Carissa-COYLE-Ch 3-4

I am thoroughly intrigued by myelin. It makes a lot of sense to me, but there are still some concerns I have. If what we are reading about myelin is true, does that mean that there are some students that I teach that will simply never get ahead because others began deeply practicing earlier than them? For example, I teach many young children currently. This is great for them if I can teach them now at a young age how to practice deeply. But what about for my older students? If they come to me in their 40's and say they would like to experience being in community theater before they die and have never had a lesson, what do I tell them? Do I tell them that they can achieve that? Is that giving them false hope if the people in their community have had significant experience (and most likely lots more consistent deep practice) which is frequently the case in a state like Utah? 

If I'm being extremely vulnerable, this is both encouraging and discouraging for me. It is encouraging to know that I and others can accomplish so much so efficiently and quickly by hacking into how myelin works. However, as an example, I grew up in a very small town with very little musical opportunities. I had never taken any musical private lesson until I was 18 when I moved to Utah. This fact is discouraging because I know that by this myelin factor, I will never be as skilled as someone who started deep practicing when they were 8. I'm almost 30 now. If myelin starts degrading at age 50, does that mean that I have 20 years to attempt to gain the skills that others will have been developing for 40? If it's a simple numbers game, it's clear that that's not possible. 

So, what do I tell a middle aged student (I have one currently) who wants to take lessons from me? For some, they don't want to compete. But for those that do, what do I tell them?

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