From 3rd grade(ish) up through senior year of high school, I was fairly into music. I was in both band and orchestra, and played numerous instruments as well as piano. I was never really great, but was proficient enough and played in a few community orchestras as well for fun. When I went off the college, I kind of dropped it and haven’t touched an instrument in a long time.
By chance recently, I acquired a free upright piano. I thought it would be nice to have around for the kids (since fooling around on a piano is what got me into music myself when I was young). Side note: this plan is somewhat succeeding.
Anyway, it’s pretty apparent to me that I literally forgot everything I knew. I used to know a few pieces from memory, but that’s just like gone from my brain. I tried pulling out my viola, but my hands don’t seem to remember where they go to the point that I probably need finger tape again.
Has anyone else come back to music after not playing for a long time? Any tips?
Here’s the bright side, you probably don’t remember your bad habits either!
What I wouldn’t give…
If you’re in search of your old muscle memory repeating basic exercises from when you were playing with the highest familiarity was what brought a lot back for me. Anything you played a bunch to warm-up, the actual pieces I could only get phrases relearning guitar.
I did a lot of scattered musical things in High School myself, and haven’t really kept up over the years. My kids are all quite musically inclined, though. In their case, they have the advantage that our local school district has a very well developed music program, and I went to city schools that weren’t really big enough for that when I was growing up, so I had to pick it all up on my own.
But what I do notice is that there is a huge amount of easily accessible musical education content on the Internet these days. There are beginner videos all over. There are also a lot of theory videos, and I find understanding theory is the best way to progress to the point where your “noodling around” becomes something people aim to listen to.
As far as your viola goes, don’t be afraid to go to an instrument store and ask if they offer some refresher lessons. All you might need is an hour or two with someone demonstrating the right technique to get it back again. They might offer to re-tape it for you, but that might not be the best move if you simply need to re-learn what you already knew.
Forwarding our neighbor’s experience - just start playing some easy things, do maybe an online video course, and you’ll probably notice you’re advancing pretty nicely. Especially comparing to e.g., me, who started from zero at a similar age. It will come back quickly, motoric skills are not like dates in history class. I’d say suppose you know nothing, build up from the basics quickly rather than stress that you can’t play what you could decades ago
I struggle with this as well. What works best for me is to just dive into it. No planning or expectations at the start. Do whatever my gut tells me to do. the crucial part is setting aside time every day. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Only enough to create a habit