Muscle memory

Learning to play an instrument is hard and humbling.  A lot of people believe the brain isn't as "plastic" in older people, and the prime window for learning is long gone.  So why bother?  In reality, the brain is still able to change at any age.  It may not be as easy to learn something at 60, but it can be done.  Children's brains are forming, but adults have to work with the brain cells they have left, and create new connections, or synapses, between them.  Playing music is fun, and great mental exercise-- they say it keeps brain cells alive that would otherwise wither and die.

But at first it feels like you're trying to learn Chinese and ice skate at the same time. Hunched over that ukulele (or any instrument) you're using fine hand muscles and most of your senses. And your brain is working really hard: reading the notes, counting out the rhythm and trying to keep a steady beat and make it sound something like the simple melody you've known your entire life.  I think it helps if you're willing to settle for less than virtuosity, but for many of us, the tendency is to just give up when we can't be really good.  But here's a reason to keep practicing:

Lutz Jäncke, a psychologist at the University of Zurich, said: "Learning to play a musical instrument has definite benefits and can increase IQ by seven points, in both children and adults.

We found that even in people over the age of 65 after four or five months of playing a instrument for an hour a week there were strong changes in the brain. The parts of the brain that control hearing, memory, and the part that controls the hands among others, all become more active. Essentially the architecture of the brain changes."

My ukulele didn't go along on vacation, and I missed my hour or so of daily practice. And I wondered, after taking time off, would it be like starting over again? Surely I would just give up!  I read a Wiki article saying that "motor memory" has two stages, and the first stage of learning is fragile. I'd been trying so hard. Maybe too hard?  But it must have actually helped to suspend effort for a bit, because I was surprised that I could play all my ditties as well (or maybe even better) after a week off.  There is something mystical about learning. Maybe our brains sometimes need a little vacation to sort it out?