Is it possible to be good at playing the piano if you start practising as an adult?

Welcome to Q&A Tuesday with Melanie Spanswick! This is a brand-new series in which pianist, author, teacher and composer Melanie will tackle all your burning questions every Tuesday.

Our fifth question comes from Twitter. @ElenaPortz asks:

"Do you think it’s possible to be good at playing the piano if you start practising as an adult?"

Yes, it's is most definitely possible to learn to play the piano as an adult.  Whether you are starting from the beginning or you have already played as a child and are returning to it many years later. In order to become competent, you will need to establish a regular practice routine, and make sure you stick to it for quite a while, so progress can be made fairly quickly. Adults tend to become frustrated more easily than children, so swift progress is important.

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It's never too late to learn...everyone's a winner!

Classical pianist & columnist Daniel Johnson suggests ways of learning piano later in life Coming to the piano later in life or picking it back up after a break, there will always be a sense of what you want to achieve, and the sudden realisation that it is going to be a long journey.

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Aim to find a very good teacher who will help and inspire you on your journey. Adult practising habits can lead to tension issues, and adults sometimes find it difficult to keep loose and flexible physically, therefore a teacher who can really help with this technical aspect is extremely beneficial. Instigating a solid technique will be a crucial tool. If you have already played the piano before, you may like to explore my piano course, which is intended especially for the piano returner: Play it again PIANO Book 1, 2 & 3, published by Schott Music.

Join us next Tuesday for question 6.

Have you got a question you’d like to ask? Contact Ellie at [email protected].