I blame Mozart. Knowing that little Wolfgang was composing and giving concerts on the clavier by the age of six, most people regard childhood as the best time to learn a musical instrument and believe that attempting it decades later is a lost cause.

You often hear adults say wistfully: “I wish I had learnt to play the piano” or “I’d love to be able to play the guitar”. Well, if they mean it, there is no reason why they can’t turn that regret into resolution. In recent years, music schools have witnessed an increase in adult ‘recreational’ musicians.

Never too late
“It is a myth that it can be too late to start an instrument,” says John Mardirosian, director of Waltons New School of Music in Dublin. He has met people who have been told they are too old to take up a particular instrument but he totally rejects that idea.

“People into their 80s are taking up music,” he points out. “I think people learn at a different pace when they get older but they also have more time to devote to it. They pay more attention to practice than children do – and they are doing it of their own accord because they love it.

Switching off
“Music practice can be, if you do it right, almost a form of meditation,” Mardirosian explains. “It is a tremendous form of switching off. You are switching on to practise but to do it effectively you have to switch off the world. It’s a fantastic thing to do. I absolutely recommend it for people over 55.”

Mervyn Cooper decided at the age of 65 that he wanted to learn the king of instruments, the pipe organ. He had been made redundant from his job as a company secretary six years previously and was looking for hobbies to add to his passion for making model railways and airplanes and choral singing.

“I wanted to fill my retirement with things to do,” he says. “If you don’t do that well before you retire, it makes a great hole in your life.”

New challenge
Although he could play the piano a bit, having had lessons from the ages of 10 to 12, the organ brought new challenges. With a separate ‘keyboard’ of pedals to be played with the feet, and at least two keyboards for the hands, it demands high levels of co-ordination.

“You do separate pedal exercises; then play these along with one hand and then two,” he explains.

By the time he had completed the Church of Ireland’s three-year course to achieve the Archbishop of Dublin’s Certificate in Church Music, Cooper was a fully fledged organist, available to deputise in his home parish of St Paul’s in Glenageary and in other churches around Dublin.

Playing for the people
He has played for Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist congregations, as well as Church of Ireland. “I have played on 15 different organs,” he says, “and each one has its own foibles!”
Every organ has a different range of stops that determine the sound made and it is up to the organist to choose an appropriate combination of stops for each piece played.

Cooper spends at least two hours a week in the church practising, more when he has a service coming up, as well as playing piano and keyboard at home in Killiney, Co Dublin, where he cares full-time for his wife Claire.

He finds organ playing a huge stress reliever. You can do it yourself and it doesn’t have to involve anyone else, he points out. However, he enjoys meeting people through choral singing and travelling to other churches. Cooper, now aged 77, has also spent the past decade researching organ music, which has put him in contact with like-minded enthusiasts around the world.

Many benefits
Playing music is undoubtedly beneficial for both physical and mental health. There is evidence that music can help to alleviate the symptoms of the onset of dementia. According to Mardirosian: “It keeps the brain active and it is very much in the moment. It is a question of being focused on something that involves a large number of different activities, both cognitive and motor. It is quite demanding and engages several aspects of your brain at once. There is an aesthetic sense as well because you have to learn to do it well and to do it right.”

For older people wondering what musical instrument they should try, he recommends the piano. “It is an easier instrument to get a good sound out early on.”

Stringed instruments can be frustrating, he says, and there may be a question over lung capacity for wind instruments. However, if you have your heart set on mastering the violin or flute, there is no reason to rule them out.

Lots of choice
Tuition is offered in a wide range of instruments at the Waltons New School of Music, from the banjo to the viola, to people of all ages. There is the choice of group or individual lessons and you can go in for a trial to see what it is like.

If you already play music, how about learning a different style? “I think it can be a lot of fun for adults to explore a type of music they may not have experience with,” Mardirosian adds. “We have adult pianists who have studied classical all their lives and want to see what jazz is all about.”