When George Quinlan gave his 13-year-old grandson a drum set for Christmas in 2018, he had no idea the gift would actually be for himself.

At a loss for what to do in retirement, Quinlan started messing around with the drums, tapping out simple rhythms. He was hooked. Within months, Quinlan’s wife surprised him with his own drum set for his 68th birthday.

“It’s been a life change for me,” said Quinlan, now 75.

He practices drums daily in his Alfred home and plays in the Portland-based Ideal Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band, filling his days in pursuit of something new.

Playing New Orleans-style jazz alongside Quinlan in the band is fellow later-in-life musician Lee Urban on the tuba.

With careers as a lawyer, planning and economic director for Portland, and teacher, Urban was used to staying busy. After his wife passed away, he took up the ukulele at 70.

He last played an instrument when he was in the Deering High School band, so Urban turned to the book “Ukulele for Dummies” to start from square one. After starting on his own, he was eventually joined by eight friends, all learning the instrument together in his Portland living room. Soon the group was performing at local churches and Alzheimer’s care centers.  

“It’s got a social aspect. It’s got a creative aspect. Obviously, it’s got a feel-good aspect. It’s got a spiritual aspect,” said Urban, now 79.

When his worsening arthritis prevented Urban from playing the ukulele, he refused to give up his new passion for music. He just took up the tuba instead.

START AT THE VERY BEGINNING

For those who have spent a lifetime pursuing a career or raising a family, starting something as a beginner can be daunting, said local music teachers. The last time many people tried something brand new was in childhood.

“When you’re an adult, you’ve been good at stuff for a long time,” said Michael Lund Ziegler, the executive director of the Portland Conservatory of Music and the conductor of the Southern Maine New Horizons Band, which is composed of adults new to or returning to playing music.

Ziegler said he sees courage and tenacity in the three dozen adults in the New Horizons Band, whose ages range from 20 to 80. After playing a song well, he sees delight and a sense of accomplishment in their eyes.

Music instructors say successful students have overcome the idea of expertise in adulthood, instead opening themselves up to being a learner once more.

“To be put in a situation where you’re less confident and have to look to another adult for guidance, it can be a humbling thing for people who derive a sense of self or identity around their accomplishments,” said Patia Maule, the program manager and an instructor at the Maine Academy of Modern Music in Portland.

Additionally, music organization leaders said there’s often a misperception that they only work with young students. However, adults make up a third of the Portland Conservatory of Music’s program participants.

At the Maine Academy of Modern Music, more than one in 10 of its students are adults, a number that has been growing in the past several years, said Maule. She credits the bands created through the organization that perform at local venues with bringing attention to programs that teach adult music learners.

AN INVESTMENT OF LOVE

Adult students often bring something new to the learning space.

“The most challenging student for me, writ large, is somebody who doesn’t want to be there. And I basically never see that with an adult,” said Jeff Christmas, a guitar, voice and ensemble instructor at 317 Main Community Music Center in Yarmouth.

Adults approach music lessons differently than children, said local music teachers. Adults choose to show up and invest their own money and time. They are better able to articulate what they want to get out of music lessons and are more self-aware about what practice routines they can follow.

 “Many of them, in this new phase of life, have time and space to do this thing that they’ve always wanted to do, either out of curiosity or out of a deep love,” said Christmas.

In addition to individual instruction, Christmas leads music ensemble groups at 317 Main Community Music Center, including Deep Roots, a group for musicians 55 and older. At the Thursday afternoon Deep Roots ensemble, up to eight regulars meet weekly to play with Christmas.

As the group played renditions of folk songs, as well as a few original tunes, members laughed, harmonized, teased each other and listened as others reflected on the heaviness of the world outside the studio.

“It’s become an important group for supporting one another,” said Jon Hellstedt, 84, of North Yarmouth. He learned guitar in college, but got back into playing regularly after joining the group five years ago.

After practicing a John Prine song, the group decided to sing “Leave the Light On” by Chris Smither. They joked it was an “old person song.”

They began, their voices and strumming melding together, each person taking a turn singing a verse. At the end of the song, everyone let out a sigh.

MORE THAN MUSIC

For some adult learners, taking up an instrument is not about filling newly available time in retirement, but carving out time for oneself amid other commitments and challenges.

Elisabeth Snell, 47, started taking voice and piano lessons at Maine Academy of Modern Music with Maule in fall 2024. Snell, a mother of two, identifies as queer. She works in domestic violence prevention and intervention services and said finding this outlet was a direct response to the Trump administration’s impacts on both her personal and professional life.

“Things felt really chaotic and stressful, lots of surprises and changes. And I just thought to myself, ‘I really need a space where my brain is doing something really different,’” she said.

In learning music, Snell said she found a space for imagination, creativity and risk-taking  – rarities in her responsible adulthood. Week by week, she could see her practice build upon itself.

“Honestly, I kept thinking and kept thinking to myself, I’ve never worked so hard to be bad at something,” she said, laughing.

“For adults to have that pride and excitement in something that’s not work, and they’re not directing that feeling like towards their children or towards somebody else, but to get to experience that themselves, I think it can be a real light in somebody’s life,” said Maule.

‘NEVER TOO LATE’

Beyond sharing newly learned tunes, many adults who have learned music later in life are also eager to share a message: Anyone can learn.

If not the ukulele, try a tuba, said Urban. A harmonica, a pennywhistle, or just slapping a rhythm on a table all count. His newest venture? Learning to play a secondhand sousaphone.

“If anybody loves music enough to even think about it, anybody enjoys music enough to even think about picking up an instrument, they can do it. It’s not a race,” agreed Quinlan.

“It’s never too late to learn something new, ever.”