Should I Even Bother Trying to Re-Learn Piano, Or Is It a Waste of Time?

by Stephen
(US)

Comments or Questions:

I was just reading about autism and music. I am recovering from a subarachnoid hemmorhage (bleeding in the brain) that ended up bleeding for over 4.5 days.

I used to play the piano, bass guitar, etc. Guitar as well as the drums.

I admit I started a family and haven't played anything in a really long time. I also realized that certain abilities are no longer there - since it happened to me my left side is way off and slower to respond.

With your experience do you think a person in my situation could learn to play them again? I was thinking of starting with the piano since it sounds better and quieter than the drums. Since I have to live with my Dad I think he would appreciate the Piano over the Drums.

I like it just for the sound it produces. I don't have a real Piano - I have to use an Electronic Keyboard which means I have to buy one.

Before I do can I ask if I am heading in the right direction? Please be honest. I am used to losing things since this happened.

It seems all the doctors do is tell me what I can not do, so any help you can give would be highly appreciated. Thank You!

Stephen


Hello, Stephen,

Never let doctors tell you what you CAN'T DO. It is likely that it is their way of saying, "We don't KNOW what to do."

I do recommend that you get yourself a keyboard and start learning piano, and I'm going to send you to some articles I read just last week that sparked a fire in me!

These articles are excerpts from a brand new book about NEUROPLASTICITY, and how our brain has the ability to rewire itself.

MUSIC is an important part of that.

You may not care for the religious perspective of the author, but please read what she says in these book excerpts:

What Is Neuroplasticity

The Gift of Music

Autism


I wish you the best of luck. You have fortitude. Keep pushing ahead!

Sincerely,

Dana

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starstarstarstarstar 		Yes, you should relearn piano
by: MaryPat

My mother almost died from a ruptured tubal pregnancy and as a result suffered some brain damage. She had to relearn counting money and other simple math concepts.

She had been a music major in college and had classical piano scores memorized. She lost all of that too. She still could read music and could play simple pieces for her students to sing along with, but not complex classical scores.

Twenty years passed, and one night watching a friend play " Malaguena" (sorry not sure of the spelling) on his classical guitar, she felt her fingers moving. She could feel the keys, both hands knew where to go. This was one of the pieces she had memorized for her graduation recital, twenty years earlier.

Her music was not lost in her brain anymore.

My Dad went out the next day and bought her a new piano and she played classical music and learned ragtime, something she had always want to play but the nuns hadn’t approve of when she was younger.

I was a teenager when this happened and have very fond memories of falling asleep listening to her playing piano in the room below. She played for rest of her life.

Don’t give up, your music is still inside your brain, you just need to open up new pathways to it.

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