Teaching Adults

[ana]

hi!  2 adults from the library i work at want me to give them piano lessons.  I don't know exactly what they are expecting.  or where to begin.  i only had one student before, and he was 4 years old.  but very smart for a 4 year old. 
do you know any music books that would interest them, too?

thanks

[faulty_damper]

I assume they are interested in playing the piano because they asked you.  Usually, people (adults) who want to play already have something in mind, which is most commonly Rachmaninov's piano concerto #2.   So just ask what they want to play and that's the piece.

If the don't have anything in mind, then I would be suspicious.  Maybe they just want you as a girlfriend.

[rlefebvr]

Why, does Ana only play in her Tiara also.....I got to get me a female teacher.


Grown ups are easy to teach, but progress can be slow at times because they already have a life outside of music and practice time becomes a concern. Also, we tend to forget how much time it takes the learn to play properly.

There are lots of questions that need to be answered.

- Do they have a piano at home.
- Do they have previous music knowledge.
- How much time do they think they can spend in front of the piano.
- What type of music do they want to learn.

It really depends if they want to learn the classics, pop or a mishmash of both, as this will really change what you stress at the beginning.

[ana]

RACH. CONCERTO # 2?  are you crazy?!?!?
i've never even attempted that!

well, i don't think they are interested in dating me because they are like.....20 and 40 years old.  they have absolutely no musical knowledge.  they have keyboards to practice on.
 Do you recommend any adult method books? 
I don't really know much about pop or jazz or anything cool.  i play mostly classical but i think they have cooler stuff in mind.  like elton john and billy joel, who i have never played before. . . . but i bet i can learn that stuff fast.
man, i need to learn some cool music.  it's so embarrasing, i'll play some really impressive piece, like chopin or something, and then they ask if i know some song by billy joel or elton and my mind goes completely blank.

with the 4 year old, i used the positive reinforcement method.  i gave him stickers.  it worked like magic.  it made him focus.  he had to get that next sticker, you know.

-ana

[rlefebvr]

If that is the case, I would strongly recommend a method book just to get them started. Some people do not like them, but they work wonders at the beginning. Slowly work in some light classic stuff, but concentrate on learning them scales and chords and how they relate to each other. Find easy pop stuff with simple chords so they can learn a song or two at the same time. Use the same song to teach them variations on playing chords and  accompaniment.

This alone will keep them busy for a least 6 months.

[Liween]

  Hi I have also another thread in the student forum as I am an adult and I just barely started for three weeks. 

Relefebvr, you says that teaching chords & scales and one or two songs and it will last an adult for six months.  May I simply ask is that too little for an adult to learn for six months ?  Sorry for this question as I really do not know what will I gain in 6 mths time ...

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5162.0.html

[rlefebvr]

The one or 2 songs could easily be 6 to 12, but you are talking about people who know nothing of music and I have no idea how much time they will spend practicing.This is on top of the method book and the classical stuff and so on.

Learning chords is a very long process. You have to learn each one with all the inversions and be able to play one every other second and then learn to mix them between the two hands. Majors, minors, 7ths aug, dim....you name them.

I stress chords cause you say they want to play pop and once they learn their scales and chords, they can pick up any and I mean any pop song and learn it in 15 minutes. This is in basic form of course.

[Liween]

The one or 2 songs could easily be 6 to 12, but you are talking about people who know nothing of music and I have no idea how much time they will spend practicing.This is on top of the method book and the classical stuff and so on.

Learning chords is a very long process. You have to learn each one with all the inversions and be able to play one every other second and then learn to mix them between the two hands. Majors, minors, 7ths aug, dim....you name them.

I stress chords cause you say they want to play pop and once they learn their scales and chords, they can pick up any and I mean any pop song and learn it in 15 minutes. This is in basic form of course.

Hi Sorry for my ignorance , does it mean that for an adult to learn pop music is much much easier and faster than classical music.  Am I right to say that for playing pop music one must acquire all the chords on the left hand and you can play any keys with your right hand (Is this called improvisation ?) 

I asked this is because few of my friends had taken only several mths to a year music lesson at some music school for pop music and they told me that they only played around with chords on their left hand. 

[faulty_damper]

Popular music is jazz-based.  It is much less complicated than classical styles.  Knowing how to harmonize a melody is bound to knowing how the chords progress.

It is not necessary to know every single chord in every single key before attempting to harmonize a melody.  It's much easier to learn major triads in a simple-to-play key (C major) with the other triads that can be harmonized with it (F & G).

"Am I right to say that for playing pop music one must acquire all the chords on the left hand and you can play any keys with your right hand (Is this called improvisation ?)"

No, not necessarily unless you subscribe to the 12-tone system.

Your friends are obviously not conveying everything they learned if they said they only played around with chords.  It's much easier to be general than to be specific due to constraints on time (because they don't want to talk to you very long ).

[Liween]

  I dun think my friends are such or perhaps they are still not very sure what they know and express it properly.

But how long does it need to learn pop music as compare to a simple classical piece ?

[Bob]

For adults, I've used Alfred's beginning series for adults.  Three levels, a lesson, recital/performance, and theory book. 

They also have something called Play Piano Now!  which was the same stuff as the the books I just mentioned.  They just put the theory, recital, and lesson book in one book.  duh!

If they're mentioned certain composers or pieces, like Billy Joel or Rach 2, then I would find something on their level that's all written out.  There has to be some collection of easy pop music out there if they like pop stuff.  Or, easy classical music if they like Rachmaninoff.

I would also teach them scales and arpeggios.  Maybe a classical piece if they'll go for it.

The method books will keep them learning concepts.  The pop or easy classical pieces are probably why they took lessons in the first place -- just to learn a few pieces they enjoy and find out more about music.

[bizgirl]

The Piano Adventures adult series has some popular pieces in it (Lean on Me, Fiddler on the Roof, Over the Rainbow, etc) as well as the over-simplified versions of some of the most common classical pieces.  It's a good introduction to many different styles, and shows someone, who doesn't think they like classical music, that there are pieces out there that they have heard forever and they actually do like.  It may be a way to open them up to the wonderful world of classicl music.  The books also include theory and technique exercises.

[bunbuns]

Hi Ana my name is Ashley and I Have just started taking lessons and I am 17 I taught myself alot of the summer on my own and am now getting piano lessons I have tons of time and am very determined. I justt got a piano teacher and she gave me a book called Alfred's Basic Piano adult course Lesson book there is level one and level two the book explains it's self it is very good and I recommend it Although some people might laugh at me or think it is unprofessional but the book is ALOT OF help and when you need to ask your teacher something she isnt there if you read the pages they explain things!! but it does get soooo boring and I think various pieces on the side of songs that are more popular will help someone learn I hope i helped a little!!

[Brian Healey]

Popular music is jazz-based.  It is much less complicated than classical styles.

You seem to imply that jazz overall is much less complicated than classical, which I don't think could be farther from the truth. I'm hoping that you were not implying that, and that you were only referring to popular music being less complicated.

Plus, it's all connected. You say pop music is jazz-based (blues-based would be more accurate), but that's a huge generality. It's like saying that your wooden desk is water-based. When the wood was in tree form, water was an important ingredient, but water has very little to do with a desk. And jazz as we know it today is very much based on classical styles, so you could say that pop music is classically based as well.

I think Liween may have been a little mislead by his friends. He said this:

I asked this is because few of my friends had taken only several mths to a year music lesson at some music school for pop music and they told me that they only played around with chords on their left hand.

That sounds about right to me. If you're taking beginning lessons in playing pop music, playing chords in your left hand is what you would do. You'd play the chords in your left hand and play the melody in your right. As the lessons progressed, I imagine you would learn more interesting ways of playing tunes. When you say "knowing all the chords", it simply means knowing how to construct a chord. Once you know how to construct a c-minor chord, you can apply that to any other key.

[Liween]

  Thanks

I just completed my first month of lessons with my teacher and he is teaching me the basics and he told me that more or less I would be able to play pop music after 1-2 years under classical training.  He further stress that for someone who is around
grade 3 can tackle almost 90% of pop music.   

I have seen some pop music and the scores are mostly chords and some notes to be play by the right hand which is so much easier than classical.