And then mostly I listened to music, and didn't start playing til I kind of got captured by the Irish music revival that occurred in the 70s. In 1980 my wife, to her regret, I think early, bought me a penny whistle. I started fooling around with it, a little bit, badly. And we're still together, that's remarkable! 

And I decided “I should learn how to play this, rather than just making noise with it.” So I took some lessons, and then I started going to sessions in the 90s. And I found myself drawn to writing songs. I've probably written I don't know, 70 or 80 songs. In the mid 90s I joined one group. 

I formed another group in around 2000. Since 2000, we've recorded three CDs and we just released our most recent one in January. 

I was kind of a late bloomer to taking music seriously. So I thought that Next Level would help me kind of brush up on the fundamentals, some of which I knew very little about. But it was good to meet them. 

When I played with other people other than in my group, I noticed that there's a lot I had to learn. And I wanted to be more versatile, more flexible in different musical contexts. And I thought to do that, I needed to really learn some of the fundamentals of music. I thought maybe having some more structured way of doing it, and making the most efficient use of my time was a way to get there. 

I had taken several courses through Musical U. I'd been pleased with the quality of the courses, so I figured “This would, probably work pretty well.” And I thought maybe the structure of meeting with someone once a week, and then kind of reporting on practice time would help. 

The difference with having a coach, is that I think it really helps you focus. And it really helps you be more structured in your practice time outside of the coaching. Just trying to formulate a question you can ask the coach can sometimes be helpful. Having that structure can really make a difference, in addition to all the resources that Musical U has. 

Like, with my hands I wanted to get better at doing the major chord pattern. That was a very specific hand thing that I did. 

They're helpful with organizing your practice time, and being more specific about where you might be stuck with something, or what you need to focus on during your practice time. 

I really learned that you have to stick with it. You have to stick with the basic concepts. You have to go back to them. You have to kind of, always "sharpen your saw", as one person put it. And just kind of accepting where you are, and appreciating it, but mostly being curious about where you are and what you need to do to get better. 

More generally, I'd say the biggest thing I got out of it was more clarity about how my way of being in the world matches up with the task of learning music. I really learned that I need to kind of slow down. Patience is a virtue I hope to have one day. But I want it right now, as they say!

That's a big obstacle for learning music well. Paying attention to those details and slowing down, and taking however long it takes to get it right. It’s humbling, but it's a good lesson in flexibility. It helped me kind of, be consistent and focus on goals that I set out for myself. And to not get distracted if I didn't a home run at the first pitch that came down. 

The program has helped bridge the gap between theory and practice, by applying some of the theory into your practice, if that makes any sense. The whole thing about “plan, do and reflect”. The reflect part is something we often skip over and just continue on with whatever the next shiny object is in our environment. 

I rewrote a couple of songs or parts of songs that I composed before. I wrote a song too, towards the end of our time together, that I felt pretty good about. And that came together faster than some of my songs do. And in that song I actually wrote a bridge, which is something a little different for me, because I usually just do verse/chorus. I'm kind of an old folky from the 60s, truth be told, if that's not clear yet!

For people who come to music late in life, I think it's a really great thing. When you retire, you have the time to put into it. And being raised in the 60s, music really was something that defined the generation. So it's something that's inside a lot of us. Although, we're not that special, I mean, it's inside everybody. 

For someone who is hesitant, I would encourage them to explore their hesitancy. And if you don't have the time, then probably, you shouldn't do it, right? 

If you're going to decide to go on to Next Level, make sure you have the time to devote to the practice. Because the coaching is helpful for when you get stuck, or what to do next. In order to get stuck, you have to go into the woods and get lost. And that takes time. There's no way around it. 

I was pretty committed, I still am committed, even though I'm not in Next Level.