Episode 25: The Advantages of an Adult Brain

“I’m in my 60s and i have never played instrument. Can I still learn to play the banjo?”

This question, or some variation of it, is one I receive quite often. Buried inside it are a whole range of assumptions. Assumptions about childhood, about inborn talents and abilities, and about the ability of older brains to learn new things.

Hopefully, those of you who’ve read this series will know that the immediate answer to that question is: Absolutely!

We all possess a brain capable of changing itself throughout our life. And since changing the brain is the biological foundation of all learning, we can learn to play any new skill, including playing an instrument, whether we’re 8 or 80.

Be that as it may, there are some who may still believe that starting out “later in life” is a disadvantage.

But I’d argue just the opposite.

I’d argue that, while there may be certain advantages to learning during childhood, the scales tilt in favor of the older brain. Here’s why:

[RELATED: The Breakthrough Banjo courses for fingerstyle and clawhammer were specifically designed to maximize the learning potential of the adult brain. Click on the link to the style you’re interested in to learn more the courses.]

 

4 Advantages of Having An Adult Brain

Adult Advantage #1: FOCUS

Focused, undivided attention is essential to learning. It would be wasteful for us to remember everything in the course of our daily life, and it’s only when we pay close attention to something that our brain tags it for further encoding and storage while we sleep.

Attention, then, is the gatekeeper of neuroplasticity. In other words, sustained, single minded focus is required for our brain to change itself in response to practice.

When we play close attention to something, widely connected neurons towards the base of the frontal lobe bathe their targets in the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine. It’s the chemical cue that says “this is important.”

In childhood, those circuits mediating attention and concentration haven’t fully matured. Anyone who’s spent time around a 9 year old boy can attest that sustaining focus isn’t typically his strong suit. And these circuits don’t fully mature until we’re in our early 20s.

Adult Advantage #2: DELIBERATE PRACTICE

As covered in Episode 1, how we practice matters far more than how much we practice. Those outliers who reach mastery several times faster don’t do so by dint of DNA, but because they practice strategically.

They focus relentlessly on areas of weakness until they become areas of strength. And they don’t waste time practicing what they’ve already learned well. This process is sometimes referred to as “deliberate practice.”

Deliberate practice not only requires careful planning, but an honest appraisal of one’s abilities – and honest self assessment is also something that improves with age. As the years and life’s hard knocks accumulate, ego declines, and humility rises. Our finely honed inner critic can be an asset, provided we put it to good use.

Adult Advantage #3: Motivation.

Let’s face it, most kids taking music lessons don’t actually want to be there. I imagine we could end world hunger if we could get recover all the money wasted on piano, guitar, and violin instruction during childhood.

Learning can’t be forced. It just isn’t going to happen without the desire to learn. You can’t manufacture intrinsic motivation.

But this isn’t a problem for the adult learner. If you’ve decided to tackle the 5-string later in life, you’re doing so because it’s something you really want.

Those childhood “prodigies” that show up in your Facebook feed playing Foggy Mountain Banjo at blistering speed capture our attention precisely because they are extraordinary. They’re the exceptions that prove the rule.

Adult Advantage #4: TIME.

I’m specifically talking about those of you who’ve decided to take the banjo plunge in your golden years, after you’ve shed many of the responsibilities of work and family and are now free to pursue passions you’ve kept on the back burner.

You have the time to not only practice, but to do all those other things that feed your banjo-learning brain, like listening to copious amounts of great music, studying those banjoists you love most, and getting out and playing music with your peers.

Stealing From Children

Now, don’t get me wrong. The deck isn’t stacked entirely in the favor of those with a well aged noodle. Things do slow down a bit inside the brain as we get older.

Thanks to things like advanced glycation end products and oxidative damage, the speed of a typical human’s nerve impulses decline by roughly a tenth of a second every 10 years. That’s not huge, but it’s enough to matter.

Even that decline is not an inevitable product of aging, however, and something that can likely be modified through diet and lifestyle (the precise details of which are beyond the scope of this discussion). Furthermore, the magnitude of slowing also isn’t enough to matter when it comes to the demands of music making.

I saw Doc Watson playing live well into his 80s. Even though I imagine he could’ve played at a faster clip 50 years prior, not once did I think to myself “sounds great, if only it were faster.”

Sure, losing those lightning fast neuronal transmission speeds of youth means you probably won’t be setting the world record for speed picking in your 60s, but it’s a happy coincidence that, by the time you’ve reached that age, you’ve long ago stopped caring about such things.

The other area where the kids have the advantage, and where we bigger folks should take note, is that kids aren’t afraid of screwing up. As covered in Episode 4, failure is essential to the learning process. In fact, it’s in the analyzing, understanding, and correcting of our mistakes where we improve.

And the single biggest obstacle the adult learner faces is in overcoming the concern about screwing up. Kids, who tend to show up without any preconceived expectations or insecurities, don’t typically grapple with these issues.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”

– Henry Ford        

Never Too Late

It literally is never to late to start. And hopefully I’ve convinced you that, beyond that, starting late gives you a distinct set of advantages.

And besides being loads of fun, learning to play the banjo has other benefits, too. You’ve probably noticed the explosion of “brain building” games and apps in recent years, a response to research showing the health benefits of exercising one’s brain.

But, as someone who’s spent his professional life caring for those with brain disease, when it comes to counteracting the forces of aging, or fortifying yourself against degenerative brain disease, you can’t do any better than learning to play a musical instrument.

If you really want to grow your brain, put down the crossword puzzle, or the Lumosity app, and pick up the banjo instead.

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— The Laws of Brainjo Table of Contents —

 

Episode 24: Banjo Lessons From Steve Martin

“I guarantee you, I had no talent. None.”

                                                           – Steve Martin

I think you’d be hard pressed to name a celebrity more beloved than Steve Martin. More than an “A lister,” he’s one of those people you can’t imagine a world without (nor would you want to!). In fact, I hope he outlives me.

And there’s seemingly no end to the things he does really, really well.

A master actor, entertainer, magician, writer, storyteller, songwriter, comedian, and – last but certainly not least – banjo player, he’s clearly one of the most talented humans walking atop our spinning blue rock.

Yet, he claims to have “no talent.”

Readers of this series know that I would agree. Because what he means by this is that he wasn’t born with the skills needed to become great at all of those things, he acquired them. He got good at a lot of things because he’s good at getting good at things.

I recently had the pleasure of listening to his memoir “Born Standing Up,” which recounts the early days of his career as a stand up comedian. In addition to being entertaining, funny, and, at times, poignant, it’s also an illuminating look at why he’s so good at getting good.

And while the book contains no banjo instruction, it is nonetheless rich with lessons that are applicable to anyone trying to learn to do anything well, including banjo pickery.

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LESSON 1: Seek feedback relentlessly, and modify accordingly. 

Feedback is essential to the learning process. In fact, the fundamental learning loop can be described as practice –> feedback → modification → practice → feedback…and so on.

Increase the frequency and quality of feedback, and you accelerate the learning loop. Positive or negative, feedback is always valuable information.

Yet, most folks are apprehensive about subjecting their abilities to public scrutiny, lest they risk an unfavorable reaction. For Martin, though, bombing on stage wasn’t viewed a personal failing, but a necessary and invaluable opportunity for growth.

And so he sought out time on stage whenever he could get it. His objective was never to show everyone how funny he was, but to find out how he was doing. Each session in front of an audience was an opportunity to collect data and get better, and learning was more important than praise.

Acquiring feedback is just the first step, however. The key is to then use that information to modify the thing you’re trying to learn.

Which is exactly what he did. Martin kept detailed records of every joke and gag, and how they landed with the audience. He’d then take the data from those performances and write out a plan for how to make his act better the next time.

Regardless of what you’re learning, treat the process as a scientist would. Every practice session or performance is an experiment, a chance to test your hypothesis, rather than a referendum on your self worth.

If the results indicate the hypothesis is incomplete or wrong, then it’s back to the lab to devise a new one. Learn to love this iterative process above all else, and continued progress is guaranteed.

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LESSON 2: Seek out sources of inspiration, and study them in depth.

Martin cites many influences along his rode to mastery. During his time working at the Main Street Magic shop at Disneyland, for example, he was drawn to the act of Wally Boag, the headliner at Disney’s Golden Horseshoe Revue.

But his role models and mentors were more than just sources of entertainment and inspiration. They were the subjects of intense study. Martin meticulously analyzed and memorized the nuances of Boag’s routine, to the point where he could re-enact his act verbatim.

Nobody gets better in a vacuum, and I think its hard to overstate the value of seeking and studying the heroes you wish to emulate, especially in the formative stages of your journey. It’s no coincidence this is a theme in every master’s story.

For the banjo player, this means identifying the banjoists whose playing speaks to you most, and studying them. Study their music, study how they play, what they say, and how they learned.

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LESSON 3: Believe you can become anything.

Perhaps the biggest learning lesson in the entire book, which is also the overriding theme in all of Brainjo, is that, thanks to a brain that continuously changes throughout your life, you can reprogram yourself into what you want to become.

[RELATED: Click here to learn more about the Brainjo Method, and the recently launched Breakthrough Banjo course for fingerstyle banjo.]

 

So getting good at the banjo, or anything else, has nothing to do with natural ability. That just determines where you start.

But getting good at the banjo has everything to do with HOW you learn, or how you go about reprogramming your brain. That’s what determines where you end up.

And this is why I loathe the concept of natural talent. Not just because it isn’t useful, but because it leads so many to never live out their full potential.

Without a firm belief in our capacity to continue to grow and improve, we’d never have the courage to pluck that first banjo string, or hop on stage for the first time.

Nor would we have the courage to soldier on in the face of negative feedback. If our abilities are fixed, then better to remain silent and be thought of as “funny” or “musical” than to perform and remove all doubt.

Had Steve Martin bought into the talent myth, we’d never seen the likes of Navin R. Johnson or Lucky Day.

We’d have never added the phrases “I’m a wild and crazy guy” or “excuuuuse me” to our collective vocabularies.

Our ears would’ve never been graced by the sounds of The Crow or Rare Bird Alert.

And in the 2nd grade, my friends and I could’ve never spent hours at McDonald’s rolling in stitches as we tried to perfect our timing of “the napkin trick.”

Had he bought into it, there’s no telling how many millions of hours of laughter and joy the world would’ve lost.

— The Laws of Brainjo Table of Contents —

“Banjo Breakthroughs” is a recurring series that features a Breakthrough Banjo course member whose using the course to make his or her way along the Timeline of Mastery.

 

Breaking Bad Habits, Learning Drop Thumb, and Mining “the Vault“

If this picture is any indication, Breakthrough Banjo member Ryne M. clearly knows how to have a good time:

 

Ryne was a few months into his clawhammer journey when he first signed up for the course. He first got to work unlearning some bad habits, citing learning “proper technique” as one of the immediate benefits of the course:

Incidentally, this idea that one should play “from the elbow” is a common misconception beginning players have  – one that can not only lead to frustrated progress, but even pain, as Ryne can attest.

Dropping the Thumb At Last!

When asked specifically about the one thing he’d struggled with previously that the course allowed him to overcome? “Drop thumb,” he says (so far, this has been the most common answer to that question!).

After correcting some inefficient technique and finally getting down drop thumb, he’s now making fast progress:

Mining “the Vault”

And what’s his favorite part of the course?

Thanks so much to Ryne for sharing his experience inside the Breakthrough Banjo course.

As he mentions, The Vault, a.k.a. the ever-expanding Ultimate Clawhammer Song and Tune Library, has become his favorite part of the course. Click here to see the current list of songs and tunes available inside of it.

 — Learn More About Breakthrough Banjo —