How to inspire adults to start practicing?

[Laurana]

Hi, I am a piano teacher from Holland.
I have a lot of adult students, they love the lessons, they come regulary never miss any lesson but they almost never practice....I don't know any more how to handle that. Even I give them the repertoire they want to play. Ah, it is almost so very-sweet heart breaking ballades  Clyderman-like-style, Rollin, Musicals... but still nothing challenging in it ( at least not for me). They find even a simple Diabelli sonata too difficult.
PLEASE help me on that issue!

[goose]

Hi Laurana,

If I understand you right, you have keen students who enjoy playing and who like the lessons, but who are not practising what you ask of them in between lessons.

I only started studying seriously as an adult and I pretty much quit my job to do it. So I know how frustrating it is from the student's side when you don't have time to practise. When I worked full-time, I realised I wasn't making progress, but I thought the very least I could do was to keep going to class.

Of course, everyone can make time. It's just a question of sacrificing something else. The thing for me is that I WAS playing the piano. But, after a hard day in the office, I only wanted to play. I would happily play for an hour or so just messing around, playing by ear and enjoying making music. But I couldn't summon the energy to practise.

The main thing I now realise was that I didn't know (a) the right stuff to practise and (b) how much progress was possible with short focused practice.

I'd suggest explaining the benefits of consistent work to your students (even if in short bursts). Set them something simple to do for the next week. Tell them it really is simple and that it won't challenge them. Whatever it is, make it something they can't do for you right then, that lesson. But, if they just devoted 2-3 min a day to it, they could do it by next lesson.

Tell them that's all they have to do. Nothing else. But they have to MASTER it. There's so much to learn, but the basic solid foundation comes from small building blocks. They have to see for themselves that it's something worth doing and that they can cross off one of those building blocks and move on to the next one.

The trick for you is finding something small enough that they can handle which it genuinely beneficial, but which won't frustrate them with the thought that there is 'so much else to learn'.

best,
Goose

[bernhard]

Goose is absolutely right.

Here is something else you may wish to add to his suggestions (and get two birds with one stone).

Consider these:

1.   Most adults will not practise correctly, even if you instruct them carefully.

2.   Most adults (and most students) do not actually experience outstanding improvement when they practise. This is mostly due to (1) above. So although they pay lip service to the idea of practice, deep down they do not really believe it will make enough of a difference to justify the investment in time/effort. The truth is that they are doing fine as they are.

3.   During holidays, students disappear and unless you have a payment policy like mine (that requests payment all months of the year), your income usually suffers during holidays.

Now here is what I suggest you do, that will solve the three problems above.

During holidays, offer (or make compulsory) your students a “crash course”. They have one hour lessons everyday for two weeks, Monday to Friday, but only pay what they would normally pay per month. (You will get less per lesson, but on the other hand you will get something instead of nothing – you can also use these extra lessons to make up any cancellation during the rest of the year). During these ten consecutive days (with rests on Sat-Sun), you will actually practise with the student in a structured way according to the principles of efficient practice, making sure that they actually practise correctly.

My own crash courses cover a completely new piece (of a size and degree of difficulty that allow it to be finished in two weeks), a piece the student already knows but may need polishing, and a number of scales/arpeggios (related to the two pieces). This way I get to cover quite a lot of learning/practising strategies. After two weeks usually the results are so astonishing (the student is videoed before and after) that they become incredibly motivated to practise. The ultimate purpose of the course (apart from making me rich ) is to demonstrate the power of consistent practice.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[ShiroKuro]

Bernhard, wow, I would love to attend piano lessons everyday for an hour!!! For two weeks, that would be so great (all the time would be better, but I'd have to win the lottery first)  Where I live (a small country town in Japan) there are no special events that provide a chance to attend anything beyond the standard weekly lesson.

Laurana, as an adult student who has always practiced almost everyday (usually for about 90 minutes per practice) I can't really relate personally to your students not wanting to practice.  However, I know that being motivated to practice is very difficult after working all day, coming home and cooking and cleaning and doing the laundry etc. Piano has to become part of the daily routine, and for an adult, the other people in the household have to agree to that and be supportive of it, or it's extremely difficult. Once daily practice becomes a habit, it's much easier to maintain, so the challenge is to get into the habit.

I don't know if I agree with Goose who suggested 2-3 minutes.  For an adult (maybe for any beginner) we need a little more time than that to get our fingers going and so on. But  Goose's point is really good.  Let your students know they don't have to spend hours at the piano, they just have to practice as close to everyday as possible.

Give your students a calender-- any thing would do really, something with a small square for each day. Tell them to put a star (or a P for practice or anything really) on each day that they practice for at least 15-20 minutes. At each lesson, ask to see the calender, and praise them for how much they've practiced "oh, great, you practiced 5 days last week"  "hey, good job,  you practiced more last week than the week before!" Of course the goal is for them to practice everyday. By using the calender, the student can see each day that they practiced, and you can see it as well. And they know that all they have to do is practice for at least 15 minutes, as close to every day as possible. More than likely, if they can get to the piano, they will stay there longer than 15 minutes. But the point is to have some kind of daily record that cannot be written in unless they get to the piano.

The main thing is not "I have to practice every single day" so much as "All I have to do is practice today"  Somehow that makes it more manageable. And then each day, you get a star on the calender.

I started keeping a calender like this, and even though I have always been a regularly practicer, this helps me when I am really tired or busy at work. Before I wrote on the calender, if I missed a day of practice, it was easy for one missed day to become two or three. Now, if I can't practice because of work or illness,  I am definitely back at the piano the very next day.

[claudio]

hi laurana,

here are two further suggestions from an apprentice adult student:

a) try to find out more about their private living environment. i have both
a digital and a mechanical piano. i acquired the digital when my neighbors
complained that they hear me exercising at midnight.  unfortunately,
having a job an all allows me only to exercise at odd hours. maybe your
students have the same problem.

b) do give your students some technical homework (boring as it might be);
adult students tend to achieve positive results easier with technics than
just trying to play.

hope this helps, claudio

[Laurana]

Thank you all very much for your reactions.

It is nice to read that you all have fresh ideas about working with adults. I personally always explain my adult students why they have to practice on a certain way. Even in the lesson they see the efficiency of 5 minute practice in a little music phrase gives the immediate result. So they do get an idea how it works when doing it each day bit by bit. That way you organize how to build a peace. And yes, they do love to achieve it at the lesson. They know I am right, but still, even a deadline like performing in 2 weeks they find difficult to do by themselves.

They like the lessons – Indeed because they see that it works. But I noticed also that the student’s personal goal, motivation and personality I would never be able to change. Some of them are more than happy to learn 3 chords in 5 years … and some of them just want to play Beethoven’s  Patetique as they heard it on a CD, and they don’t care if it takes 2 or 10 years to achieve ( or never …?)

Bernhard -- Your idea of organising a crash course is wonderful, but not possible with 40 adults a week. That means I already work 5 days times 6-8 students every evening! I forgot the kids from 14 - 17:30 6 days....And besides that they all do other things too… lot of hobbies are (un)reasonably fashionable, noble and trendy here in Holland. Good for me as long as it continues like that!

[goose]

Laurana, with 50+ students per week, it sounds like you don't have any financial concerns at least Just out of interest, how long are the lessons? Are you able to prepare anything specific for each student? Maybe you could afford to suggest to some of them that perhaps their time and money is not being spent wisely (and you can concentrate on those who can make time to make progress).

By the way, I didn't mean that students should only practice 2-3 min per day. Just that whatever they need to master for that week should be doable on 2-3 min per day. When they see what can be achieved, they'll realise that you can have a bunch of small things to master each week. But for those who really have no time, this is a start. I'm now clocking around 3 focused hours each day, enjoying every minute, and still feeling there's always something to work on.

Shiro, I agree with 'checking off' practice sessions on a chart. I adapted some advice from Bernhard and made a weekly chart. One side of the paper has repertoire on it (rows: different pieces, columns: 7 days). The other has technique on it (rows: various scales, arpeggios, voicings, etc). I saw a thread on keeping a log book, but I figured I could post this here.

I've only been doing this for about a month, but it is replacing my notebook (which I found difficult to decipher the following week  ).

The benefits of the practice chart are three-fold:

1) We often practise what we're good at because we like it (and hence get better at it. Surprise!). I prefer practising scales to arpeggios, for instance. I imagined that I was working on arpeggios (and wondering why they weren't getting any better). But I really wasn't practising them anything like consistently. That shows up on the chart. So you can balance what you are practising.

2) You get a sense of achievement and progress by filling up the chart. Of course, there are more 'rows' of items than you can get through in any one day. But I try to do something from a piece from each of the four musical periods, and some facet of each of scale, arpeggio, voicing each day.

3) Best of all, during a practice session (which might be 90 min long), you can easily find the next thing to practise for 10-20 min.

Oh, and try not to show people your chart. They'll think you're anal as all hell. 

Best,
Goose

[allthumbs]

Greetings

Shiro, I agree with 'checking off' practice sessions on a chart. I adapted some advice from Bernhard and made a weekly chart. One side of the paper has repertoire on it (rows: different pieces, columns: 7 days). The other has technique on it (rows: various scales, arpeggios, voicings, etc). I saw a thread on keeping a log book, but I figured I could post this here.

I've only been doing this for about a month, but it is replacing my notebook (which I found difficult to decipher the following week  ).

The benefits of the practice chart are three-fold:

1) We often practise what we're good at because we like it (and hence get better at it. Surprise!). I prefer practising scales to arpeggios, for instance. I imagined that I was working on arpeggios (and wondering why they weren't getting any better). But I really wasn't practising them anything like consistently. That shows up on the chart. So you can balance what you are practising.

2) You get a sense of achievement and progress by filling up the chart. Of course, there are more 'rows' of items than you can get through in any one day. But I try to do something from a piece from each of the four musical periods, and some facet of each of scale, arpeggio, voicing each day.

3) Best of all, during a practice session (which might be 90 min long), you can easily find the next thing to practise for 10-20 min.

Oh, and try not to show people your chart. They'll think you're anal as all hell. 

Best,
Goose

I keep a chart for my own practice and briefly described it in the post below.


https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7633.msg83894.html#msg83894

Laurana

As an adult student myself, I can't imagine not wanting to practice, however, I can see job and family commitments getting in the way. I can retire in two years and can't wait to be able to practice on a daily basis.


Cheers

[mound]

I too am an adult student, and I can't imagine not wanting to practice.. I've done 1.5 - 3 hours every day since I started.  Since I do work a full time job and at the end of the day, want nothing to do with practice (though playing is always a nice break) I made the decision to wake up 2 hours earlier in the morning. My time to practice, no interruptions and I'm totally awake by the time I have to go to work. When I get home, I don't have to worry about piano practice.  Many people think "no way could I get up that early" - but it's a habit like anything else, get used to it and you wonder how you ever got by before. My friend has begun classical guitar, and I got him on the "morning practice kick" and he's astonished at his progress.

Something else that might help, just an idea. I sorta did this on my own.  Before any adult student begins, on their interview meeting, request that they write out a statement of their goals.  Why do I want to take piano lessons? Where am I now and what do I hope to accomplish with this?  Broadly speaking. Discuss that with them and set out a broad plan.  Have them paste this statement of their goals onto the inside front cover of a practice log which you give them on their first day, and then every lesson, require from them that they have not only kept a log of their practice time (or lack thereof as the case may be) but that they write a brief paragraph every week "am I closer to my goals? If so why, if not, why?" .. leave it general, and require that "even if you don't practice a lick, I want you to write this paragraph for me"

If it's right there in front of their face, week after week, they'll either "get it" and realize that they are the master of their own destiny, or they will realize that perhaps they aren't as attached to their goals as they once thought and give up.

-Paul

[sznitzeln]

Unfortunately culture is very low in this MTV plagued time
You must counter this by showing the beauty of music to your students.
It is not easy, but the best method I know of is to pick out beautiful pieces that have a "story" and tell your students about it. You should listen to music together at the end of every lesson. Its not essential that the students play this music.
You must be very concrete in your explanation...
I.e. if you were to demonstrate Ravels Ondine... first you tell your student that its about a mermaid or something like that that lures men into the water. And then ask if the student hears how the music sounds like water in the beginning. Then when the melody enters its very singing... as the mermaid is singing a mysterious song
But perhaps Ravel isnt so good for starters, because you need to pick out some easy listening first.
And let them listen to "absolute" music aswell, so they dont think that you need some external explainations to appreciate classical music.
And give them recommendations of recordings or (legal) mp3-files.
If they start to appreciate music, practice will be more fun, and they will be more willing to practice even if its not always fun.
You can also ask them if they like to jogg. If they do, tell them that mental practice is similar. In the beginning it is tough, but later you can do it for a longer time, and it feels good when you have used up your energy. Actually its wonderful. Tell them that their concentration time will gradually increase. They should only practice till they get tired, and not push further. They can do that later when they are completely obcessed by the music
I am often surprised how interrested people can be in classical music although they only listen to *********