Hi -- I'm a 52 year old female "fossil" and delighted to find this
group and know there are others like me out there. I'm taking
trumpet lessons and teaching myself piano.

This past July I decided I was going to learn to play trumpet and to
play it as well as I can. I want to be able to play classically, but
I also want to be able to jam and to play in other styles, including
jazz. In order to do so I need to improve my musicality in general
(ear training, understanding of harmony, etc.) and the best way to
do that, I figure, is to learn to play piano.

I was greatly encouraged by an article in Scientific American last
August about expertise -- and how it's mostly just the time you put
in and it's pretty hard to separate out "talent." Ten years of
about 20 hours of good work a week is what it takes to be an
expert. Ok -- I want to be musician -- not just play an instrument,
but feel comfortable and confident talking about and playing with
others -- and 62 is my goal. The great thing is that in the
meantime, I have a head start and, even better, the journey itself
will be fun.

I've always wanted to play trumpet. The best way to describe it is
to say the "superpower" of my personal mythical hero was a
trumpeter. So deciding at 52 that it is something I can do, is like
finding out that, with work and time, I can learn to fly like
Superman.

My story is that I started piano lessons in kindergarten and after
only a few months I quit. My teacher was fine, I think -- my older
sister liked her, but I was very shy and terrified of her. But I
did learn how to read music notation at the same time I learned the
alphabet, for which I am grateful. Later I learned flute in school
(trumpet was a "boy's" instrument an off limits), and then clarinet,
guitar, recorder. I still play flute, but have never gotten past
intermediate level because I lack motivation for it. I never hear a
flautist and think "Oh, I wish I could play like that."

So now I'm about four months along in my trumpet/piano studies. I
just finished John Thompson's first-year book, and have moved on to
the second. I always say I'm terrible at memorization, but I keep
reading how important it is for piano. So, yesterday I challenged
myself to memorize the simplified Minuet in G (one of the first
pieces in the second year book). I was amazed that with a bit of
analysis and practice, I could do it by the end of the day. The
next morning I tried it with my eyes shut, and even found the new
hand positions! COOL! You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

cheers, Meg