Why do adults stop playing music?

Being in school with a whole host of other musicians provides stimulation for the brain. This keeps many people committed to music, but unfortunately, the fun seemingly stops once you graduate. In today’s world, which is more complicated than ever by COVID-19, it becomes even harder to keep going on your own. There are many additional reasons that people quit playing music as adults, including:

No Time to Practice
As daily chores and routines take over, people find that they have less and less time to practice their chosen instrument. Or at least that’s what they tell themselves. The reality is that there’s always time for music, but you have to make it a priority. After all, Nielson says that the average American watches four hours of television per day. How much more enriched would your life be if you gave just one of those hours to music?

Loss of Community
This one is a biggie, and it’s a hard one to get past. When you’re in school, you naturally have several other musicians to play with. As you phase out of school and move into your adult life, your number of connections will fall. Even worse, you’re not very likely to remain friends with a lot of other musicians. This loss of community is especially difficult for extroverted adults, although it can also be similarly hard on introverts.

Lack of Structure
In school, it was easy to keep playing music because you had a designated place and time for it. After graduation, a lack of structure takes over, at least where music is concerned. Unless you’re fortunate enough to be part of a band, you’re not going to have anyone telling you to play music on a daily basis. Even if it’s your intention to keep up with your instrument, the odds are high that it will fall by the wayside.

It’s Simply Not Fun on Your Own
Perhaps the thing you really like about music is jamming with other musicians. In a school environment, this is a given. Have you tried replicating it outside of school, though? The odds are high that even those who are interested in keeping up with their instruments will find it hard to sync up their schedules. So, you spend most of your time playing by yourself, and this quickly becomes frustrating. Put quite simply, it’s simply not fun to play on your own, which means your instrument soon becomes dusty.

It’s Never Too Late to Start Playing
Whether you didn’t play in school or you’ve put your instrument aside for the past 20 years, it’s something you can always pick up. The benefits of music never go away, either, such as improving your hearing function, emotional well-being, cognition, and brain health. Experts say it is harder for older adults to learn from scratch, but it’s certainly nowhere near impossible. Therefore, if you’ve never played an instrument before but have always wanted to, now is the perfect time to start -- especially with all the extra time that most of us have on our hands these days.

Beating the COVID-19 Isolation Blues
Perhaps you have continued playing your instrument, yet you now have a lack of drive. This could be due to a few different factors, all of which involve COVID-19. First, you can no longer hang out with your friends and jam. Secondly, the joy of playing music may have taken a backseat to your feelings of fight or flight. In fact, many people are driven by this edge of anxiety right now, whether they realize it or not. Of course, one of the best ways to combat these feelings is by playing an instrument.

That’s where Zirrif comes in! Rather than attempting to play on your own for months at a time, Zirrif makes it easy to jam with others. Thanks to online live music collaboration, you can record your part of the song and add in other contributions at the same time. You may not be in the same physical space, but this gives you much more flexibility than typical studio recordings. Instead of recording your piece without ever hearing anyone else’s, you’ll get to come together virtually to see how everything sounds.

Interested in giving Zirrif a try? Download the free version for Windows or Mac today!