Never Too Late

Never Too Late is a memoir by John Holt in which he describes learning to play the cello as an adult. I found out about this book while reading a cello forum on Facebook, where a cellist posted that the book was referred to them by Yo-yo Ma. In fact, the back cover of the book carries the following recommendation by Yo-yo Ma:

Very often when I travel, adults come to me and longingly say they want to play a musical instrument but are now too old. I always and with great delight refer them to John Holt’s book Never Too Late. The beauty of Holt’s book is that he himself set his own standards for music making. The reason for playing music is not to compare yourself to anyone but to bring forth what is inside of you.

Holt’s book is about learning to play a musical instrument as an adult. The tone of the book is cheerful and optimistic, and Holt’s stories are often very funny. Holt writes that the book is also about exploration and discovery. And he states finally that it is a book about teaching: “What we can learn best from good teachers is how to teach ourselves better.”

The first chapter describes Holt’s weekly schedule for music making. Holt’s week began with a Monday night rehearsal by an amateur orchestra of which Holt is a member. The rehearsal took place in the small gym of a public school. The description of the rehearsal is reminiscent of the performance nightmares we all have: Giving a speech in front of a crowd but having no clothes on; having to take a final exam for a class you forgot to go to all term; driving a car with no brakes.

It is a new piece…. We take it at full speed…. For me it is a wild scramble. It is hard for me to make my eyes move fast enough across the lines of notes, let alone play those notes…. Try to catch the first note in each group of four, the way they tell you…. I’ve lost my place.

Holt also played two other days of the week. On Tuesdays he rehearsed with a string quartet under the supervision of a professional music coach. This was much more difficult because with only four musicians, Holt’s playing was revealed to all, not buried in the mix of many other instruments.

The quartet is (for me) less tense than the orchestra, but much more intense. In the orchestra I am drowned out by many better players. I struggle hard to catch what notes I can, but nobody hears, cares, or knows whether I catch them or not. In the quartet, I have much easier notes, but they are mine alone, and I have to get them right.

On Thursdays, Holt rehearsed with a violinist and a pianist — a piano trio. In his wonderful description, Holt recounts how difficult some parts were and how they frequently had to analyze carefully (no coach) where they were going astray. “Finally, after many tries, we get it right. We stop and applaud each other.”

Holt devotes chapters two through seven to his life and memories about music. The second chapter is mostly about how music wasn’t a part of Holt’s life or his family’s life. In Chapter 3, Holt writes about experiences singing in the Glee Club in his high school years. Chapter 4 describes Holt’s minimal experiences with music during his college years and during World War II, when he listens to music but neither sings nor plays. In Chapter 5, Holt writes about how he gradually learned to appreciate orchestral music and how he bought a guitar and learned some simple music. Chapter 6 describes how Holt figured out key signatures on his own, and how through experimentation he came to believe that most people can learn to sing in tune. In Chapter 7, Holt writes about taking up the flute but finding many impediments, both internal and external, to becoming a good player. These chapters weren’t very interesting to me.

At last, in Chapter 8, Holt describes beginning to learn the cello at age 40. Holt bought a cello through a connection with a friend, and he found his cello teacher the same way. Unlike many music students, Holt anticipated his lessons with joy, not dread or anxiety. Although the lessons included exercises from a cello method book, Holt’s teacher encouraged him to work through some chamber music, including movements of Bach’s cello suites. And during this time, Holt taught cello to the son of a friend and in the process learned a lot about teaching a difficult student.

Holt was an educator by profession, and he wrote the best seller How Children Fail (1964). It was after this book was published that Holt became too busy to play cello while he pursued his profession. Holt describes this part of his life in Chapter 9.

It is in the last two chapters that Holt describes becoming what he considered to be a real musician on the cello, and these chapters are very good and inspiring. Holt found a way to make time to resume playing, taking up the cello again at age 50 (1973). In Chapter 10, Holt describes good lessons about learning and teaching, including failing at times to play at the skill level of his fellow musicians, being hard on himself, establishing a successful learning process, working with good and poor teachers, and learning without lessons.

In Chapter 11, Hold describes the pleasure he got from playing at summer camps at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.

In his epilog, Holt writes about “clearing a space” for playing cello by sacrificing other important activities. He also describes how he was improving as a cellist and a musician, and he communicates well the pleasure he got from playing well with his fellow musicians.

Rating: Four stars (very good)