Recently I have been fasicnated by the thoughts of playing a musical instrucment (piano or keyboard? [are they the same?]) but then again I am already 21 years old and my prior musical experience is just with the recorder…
Am I too late to learn?
Of course not. you’re probably a little on the late side if you were intending to be a virtuoso, but given enough practice and lessons and what not there is no reason why you can’t get to a decent level
Learning how to read music is the hardest part of playing piano. Well that and learning how to get your hands to do two different things at the same time.
And in my opinion piano and keyboard are the same. I could be wrong however.
No, you shouldn’t even think of learning to play piano at your age. You’re 21 and your learning period is over. Prepare for 44 years of drudgery, with no new learning whatsoever, followed by a stultifying retirement. 
[/tongue-in-cheek]
21! You’re young, you’re mentally sharp, your joints are limber - go to it! have fun! keep trying something new! don’t turn into a young fogey!
Me, I took up bagpipes at 39. I won’t ever be a Gold Clasp winner, but I’m having fun with them.
It is never too late. It just might take a little longer than if you were 6, but you also have more maturity and discipline. I played the guitar since I was 9 and when I was 20 I had a 21-year-old friend who said he would like to play too but he thought he was too old to start. Well, he went ahead and became an awesome player (although he put in many hours of practice and got a good instructor). You may uncover a new talent.
You can learn, and likely do rather well. However, you won’t do as well as you might have had you started 10 or more years ago. Once you’re past somewhere in the 12-14 year old range, a window of learning ability related to hand/finger skills closes that will preclude your being as adept as you might have been. So the odds of your being “Carnegie Hall excellent” are significantly reduced.
That said, age wouldn’t stop you from learning, understanding, and getting quite good given a reasonable amount of motivation and talent potential. I started playing guitar in my late twenties. I’m no virtuoso, but I can make music and I get a lot of enjoyment from it. I say go for it.
Every piano has a keyboard, but not every keyboard instrument is a piano. “Keyboard” implies the inclusion of electric piano, organ, etc. If you’re not certain exactly which instrument you’d like to learn, or if you think you might want to play more than one specific type of instrument, I believe a traditional piano is the best to start on.
The main problem most people face is they get tired and give up too soon. if you are constant you should get over the first, boring, part, and then enjoy it. It is the ame with languages and other things. people give up too soon.
You can learn if you have a burning desire. Otherwise you will probably give it up.
Yes. I will go out on a limb and say 115 yrs of age is way too late to start learning an instrument.
however, you’re just a kid. I didn’t start until I was 20 (and only occasionally)…and by the time I was 29 I was on stage with platinum selling recording artists.
I’m wagering Katharine Hepburn is too old to learn the Sousaphone . . .
Look how long Beethoven waited…
Good advice from everyone, but I think that one thing has been left out. Everyone has some level of innate musical ability. You might be predisposed to learning very rapidly. Does music ability run in your family? If not, then you can still learn, but like others have pointed out it will take some serious time and effort. Piano is a complicated instrument, and if you don’t know how to read music already, you are looking at (I am guessing here) 3 years of steady practice until you become comfortable on that instrument. Other instruments are less difficult. Take my favorite, the bass, for example.
I would say you owe it to yourself to go for it, but be ready to work your ass off!
Hey, I started playing clarinet at age 9, switched to oboe at age 17, and took up bagpipes at age 21. I’m not fabulousawesomeamazingvirtuoso at any, but I think it’s fun to play, and that’s all I care about. Of course my family/neighbors/neighbors’ cats might disagree…
kunoichi, do you find the reeds for the pipes to be similar to that of the oboe - ie. - tempermental? I remember reading a story that had an oboe player grumbling about “the damned reed” and didn’t understand, but I’ve had recent conversations about the chanter reeds that use similar language… the oboe uses a double reed, correct? is it similar in construction to a chanter reed?
Yes, the bagpipe chanter reed is quite similar to an oboe reed. The principal difference is that while oboe reeds are made of a substance called “reed”, chanter reeds are made out of planks taken from park benches.
Seriously, bagpipe double-reeds are much heavier than oboe reeds.
No, you are never too old to learn to play an instrument, as long as you don’t have inflated notions of becoming the world’s best (sure, it could happen, but it’s very unlikely…). Back when my husband was teaching bagpipes his oldest student was 57 when he started and went on to win medals in competition. An exception, to be sure, but proof that age doesn’t have to stop you.
Just as a sidebar - it’s difficult to say which is the hardest instrument to play because it’s often an apples and oranges situation. With piano, for instance, you have multiple things going on at once and quite complex written scores. Bagpipes only use nine notes, but there’s an athletic component to playing them absent from, say, keyboards. Flutes have fewer notes than pianos to worry about, and aren’t as heavy as bagpipes, and don’t have reeds like clarinets, oboes, and saxphones (and bagpipes), but my first flute teacher padded the back wall of her studio due to the number of novices passing out from hyperventilating and other wind problems.
My advice - pick an instrument you like to hear, and be persistant. Although you can teach yourself (I taught myself both piano and how to read music on my own) a good teacher will enable you to progress much faster with fewer bad habits.
And practice, practice, practice!
Tempermental isn’t the word for it…
Yes, oboes use double reeds. Essentially, they are the same as chanter reeds, but somewhat more “engineered”. The major difference is that they’re designed to be blown between your lips instead of free-blown like in a chanter or drone, so they’re somewhat more delicate and shaped. Broomstick isn’t far off with the plank analogy, although from what I’ve heard, the original oboes from the dawn of time were as obnoxious as 'pipes can be.
Storebought reeds are overpriced and of poor quality (at least poor consistency… sometimes they can be redeemed). Most good oboists make their own reeds or buy from someone who makes good reeds, but it’s such a personalized experience that even good reeds need to be “adjusted” (this is why many oboists carry around a toolkit including knives and gouges). Even something you wouldn’t normally think about might change the responsiveness and tone quality of a given reed… for example, altitude. A reed you make at your home at the top of a hill won’t sound the same in the concert hall at a lower elevation.
As for the joke about the oboist saying “damned reed,” well that’s just a good example of the well-known truth that a true professional blames his instrument 
An aside to Broomstick’s aside… I started out trying to play the flute, but for whatever reason was incapable of getting the proper embouchure (mouth position) to make a sound, hence why I played the clarinet. I know some flute players who had the reverse problem. I still can’t make a sound on a flute, despite being much more mature about learning how to play. Keyboard instruments have the advantage of not depending on embouchure and breathing, but they have other difficulties (getting each hand to do something different, plus the relative expense of the instrument!). So the point of all this, try piano first if you like. Don’t give up too early, but if you really can’t get the hang of it, try something else. Just don’t wait until you’re 115 and you should be golden
Just like you never see someone having a heart attack clutch their chest and say, “Gah, I wish I’d spent more time at the office!” you never hear anyone sayng, “I’m so sorry I learned how to play music.”
It is a gift that you can give yourself for life. It is also one of the most rewarding past times there is.
Go for it. If you want a really nice compact piano type electronic rig, look into a Fatar keyboard. I have one and they kick @ss. Also, look into the Miracle computer teaching system, it has received high marks from many sources.
PS: If you are serious about learning the keyboard, DO NOT buy one that has “synth” or organ type keys. You want a weighted action keyboard that will act just like a piano.
My sister did play the piano (now I am kicking myself why I passed up the chance when my mum asked me whether I wanted to learn too) but she gave up, more of an attitude problem than aptitude, I believe.
I have been thinking about it because since young there has been ‘tunes’ in my head. I kept dreaming of catchy tunes which I completely forgot when I woke up, or sometimes while randoming humming I stumbled upon something nice. Problem is I hums off-key (major obstacle to my music career? haha) so when I try to hum others I get very self-concious and I messed it up.
One more obstacle is I will be going into the military soon, for two to three years, so I guess I have to wait.
Musical instruments are not totally unknown in the military, and neither are musicians who are willing to share and help. While you won’t likely be able to pursue your musical interests as a civilian could, there might be some advantage to getting started right away, so that you could be more able to make use of any opportunity that might come up while you’re in the service.
Find a good piano teacher, practice for 15 minutes - 30 minutes a day (more when you can) and an average 21 year old should be able to play at least a few tunes competantly within a year or two - so go ahead and start now, even if you’re heading off to the military in 2-3 years.
Music is somewhat like language, in that the younger you start the easier you pick it up. Learn some now, and even if you have a several year interruption, re-learning will come much, much easier.
Motivation counts as much, if not more, than talent. With my husband’s music school we saw a lot of folks with good aptitude never learn to play, and others who didn’t have much talent, who had to struggle to get the basics, but stuck with it, practiced diligently, who learned to play very well. If you want to learn you will.
And try different instruments. I’ve tried my hand at piano, flute, viola, autoharp, saxophone, guitar, bagpipes, and drums. Some I did well at, some I’m never going to play well. I had fun with all of it, though.
More like 2-3 weeks ;-). I will be in camp on 24th June.
Thanks for the advice. I hang onto them and beside learning music at where I am is expenisve.