Learning to play music, especially learning to play it well, takes a great deal of time and commitment. It’s not easy. But the payoff is uniquely gratifying. Not only will you know the joy of playing music, a unique pleasure in itself, but learning to play will also serve to enhance how you listen and the pleasure of listening to others’ music. You’ll understand what you’re hearing more deeply and that alone is worth the effort of learning music.
If you learn to play well enough to perform with others, those opportunities come in many shades. You don’t have to be a full-time professional to gig with other musicians. Many “weekend warriors” perform on a regular basis—for parties, in bars, for special events. They share the joy of playing with others and even earn a few dollars doing it.
And should you learn enough music well enough to make a career of it, then you are particularly blessed to be able to do something for a living that you love. It doesn’t have to be performing; there are myriad jobs for someone knowledgeable in the field of music, from producing to teaching to composing to marketing to performing, and more.
Even if your way in life, your career or job, has nothing to do with music, the life lessons you learn by taking the time and effort to learn music will serve you well, however you choose to live and in anything you choose to do.