There is a particular silence in a house after the last of the children moves out. For some people it is relief, for others it is loss, and for most it is a bit of both. And very often, somewhere in that house, there is a piano that someone once took lessons on, or a keyboard in a closet, or simply a wish that was postponed for twenty years.
Adults in their forties and fifties tell me the same thing in many different words: I spent years making time for everyone else. Now I want something that is mine. The piano is one of the best answers I know.
Why now is a good time
You finally have the evenings. Not hours and hours, perhaps, but regular, predictable time. That regularity matters more for learning the piano than the amount.
You have a reason. Children practice because they are told to. You will practice because you want to play a particular piece, for yourself, or for the family when they come home for the holidays.
You understand quickly. An adult grasps in one sentence what a child needs a month to absorb. That is why adults often move through the first stages faster than they expect. What changes at 50, and what does not describes this in detail.
It fills the quiet with something you build. A quiet house can feel empty, or it can feel like room. Music changes which one it is.
You are far from alone in wanting this
A survey of 2,000 adults in the United Kingdom, commissioned by the orchestra London Concertante, found that about one in three regretted giving up music, and learning an instrument was the activity they regretted most. If you stopped lessons as a child, or never had the chance, the wish has probably not gone anywhere. Coming back to the piano after twenty years away is for those who played before.
The piano that is already in the house
If there is an acoustic piano at home that nobody has played for years, have a piano technician look at it before you start. A piano that has been neglected may need tuning, or more; a technician can tell you whether it is worth restoring. If it is not, or if you have no instrument at all, a digital piano with 88 weighted keys is a perfectly good beginning. Digital or acoustic explains what actually matters.
Make the room yours
Put the instrument where you will see it every day, not in the room nobody uses. Good light on the music stand, a bench at the right height, the lid open. A piano behind a closed door gets played rarely. A piano you walk past, with music open on the stand, invites you to sit down for five minutes, and five minutes often becomes twenty.
Choose your piece now
Before you play a note, choose one piece you would love to play by the end of the first year. Write its name on a card and put it on the music stand. It does not matter whether it is Moon River, a hymn you remember from long ago or a Beatles song. Everything in the first months points toward it, and on the days when practice feels slow, the card reminds you why you started.
A first-year plan
Months one to three. The foundations: how to sit, how to shape the hand, how to make a good sound, how to find any note, how to read the treble clef and count out loud. Twenty to thirty minutes a day. What the first year actually looks like is honest about this stage.
Months four to six. Both clefs, both hands together, your first complete pieces. This is also when many adults hit the plateau; knowing it is coming takes most of its power away.
Months seven to twelve. Pieces that sound like real music. A first piece played for someone. A goal piece chosen for the end of the year.
The obstacles nobody mentions
The habit of putting yourself last. After years of arranging your schedule around other people, it can feel strange, even selfish, to protect half an hour for yourself. Put it on the calendar like any other appointment, and keep it.
Restlessness. A quiet house can make it hard to settle. The first few minutes at the piano are the hardest; begin with something easy and pleasant, and the restlessness usually passes.
Doubting it is worth it at this age. It is. Read is it too late to learn piano at 40, 50 or 60? for the honest version of that answer.
Wanting to go too fast. Adults who finally have time sometimes try to make up for lost years in a month, practice for two hours, and end up with sore forearms. Thirty minutes a day, every day, will take you further. If you are in your forties, the page for adults in their 40s lists the music people your age most often want to play.
Play for them when they come home
There is a very particular pleasure waiting at the end of that first year. The family comes home for a holiday, and after dinner you sit down and play. Not perfectly, not for long, but really. Read playing for a small audience at home when the time comes.
This is for you
For years you were the one who made room for everyone else's music lessons, sports and plans. This one is yours. See the page for adults in their 50s for the music people your age most want to play, and when you are ready, start here.