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Practical Advice and Inspiration for
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- Chronological age is your birthdate on paper.
- Biological age shows in your body—shaped by how you've lived.
- Psychological age lives in your mindset. Stay curious, stay creative, and you stay young.
Healthy ageing isn!t about avoiding age—it!s about living fully through it. With good food, movement, mental engagement, and a spirited outlook, we can thrive far beyond expectations. Life Expectancy is rising—many of us now live into our 80s or longer. But true vitality comes from how we choose to live, not how long.
Retirement can be a new beginning.
This chapter of life offers space—for reflection, for growth, and for music. It!s the perfect time to pick up an instrument like the traverso, dive into Early Music, and let creativity flourish.
Music brings purpose, presence, and joy.
Creative capacity in later life is shaped by both cognitive changes and life experience.
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In Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (the renowned originator of flow psychology) studies the lives of highly successful creative individuals from diverse backgrounds. Common traits include a positive childhood, diverse social networks, resilience, curiosity, and the desire to leave a legacy. Lifelong learning and broad interests support continued creative output later in life. From a cognitive perspective, ageing is associated with a decline in Fluid Intelligence—the ability to quickly process and adapt to new information. However, Crystallized Intelligence, which encompasses accumulated knowledge, continues to grow. Older adults can draw on this depth of experience to engage in creative pursuits with increased insight and subtlety.
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In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert emphasises the Curiosity-Driven Path—a way of creative engagement rooted in small, daily sparks of inspiration. Rather than waiting for a single transformative idea, or a big inspiration, sustained attention to minor curiosities often leads to major creative outcomes. This step-by-step mind set focusing on the creative process, rather than the performance or result opens a lot of possibilities, especially for people with a lifetime of creative experience.
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Positive Impact on Healthy Ageing
for Senior Traverso Players |
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RESPIRATORY HEALTH AND BREATH CONTROL
Playing the traverso requires conscious, controlled breathing. This strengthens the respiratory system, improves lung capacity, and encourages deep breathing—all of which counteract age-related decline in lung function. Regular practice helps maintain efficient oxygen exchange, benefiting both body and brain.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS AND JOINT MOBILITY
Traverso playing involves delicate, coordinated finger movements. This fine motor activity promotes hand and finger dexterity, helping counteract stiffness, arthritis, and reduced mobility in the hands. Gentle but consistent use of joints supports flexibility and blood circulation.
POSTURE AND CORE STRENGTH
Maintaining proper posture while playing engages the core muscles and improves spinal alignment. Over time, this helps counteract the postural decline common in ageing—such as forward head posture and upper-back rounding—and supports balance and body awareness.
COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT AND MEMORY
Learning new pieces, memorising fingerings, interpreting historical styles, and reading music engage multiple brain regions. These activities challenge short- and long-term memory, processing speed, and executive function, all of which are crucial to maintaining cognitive health.
EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION AND STRESS REDUCTION
Musical expression is a powerful emotional outlet, reducing anxiety, calming the nervous system, and enhancing mood. Playing music can help manage symptoms of depression and isolation, especially in later life.
LIFELONG LEARNING AND MOTIVATION
Starting an instrument later in life provides a sense of purpose and achievement. It fosters curiosity and a growth mindset—qualities shown to contribute to longer, more satisfying lives. The study of early music also encourages intellectual exploration and historical interest.
SOCIAL CONNECTION
Playing the traverso can open doors to ensembles, workshops, or lessons—creating opportunities for connection with others who share similar interests. Social interaction is a major protective factor against cognitive decline and emotional isolation.
HEARING AND AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION
Musical practice helps preserve auditory discrimination skills. While hearing loss is common with age, playing an instrument trains the brain to stay attuned to pitch, tone, and dynamic nuance—keeping the auditory cortex active and responsive.
Ria Brandon started practicing yoga in her fifties and within a decade, she became a certified Iyengar teacher with her own studio. Thanks to zoom, her classes are accessible worldwide and she is a great inspiration for her international students.
Signs of Ageing and how to deal with them.
CELL AGEING
Apoptosis is programmed cell death; telomeres shorten with each division, leading to cellular senescence. Organ function depends on cell health. Most bodily functions peak around 30 and then decline, but mostly the capacity remains higher than needed (Functional Reserve).
JOINTS
Ageing often first affects joints. Osteopenia is mild bone density loss; osteoporosis is more severe, often due to hormonal shifts reducing vitamin D and calcium absorption. Commonly affected areas include vertebrae, femur, and wrist joints. Changes cause posture shifts, height loss, cartilage thinning (osteoarthrosis), ligament stiffness, and slower healing, reducing mobility.
• Consult professionals for nutrition and detox to ensure vitamin/mineral adequacy.
• Manage inflammation with herbal supplements and anti-inflammatory diets.
• Physical Therapies and Infrared Saunas and Manual Therapies can help.
• Use gentle warm-ups like baoding balls to improve hand mobility, strength, and coordination.
MUSCLE AND FAT
The amount of muscles in the body slowly reduces from age 30 due to hormonal changes with less testosterone and growth hormones. However, the ageing process only accounts for 10-15% of this loss. With regular movement and sport, additional damage can easily be avoided. Maintain a healthy diet and engage in regular movement to help counteract age-related muscular decline.
• Prolonged practice increases the risk of playing-related injuries; injury prevention is essential for sustainable progress.
• Focus on balance rather than tension: good posture and natural positioning are key to a clear and colourful traverso sound.
• Follow Devienne’s advice (Nouvelle Méthode, 1794):
'Slightly rotate the head joint inward to support tone production and ease articulation.'
EYES AND EARS
Ageing reduces lens flexibility, colour perception, pupil response, tear production, and depth perception; mouches volantes may appear. Hearing loss affects high frequencies and speech clarity.
• Use bright lighting, 3x as much light is needed for a senior musician.
• Get battery powered stand lights and take them to rehearsals and performances.
• Use digital tools for enlarging music and automatic page turning.
• Always bring spare glasses for performances.
• Us high qualitative lenses such as bifocal glasses.
• Avoid blue light backgrounds; prefer soothing tones.
• Hearing aid users should test volume and consult specialists.
• Teachers should use recordings to adjust for altered hearing perception.
MOUTH, NOSE AND SKIN
The mouth and nose contain fewer taste cells, which results in reduced taste and smell sensitivity. This can lead to less saliva production, causing dry mouth. When saliva is insufficient, gums can recede and teeth may become more sensitive. Skin thins, loses elasticity, and produces less vitamin D, increasing fragility.
• Eat a piece of fruit every few hours—even during a lesson or rehearsal— to help regulate adrenaline and stabilise energy levels.
• Bananas are a popular pre-performance snack due to their high mineral content, supporting both the body and mind.
• Hydrate well. No sugary drinks. Coconut water, lemon water, herbal teas.
• Logopedic Exercises can support embouchure development.
• Stable breathing technique helps regulate airspeed and volume naturally through the body, reducing strain on embouchure muscles.
• First aid for lip infections: L-Lysin supplements, Lemon balm supplements or ointments, Zinc supplements or ointments, propolis products, Swedish herb extracts (e.g. from Maria Treben) as a general remedy.
BRAIN
Loss of neuronal activity is offset by new connections and neurogenesis, but with decreasing blood flow, reaction and learning speed is slowed down.
• Adjust the teaching tempo when working with older students to allow extra time for processing new information to ensure new material is integrated with prior experiences and stored effectively.
• Use multi-sensory learning strategies to enhance retention and understanding.
• Build a positive emotional connection to support motivation and engagement.
• Vary the environment or setting to improve memory and focus and introduce surprising or novel elements to stimulate learning.
• Encourage movement during learning to strengthen memory through physical engagement.
• Be aware that anxiety or fear inhibit learning. Understand that older students often have clear goals and high expectations, which can lead to frustration with mistakes—address this directly and compassionately.
• Foster a joyful, process-oriented learning environment, focusing on exploration rather than only outcomes.
• For professional musicians learning traverso, consider using Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process to shift focus from results to process and encourage constructive feedback.
HEART AND LUNGS
Ageing causes blood pressure increase, muscle weakness, and reduced lung capacity.
• Practice in 20-minute sessions for focused, effective learning.
• Alternate between sitting and standing to vary posture and reduce fatigue. With shoulder problems relax the left elbow or practice, use props.
• Use a timer to address small practice problems in a short time instead of endless repetition.
• Practice proper breathing techniques to maximise lung efficiency and minimise tension.
• Incorporate complementary activities like gentle aerobic exercise, yoga, or mindfulness breathing to improve cardiovascular health, lung capacity, and reduce performance anxiety.
• Consider using medical breath trainers and devices to enhance breath volume and
respiratory function.
LIVER AND ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
Liver size, cell count, and enzyme efficiency decline, reducing detox capacity. Dehydration risk rises; insulin resistance may develop.
• Deep breath control is essential for traverso playing.
• Be aware that dizziness may indicate toxin release; rest if this occurs.
• Start the day with lemon water, followed by fresh celery juice for an effective detox routine.
• Snack on fruit and hydrate with coconut water, diluted juices or herbal teas during lessons or rehearsals to support energy and focus.
• Include dried fruits to maintain glucose levels.
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As historical flute players, we cover nearly 400 years of musical repertoire. We have the opportunity to play music in various pitches on a range of instruments and models. We learn to switch between different flutes, key systems, and national styles. We can improvise over figured bass, ornament in various traditions, compose our own embellishments, and truly take ownership of our performances. There is so much to explore and so many flutes to discover—for both professional musicians and amateurs alike.
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First Steps for a Novice Senior Amateur Traverso Player
• Find a skilled local teacher before buying an instrument; many models and tunings exist. First Steps for a Professional Musician on a Traverso Journey
• Seek a qualified teacher early to avoid misconceptions. |
Advice for Teachers of Senior Amateur Traverso Players
• Senior amateurs often have rich musical backgrounds and clear sound goals. Advice for Teachers of Professional Musicians on a Traverso Journey
• Use Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process to shift from result-focused to process-focused learning and to engage the student actively in the process. |
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Petra Music is a performing artist and educator specialising in flute repertoire. She plays on instruments from the renaissance period to the present and enjoys a particular interest in improvisation, ornamentation and composition. She obtained Master degrees in orchestra performance and instrumental teaching and a DMA in flute performance.
As senior lecturer for flute and instrumental pedagogy (Universität Mozarteum Salzburg), she has always been fascinated by the beauty, passion and extreme elegance in Early Music. This led to further traverso study at the Conservatorio di Musica Verona, the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg and the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag. Petra is grateful to her professors Dieter Flury, Jonathan Keeble, Marcello Gatti, Marco Brolli and Kate Clark whose wisdom she strives to pass on in her teaching. Currently, Petra lives in The Hague, being immensely inspired by the exceptional Early Music expertise and the welcoming music community in the Netherlands. www.petramusicflute.com |
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