crash course for adult student

[tdurfey]

I have had an adult woman approach me wondering if I can give her a crash course in piano before she travels back to her home overseas.  She had one semester of piano in college, but doesn't remember a thing.  I have an adult piano course I can use, but am looking for pointers, areas I should make sure to cover, where to begin, how fast to go, etc.  We will have four sessions of two hours each to have lessons over two weeks.  Thanks.

tdurfey

[ChristmasCarol]

I have had an adult woman approach me wondering if I can give her a crash course in piano before she travels back to her home overseas.  She had one semester of piano in college, but doesn't remember a thing.  I have an adult piano course I can use, but am looking for pointers, areas I should make sure to cover, where to begin, how fast to go, etc.  We will have four sessions of two hours each to have lessons over two weeks.  Thanks.

tdurfey

It has been my general experience in life that such an outrageous request doesn't work out.  I'm wondering what you would get out of this nevermind the adult in question.  I suspect you will spend a lot of time and thought on this and find the student looking for a Spock sort of mind meld to instantly play piano.  Frankly I'd politely decline.  The only thing that could possibly work is to maybe start them with an online piano course and spend that time together learning how to use it.  Still, I'm not liking this for you.  Just my opinion

[lostinidlewonder]

Hey there. I've had to do a few of those types of lessons. I have given only one lesson to one student then never saw them again. I find when u give lessons like that you either study pieces they already know and focus on expression deficiencies.

Or if they are real beginners you should teach them correct hand posture at the keyboard - Chopin had a good idea. RH on 1 E, 2,3,4 on Gb, Ab and Bb respectively and 5 on B. Mirror this in the LH, 1 C, 2,3,4 on the three blacks and 5 on F. To maintain that posture when playing i think is important. This teaches good form at the piano and flattened not curled fingers idea, the more modern approach to piano playing.

It is futile trying to teach a new piece because it wont happen in such a short time. If she cramms to hell then ok.

[Brian Healey]

Teaching adults is a royal pain. It really is. You would think that kids would have shorter attention spans, but it is the adults that need results NOW NOW NOW. And I agree with the person who said that teaching adults rarely works out. The issue is really that a kid student doesn't have any serious responsibilities that interfere with practicing, whereas an adult student has a job and is usually a parent. Free time for practice is a commodity. Usually the adult is either unable to or doesn't feel like practicing repetitious things, they just want to be able to play immediately. As soon as they find out that there really is no such thing as a crash course in piano, they're out the door. A child student, on the other hand, is usually excited by the simple sound of the instrument, and can get joy from playing a simple major scale.

I wouldn't say you should decline the student, but I wouldn't expect it to be a long-term commitment. But you never know, you may be surprised. I think any sort of technique instruction is lost on an adult. They just want to learn how play stuff. At this point, they're not trying to be concert pianists, so don't bore them with theory or technique, just teach them how to play songs that they want to learn. And usually they're pretty simple. Not many adults come into a lesson wanting to learn the Rach 3.

[Brian Healey]

I just re-read the original post and this is my new advice:

Say no.

Anyone who expects to be able to learn anything about the piano in one or two lessons will only succeed in being sorely disappointed. Especially if that person has had no training or "doesn't remember" their previous training (usually that's the equivalent of not knowing anything). Don't bother.

There are no "crash courses" in piano.

[Spatula]

I just re-read the original post and this is my new advice:

Say no.

Anyone who expects to be able to learn anything about the piano in one or two lessons will only succeed in being sorely disappointed. Especially if that person has had no training or "doesn't remember" their previous training (usually that's the equivalent of not knowing anything). Don't bother.

There are no "crash courses" in piano.

Well, maybe so if what you intend is a crash performance! 

[Brian Healey]

Well, maybe so if what you intend is a crash performance!

Touche, Spatula, touche..........

[bernhard]

You are all thinking from the point of view of the student. And a limited point of view even at that.

Crash courses are great provided you follow two rules:

1.   Offer them only during half-terms/holidays (when regular student’s attendances is at a low and you have plenty of free time).

2.   Get the payment in advance – and by that I mean this: Crash courses must be booked one month in advance and payment is done at the time of booking. This is very necessary, since you may never see this person again.

What are the advantages for you, the teacher?

1.   You will get extra income – I myself charge an arm and a leg for a crash course (since it is much more work for me). A one week crash course – depending on the subject/level – can cost as much as three months regular instruction.

2.   You get to occupy yourself (if like me you have no life – except for teaching and piano forum) during the periods when students disappear.

3.   You get to really organise yourself and your material, since as  Mark Twain once said: “If you want me to give a 2 hour speech I can do it right now. If you want me to improvise something for ten minutes I need one year preparation”. So doing a crash course becomes a huge and invaluable learning experience for the teacher

4.   You have the opportunity to evaluate the student – and in case s/he wants to continue with regular lessons later, you will be in a better position to decide if you accept or not.

But there are advantages for the student as well:

1.   They will get an opportunity to evaluate you, and they may be so impressed with you and your teaching methods that they decide to become regular students.
 
2.   They will get the exact idea of what is involved in playing the piano. They will then be in a better position to decide if they truly want to invest further in the “piano-playing project” or if they may as well call it a day.

3.   They may even learn something!

What would I teach in such a course?

Usually I do either one week courses 2 hours per day five days per week, or two weeks courses 1 hour per day five days per week. The students are always beginners or intermediate (if they are advanced they do not need crash courses, they need master classes).

I cover three areas:
 
1.   Scales and the concept of key – this takes 30 minutes of the lesson and involves learning the theory of scales and chords, how to play them using a modified fingering, and how to do free improvisation on scales. Depending on the student we may cover just one scale, or all the 24 plus modes, chromatic and oher exotic scales (pentatonic, wholetone, blues, etc.) The aim of this module is to convince the student of the fundamental importance of learning scales and how to go about learning and practising them – not how many scales he can play. If he can tackle one single scale and the several procedures to tackle them, he can add the others n his own.

2.   Reading and sight-reading music – Another ½ hour. Again, the aim here is not so much to get the student to be a perfect sight reader in a week, but rather to show him how to go about learning sight-reading, so that at the end of the course he knows what is involved and how to go about it on his own (he will also realise that he will need a teacher and lessons on a regular basis).

3.   Finally, the final hour is dedicated to pieces. I aim at three pieces (they are all simple), but I will settle for just one. The aim here again is to teach ways to learn pieces, practice tricks and so on. At the end of the week generally the student has mastered at least one piece and now knows exactly what piano learning is all about.
 
4.   If they choose the two week course, then the modules are 15 – 15 – 30 minutes instead of 30 – 30 – 60 minutes.

5.   They receive most of the instruction in writing and they are videoed at the start and at the end of the course, so that they can keep studying the material at home.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[timothy42b]

My two cents:

It sounds like you are surprised by the request.  It isn't that unusual.  I've only been taking piano lessons for 3 months, but I've played trombone close to 40 years, and in the larger instrumental world it is extremely common to take an occasional expensive lesson from somebody really good (or really famous!).  This is true for people from pro's to us weekend warrior amateurs.  There are a lot of benefits to the student, I never looked at it from the teacher's viewpoint before. 

[Spatula]

Well, maybe so if what you intend is a crash performance!

Touche, Spatula, touche..........

[Brian Healey]

I agree with you all, you all make really good points. My impression of the original post, however, was that the person was somehow expecting to learn the piano in 8 hours (four sessions of 2 two hours), then the person is heading back to her home overseas. Keywords = "home" and "overseas". There is little likelyhood that the teacher will ever see this person again (ie., little chance for further lessons).

To me, it sounds like someone looking for some instant, magical ability to play the piano, like that desperado-looking guy on QVC who claims to be able to teach you the guitar in hour. I may be completely wrong, but I still would be careful about it. Whatever, though, you'll make some money and never see the person again, so who cares really?

[timothy42b]

Here's my third cent. 

We all know you can teach yourself piano.

We all know starting with a teacher can save you months, sometimes years, of trial and error. 

A master lesson like this can't fully substitute but if well done it can go a long way. 

[mound]

like that desperado-looking guy on QVC who claims to be able to teach you the guitar in hour.

Esteban!

haha.. that guy always cracks me up.

[tdurfey]

An update on the crash course situation.  She comes over to visit her family, so this is not probably a one time meeting.  She really has a good attitude and I think wants to get the fundamentals down and go as far as we can with that while she is here.  Piano is not going to be her life's vocation so I think her request is reasonable and am glad she wants to put some effort into this.  I appreciate and welcome more input...