By the time average 18-year-olds enter college, the most experience playing a musical instrument they’ve had is a year’s worth of school band practice in the 6th grade. They listen to MP3 players on campus, mouthing the words and wishing they could strum a guitar like a young Keith Richards or work a piano like Alicia Keys.

But they wouldn’t seriously consider learning to play an instrument because it would take, like, forever. Right?

Local musicians say, “Wrong.”

Morgan Orion, a 22-year-old professional guitarist and singer living in Urbana, thinks it is totally possible to learn an instrument in as little time as a year.

“The first song I learned was ‘Emily’ by Adam Green,” said Orion, recalling back to when he first started plucking and strumming at age 17. “I learned that song within a month.”

Orion never took professional lessons. The songwriter just wanted an instrument to accompany his voice and picked up his dad’s guitar one day. His dad noticed and tried teaching him, but Orion wasn’t having it. He wanted to do things his way and at his speed. He started practicing every day.

“My fingers hurt like hell at first,” he said. “I had blisters and everything, but I kept on practicing.”

Now Orion owns and dabbles on close to a dozen instruments, including a cello on which he can only play the theme song of the film “Jaws.”

Erik Swanson, doctoral student in FAA, agrees with Orion that it is possible to learn an instrument within a year. Swanson is a guitar teacher at CV Lloyde in Champaign, and most of his students are easily playing songs similar in skill-level to Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” Green Day’s “Good Riddance” and Oasis’ “Wonderwall” well before the one-year mark.

He says a student’s age doesn’t really factor in to whether or not they have the ability to learn. What does matter is that the person is dedicated to practicing on their own for about an hour a day, five days a week.

“I’ve had students who are in their seventies,” said Swanson, laughing at the idea of a twenty-something being too old to learn an instrument. “If you’re committed to learning, you can.”

What he says tends to scare newcomers off is the idea of having to learn to read music, a task comparable to learning a foreign language. He, therefore, makes the music-reading portion of each $19.50 half-hour lesson optional.

“Lennon and McCartney couldn’t read music,” he said, “and that obviously didn’t stop them from writing or playing.”

Swanson also thinks many young adults are afraid to take lessons, because they’ve had absolutely no previous exposure to an instrument. While he recognizes that people with past experience playing or reading music generally pick up instruments quicker, he says there is no reason a complete novice couldn’t learn or even have more natural talent.

Jackie Pendola, senior in FAA, thinks the amount of time it takes to learn an instrument varies on the particular instrument. She, a classically trained flutist since the 5th grade, explains how a new guitarist could memorize a few chords and play several pop songs, though it just doesn’t work the same way for someone learning a wind instrument.

“Learning to play guitar or piano isn’t easy,” said Pendola, while leaning on a music stand in a Smith Memorial Hall practice room, “but there are a lot of breathing and muscle memory techniques that would be a completely different challenge for someone learning a wind instrument.”

Still, having nearly finished her music education degree, Pendola believes it is more possible than ever for someone to learn the basics of any instrument in a year. Her program includes a demanding requirement where she has to learn to play nine wind instruments. From bassoon to saxophone, she only has eight weeks per instrument to achieve the middle-school performance level. She additionally must take courses in piano and percussion.

Pendola says what sets wind instruments apart from some other instruments is that they provide an easy way to get involved in a band. Her time in the UI Chorale, a University choir ensemble, has been a great experience, and she recommends people take up a wind instrument not only if they want to play, but also if they’re looking for a social outlet.

“I would say ‘go for it’ to anyone expressing interest in playing an instrument,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a wind instrument.”