The really simple answer to the question of : Can seniors learn to play the piano, is a resounding YES!
I’ve been a piano teacher for quite some years now and I’ve taught all ages and I know from experience that any age group can learn to play the piano and that includes seniors.
I think one of the reasons seniors can doubt whether they can learn is because we as adults can doubt our ability to learn, whereas kids don’t have doubts. Young people who want to learn don’t even consider whether they can do it or not, they just simply get started. Some later start having doubts which can lead to them quitting lessons. Unfortunately us adults often can have the mindset of doubting our ability to learn, not just the piano, but any new skill set. Adults can get bogged down with playing mind games with themselves and it usually is not very helpful or encouraging.
One of the obstacles that seniors have in deciding whether to learn the piano either for the first time or for the second time, is learning to read music. I get it. It can look quite daunting especially those ads for ‘learning to play the piano’ online courses that show very complex music. I truly believe anyone at any age can learn to read music – even people who have dyslexia (apparently learning music is helpful to people who have dyslexia) . There might be one exception and that might be what is termed as ‘musical dyslexia’ which has not been studied and therefore remains unproven as a real condition yet. If you have had trouble learning to read music in the past, please don’t presume you have the unproven musical dyslexia. You may just need to take learning a bit slower.
The main reason why I think that anyone can learn to read music is that musical notation is logical. There are patterns built into the notation and once you understand what the various patterns are, it makes it so much easier to learn to read music.
The perceived obstacle of not being able to read music for seniors wanting to learn to play the piano, can be daunting and off putting. I understand that it would be very brave to even consider trying again, but it is certainly possible. Perhaps your teacher, all those years ago had only one way of explaining things and they didn’t allow for questions. Through my numerous years as a teacher, I know that everyone learns in their own way. For instance, if I’m learning new information I will absorb, understand and make use of new knowledge if I can read it. I’m very much a visual learner – I love reading information as well as diagrams and pictures. Other people prefer hearing new information – they learn things better when someone is verbally explaining things. There are several different ways that a person can learn new information and maybe your previous attempts at learning to play the piano were hampered simply because your piano teacher wasn’t teaching you in a way that was suited to your learning style.
I also think that in years gone by, piano teachers, along with other sorts of teachers didn’t really allow for questions . I often felt as a child that if I asked my piano teacher questions then I might seem rude and I was not the sort of child to be mouthy or rude. As a result there were questions that I didn’t ask but I was fortunate that somehow the answers I needed became obvious sooner or later.
In my own teaching, I have always encouraged questions because they reflect a level of enthusiasm and commitment to learning to play the piano. I also find student’s questions very useful as I can understand more fully what they know and where their train of thought is going.
In some ways I think adults have a few advantages over kids wanting to learn the piano. The student – teacher dynamic is quite different when the student is an adult. Not only would the adult student be more realistic about the commitment and patience that is required, but an adult student cannot be just told what to do without some sort of explanation.
When it comes to learning any new skill, not just learning to play the piano, there are really three factors to obtaining mastery and they are time, effort and enthusiasm. If anyone wants to play the piano well, then its really about putting time and effort for each technique to be mastered. Granted, some seniors may take a bit longer to learn each new skill, but what does that really matter? Who really cares if a person takes, for example, four weeks to learn about tied notes, when others will get it in two weeks? Who is going to actual care? Certainly not your piano teacher. The point is; it really doesn’t matter if you take a little longer to achieve learning to play the piano, as long as you actually achieve your goal of learning to play the piano.
I hope you can now understand why I would say that any senior who wanted to learn to play the piano, can achieve their goal. All that is needed is time, effort and enthusiasm.