# Does music keep you young?



## Arbee (Oct 31, 2015)

A moment of contemplation and gratitude as I turn 60 years of age. In my non-music world I have friends and people who report to me who are my age and younger and, quite frankly, I feel like a wide-eyed curious child in comparison to the rather narrowing outlook on life that many of them exhibit. Is it being involved with music one's whole life that makes us this way? Interested in your thoughts .....


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## germancomponist (Oct 31, 2015)

What an interesting question!

I am 54 now and feel like I am 35 or so..., smile. When I compare me to others in my age I find many differences. Maybe it is the music, but also I think we composers live definitely in another world, being younger all the time, maybe because we often think and act like kids ... .


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## Udo (Oct 31, 2015)

I just turned 71, but only recently got through puberty, so it absolutely does, at least in my case .


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## chimuelo (Oct 31, 2015)

Not only does it keep you young. You never really master it.
I started reading music at 5. Did recitals for years and the preperation built strength and character.
Pressure is what turns Coal into Diamonds.
One of my heroes passed away years ago.
He was in his 70s when I met him.
Programmed his DX7 for him. In return I learned unwritten law of live performing.
He left behind 15 grandchildren.
Died at the age of 84. Still gigging till his last year.
Thats how I want to go.
Very little in life is bad when you do what you love for a living.

To my fellow organizers of sound......

Strength & Honor.


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## AlexandreSafi (Oct 31, 2015)

May I participate? 

If anything, music took me by the hand and helped me mature faster, and now I feel like an "old soul", but still there's a whole part deep within me that just makes me feel as one of the luckiest person to have such a passion for music listening and making which not only keeps me enthusiastic, but also makes me equally..humbled by the past, seize the present & chase the future in one continuous loop, so in a way if I feel the same in 50 years, it'll mean it is a successful life where I get to keep on winking at Time as if it doesn't exist and as if I'll never really age...
I do workout too, even in my young age that also helps a little bit ...
Whoever said "Aging's for Idiots" is absolutely right!

Congratulations to all of you guys, you made it and you can all be proud of who you are! Keep striving!


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## Saxer (Nov 1, 2015)

I always feel like I'm just starting.


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## scarred bunny (Nov 1, 2015)

I think the key to staying young is to retain a sense of playfulness and curiosity about the world. The infinity of music is probably particularly conducive to this, but I think you could get the same effect by being passionate about other fields or domains as well. The brain is a 'use it or lose it' kind of thing - keep exercising it and keep using it for different things, not just going through the motions and reinforcing old pathways. 

Stay wild, stay curious, try new things and ideas. Live each day as if it were your first. Here's to never growing up.


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## TheUnfinished (Nov 1, 2015)

Could be the other way round, of course. People who generally are youthful and open in outlook are more drawn to creative arts, such as music?

You know, apart from all those curmudgeonly old buggers on here...


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## EastWest Lurker (Nov 1, 2015)

I think learning new things, music or not, is what keeps one young. What I love about music and music technology is that it forces me, at 67 years of age, to constantly be learning new things. But the same could be true in other endeavors just as easily.

What does NOT keep people young IMHO is the tendency of many older people to try to "act young." Immaturity is an unfortunate side effect of youth, not something to desperately try to hold on to.


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## KEnK (Nov 1, 2015)

Speaking as a devout curmudgeon, 
I'll add only that joy keeps you young.

k


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## Baron Greuner (Nov 1, 2015)

Arbee said:


> A moment of contemplation and gratitude as I turn 60 years of age. In my non-music world I have friends and people who report to me who are my age and younger and, quite frankly, I feel like a wide-eyed curious child in comparison to the rather narrowing outlook on life that many of them exhibit. Is it being involved with music one's whole life that makes us this way? Interested in your thoughts .....



What you need to remember when talking with the good old boys is that a lot of the time music means absolutely nothing to them. It's tunes and that's it. When I sit down with chaps around 65 to 75 and older let's say, the topic 10 minutes after they've finished eating and drinking always goes 3 ways. Finance, Politics and always the BIG ONE! HEALTH.

The health topic is a fucking nightmare when they get started. Don't know if you've had all that yet. You sit there having to listen to what most people in their 20s/30s/40s/50s would regard as a horror film. But to them it's quite normal.
And it's as regular as clockwork. It just goes on and on every week. It gets really fun when someone dies actually.
Then you get the autopsies coming at you from 15 different people and they're all different.

Sit there and listen to amusing stories about varicose veins and the dangers of C-Difficile. Throw yourself open to the wonders of open heart surgery and the subsequent dangers of senility. Amaze yourself with the sudden found knowledge you never knew you had about spunk bubbles. Be in awe of the guy who has to get up to pee 8 times a night and wins this weeks competition by 2 pees.

The list is endless.


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## Udo (Nov 1, 2015)

Baron Greuner said:


> What you need to remember when talking with the good old boys is that a lot of the time music means absolutely nothing to them. It's tunes and that's it. When I sit down with chaps around 65 to 75 and older let's say, the topic 10 minutes after they've finished eating and drinking always goes 3 ways. Finance, Politics and always the BIG ONE! HEALTH........ etc, etc, etc.


Baron, you come across as someone who's nearing 60 (or maybe you're there already) and you're the type of person who's getting paranoid/neurotic about what's going to come next .

That frame of mind will do you no good.


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## Baron Greuner (Nov 1, 2015)

I won't see 60 again.

I've been paranoid and neurotic since I was 3 so there's no _getting_ about it.


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## ControlCentral (Nov 1, 2015)

Years ago I found a 25 cent LP -the kind that's cover features a saucy lass laying atop a piano- by Irving Fields, in an antique store. It got a lot of play at my house and to me the composer had been lost in the mists of time.
I came to find out that he was the house piano player for brunches at the Waldorf Astoria ( a famous hotel in New York) and had socialite fans. My wife surprised me with a dinner at a restaurant where he still plays. We chatted during his break and he is friendly, funny, and still very excited about life, and playing his piano. After he finished he was heading out to an after-hours club to play with a 20-something downtown Latin group. An inspirational guy. Just turned 100.

TLDW: "Love what you do, and you will keep going".


A centenarian composer shares his tips for longevity:


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## germancomponist (Nov 1, 2015)

TheUnfinished said:


> Could be the other way round, of course. People who generally are youthful and open in outlook are more drawn to creative arts, such as music?
> 
> You know, apart from all those curmudgeonly old buggers on here...


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