Dear LPG,

It is said that keeping your brain occupied is one of the best ways of keeping dementia at bay and, while I don’t think that I need to worry about it yet, I am always interested in finding new ways to do that.   After all prevention is better than cure as they say. 

I think that school for me is the internet these days because there is always something interesting to learn there, and while memory related thoughts were on my mind the other day I came across the fact that playing a musical instrument is a really good way of exercising your brain. 

I am sure that there are a lot of older musicians out there in LPG internet land.  I remember my first ever piano lesson.  I came home having learned to play a tune which lasted for twenty seconds and I felt that I had really achieved something special until my mother insisted that I had to practice for half an hour a day.   At the age of seven I learned a lot about mathematics that first week; if you divide half an hour into 20 second time-slots there are a lot of them!  I have to say that tune got really monotonous really quickly but as I got older I played in a band for a while and really enjoyed it. 

Then work and family took over and any music practise rarely made it into my schedule but, having read about its benefits, I think I might make a little time to get involved again

Those who have never learned appears to think that learning to play a musical instrument is up there with learning the computer when it comes to difficulty but whatever instrument takes your fancy, it is never too late to begin and these days you don’t even have to find a teacher to get started.

Perhaps I am a child of the 60’s which is why most  of my friends who I have talked to about this tell me that if they were going to have a go they would either start with the drums, piano or guitar and I have found some online lessons for you to take a look at.  This means that you can buy your instrument and get started without worrying how many mistakes anyone else will hear you make.  I have always believed that if you can hit a drum with a drum stick, press one key on a piano or pluck one string on a guitar your making progress, and from there the sky’s the limit.

If you like listening, you will love playing and, according to what I read on the internet, you will be doing your brain a favour into the bargain.

JN, Surrey

JN left us some internet music lessons …

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…and LPG has added a little information about the advantages of taking on such a challenge, or getting back into the swing…

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