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Why Learning an Instrument Later in Life Is Better Than You Think

brian@somniam.com (Brian Beane) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 18:56:29 GMT

I've always loved to sing. In the car, in the kitchen, pretty much anywhere nobody could hear me. For years, "take voice lessons" sat on my someday list, right next to a dozen other things I kept promising myself I'd get to.

About twelve years ago, I saw a discounted offer for voice lessons, and something in me said to just buy them. I was more nervous walking into that first lesson than I'd been in most job interviews. My teacher asked me to sing something so she could hear my voice. I sang a few lines of a song I'd heard on the radio on the drive over. She looked at me and said, "You just heard that and sang it that way? That was very nice!"

I know it sounds small. For me, it changed everything. The thing I had been afraid of for years turned out to be the best part of my week.

Since then, I've heard the same worry from a lot of people my age: "I'm too old to learn an instrument. I'd never be any good." So I went looking at the research. What I found surprised me, and I want to share it with you.

Your brain is still ready to learn

The study that stopped me in my tracks worked only with true beginners. Researchers in Geneva and Hanover followed 132 healthy retirees between 62 and 78, and to take part, none of them could have had more than six months of music lessons in their whole lives. People like the version of me who kept saying "someday."

After six months of weekly lessons, brain scans showed more grey matter in four regions tied to higher-level thinking, and working memory improved by 6%. In the group learning piano, a key part of the brain that processes sound held steady, while it declined in the group that only listened to music.

At the one-year mark, the piano players had also improved their fine motor skills more than the listening group, and probably their working memory as well.

I appreciated that the researchers were honest about what this does and doesn't mean. They said music lessons don't make the brain younger. They slow aging in certain parts of it. I'll take that, especially from something I'd happily do anyway.

The bigger picture points the same way

A team at the University of Exeter studied more than a thousand adults over 40 and found that playing an instrument, especially piano, was linked to better memory and a better ability to work through complex tasks. Their lead researcher described music as a possible way to build cognitive reserve, the brain's ability to stay flexible and resilient. What moved me most was their recommendation: older adults should be encouraged to come back to music later in life.

Studies of long-term brain health line up with that. A 2022 review found that playing an instrument was significantly associated with a lower risk of dementia in older adults. A large study highlighted by the National Endowment for the Arts found that people who played often or always had a 35 percent lower dementia risk.

I want to be straight with you, because you deserve that. These studies show a connection. They don't prove that playing music causes those results. The same large study found that listening to music was linked even more strongly to some measures of cognitive wellbeing. I won't tell you a guitar will protect your memory. What I will tell you is that nothing in this research says you've missed your chance.

We have some real advantages now

When I was a kid, music lessons felt like homework. At this stage of life, they feel completely different.

Nobody is making you practice scales for a recital. You pick the music, whether it's the songs you grew up with or the album you've played a thousand times. You also know yourself much better than you did at twelve, and you know why you want to do this. And for many of us, there's finally some time. One adult band member described it perfectly: this opportunity comes at a stage of life when you actually have the time to give it, and once people join, very few quit.

You won't be the only beginner in the room

If starting alone feels like too much, you don't have to. The New Horizons music program started in 1991 at the Eastman School of Music and has grown to more than 200 bands and orchestras built for adults who want to make music together. Many welcome adults with no musical experience at all, along with people who played in school and stopped decades ago. One program's motto made me smile: "Your best is good enough!"

You'd have plenty of company. In a national poll of adults 50 to 80, 17% said they play an instrument at least a few times a year, and about 8% play with other people at least occasionally.

Your first step can be a small one

When I bought those lessons, I didn't commit to becoming a singer. I committed to showing up once. That's all a first step has to be. It could be:

One trial lesson, in person or online
A beginner group class, where everyone starts at the same place
Renting an instrument before you buy one
Sitting in on a local New Horizons rehearsal just to listen
Fifteen minutes a day with a song you already love

If it turns out not to be your thing, that's fine. Try something else. What matters is that you didn't leave it on the list.

I built Somniam because I know how easy it is to keep saying "someday." I said it for years. So here's my gentle nudge: you don't have to be good at it. You only have to start.

Someday is Now.

Take a look at the music experiences on Somniam, or start the Pathway to see what fits you.

Sources: University of Geneva, HES-SO Geneva and EPFL, NeuroImage: Reports (2023); Worschech et al., one-year piano study (PubMed 37143214); University of Exeter PROTECT study, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2024); BMC Neurology systematic review and meta-analysis (2022); National Endowment for the Arts (Dec 2025); University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, supported by AARP (2024); New Horizons International Music Association.

Sometimes you just have to take the first step

brian@somniam.com (Brian Beane) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:49:56 GMT

Last Thursday afternoon, I found myself standing inside Terminal A at Boston Logan Airport, waiting to audition to become the official “Voice of Logan.”

I even ended up auditioning on stage.

If you had told me a few years ago that I would voluntarily put myself in that position, I probably would have laughed.

But I did it.

And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I realized that this was about much more than a voice-over contest.

It was about taking the first step.

About 10 years ago, I took some voice acting classes. I really enjoyed them. I recorded demos. People encouraged me. I thought I had a pretty good voice.

And then I did absolutely nothing with it.

Like so many things we tell ourselves we’re going to do someday, life got busy. Work got in the way. Other responsibilities took priority. And that dream found its way onto the shelf.

Sound familiar?

When I heard about the Voice of Logan contest, Boston Logan International Airport’s search for the person who will become the voice behind its overhead announcements, my first instinct could easily have been the same one I’ve had many times before:

That sounds interesting.

Maybe I should try it.

Maybe someday.

Instead, I went.

I took the T into Boston, walked into Logan, got in line with hundreds of other people and auditioned.

And then something pretty funny happened.

NBC10 Boston was covering the auditions, and later that evening, there I was in their news coverage of the Voice of Logan contest.

Will I become the Voice of Logan? I have absolutely no idea.

But that’s not really the important part.

I showed up.

And that is becoming one of the ideas I believe in most strongly as we get closer to launching Somniam.

You don’t have to know exactly where something is going before you begin.

Sometimes the first step comes before the confidence.

Sometimes you discover the passion by trying something instead of thinking about it.

And sometimes something you put on the shelf years ago is still sitting there waiting for you.

One of the things I’ve been doing as we build Somniam is collecting stories of people who are proving this every day.

We call it the Somniam Signal.

Recently, I came across the story of a 61-year-old man who discovered improv in his 50s. He now takes classes, attends intensives and performs. His biggest complaint?

He wishes he had started 30 years earlier.

Another story was about a 56-year-old woman who left a 30-year career in risk management because she wanted her next chapter to be in women’s professional sports. She repeatedly applied for entry-level jobs and couldn’t even get an interview.

So she stopped waiting for someone to give her permission.

She started building her own business around women’s sports fan experiences.

And then there was the retired couple, both 69, whose travels eventually turned into what they call their “Year of the Pilgrimage.” They’ve cycled through Japan, ridden hundreds of miles across Iowa and are planning their next adventure along the Pacific Coast.

They didn’t begin with some enormous plan to reinvent their lives.

They started moving.

That may be the common thread in all of these stories.

The first step doesn’t have to be huge. It just has to happen.

That is really why I’m building Somniam.

So many of us have spent decades working, raising families, taking care of other people and doing what needed to be done. Somewhere along the way, there are things we wanted to try that got pushed into the someday category.

Learn to sing.

Play guitar.

Travel somewhere you’ve always dreamed about.

Start a business.

Paint.

Volunteer.

Get back in shape.

Try acting.

Or maybe audition to become the Voice of Logan.

We’re building Somniam to help make that first step easier, to help people discover what’s possible, to cut through the overwhelming number of choices, and to find a realistic place to begin.

We’re getting closer to launching, and over the next several weeks I’m going to share more stories like these.

Some will be extraordinary.

Some will be simple.

And I think the simple ones may be the most important of all.

Because maybe you don’t need to completely reinvent your life.

Maybe there’s just one thing you’ve been saying you’d do someday.

I have a question for you:

What’s something you’ve always wanted to do…but haven’t taken the first step yet?

I’d genuinely love to hear it.

Someday is now.

…Brian