Did you know....
Have you ever saw small children and babies dancing around in front of a live band?
It is instinctual that a baby dance to music. They never have to see an adult doing it for themselves to dance to music. The music just naturally moves them. If music naturally and instinctively moves babies and small children, it can mentally and physically move you, too.
My psychiatrist insists that I wear my ear buds, and that I play MP3s or live, streaming radio from non-stop sources, such as that from http://www.iheart.com/ (you can also get the app) when I'm doing my morning chores, which often on a daily basis brings huge panic attacks and floods of tears.
Every day that I follow his suggestion, I have a great morning. No panic attacks. No tears. I feel at peace.
Then, when I finish with my chores, I often go into my piano / keyboard practice for the day while the musical circuits are cookin' in my head. Music is like any other exercise, especially when you read music. I have pieces that I play to warm up. I play pieces that then challenge me more after I've warmed up, then I play fun pieces - the reason that I've learned to play music, in the first place, to "cool me down" - just like any fitness program.
The music that I choose to play, in all 3 phases of each part of my practice program are almost, but not always, popular music songs that I know, either current or from days gone by. Now and then, I do play pieces that I have no idea what they are, just to make myself read notes in an order that I've never seen them in. That's where the real practice and learning comes in.
I taught myself to read music above the age of 40. During that journey, I never did play "kids school primer" music, but as I say, "To each their own". If you decide to teach yourself how to read music, and you find that method best to teach yourself how to play, then, by all means, please follow that path. It's just that I wanted to play real music from the get-go. The first song that I learned how to read was "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin. The second song that I learned to read was the stage version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen / Freddy Mercury. Granted, for the first few weeks, they sounded like bad, slow funeral drags, but I believe that playing slow with no mistakes is better than playing fast with a lot of mistakes. By playing slow with no mistake, you can always gain speed, and you'll know the correct notes perfect. If learn to play the song quickly, but with lots of mistakes, later on, it will be extremely difficult to retrain your brain to learn the song the correct way.
Go ahead! Get a GOOD QUALITY KEYBOARD (visit The Guitar Center - they have many good home-version keyboards), get yourself a nice, piano-weighted keyboard and jump into it. I've never met a person that did so that ever regretted it. You'll have to practice a half an hour a day - ever day (or at least 6 days a week.). Don't give me that "I don't have time to do that" crap. If you have time to sit down in the evening and watch reality TV shows, you have time to improve your brain (and VASTLY improve your memory!) instead of letting it turn to mush! Actually, I practice an hour or two 6 days a week. That would be a great goal for you to set for yourself, too. Granted, your schedule might find an hour or two of practice every day of the week 'a bit much', but there has to be a couple days per week that you can dedicate to that much time, and the rest of the days of any particular week, you can practice at least a half an hour to 45 minutes a day.
HAPPY PLAYING! Go a head - expand your memory and relax the bod!
- Michael
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