Brain Train

This past summer our new associate pastor and his wife moved into an apartment just five minutes down the hill from where I live. She put a post on her Facebook advertising piano lessons, and I thought to myself, How handy is that? If not now, when will you ever do this? You’re not getting any younger! Go for it! So I did. Now, I practice (almost) daily and twice a month I am sitting in front of a keyboard with my patient teacher, hoping I’ll remember what I practiced!

Oh, I can play a bit of piano by ear (due to having had guitar lessons as a kid), but all my songs sound the same because I am very limited in my ‘creative chording repertoire’. So, C. is teaching me a few things, and I am slowly improving. Sooner or later- I think it’s going to be later -  all this stilted plinkety-plunking will be but a distant memory and my fingers will be flying happily and confidently across the keys. And more neural pathways will have opened up in my brain! Yes, research supports this. Learning music opens up new pathways that otherwise go unused, and this increases ability in many areas, not only playing music. The sky will be the limit! 

I have a renewed respect for my daughter who practiced piano for a good many years.

What new skill are you interested in learning?