Adult Class Piano Methods

[jlh]

Hey all,

I have a specific request from a music academy I teach at.  Today, several men from an adjacent building inquired about the possibility of taking a piano class together.  I'm not sure what I should charge as my fee, but more importantly I'm not entirely up-to-date on the current methods available for beginning adult piano class use.

A couple years ago I taught class piano to music majors at the university level, and we used "Piano for the Developing Musician" by Martha Hilley and Lynn Freeman Olsen.  I found that text to be a good method for it's application aimed at music (non-piano) majors looking to fulfill piano proficiency requirements of their particular major. 

Do any of you have preferences or good advice to give concerning methods in this case?

Thanks,

Josh

[lostinidlewonder]

I always interview students before I take them on because I simply need to know what the student wants from the piano before I can decide what I can teach them. Often they have no idea what they want to do, they just want to learn.

They  might not even know music that interests them! With those with a complete blank card some of the first few lessons must be about working out what their musical taste actually is like. This means playing a whole heap of different music and honing in on what interests them. I find this critically important for all students to know what they like because this is their compass guiding us through their personal musical journey.

Many students however know what they like and where they would like to aim for. Once you have this long term goal in perspective as a teacher you can plan the path towards that goal. You must also know their time available to learn the piano, whether they have a piano at home or at least daily access to a piano. All of these factors effect how you teach the student. If they have little time and little access to a piano then you must teach them very simple baby step methods, if they have full access to a piano and hours a day to practice then you can structure a more detailed lesson (still paying respect to the individuals physical and mental capabilities.)

As things go with theory we can teach that pretty much out of a text book. How to read music, notice specific theory patterns in music etc all can be done away from a keyboard. However application of it to the keyboard is a different matter. thus I really like to keep separate theory to playing for the beginners, but slowly sneak it in. Most beginners I teach their first few pieces in a parrot fashion. That is I play it for them, they repeat. If they have the ability to read music that is great, but often beginners cannot do this, it would take 10 minutes to play 1 bar. So I show them how to do it, they mimic it, and they can learn it a lot faster. Beginners must basically build their memorized repertoire that is our first responsibility, then we can work on the things that are weak.

[amanfang]

I have only used Alfred group piano books.  There are several series that they have - some aimed at non piano music majors, and some aimed at the non-musician.  For those with no music background, I have taught from the Piano 101, but I believe there are others as well. 

[arensky]

I teach an adult (college age and older) piano class and use Bastien's Piano For Adults Book I. I like it because it's concise and to the point and covers basic reading skills ("theory") as well as the basics of how to play, including elementary exercises by Schmitt and Hanon. This book works very well for me and the class, I recommend it.

I have a specific request from a music academy I teach at.  Today, several men from an adjacent building inquired about the possibility of taking a piano class together. 

That's interesting, sounds like they work together. What are they? Engineers? Lawyers? Construction Workers? Interior Decorators? 

[lisalightning]

I am a group piano teacher and use the Mayron Cole Method. I find it is the best method to teach sight reading skills. It is a completely different approach from other methods, but the longer I use it, the more I see the wisdom in it. It is the opposite of teaching by rote or ear. I use it for my adult classes as well; I just tell them to pretend they are a kid again (the pictures are for the younger student) but they are working on Adult versions. It gets them playing very well indeed. I teach music theory in conjunction; intervals,  how scales, chords and harmony work, etc. I  ask them to harmonize melodies pretty early on. This helps them work on playing without music. Go to mcpiano.com for the books

Lisa Winebarger

[jlh]

That's interesting, sounds like they work together. What are they? Engineers? Lawyers? Construction Workers? Interior Decorators? 

They actually work at an FM radio station here and decided to all take a piano class together.... seems like a great idea, getting friends or coworkers together to learn something new.

Anyway, I had the music school buy several copies of Alfred's Piano 101 because I learned that the local community colleges have been using it to great success, and then the week of the first class 4 of the 5 guys backed out of the deal.

I'm teaching the 5th guy privately now.