7 advantages adults have over kids when it comes to learning violin
You’ve probably heard about why you’re too old to pick up any instrument, let alone one as complex as violin.
I’m going to tell you why that’s not true, from the perspective of someone who teaches violin to adults for a living and has seen impressive results. Kids certainly have advantages from starting early, but there are also things that make it much easier to pick up this instrument as an adult.
Listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The advantages to starting young
Let’s first go over some of the advantages that kids have over adults. I’ve taught violin to 3 year olds to retirees, and here are notable difference that I’ve observed when it comes to learning violin.
Better mobility and flexibility
There’s no way around it, kids have small and flexible hands that you can bend any which way, and this does make many things easier. Staying relaxed is effortless for them, and is something adults often struggle with.
The problem
However, due to natural flexibility and general looseness, kids can get away with not needing a proper stretching or warmup routine.
This can really come back to bite them when they grow up— even by your late teens or early twenties, your body will be less forgiving to the amount of small, repetitive movements we’re asking it to do when playing violin.
If you need some ideas for how to warm up properly on the violin, download my free violin warm up guide:
Without this proper stretch routine as a child, they may miss out on developing this healthy habit that you will put in place out of necessity as an adult learner, and this will allow you to avoid injury and keep playing for a long time.
Accountability
Another advantage that kids have over you is that they will generally have built-in accountability in form of their parents, as well as a teacher.
When you’re a kid, your parents will be on your case about practicing violin, just as they check in on you to make sure you’ve done your homework, or brush your teeth. With this type of parental involvement, violin becomes a normal part of your daily life.
A teacher’s perspective
As a teacher, I can require things from school-aged students that I wouldn’t impose in the same way on an adult learner, because they are used to receiving homework from adults.
I’m their violin teacher, but I’m first and foremost a teacher: contributing to their general education and helping them developing healthy habits, discipline, good manners, and other such non-violin-related skills.
The problem - why kids quit
Accountability in the form of an authority figure can be bad as well, and is the reason that many children quit their instrument early on. You may have quit piano lessons because of a mean teacher, or because your parents made you practice until you didn’t like it anymore.
There are other ways to develop accountability, and perhaps putting those in place intentionally is better than having it decided for you as a child.
Mindset - the greatest advantage
In my experience, the biggest advantage that kids have over adults is their mindset. Children are just used to being beginners— a four year old who’s starting violin can barely read, so they’re really not going to feel bad about messing up in violin. Quite the opposite, in fact: they’ll proudly show you what they played all week, squeaks and all.
A learner’s mindset
Kids accept our guidance because they’re used to being corrected by adults, and it becomes one of many other things they don’t know how to do yet and are practicing without necessarily hearing (or caring) how things are progressing in the moment.
However, adult and even pre-teen beginners in violin will be acutely aware of any bad sounds they make, and with violin there are plenty. Some of my students will apologize when they make a small mistake or squeak, and this is something I almost never get from little kids.
You may not be able to do anything about the fact that your hands don’t bend like they did when you were in first grade, but mindset is something you have control over.
If you approach learning an instrument like a child does, you will progress much more quickly, since you know, you can read now and stuff.
In summary…
So in summary, kids have 3 things on us— flexible hands, accountability, and a childlike sense of wonder and open-mindedness that slowly gets…..
But if you have a good warmup routine, an accountability buddy, and zero ego when it comes to learning, you might still come out ahead.
The advantages to starting later
Your hands may not bend like they used to, but you have a lifetime of experience learning other skills that will help you immensely in learning violin.
You are more patient
Once your pre-frontal cortex is fully developed, you are able to understand that things you do know will serve you in the future.
Here’s why:
You have enough experience in practicing other things to know that if you do something a lot, you’ll get better at it.
When things don’t improve instantly, you will trust your past experience and know that if you practice, you’ll get better.
You are more self-aware
As an adult learner, you will hear many questionable noises coming from your instrument. These sounds will bother you, and they will probably bother the people around you.
But, you will probably notice these sounds right away and want to do something about it.
Conversely, kids will sometimes go through the motions or a checklist without really realizing what they’re doing. They’re “practicing,” but they’re not really listening.
You are also much more in control and aware of your body. It can be really difficult to explain to a kid to relax this particular tiny muscle in your neck, whereas adults have much more control of their muscles and can do things on command more easily.
You are smarter
One of the things that is the most fun for me as a teacher working with adults is that I can simply explain things to you. It’s difficult to explain the concept of rhythms and tempo to a kid who has never learned fractions.
You know about fractions, so I can teach you about rhythm in under 10 minutes. I will rely more on repetition with kids to reinforce concepts that you can understand in just a few minutes of explanation.
Case study: parent-child duos
I have taught several parent-child duos who take lessons together as a joint activity, and first of all, it’s very cute, but second of all, this is tricky as a teacher because after a few weeks, the parent and child are already at vastly different levels.
If both are practicing, the parent will be way ahead of the child because I can explain something to them, and then they can do it. I don’t have to break things down quite as much as with children.
Sometimes, my first lesson with an adult student spans what we can do in 4 weeks or even several weeks with a child.
I spend a lot of time teaching the kids how to stand, how keep their music neat, how to not talk while I’m talking— all things you already do as a functioning adult. This frees up a bunch of time for us to focus on violin.
Returning to music is often easier than you remember
This is something that I think will be particularly noticeable if you are returning to violin after having quit as a kid, even if your first instrument wasn’t piano. There are so many instances of a student having an “ah-hah” moment with something that you just never got when you were younger, and you now realize wasn’t so complicated after all.
This goes for playing as well. I’ve had students how have been away from the instrument for 10, 15, even 20 years, and were able to find their level fairly quickly considering after some focused practice, and then are off to harder repertoire, and this is truly one of the most rewarding things to witness as a teacher.
There so much satisfaction knowing that you can do something that you used to struggle with now.
Other than mindset, this is the biggest advantage that adults have. They simply learn quicker than kids.
You are more independent.
If there is a concept we didn’t have time to get to in class, say a music theory concept, I can simply send you a YouTube video and in 5-10 minutes you’ll know what you need to know.
This goes for:
Music theory
Music history
Listening
Ear training
Keyboard skills
Etc…
You also know how to look up any thing that you’re curious about, or go to a concert to watch a violinist you’re a fan of, or generally have the freedom to take initiative in your learning on a deeper level.
Lessons are on you
If all else fails, there’s always the fact that you’re paying for your lessons.
If you’ve ever signed up for a yoga class in the winter that you know you-will-never-feel-like-going-because-it’s-cold-outside-but-past-you-already-paid-for-it-in-September-so-that-future-you-would-get-out-of-the-house, so too will this logic will help motivate you to practice.
You’re spending your hard-earned money on a teacher that will be waiting to see what you’ve worked on this week, so you might as well have something to show.
When I was a kid, and even when I was a teen, I took my lessons for granted in a way that I really can’t know. This makes me grateful for my parents and comes from a place of privilege, but if you’ve paid for something, you’re going to show up for it.