Learning Music in My Late 20s
I had an experience in LA in 2023 that turned my life upside down: I had a psychosis that lasted for 48 hours.
While I got out of it alive, a part of me died along the way. I knew something about me had changed but it was hard to explain what. Even now, I struggle to make sense of it without sounding crazy.
The best i can describe it is that my psychology underwent surgery.
Suddenly I had a deeper urge to live a spiritually fulfilling life. I felt more connected to the natural world and attuned to higher quality thoughts.
There was also a gravitational pull towards desires I had yet to discover.
In this post, I will talk about one of them: music.
I have zero musical background. I was never in a band and didn't learn any instruments growing up. It was one of those things I never considered.
The first time I entertained the idea was during an encounter with a psychic in LA. Her name was Athena.
Athena had said a lot of things that eventually happened in real life.
During our time together, she told me to write down two things on paper:
I will study sound to know myself
I am a music liberator
I told her she must be mistaken because I'm not musically inclined.
She retorted with "...yet."
I may be open to psychics, but I'm also skeptical. I thought she was pulling my leg.
Three months later post-psychosis, I found myself one day enamored by a video of a woman playing Eleanor Rigby on the piano.
I thought to myself, "What if I took up singing and piano lessons?"
It was an exciting idea but I also thought it was silly. Did I actually think anything would come out of it?
In the same week, I visited my friend at her house. We hang out in her room and I see a microphone on her table.
"You have a nice mic," I tell her nonchalantly.
She casually responds, "Thank you. I'm taking singing lessons."
And that was it for me. They say that when something comes in 3s, follow it.
I sign up for singing lessons on that day. A month later, I signed up for piano lessons. Two months later, I enrolled for guitar lessons.
I practiced every day for 12 months. 2023 was my year of rest. I didn't have a job other than to sit down, play the instruments, and sing.
Life happened, I took a 7-month break off music, and now I'm back again.
To learn music at this age is humbling. It's one thing to be a beginner. It's another to suck at it.
There's no conclusion to this because I'm still in my process. I will say though, that this is one of the best decisions I ever made.
All in all, the traumatic event in LA was a blessing. I wouldn't have it any other way
Below, I share two videos showing my piano progress. I will not share my singing or guitar yet. I have to prepare myself to be exposed in that light.
Seven months into my music training, my piano teacher told me to participate in the school’s online piano recital. I was not into it because it looked a kiddie concert. Nonetheless, my teacher was persistent and ended up persuading me.
I want to thank her because it was mega fun. True enough, I was the only adult. All the participants were 5 to 12 years old. Maybe there was a fourteen-year-old in the mix but that was it.
