Piano lessons aren’t just for kids anymore, and that’s great news! So many people who missed out on the opportunity to take lessons as children are signing up for piano lessons as adults. I have more adult students than ever before and they range in age from 18 to 87! I am discovering that working with adults is very rewarding. However, I have found working with grown-ups requires a different approach. Piano lessons for adults are a fantastic idea!
Adult Students are Motivated
A big difference between young piano students and their grown up counterparts is that the grown-ups know
that they want to be at piano lessons. No one is forcing the adults.
They made the decision and they are paying for the lessons. Most
adults are highly motivated students.Which makes piano lessons for adults very rewarding.
By the same token, no one is forcing
these adult students to practice either. And let’s face it, most
adults are very, very busy. Children are busy too, but adults have
much more responsibility to deal with. This is especially true for
Moms and Dads. Their work is never done, so finding time to
practice can be a real challenge.
Adult Students Have Different Learning Styles
I teach my adult students differently
than I teach the children. I begin by asking my adult students
exactly what it is they would like to be playing – popular music,
classical, jazz, church music, etc. With that in mind, I tailor the
lessons to the student’s individual wants and needs. Adults have
already spent a lifetime not playing the piano so they are all
anxious to get started. None of my adult students are planning to
have careers as professional pianists, so my goal is to get them to
proficiency ASAP!
What is “proficiency”? I define it
as being able to learn and play the music of your choice fluidly. I feel
that my goal as a teacher is not just to teach people how to play
pieces but to teach people how to learn pieces. Although I generally
let my adult students map out their own course of study. I always
focus on a few basic concepts when creating a syllabus for my adult
students.
Music reading
I teaching piano lessons for adults. I teach my students to read
music. I think that it is very important for people to have at least
basic music reading skills. Unless I can place students at a higher
level, I start all of my adult students beginning with Book One.
Students go through the lessons at their own pace. Most of my adult
beginners end up going through the material very quickly in the
beginning and settle in working at the Book Two level going forward
though the end of book four.
Technique
I begin teaching technique right away
with adults. My book of choice is “Hannon the Virtuoso Pianist”.
I start with the first exercise hands separately and then have the
students put hands together. I am not concerned with speed or having
them cover many exercises. We focus on hand position, relaxation and
coordination. If need be, I work with the students on more basic
exercises such as those found in Paloma Piano’s technique book.
Scales and Chords
Major scales are a must, in my opinion.
Most of my adult students want to play popular music and to play
popular music you need chords. To make chords you to know at least
the 12 major scales. Scales also help to establish basic fingering
patterns.
Read the post “The Overachieving Piano student”
Improvisation
At the first lesson, I show my students
how easy it is to improvise using the black keys only. True this is a
bit “gimmicky” but it gets fingers moving, imagination going and
ears working. I encourage all of my students, both adults and
children, to improvise and experiment with the piano. I also have a
few pieces that students can learn by watching the videos on the
Paloma Piano website. My goal is to have my students experience the
enjoyment of being able to make music from the very start of lessons.
Once my adult students can read music
fairly well, know some scales and can play with hands together (which
in the Paloma Piano method is at the end of book 2b). I change the
structure of the lesson. At that point, we spend the first half of
the lesson working on traditional piano studies and the second half
we focus on learning the music that meets the individual student’s
interest.
In Conclusion
Having spent the vast majority of my
piano teaching career working with children, I must admit that at
first taking on adult students was a bit of a challenge. I am always
trying to find better ways to meet the needs of all of my students. I
have found that my adult students are some of the best students I
have.
If you would like tons of free music and resources for your adult students or for your younger students,
Visit our sister site for students and parents pianoparents.net