As Kevin Bales and Mike Shaw prepare for the November release of our new book, What You Learn Learning Music, we continue to post bi-weekly episodes of our podcast Music Life and Times, where we talk about the life lessons that learning to play music teaches. Interestingly, in the three-plus years we have been doing this podcast and talking with other musicians as well as those who support the continuance of the art, especially jazz, we have learned that most people have played or still play an instrument. It’s almost universal; it’s definitely a community.
One of the things that the community shares is a welcoming spirit. In particular those who play and perform for a living are eager to share their knowledge and experience with those who are new to playing music, those who are just learning. Learners are people of all ages, but in particular, accomplished musicians look for ways to share the joy of playing music with young people. As they see youngsters learn to play and to play with each other, and the joy that that brings them, they benefit as much from the experience as do their charges. As one performer told us about watching kids: “It is transformative. We used to laugh that the kids got to tap into their inner rock star. And we got to tap into our inner cry baby.”