We all know that Horowitz played concerts into his 80's but what about us mere mortals. What part of your playing has been affected most by the aging process and what can be done to prolong our playing life and maintain our proficiency? I have observed the following things about myself as Father Time and I get better acquainted.

1. Speed. I can't play uptempo tunes (250+ bpm) without the tune getting ahead of my brain. Result - more mistakes, erratic tempos.

2. Stamina = fatigued after about 30-40 minutes of solid playing.

3. Arthritis (knees/hips) - affects mostly bass pedal play; able to play pedal-only bass only on slow and medium slow tunes.

4. Memory - remembering changes from familiar but infrequently played tunes.

5. Complacency (aka laziness smile ) - lack of desire and incentive to learn new tunes (I don't think I know any tunes from this decade).

I'm sure there are more subtle things but these are the ones that stand out for me. How about you?

chas
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"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]