "act" and play at the same time. Did you ever see young musicians on stage? They look down at their guitars the entire time, sometimes the drummer has their tongue sticking out trying to keep time, and the keyboard player is staring intently at the music sheet. After a few years, you can start getting flamboyant.

There is no way Crowe could have picked up that level of muscle control and confidence in just a few months. In this case faking would look more realistic than the real thing. He probably just learned to get the techniques down to give a believable performance.

 

[Madwand1]

I picked up the guitar after 30. Was not so bad. The problem with older people learning instruments is usually that they don't have the time to practice.

Nobody has time for anything these days, not even kids. Have you seen their schedules? The type of kid who's taking music lessons will probably be involved in two or three other formal activities weekly, and have a full plate of other things to do. But somehow I have managed to find time to play two instruments myself, and tutor my kid in both of them, while working full-time, etc.

How? It's a matter of pacing, scheduling, and priorities. Teachers of adult learners know that their schedules are busy and don't expect daily practice, and are flexible about the rate of progress. The upcoming lesson serves as a deadline and motivation to practice in preparation, and helps you go forwards. Some teachers will give bi-weekly lessons, so you can get in two weekends before the next lesson. If you're motivated and having fun doing it, as you should, you can find time to do it, and you have the rest of your life to progress and explore, and a deeper understanding and appreciation of music as a result.

 

[OCNewbie]

bumpity bump bump

 

[Madwand1]

It takes years to become comfortable enough to play any instrument to "act" and play at the same time. Did you ever see young musicians on stage? They look down at their guitars the entire time, sometimes the drummer has their tongue sticking out trying to keep time, and the keyboard player is staring intently at the music sheet. After a few years, you can start getting flamboyant.

There is no way Crowe could have picked up that level of muscle control and confidence in just a few months. In this case faking would look more realistic than the real thing. He probably just learned to get the techniques down to give a believable performance.

From looking at his movements, I think that he actually learned to play that section, and did, but his playing wouldn't have sounded good enough for publication, so it was dubbed by a professional.

The movie segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqMXUJSN4Hw

Professional performance (from around 11:05):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zlbi4RN960

Note the difference in degree and speed of hand/finger movements.

Performance by a delightful 9-year old (from around 3:40):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPbsjmA45wQ

She had no problem acting while playing, and although she may have been playing for say 4 years at that point, it still would not have been good enough for commercial publication.

The sheet music can be found here; Andante of the 3rd movement, pg. 13 of solo part:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_No.3_K.216_(Mozart,_Wolfgang_Amadeus)

Like much of Mozart's work, I think it's a lot harder to play than it may look, or sound, and was just out of Crowe's and most students' ability to play well. It's a nice little catchy piece of music, which can be fun to play even when it doesn't sound great, but getting that section, let alone the whole concerto to anywhere approaching professional performance takes many years of learning, as usual.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

From looking at his movements, I think that he actually learned to play that section, and did, but his playing wouldn't have sounded good enough for publication, so it was dubbed by a professional.

Yep. His fingers are hitting the right positions for the notes on the fingerboard, but it doesn't look like his fingers are moving for the trills. And the shift from third to first position at around 0:33 was obviously dubbed over, no way he could've kept playing that G while he was shifting.

 

[DigDog]

1) you are too old.
2) who cares!
3) some instruments will be easier. violin, is not one of them.

 

[Miramonti]

My instrument-of-choice to learn would absolutely be the violin as well.

 

[Doppel]

Beautiful violin in this (or viola or whatever the hell, I dunno). Kicks in after about a minute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9SEFMIBwAs

 

[Madwand1]

Yep. His fingers are hitting the right positions for the notes on the fingerboard, but it doesn't look like his fingers are moving for the trills.

That's what I thought at first, but looking more closely, I thought I saw some movement around the time of the trill. He might have shortened it, playing a simplified version, and maybe mistimed somewhat. The professional likely chose not to compromise the music for the dub.

 

[Terzo]

Beautiful violin in this (or viola or whatever the hell, I dunno). Kicks in after about a minute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9SEFMIBwAs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWzzrA6HqI

 

[GoStumpy]

I *really* want to learn Piano.... and I'm thinking that a computer nerd that can type at 100+wpm should be pretty good on a piano, no?

Well apparently they don't exactly cross over the easily, but I'll still try!

One thing I like about Piano, similar to guitar, is that quite a few people have one just sitting in their home, quite often as decoration... It's amazing when someone that knows how to play pretty well just sits down and starts playing a song on somebody's piano! :awe:

 

[Via]

He may have learned to move his left hand fingers in a semi-realistic way, but Crows's bowhold is atrocious, and there's no way he could have produced anything close to the sound on the recording.

The violinist on the overdub is probably a professional who has played for decades. It's impossible for any adult beginner to ceate that type of sound. Ever.

But that doesn't mean an adult beginner can't get some enjoyment out of it.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

That's what I thought at first, but looking more closely, I thought I saw some movement around the time of the trill. He might have shortened it, playing a simplified version, and maybe mistimed somewhat. The professional likely chose not to compromise the music for the dub.

Yeah, I let the trill one go. It was kind of hard for me to see anyway. The shift one was pretty obvious, though. I'm impressed enough he's hitting the right positions... way more realistic than his fingers jumping all over the fingerboard like in most other films.

I *really* want to learn Piano.... and I'm thinking that a computer nerd that can type at 100+wpm should be pretty good on a piano, no?

Well apparently they don't exactly cross over the easily, but I'll still try!

One thing I like about Piano, similar to guitar, is that quite a few people have one just sitting in their home, quite often as decoration... It's amazing when someone that knows how to play pretty well just sits down and starts playing a song on somebody's piano!

Do it. Learning to play was one of the most rewarding things my parents made me do. I'm glad they didn't let me quit when I was in middle school, just built my appreciation for it way more. And yeah, it helped my typing speed too

I don't see why they should cross over easily. The actuation force isn't the same, you're pressing multiple keys at once, you have a pedal(s) to deal with...

 

[Madwand1]

One thing I like about Piano, similar to guitar, is that quite a few people have one just sitting in their home, quite often as decoration... It's amazing when someone that knows how to play pretty well just sits down and starts playing a song on somebody's piano!

You need to memorize music to do this, which isn't hard if you try and make a habit of it, but piano teaching often doesn't emphasize this, and rather emphasizes sight-reading instead. The Suzuki approach is different in this regard, and while it's still somewhat controversial and less accepted in piano teaching than for violin, I think it's good that it emphasizes the absorption and internalization of music. You should learn to read music of course, but I don't think that the ability to read music should considered an essential prerequisite to playing music -- the gist of music is in its playing and hearing, not on the paper, and you can make progress in playing through memorization and enjoy that while developing the reading ability, and hopefully not getting chained to the paper so that you can't just sit down and play on a random instrument because you don't have the notes with you.