Watch This if You’re Over 40 and Play Saxophone

Check out the audio podcast version of this post on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

You might think you’re too old to get really good at music or to improve significantly. You might think younger people have all the advantages when it comes to learning an instrument. You probably think you don’t have the time to play the music you’ve always wanted to.

I’m 49 years old and I’ve made the most meaningful progress in my saxophone playing in my 40s. Not only that, I did it not by practicing more but by practicing smarter and by a huge shift in mindset that I want to share with you.

Hopefully you too can benefit from my experience and start getting more enjoyment and satisfaction from playing the saxophone or any musical instrument.

Later on I’m going to tell you how I improved my playing over the last 10 years or so while raising kids and working more hours than I ever have before. But first, let’s talk about the advantages people over 40 have when it comes to learning music.

Advantages Over Younger People

1. Experience

You’ve been around enough to know what music you really like and want to focus on learning. You’re not going to be influenced by what someone else wants you to study or what your friends are doing. You can play whatever instrument and style of music you want.

2. Maturity

You’re going to be able to handle the shift in mindset that is key to unlocking your musical potential. More on this in a little bit.

3. Patience

This is essential to having success. If you’re over 40 you’re more patient than you were earlier in life. I tell myself I wish I knew these things when I was younger, but the truth is, I probably wouldn’t have been capable of doing them because I was too impatient.

4. Money

Most people over 40 make a lot more money than their younger selves. A saxophone habit can get a bit expensive if you want to get the high-end gear. You don’t need to spend a lot of money, but there’s nothing wrong with investing in a hobby that brings you joy and fulfillment.

Benefits Of Playing Music

Now more than ever, we need activities to get our minds and bodies active. Our lives are bombarded with distractions that end up stealing our most precious asset which is time. Playing music is one of the higher quality uses of our free time.

Setting a Good Example for Our Kids

If you’re a parent, you probably tell your kids to put down their iPads or video game devices all the time. Of course, it’s better when we set the example and show them we also do worthwhile things with our free time.

Community

Music opens you up to a world of other like-minded people you can play with, perform with, hang out with. Case in point, the BetterSax Studio which is my online lesson program is a community of mostly over 40 people, having an amazing time developing their saxophone skills, supporting one another along the journey, and making meaningful progress with their music.

Rewards and Accomplishments

We have measuring sticks for how well we’re doing in life right? How much money we make, how things are going at work, and with our family. There’s a special kind of satisfaction that comes from developing a skill. Bettering ourselves.

I’ve been focusing more on my health the last couple months. I lost a bunch of weight. It wasn’t easy I had to stop eating desserts, snacks, and anything that is bad for me. I also had to exercise regularly. But I got results over time and it feels fantastic.

On the saxophone, I’ve slowly over time improved my own playing by putting in consistent work and that also feels fantastic.

The key is, it doesn’t matter if anyone else notices. I know when I look in the mirror or I hear myself play.

Key Mindset Shift

The key thing that needs to change to accelerate your progress and generate real improvement, is to remove the ego from the equation. This is the main reason I made real progress in my 40s even though I didn’t practice a ton.

Marathon practice sessions that last for hours are very impractical for working adults with children. Pretty much impossible.

The good news is that they aren’t at all necessary. Musical skill is compounding, just like good health. Consistency over time is what gets results, not frantic pushes to get quick outcomes.

You want to lose weight change your daily habits gradually and over a long time horizon. We all know what happens with crash diets and extreme new workout routines right? It’s the same with music.

Simply commit to spending a small amount of time with your instrument every single day. Get some good material to practice, some inspiring music to listen to, and over time you will enjoy the benefits of compounding interest on your efforts. People over 40 have the patience to do this and can find the time in their schedule.

Believe me, it’s worth it.

What Does Ego Have To Do With This?

You have to be okay with being a work in progress. You have to accept that many other people play better than you and that is fine. You have to embrace being a beginner.

Maybe you’re not a beginner at playing the saxophone but you are a beginner at any aspect of music that is new to you and there is an inexhaustible supply of new things to learn.

You have to realize that each day you can only get a tiny bit better and that is wonderful because if you get a tiny bit better each day for a year, you will be transformed. If you get a tiny bit better each day for 10 years, you will have accomplished something that most people never experience and you will forever be addicted to the process of self-improvement that can be applied to anything you do in life.

Our ego is always getting in the way though. It’s telling us we’ll never be any good. That when it matters we’re going to fail.

There’s a little voice in our head telling us it’s better to sit on the couch with our phone than to exercise, read a book, or practice. It tells us to eat those desserts because that’s a much easier path to feeling good than a healthier choice would be.

What Works For Me

You have to find what system works for you, but here’s a guide to the things that have been working well for me. Try them out to see if they help you too.

1. Practice Everyday

Practice a little bit every day. I am by no means living up to my ideal, but I play the saxophone every day that it is reasonably possible to do so. If the day gets away from me and I run out of time, I’ll just pick it up for 5 to 10 minutes.

The difference between playing a short amount of time and not at all is enormous. Commit to a short amount of time and you will inevitably end up playing much longer.

2. Create a practice space

This is another thing that gets a lot easier the older you are. When I was young I lived in apartments with roommates and practice space was a lot harder to come by. I still managed to find places to practice but having to get in my car to go somewhere, or being stressed because of neighbors, makes for poor quality practice.

I’ve made videos on solutions to this but having a dedicated peaceful practice space with no distractions has been a total game changer for me.

3. Learn new material constantly

This one is huge. You have to introduce something new on a very regular basis. I would say at least once a month something entirely new to you should be introduced. This could be a new song, a new scale, a new solo transcription, a new pattern, a new piece of classical repertoire, whatever.

I’m introducing new things every week to my practice and this is going back to embracing being a beginner. When we are beginners we make the most rapid progress. We get more gratification from the effort put in.

On the other hand, if we just keep practicing the same old stuff we get bored. We make little to no progress and don’t have any fun. The act of learning new things also compounds itself and we end up getting even faster at learning new things which greatly accelerates the entire process.

4. Be kind to yourself

We’re all our own worst critic right? This is toxic behavior though, and it will sabotage your progress on anything you’re trying to do. It’s fine to want to be good and to have high expectations for yourself, but this needs to be balanced with reality.

Reality is that you can only get a little bit better each day. We cannot expect more than that. You just cannot consistently lose five pounds a week. There’s no point in beating yourself up for not performing miracles.

Acknowledge your real level today. Own your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t compare yourself to anyone apart from who you were yesterday. Every day is an opportunity to get better, and all any of us can do, is show up and try. If you show up every day, and are kind to yourself, you can eventually achieve the best version of yourself on any given day.

That’s as good as we can ever be and it’s really counterproductive to get down on yourself for not magically being better than that. It’s okay if you make mistakes, in fact, the mistakes you make are telling you exactly what you should be working on.

Don’t get mad at yourself, focus on your weakness and improve it. Something new to practice.

Music is a great testing ground for learning to let go of our ego. If you can do it in music, try doing it in everything else and see how much less stressful life becomes.

Next Steps

This is the type of YouTube video I like to watch myself, because I find it helpful to get encouragement from someone else who has achieved the same thing I’m trying to do. So I hope if you’ve read this far you’re feeling motivated. Here are the next action steps you can take right now.

BetterSax Shed

First thing is to get on my email newsletter. Every week I send you a message with a link to a new video that will hopefully inspire you, inform you, or motivate you in your saxophone playing. Go to bettersax.com and click the link to sign up for the BetterSax Shed where you’ll get tons of free resources, lesson videos, PDF and backing track downloads. That’s another bonus for all my newsletter subscribers.

BetterSax Courses

Next we have a library of great courses for all levels, so when it comes to getting new material for your practice, we have you covered there too. There are courses for beginning, intermediate, and advanced improvisers and it’s really a fantastic way for adults to learn music on their own terms. Visit bettersax.com and click on “Courses”.

BetterSax Studio

And finally, if you want to join an amazing community of mostly over 40 saxophone players who are also making the most progress in their lives, I invite you to join the BetterSax Studio. Each month we have a new unit with new video lessons, a PDF lesson download and backing tracks, and the best part is you can submit videos and recordings of your playing for my feedback and support from your peers. It is a truly awesome experience for everyone participating.

And if you’re looking for a bit more motivation, check out this video next. You’re going to love it.