Yes. I have several friends who have learned to play the ukulele and are (or were) playing in a ukulele band before Covid. A former neighbor took saxophone lessons for a year or two because he just always wanted to learn. He finally quit because he wasn’t making more progress, but he was busy playing tennis, and he is also 85. I was considering guitar lessons but never pulled the trigger.

If the question were instead "who learned a foreign language?", I'd give the same answer for the same reason:.

Yes, but ONLY IF that person had previously learned a foreign language (or how to play a musical instrument) to at least a moderate degree of proficiency at an earlier time in their life. The answer is the same for seniors as well as for even 30-something adults in my experience.

The reason is, I believe there is such a thing as knowing HOW to learn how to do it and knowing what's involved, with that knowledge gained from having done it before. With that prior experience, it's possible to resurrect those insights and skills to apply them to a different instance. Or, to relearn and regain proficiency with the same target done before.

With no prior related experience and proficiency, I think a cold start that first must involve "what is this task, what's involved, how do I get there?" is very unlikely to be successful. That's what I've seen for myself and among people I've known who tried these two things.

Which is why I believe both musical instrument instruction and language instruction are essential for young children (early primary school years) to start and stick with for awhile.

I think neuroscientists are in agreement from many studies that teaching children arts, and especially music to younger ones, consistently seems to enhance brain development and cognitive ability. Not that anyone should want or expect to raise the next Albert Einstein but a funny phenomenon among highly intelligent people (especially many in academia) in fields removed from music, is that many have a love of music and the ability to play one or more instruments as learned in childhood. Take that or leave it, the ability to enjoy having developed and being able to play music (or speak a foreign language) with proficiency is its own reward.

It likely depends on the instrument! I have played in a bell choir with older people who did not read music and did not play another musical instrument. It can be done! But it’s not something you can do by yourself unless you are very proficient and have access to the bells.

bpath when I was young my church started a bell choir; as I recall they picked it up pretty quickly and did a great job. Totally forgot about that until you mentioned it. Must have been fun.

I suspect that Elmer is right, there’s only a certain level of proficiency you’ll achieve, relative to the potential you’re born with, if you don’t get a feel for it earlier in life.

But I would imagine that with determination one could get good enough to have fun, at a later age. Thinking of golf as an analogy.

I don't consider ringing a bell or two in a bell choir "playing a musical instrument", nor is mechanically strumming chords and changing them as directed on a uke. Anymore than memorizing phrases in a foreign language, repeating them by rote memory, and failing to understand what someone says to you in response "speaking a foreign language". It's memorization, not learning.

I've long suspected (and mentioned to people at times) that there must be 50 million people in the US (the exact number doesn't matter) who can sit at a piano or keyboard and start to play Für Elise (a typical song learned by beginners taking lessons) but maybe no more than 1 million of them can sit down and play Happy Birthday to You or Jingle Bells. Both very simple songs. Why? The point is to illustrate that for too many, their playing was simply memorization and repetition and their repertoire never included anything other than what was memorized. That's not "learning to play". For me, "learning to do" stuff like this means gaining knowledge and understanding, tools and methods, practicing them to develop a feeling for what's involved, and then using what was learned to do more with them on your own than simply what was taught.

I tend to agree with Elmer. Knowing how to read music would be a huge plus, in my opinion, in making progress quickly no matter what the instrument. As with our friend who started playing sax, he had no previous musical experience, so it was harder for him to grasp notes, rhythm and timing, etc, plus the actual playing of notes. It is a fairly slow process at first with most instruments and might be frustrating to just be able to play a few simple notes.

Yes. A secretary where I work. Bought a piano. Took lessons. Enjoyed it.

I tried to learn the piano in my forties. Operative word, tried.

I have two musically inclined siblings. One played the violin, one sang and played the guitar.

I learned the violin in school, but wasn’t good at it.

My youngest has a good singing voice and took piano lesson for years.

Oldest DD didn’t stick with it.

Elmer, playing in a handbell choir isn’t playing a musical instrument? It’s BEING PART OF a musical instrument. Really helps if you know something about music, rather than just ringing on the beat. I should have added to my comment that some of our ringers who came to music late, can’t play anything that calls for syncopation or different bells than they normally play.

I left out something - I think with both foreign languages and musical instruments, there can be a nature vs nurture thing going on too. It's true that some people are "musically inclined", meaning, they start out with having a greater sense of or feeling for music than others do. With teaching and practice (which is really self-nurture) such folks can pick up more, do it more quickly, and apply it with more skill than others not so endowed.

I think the same is true of foreign languages too. At least at the point of learning the first foreign language, there seem to be people whose brains are more attuned to the "learning how to learn it" challenge and can advance more quickly and become more proficient than those "who don't get it". Study and practice with languages is also "self-nuture", as with music.

With both learning tasks, learning how to play an instrument as well as learning a foreign language, the nurture aspect of "learning how to learn it" accomplishment is important. It seems to lead to the phenomenon for those who have developed proficiency with one (whether a language or an instrument) that it's less of a challenge to continue and do the same with another and another. Subsequent ones are much easier and more quickly accomplished than the first because a base has been built.

My husband is actually very musical, and his mother and brother were both musicians, but he never took music lessons outside of recorder class at school. I gave him a guitar for Christmas one year, but he was, I think, embarrassed to take lessons.

That leads me to another point. I think one’s attitude has a lot to do with learning something completely new at a later age. You have to be comfortable with making a lot of mistakes, with accepting instruction and criticism, and believing that you CAN learn it, but also accepting that you might not reach a level of expertise.

It helps a lot to have a teacher who is supportive, with buckets of patience and good cheer, and a circle of friends or family who are supportive. I know bell choirs are not everyone’s cup of tea, but I gotta say, when my dear friend said to me ”well, I don’t get it, but as long as YOU enjoy it” when I expressed how happy I was to have joined a new, more challenging choir, well, it took the wind out of my sails for several minutes.

Elmer has a lot of good points. I’ll swerve a little and offer that any day you don’t wake up dead is a great day to keep on living, and if “learning” to play a musical instrument or language makes you happy, or you enjoy the trying (and I’ll add in arts and crafts), then go right ahead. Everyone learns a little differently and for some previous experience and aptitude will make it quicker or more successful, although I’d also suggest that folks get to make their own determination as to what successful is. Obviously if it’s to be conversant or something then that’s a pretty concrete goal. But there’s many ways to learn (slowly or whatever) and enjoy the journey, even if we don’t get to performance level. Sometimes you never know until you try,

Groundhog Day

"Elmer, playing in a handbell choir isn’t playing a musical instrument?"

Sorry no, not in my opinion.

In learning to play a musical instrument, there are underlying things to know that any beginner must grasp, essential to being able to understand and apply putting the pieces together.

-Scales and keys, major and minor

-The basic relationships between different chords and progressions, in any key

-Time signatures, types of notes and beats (this is where your syncopation-challenged person came up short)

-A few other miscellaneous things.

None of which require knowing how to read music notation to understand but it's an easy and traditional way. Looking at a keyboard can also be done (whether that's the intended instrument or not) and all basics but rhythm can be seen and learned.

Part of developing proficiency, as I mentioned above, is learning the puzzle pieces and then applying them independently and apart from what was taught. The Happy Birthday example. A person who has this basic knowledge from learning an instrument will HEAR these elements in the music of others they listen to. They'll have insights about what they listen to that others without the basic training won't. It opens a wonderful world that too many miss out on.

I suspect none of these are needed or done in playing a bell.

I can only speak for myself. I'm an accomplished artist, sculptor, potter. I work in all mediums, oils, watercolors, etc. I carve in wood and sculpt in clay and stone. No one taught me, I taught myself by going to museums, reading books, working endlessly towards my goal and I achieved them by myself. I took one course in wood carving as I didn't have any tools so I ended up with 15 men and me. They were all doing house signs and I had a huge block of wood and told them I wanted to carve a horse for a six-year-old. Many of them smirked, most didn't. The teacher said it was impossible if you don't know about dimensions etc. He was wrong. I did the entire thing with just the carvers tools, no power tools. So I urge anyone to challenge their selves. You can learn to crochet by reading a book and on and on. The journey may seem tricky at first but it gets better and better. I promise you. Oh and I'm 82 now and still doing it. Go for it. Join a group of novice painters or musicians and enjoy.

Haha, you have shared some of your works and you are gifted!

Elmer, in fact those elements are used when ringing in a bell choir. Join one. I think you would enjoy it.

So I urge anyone to challenge their selves. You can learn to crochet by reading a book and on and on. The journey may seem tricky at first but it gets better and better. I promise you. Oh and I'm 82 now and still doing it. Go for it. Join a group of novice painters or musicians and enjoy.

I think this is a wise and supportive outlook. Fortunately, excepting a few instruments like piano or harp, there are affordable student instruments one can start off with.

So I urge anyone to challenge their selves.

Some will be more challenged than others. Some have natural talent, but many do not. And for seniors, many have vision/hearing issues.

The journey may seem tricky at first but it gets better and better.

^^ This. And I think it is the answer I was seeking. There are of course no guarantees of greatness, but I do think that if one enjoys practicing and works at improvement, one will get better, and if the efforts make one happy, it is worthwhile.

if “learning” to play a musical instrument or language makes you happy, or you enjoy the trying (and I’ll add in arts and crafts), then go right ahead.

Well said.

"Elmer, in fact those elements are used when ringing in a bell choir. Join one. I think you would enjoy it."

I think it's great that you have a music activity you enjoy.

My preferred activity is as a guitar player - mostly as a hobbyist now but I have played with a number of bands. I had a recurring paid monthly gig with a small group that ended just a few years ago. I can also noodle around on a piano, gorilla style. Yes, I can play Happy Birthday but not Fuer Elise because I never had lessons. These days, most of what I do is play along with recorded songs. It's fun, is good practice to build strength and endurance, and is a good emulation of playing live with others. I mostly play by ear and need to use an intermediate knowledge of theory to know what to do, what the choices are, and where to go when doing so.

With music, I like to fly my own plane, so to speak, in formation with others (playing one part in a band) is fine. Ringing one or two single note bells once each measure or two wouldn't work for me. The type of music played with bells also isn't much to my liking. But you go enjoy it, I doubt it's something that would be a bell ringer for me. (sorry)

I agree with Elmer's points. I think that as we age though, we have more time to devote to learning new things, unlike when we are in middle age and often overtaxed with career and child rearing, so it is well worth taking up a significant challenge. I am pretty sure that is a wonderful way to stay active, engaged and continue growing.