[tony-morosco]

Although I have taught one adult the basics of playing the harp, I do not consider myself a teacher in any respect. But as someone who learned to play the harp in my 20s I can tell what it was about my teacher that made it easy for me to learn.

The primary thing is that my lessons were about me. You see, as an adult laying out, what to me was, a sizable amount of money for lessons, I had no desire to fit my goals in to someone else?s curriculum. I know many teachers have their own way of doing things, but the adult is less inclined to go along with a teacher’s idea of what is best than a child is (for better or worse).

My teacher would introduce me to music, but let me decide if I wanted to play that piece or try something else. Someone mentioned a student interested in only Celtic music. That was me as well. I wanted to play Celtic harp, but my teacher was a classical harpist. It didn’t deter her. She was honest about what she could teach me, but was willing to try. She let me pick most of the music I was to learn and encouraged me to develop my own style. I would, of course, try to be open to her suggestions for pieces she felt would challenge me and make me a better musician. I can play some very nice classical pieces that I enjoy very much thanks to her. But ultimately the decision to learn those pieces was left to me.

The most important thing was that she did not treat me like a child. As an adult I had responsibilities and commitments that sometimes had to take precedence over my practice. That was fine. My teacher never reprimanded me if I did not have time to practice as much as I should have one week. She knew I was learning for my own enjoyment, and so focused on keeping the lessons enjoyable, even if it was at the expense of learning a little more slowly. If she complained that I was not practicing enough, or that I did not show proper enthusiasm for her musical selections, or that I was just not serious enough about my lessons, I would not have continued to take lessons with her. As it turned out, I continued taking lessons with her until I moved across the country and had to stop. I have basically taught myself since because I have not been able to find another teacher that was as open, and easy going, and good as she was.

I have checked out a few teachers, but most of them were very into controlling the whole learning process for the student. With adults you need to allow the student a lot more input into the learning process because adults have the experience to know what works for them and what does not. I would think that being a teacher for adults requires much more flexibility and openness then teaching children.

Just my observations as an adult student.

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