Taking up the study of a musical instrument as an adult can be a daunting challenge, but it is not impossible if you have the drive and enthusiasm, writes Olive Keogh
Des Lawless was 48 years old when he started learning the clarinet. Today, at 75, he is still playing. Lawless had the advantage of being able to read music before he began the clarinet, but he says that getting to grips with the instrument was still a big challenge.
"Learning as an adult is difficult," he says. "From a technical point of view it's challenging and you also have family and work commitments which younger students don't have. That said, adults have the advantage of application. They are not so easily distracted by other things.
"I was always interested in music and was a founder member of Our Lady's Choral Society, where I sang for 28 years. But I felt I was going nowhere as a serious musician," Lawless says. "This prompted me to accumulate €36 to buy myself a clarinet and advertise for a teacher. When I began I had four children and I worked emergency shifts in the ESB. So if there was a power cut at 3 a.m., I was the fellow up the pole trying to fix the problem. But I was determined to take the clarinet seriously, so I'd always go to my lesson first thing in the morning even if I'd been up all night.
"Playing the clarinet has given me great pleasure, and making music is a very satisfying thing to do. I always knew I'd never be a great player, but I worked hard to reach a point where I was competent to play with other people." Despite several bouts of illness, Lawless has no plans to stop playing the clarinet. "I wasn't allowed play for a few months after surgery and it was very difficult to get back in shape. At the moment I'm practising every day - driving the local cats mad - to get back in condition and rediscover a good tone," he says.
"I think adults need to have reasonable expectations about how good they're going to get," says Tim Hanafin, lecturer in wind instruments at the DIT Conservatory of Music. "It is unlikely an adult will ever reach the standard required to play as a professional musician. But adults can reach a reasonable level of proficiency if they put the work in. This means practising every day for a minimum of half an hour although an hour would be better. Anything less is not sufficient."
