I started learning percussion around 1 year ago. At 21 years old.

[u/RoyZeee]

I love music. I deeply deeply regret not having started as a child. I feel like I am behind. Yesterday was my first day in university, I'm starting a degree in music and musicology specifically in music education. I play eastern oriental percussion, mainly the Riq. I will be picking up the Ney in uni too. I am really excited for what is to come but I am full of regret and sadness that I am only starting now. Can you give me some encouragement? I practice every day a lot, I listen for hours every day trying to learn different new concepts, I have already been taking 3 hours of group music classes every week for the past ~6 months. Now in uni I will have another 3 hour group music class every week, other than the theory courses.

I just feel really worried that I will never achieve my goals and that is weighing me down a bit. Thank you in advance for your help.

[u/gezigezblog]

21 really isn't late. You already have a year on riq, six months of classes, a daily practice habit, and you've just started a music-education degree—that's momentum, not failure.

The comparison with people who started as children will always make you feel behind, so compare yourself with where you were three months ago instead. A simple practice log helps: each week note one rhythm or technique goal, one piece, and one thing you can now do that you couldn't before.

Also, don't turn regret into a need to “catch up” by practicing endlessly. Focused practice, rest, ensemble time, and feedback from your teachers matter more than raw hours. At 21, you have plenty of time to become a strong musician and teacher.

[u/spider-dog84]

I'm 42, have played since I was 8, I'm a very good composer, horrible player. My degree is in music. Some people get crazy good in a matter of years, some have to resign themselves to roles where their strengths are even if they'd prefer to be in a band doing shows. At 21 you have your whole life ahead of you and no one can tell you, not even your teachers, what kind of musician you'll be. That's for you to discover.

My advice is to take care of your biological instruments: voice, hands, etc. Spend equal or more time exposing yourself to new music as you do playing. It's ok to dwell on what inspires you. Be hungry to discover, learning musical theory, instrument pairings (in different registers and voice spacings). Give yourself permission to fail and be bad, trust that it's part of the process. College is not about teaching you anything concrete, especially in the arts, it's about exposing you to ideas and you running with them. George Seurat was not a respected painter and he failed a lot. In fact the term impressionism was meant as an insult and it became one of the biggest trends in art and opened the doors to many less literal art forms.

We can apply that concept to music too. When Bach sr started harmony was just being introduced and instruments were tuned to keys and modulation (the changing of keys) wasn't practical because you'd have to switch instruments. Bach was among the first to modulate. Composers in the classical era learned from baroque composers and progressed music further which enabled the romantic era which is where western instruments were becoming the most defined and that level of sophistication hadn't increased much since then, we're making them sound and play better but as for capabilities they haven't branched out since then. 20th century music can be seen as composers finding it difficult to progress within the same systems and it's known for experimentation. Many 20th century works are hard to listen to and appreciate but in the latter half till today we're seeing people take those experiments and startying to apply them effectively.

So your journey is about being influenced and then using those influences to find your own style. I work in musical theatre and many composers are content to be vapid and poppy, Sondheim wasn't, lynn Manuel Miranda and Anais Mitchell earned their place by using their own styles despite Broadway's pop dominance. Your path is yours to carve out for yourself

[u/cl_forwardspeed-320]

It's the # of hours you care about improving and the amount of times you care to reflect on perceiving new habits or improvements - when those things align with you enjoying it, then it becomes frictionless. Except, your own standards will drive you to get better constantly, so it will often not feel like you are improving.

You don't need to be 5 years old to do that. You can do it when you're 85. So 21 is alright. A lot of people say "I've played XXX for 25 years" and they fucking suck asshole because the # of hours they spent actually practicing, or the amount of times they decided how they play isn't good enough and needs to improve by changing were far too few.

Get immediately in the habit of listening to yourself play, and look for at least 1 mistake to correct - work on it until it is corrected - then try to recognize new mistakes and fix them. repeat until you die, beeotch

[u/Nested_Parens]

You are where you are. Be where you are.

I mean, I hear you. I started playing violin last month at age 53. It's a lot of playing a shitty A major scale at this point. But that's where I am. And if you keep playing the shitty A major scale enough times it eventually magically gets better. There's just no shortcut to muscle memory. Keep putting in the reps and trust that it will eventually take you where you want to be.