SENIOR CITIZENS should PLAY PIANO for WELLNESS of Body, Mind, & Soul. It's Never Too Late to Take Lessons!

UPDATED: May 16, 2014 - Seniors Playing Music on a Digital Piano make for WELLNESS activity in body, mind, and soul! Senior Adultsare an important and vital part of American society and other societies & cultures around the world, and they need relaxing and uplifting hobbies to help give them a longer and even better life. My parents are seniors as are some of my other relatives and friends, and depending on who you ask (especially young people), a senior can be nearly any age once you're over 50!:) I might even be a senior too, according to my children:)...i am.

In the old days many years ago, I used to play organs (pictured left) such as Lowrey, Roland, Yamaha, Kimball, Hammond, etc in Mall stores that sold organs. That was a time when nearly every big Mall in America had at least one organ store with someone playing out in front. I did that for a number of years and enjoyed it because I love playing music and it gave me a chance to perform, so to speak. And playing everyday for hours at a time, I got pretty good at it. I even started giving local organ concerts for...mostly seniors:) I enjoyed entertaining people and they enjoyed listening.

Seniors at that time and still today, do like various styles of organ music like jazz, blues, Latin, swing, big band, Broadway, rock, country, boogie, etc because many of them they grew up with it, especially seniors in their 70's, 80's, and 90's. And it is well known that playing music makes a person feel better, for both the player & listener. This is because actively playing music stimulates the brain in so many positive ways and helps keep an "older person" feeling young. By the way, I think being old is all in the mind as long as your body and brain continues to function well. I believe very strongly that you are as young as you feel and think. So with that in "mind," it is important to take care of yourself. Eat right, exercise frequently, and PLAY MUSIC. I am a music teacher & musician(piano, keyboard, organ, guitar) and can tell you by experience that seniors who play music stay mentally younger and are more alert. It's funny for me to think that even surviving musicians from bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, and other popular bands are all seniors themselves as are so many other popular musicians worldwide.

I have a very good friend by the name of Bobby Freeman (pictured left) who happens to be the organist for the Arizona Diamondbacks professional baseball team. He has played at the games for many years and is a great musician. Bobby plays keyboards, piano, and other instruments and enjoys music very much. I've worked with Bobby for a number of years and he especially enjoys entertaining kids & Seniors, playing at various music events and concerts throughout the greater Phoenix, AZ USA area. And if you asked Bobby about seniors playing music, he would agree with me 100% in everything that I'm saying here.

By the way, there has been an in depth study done of seniors "playing music" and the results of the study suggest that "making music may significantly improve an older person's quality of life and feelings of well-being. On top of that, making music helps them relax, feel better and deal positively with stress. It also may help the immune system in its fight against disease which in turn may help you live longer!"

These days an "older person" who wants to get into playing music on a keyboard type instrument and is at a beginner level, can purchase either an organ, acoustic piano, digital piano, or small keyboard. My recommendation is the purchase a full size digital piano. Generally speaking, new organs are a bit too expensive for what they do although they are still great fun to play. Even though I enjoy playing an organ (with some of the newer electronic features), I prefer a new digital piano because I really like the beauty of the piano sound digital pianos are significantly less money than acoustic pianos or organs but can sound like an organ if necessary along with having all the "bells & whistles." A digital piano also has a key touch that has more weight (is heavier) than an organ key touch which helps improve finger dexterity, motion, and strength. The digital piano key movement is also "touch sensitive" so the note gets louder or softer depending on how hard you push down on the key as opposed to an organ with no "touch sensitivity." And finally, a digital piano has just one keyboard as opposed to two in an organ which in my opinion makes a piano easier to play. 

Playing and learning guitar at any age is fine, but it takes more work and finger conditioning and you generally can't play melody and chords together as you can on a keyboard instrument.  Playing a smaller inexpensive keyboard is fun too, but in my opinion the playing experience isn't nearly as rewarding because of the difference in tone and touch between a good digital piano & lightweight keyboard. A regular acoustic piano (especially a Grand) is great to play as well and I have a couple of those in my studio and enjoy playing them very much. But for the 'average senior,' a good digital piano has so many advantages including never going out of tune, being able to turn the volume down so you can play quietly, having headphone inputs for total private practice anytime of the day or night, having satisfying piano touch & tone (on certain digital pianos), and being able to use many new educational and self teaching features that some of these new digital pianos offer.

I believe that seniors who play music at any skill level are generally happier and healthier people in body, mind, and soul, and that has always been my personal experience. Playing music WILL relieve stress, WILL make you feel better, WILL stimulate your mind, your eyes, and your ears, and WILL give a person a sense of "WELL BEING" that is unlike most anything else. The instrument is in your home, always accessible any time, and will be around probably for more years than we will. And the fact is YOU CAN DO IT even if you're a senior with little or no piano playing experience. With the right piano teacher & the right instrument, you CAN achieve your musical goals because I see it happen all the time. You just have to get started and DO IT.

As far as getting started on the "right digital piano," in the lower price ranges I recommend the new Casio PX780  (left pic) digital piano. This instrument has many of the things that seniors need which includes lots of fun educational features & sounds, lifelike piano tone & touch, and all in a lower price range. I have reviewed this model here on my blog so if you want to know more, please take a look when you have time. Casio PX780 review. Kawai, Yamaha, & Roland also make some great new digital piano models so if you want more info on what might be best for you, just let me know and I'd be happy to help you figure it out.

By the way, using an iPad with a digital piano can help understanding and relating to music even more fun and more intuitive. There are great apps available for piano learning and some are free and others are a very low cost. If you have an iPad it is easy to connect to digital pianos with the proper iPad output. If you do not own an iPad and are considering getting a digital piano, I would recommend highly the iPad interactive music experience with the piano. I use iPad piano apps in my studio and if you want more info about that, just let me know.  

For more info on the subject of seniors playing piano or if you want to purchase one of these recommended pianos (or other brands and models) at lower than internet or store prices, please contact me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.