Right on key

Ruth Holan has enjoyed music for a long time. She’s played piano for almost her entire life and she’s given piano lessons to children and adults alike for approximately 30 years.

Holan and her husband, Jerry, have four grown children, all whom are married.

Hobbies of many kinds are often explored by people as part of their New Years resolutions this time of year, and one of them can be learning a new musical instrument such as piano.

Holan took piano lessons throughout her childhood and had positive and negative experiences through doing so. One of her more negative memories is memorizing the hard, several page pieces of music she learned as she grew older. Holan wants to make sure all her students have a positive experience learning their instrument. In fact, Holan’s students love the few recitals they do put on. Some of them are at Christmas and others are in the springtime.

“The kids love playing, and that’s my goal, if anything. I tease them that when they’re professional pianists and are playing Carnegie Hall, send me a ticket and that’s my reward,” Holan said. “My goal is simply that kids have an opportunity to learn music. A lot of them will take lessons for a few years, then as they get older, if they don’t have time to practice or they want to do band, they’ve got an understanding that they can pick up [another instrument] and it’s so much easier.”

While she states that her enjoyment of being around children is one reason she teaches piano lessons, Holan said she isn’t at all opposed to teaching adults.

According to the NAMM Foundation’s website, adults who had music instruction as kids have a more full brain stem response to sound than peers who never participate in music lessons and the magnitude of the response correlates with how recently training ceased.

“It is so much fun because they want learn. Number two, it’s easy to teach adults. For kids, you don’t want them to start until their attention span is at least a half hour, and that varies with kids,” Holan said. “Adults are so much fun because if they want to they can do it. Anybody can do it. There are some who have taken lessons who are 70 some years old and they just want to learn how to play some of those old hymns they love that they don’t hear very much anymore, and that’s fun and so rewarding because they play and [are excited].”

Lacey Johnson is band director for middle and high school students at Nodaway Valley. She sees her students’ growth at playing their musical instruments each day and believes anyone can learn music at any age if they put their mind to it.

“I think learning new musical skills, whether it’s playing an instrument or becoming a better singer, can really be beneficial for anyone,” Johnson said. “Learning music is a great way to relax, recharge and escape the daily stresses of life. I’d encourage [anyone] to practice a little bit every day, have realistic expectations and keep track of your successes.”