Never Too Late: My Musical Life Story

I purchased the Kindle version of this book, and I have wasted far more on far worse. Having tried and failed five times to learn guitar I suppose I was hoping for a magic bullet of inspiration to guide me one final time. Peavey has come out with an innovative instrument called the Power Slide, which is a very cool upright lap steel guitar at an incredibly affordable price, and I am very close to pulling the trigger. But at age 62 I fully realize this will be my last attempt at learning to play a musical instrument. Getting back to the book review, at 233 pages it is fully 200 pages too long and crammed with very personal and entirely useless stories of the author's own musical journey. That said, I believe I can cull back through it and cut and paste a concise motivational guide for "over the hill" music lovers trying to learn how to make their own music. And undoubtedly the second and perhaps even third time through it I will notice useful tidbits I missed my first time through. A final comment and caveat: this tome is poorly edited and contains an unacceptable numbers of typos and words that should be separated by spaces but aren't. If that won't particularly bother you, go for it!

This is an inspirational book for adult beginners. It refutes the notion that adults can't learn to play an instrument. It isn't literary and doesn't appear to have been proofread. The beginning of the book makes it quite clear that the author appears to have spent an unhealthy amount of time living in his own head; his long-winded descriptions of teaching himself to whistle made him seem like someone who needed to engage with the world outside his head more. But as the book progresses we see that learning the cello helped him to do exactly that. This book is refreshingly honest and humble. Older people considering starting an instrument might enjoy this book. I did.

I'm only 1% into the digital version of this book. I can already tell that I am going to love it. BUT--come on people--the concept of proof reading was invented at the same time as the printing press! Surely, after several centuries of the successful application of this concept--there is no reason to toss it out of the window with the invention of the digital book! Spellcheck cannot do it alone! Wake up and smell the coffee! (This book is not a bad example--the worst ones are the scanned print books that rely on Spellcheck to correct the spelling AND the grammar! Surely, everyone knows that Spellchecks concept of grammar is dreepy funky?)

There are several good stories about people who try to learn to play music later in life. Some people seem to have limited or not-long-lived success because they underestimate how mind-and-body hard it is learning to hear and play music as an adult. John Holt has teaching experience with others who were told they couldn't do something (sing, read) when younger. For him, as for me, learning music is as hard and slow and rewarding as anything else I've learned. The payoff is in the learning, more than reaching any preconceived performance goals.

This book was written in the 1970s and covers a time period considerably before that. At first I was put off by feeling of an age gone past, thinking the book would not be relevant for me. But, I was wrong. This is a timeless tale about following one's star no matter what your age, finding ways to overcome obstacles and using your gifts for the larger good. I would highly recommend it.

Interesting read that restored my faith in the passion for music and the value of working hard and putting yourself out there.

Holt is one of the great voices in education. In this book, he isn't advising teachers, he is both teacher and student. The bio-feedback he experiences through his relationship with the cello is an inspiration to anyone who wants to produce, not just consume, music. His attention to detail imparts his childlike genius to the reader. You don't have to pick it up in a single reading. Left on the table, you will reread pages or flip through to find new perspectives. Like music, it is not a narrative, but an enveloppe to be trusted.

I read the rave reviews then wondered if John Holt wrote them before he died. I won't take anything away from his writing, as it was well-written and certainly keeps your interest. On the other hand, the story never really got off the ground. Perhaps this is because he never quite reached a goal. I'm quite sure there are plenty that have taken up the cello in their later years with every bit as much success.

A wonderfully helpful and companionably inspiring book for the adult learner of or returner to a musical instrument. I was familiar with this author from his books on the reasons for failure and success of children in education, and much encouraged by his advice to teach children at home rather than have them suffer a counter-productive school system. His careful attention to the learning process as he takes up a muscial instrument is as much in evidence here, with a refreshing and joyful freedom from the conventional restraints of educational philosophy.

The book is nice and inspiring, although I found some parts of it a bit tedious. The Kindle edition is terrible, thus the low score. Mistypes are in each paragraph, and in many cases it makes understanding the text difficult. It also appears that musical score fragments, that are in the paper book, are absent from the Kindle edition.

Je viens de finir de lire ce midi, pendant la pause, le livre de John Holt "Never too late" (1979, en anglais des Etats-Unis). Décédé prématurement d'un cancer à 62 ans, alors qu'il avait plein d'énergie et de projets dans cette musique qui lui passionnait, sa voix résonne dans ma tête. Il a vraiment parcouru un chemin formidable, il m'a fait réfléchir, émouvoir, rire, sourire... trois décennies après son decès.Je pense à son violoncelle de luthier qu'il s'est fait construire; il doit se sentir très seul. Je pense à tous ces amis avec lesquels il partageait sa passion, je pense à ce fauteuil vide dans l'orchestre qu'il aimait mais qu'il n'arrivait pas à suivre, comme moi.Cela m'a fait du bien. Ce soir j'ai un peu travaillé ma musique, pas trop car je suis très pris par mon travail, mais que n'ai pas manqué le rendez-vous.Je recommande ce livre de tout mon coeur. Si vous êtes débutant adulte comme moi, et si l'anglais ne vous pose pas de problème, achetez ce livre. Il restera pour toujours dans votre bibliothèque.

This is a wonderful account of a man developing a life long love of music from his earliest years then taking up an instrument and pursuing his own musical development for several decades. Holt writes about his own learning process but speaks to all of us as he tentatively plays the first notes on the cello to joining amateur groups and attending summer music camps. As the father of home schooling he speaks to the condition in all of us to follow our passions and develop our skills throughout our life and to view learning as a continual journey that has no end game.

Excellent