Maybe people are being a little harsh towards Lallasvenson. I read his posts, and I didn’t think they were that insulting to start with. But he seems to have been cornered, and is reacting accordingly.
Back to your original question.
Yes, adults may have certain problems, but in my opinion they have one major advantage over children and teenagers: Motivation. They will also understand what you want from them and they will follow your instructions to the letter.
Now I am not going to list everything that can be said about adult students. I will suggest instead that you make more specific queries (so that you don’t get dismissive answers simply because people will not have the time to write treatises).
So to answer one specific query:
As a matter of fact most amateur adults have totally fixed fingers and hands and there is very little i can do about their technique and indeed i am not interested in teaching students who are not going to be able to play decently.
I don’t find this to be always the case. But even if it was there is much you can do to help. As a teacher, it is exactly this sort of student that needs you the most. If they already possessed suppleness, co-ordination and finger dexterity, there would be precious little to teach them that they could not learn by themselves.
However you may not have the resources to help them. So here are some:
1. Get familiarised with wrist and finger stretches. You will not find these in piano literature though. The best way to learn about these things is to get acquainted with the martial art of Aikido (I am serious). Once you learn them, make these stretches part of your routine and of your students.
2. Get acquainted with Seymour Finks’ eleven basic movements and co-ordinations. Get the video that accompanies the book. You will not be able to master the movements from the book alone. (Seymour Fink: Mastering piano technique – Amadeus Press).
3. Learn and teach juggling to your students (not because it is fun! I promise it as hard and devoid of fun as practising the piano). It develops co-ordination, wrist and finger strength and teaches how to use the arms to originate the movements all skills bearing direct benefits to piano playing. (Clubs are better than balls, but you will have to start with balls).
Any adult with poor co-ordination and fixed fingers that spends one or two months working on these three suggestions will experience amazing improvement.
Finally, you say that you are not interested in teaching adults who are not going to be able to play decently. That is partly your job: to get them to play decently. And then again, play decently what? 80% of the piano repertory consists of pieces that are technically simple and musically extremely satisfying. Anyone who has been properly taught should be able to play decently the easier Scarlatti sonatas, or the easier Mendelssohn’s songs without words, or the easier Grieg’s lyric pieces, or the easier Chopin preludes. Not everyone will be able to play Chopin etudes, or Liszt’s Hungarian Rahpsodies, but most adults do not want to play these pieces in the first place. They will be forever grateful to you if you can get to play anything at all. Even Fur Elise.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
Topic: Teaching adults