I have talked to hundreds of adult piano learners about why they take lessons. Here are some common themes I hear over and over:

• They want to fulfill a long-held dream of learning piano.
• They want to do something for themselves, in addition to fulfilling their work and family responsibilities.
• They want to explore their creative and musical side.
• They finally have the freedom to focus on playing piano, due to career changes, retirement, or kids growing up.
• They want to model creativity and music-making for their children.
• They want something to do in retirement, to stay busy and keep their minds sharp.

Adult learners often turn to music as a creative outlet in their lives where otherwise there wouldn’t be one. In many cases, my students work in non-creative fields. They are nurses, doctors, government workers, teachers, attorneys, or other such professionals. Often they are parents or grandparents. They tell me they want something for themselves, a break from their daily responsibilities. Sometimes they refer half-jokingly to playing piano as a form of therapy. Retired adults sometimes tell me they want something to work on to keep their minds sharp and stay busy.

It means something when an adult signs up for piano lessons. After all, generally speaking no one is waking up the average adult each morning saying, “Time to practice your piano! I know how much it means to you!” Regardless of what brings them in the door, no adult ever takes piano lessons for any reason other than that they want to. Sure, a few husbands have told me they wanted to learn piano to surprise their wives. Yet no matter why they begin, adults only keep up lessons when they are genuinely getting value for themselves out of them. After all, adults are busy. Learning a musical instrument is an active-learning activity that draws from their most precious resource: their time. Since they are playing for themselves, enjoying the learning process is crucial.

Each day, I see adult piano learners get benefits they hope for and more, including the following:

• They derive great joy from their daily practice. Often they experience the satisfaction of a “flow” state of in-the-zone focus.
• They play a wider variety of music than they ever expected.
• Their music learning goes in unexpected directions, such as improvisation, writing music, songwriting, or playing by ear.
• They gain personal and emotional benefits from having a regular creative outlet.
• They listen to music with greater awareness, appreciating musical details they never noticed before and understanding more fully how music is put together.
• Adults who learn alongside other learners get a sense of camaraderie and shared experience in the learning process.

In addition to the many benefits stated above, the piano offers maximum flexibility to accommodate many situations. The piano truly offers the best of both worlds: the autonomy of a solo activity with the versatility of a social one. It can be mixed and matched with other instruments. Left alone it will also do just fine. Not every one wants to join a band or orchestra, or even perform for others. Many piano learners are content to make music for themselves. Others are more socially-oriented.

Piano learning is an ideal enrichment activity for adults. It can be what you want it to be. You pick the hours to play piano, you come and go as you please. As long as you have piano or keyboard in your own space, there’s a vast world of music going back hundreds of years potentially at your fingertips. The piano also provides a break from other responsibilities, stimulating your creativity and offering solitude and autonomy.

This is an excerpt from my book “Play Piano: A Learner’s Guide to Playing, Reading, and Creating Music.” Find more about it here.