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Dear Diana,
I’m not a harp teacher, not yet anyway. But I’ve been teaching piano for over 20 years and have some observations about adult piano students that are probably applicable to adult students of other instruments as well. First, the drop-out rate for adult students is very high. I don’t think that reflects on the ability of the teacher although some of us definitely have gifts of communication that function best with certain age groups. I personally have difficulty starting children younger than 8. (Obviously, I don’t have any Suzuki training.) I’ve had a couple students that started at around 5 and did well but they were truly gifted. Many children who wait and start at 8 catch up to their peers who started at 5 in less than a year. So the youngest ones progress very slowly and the expense and wear and tear on the parents who supervise practice time and lessons is considerable and, in most cases, unnecessary. (That’s just my opinion…not based on any credible research.) To the parents of young children I recommend Kindermusik programs, group music experiences and/or dance classes. Years of fun musical experiences with other kids will help give a child the positive attitude they need to approach the lonely discipline of studying a solo instrument. If the child is begging the parent for lessons, by all means, give them a chance…but usually it is the parent that is anxious to begin developing their child’s musical talents. And it is usually the parent that keeps the child coming to lessons, monitors practice time and sets a routine that demands attention to the instrument. Without parents…most of us would never have become decent musicians. We needed the structure and accountibility to keep us going. I can remember standing crying in the kitchen…begging not to have to practice or go to my piano lesson and hearing my mother say, “Someday you’ll thank me for this.” Our adult students do not have a “parent” to make them practice and keep them going. They come to their instrument with a life already full (and possibly overfull.) They also have spent years in a “fast food” culture where the finished product is delivered in an expedient and effortless manner. But there aren’t shortcuts to good musicianship and after about 6 or 8 lessons… when reality of that sets in…many adults decide the cost is too high.
Adult students, particularly in mid-life, are often searching for new avenues of experience and self-expression. Some of them may try many things before they find a medium that both challenges and satisfies. They may even try a round of music lessons at your studio. By adulthood, some have become hardened Performance-Orientated Perfectionists. They can hardly bear the thought of making a mistake, or taking years to perfect a skill, or having anyone notice how insecure they really are. So they are nervous wrecks at their lessons, full of apologies and self-loathing at their incompetance. They need a light touch, a lot of love and constant reassurance. If you can teach them to relax, laugh, and find some joy in the “process” of learning rather than the “goal” of a perfect performance, you can count that a victory even if they never learn to play their instrument well.
I agree that an exploration of musical goals is imperative with adult students. Adult students usually know what kind of music they enjoy and what they would hope to do with their music and their instrument. I have started several adults that were not really even interested in learning to read music but wanted to just be able to sit down and improvise off a lead sheet or fake book and sing along. Often, that goal can be realized in a few months (or weeks) with a motivated individual (and they will have learned basic note reading as well).
It is imperative with adults that they are learning music they enjoy playing. Even if you use standard curriculum you can often substitute other material and give choices. With piano curriculum…pieces are included because they introduce a new concept, fingering pattern, or technical challenge. I have a huge music library, mostly books purchased used from Goodwill and Salvation Army for dimes and quarters. So I can give my students a choice of several pieces, rather then limiting them to one selection. Young students don’t seem as fussy, but teenagers and adults will simply NOT make good progress playing music they aren’t excited about. Give them an arrangement of their favorite song off the current Top 10 chart and they will often amaze you, playing well above their grade level to master a piece that they and their friends love.
Adults often take up new hobbies (including music) for a diversion during a period of crisis or stress. Music becomes therapy and the music teacher may become a therapist. My own harp journey started at a difficult point in my life. There were a few months when the only relief I felt was when I was seated at my harp, completely concentrated on the instrument (or in prayer). I don’t think I shared much with my harp teacher about those things but I have adult students who have shared parts of their journeys with me, often at the expense of musically-focused lessons but hopefully meeting a greater need in their life, even if it is simply being a listening ear.
A couple suggestions for adult students:
Always suggest renting an instrument and investing as little as possible for a trial period. Having thousands of dollars invested in an instrument can be dangerous to financial and emotional health if it doesn’t prove to be a rewarding experience for the student. I remember having a mother call me about lessons for her 2 boys, ages 7 and 9. I suggested renting to her but when she showed up with the boys for their first lesson she had bought an $18,000 grand piano for them. She left them at my door with the comment that they were going to have to take lessons forever now…she had spent a lot of money on that piano. I’m not sure guilt provides healthy motivation for anyone and adults are no exception.
Have a peliminary meeting with the perspective student to discuss their needs, ambitions, your policies and expectations. Ask questions. Don’t be afraid to say “no” to a student that you don’t think will be a good fit for you.
Be willing to consider the non-traditional. Many piano teachers in my area will not even consider accepting students who do not own an acoustic piano. I use a digital piano in my studio, have many students with electronic keyboards or portable keyboards. I’ll start with whatever they have. If the student progresses well, I can usually convince them of the need for an appropriate instrument and help them find or rent one they can afford.
With my teens and adults, I am using more of the CD/Midi curriculums Some of my students love to learn pieces to play along with the orchestral CD accompaniments. Most of these have the pieces played twice on the CD; once with the piano part played so you can either play along or listen, and once with just the orchestral parts. By the way, some of these are excellent for the harp as well, just rewrite the fingerings. You and your students can be orchestral harpists in your own living room.
Sandwich your adult students between your younger ones so you don’t end up having talk and “therapy” time stretch out your time committment beyond your lesson fee.
Consider flexible lessons for some adult students. I have a couple students who call me when they are ready for a lesson. They cannot commit to a weekly lesson. I do not keep a regular time slot open for them, I’ll fit them in when I can. Sometimes I see them for three weeks in a row and then they will skip three. Not the best way to make steady progress but they can’t handle coming to a lesson when they are not prepared and they have difficult schedules to manage. As a teacher, I couldn’t budget a living if all my students were like these, but I can manage a few.
At least one of the responses to this question about adult students mentioned past musical injuries as a difficulty for some adults. I’ve had many adult students who started piano lessons as children and quit with horrible memories of teachers with yardsticks who rapped knuckles and other sort of abuse. Later in life such students may chose to revisit their past and bring their “baggage” with them to your bench. You may deal with posture, muscle problems and breathing difficulties before you master one page of new music. Such is the task of the teacher who works with adults.
I have an adult piano student that began taking lessons again after a 25 year stint as wife and parent. She had progressed to a Grade Four level as a teenager. Even after her years of inactivity, she proved a competent student and a good sight reader. But playing the piano was a terrible stress for her. Even though we are good friends she would come to her lessons shaking, sweating bullets and generally exhibiting all the symptoms of a stroke about to happen. A strong perfectionist, she spent more time apologizing for every mistake than she did actually playing. After a few agonizing weeks, she showed interest in one of the harps in my studio and I offered to rent it to her for a month. “What could I do with it?” she questioned. “Take it home and let it sit in your living room.” I answered “When you walk by it, sit down and pluck a few notes.” “Will you give me lessons?” she wanted to know. “No lessons,” I said “I’m not teaching harp yet, but I’ll show you enough to get you started.” We had a 30 minutes orientation on basic posture, hand position, tuning and harp care. It was a different instrument, a different bench. She seemed relaxed and happy. Then she asked about music books. In a moment of inspiration I told her I absolutely wouldn’t give her any music books for a few weeks. I wanted her to just sit down at the harp and pluck stings…any strings…make up her own stuff. If she didn’t have any music, she couldn’t make any mistakes, there wouldn’t be any wrong notes. A week later she called me and told me she was in love. She’s been paying her harp rent and playing the harp for about 5 months. She owns a music book now…and she is joyfully plucking along on her own. She went to a harp circle group with me and laughed at her mistakes and heard others laugh at theirs. She hasn’t showed up for a single piano lesson since the harp left my studio and I don’t expect she will ever sit on a piano teacher’s bench again. And…in my opinion (no valid research to support it)…who would want to play the piano if you could play the harp??? Melanie
My daughter’s teacher has her divide her work into three catagories, working on it, touch up performance ready, and performance ready.
I get a lot of resistance to attending performances from my daughter, who I think gets intimidated by the event, and then, anticipates a parental expectation for more practice(which she will get in any case…)to achieve the possible and her potential.
I don’t really have anything to directly address to the original line of thought here (how to teach adults).
Hi Denise,
I have found the Bach g minor sonata for flute and keyboard to be very popular, also the E-flat sonata (which includes the well-known Siciliano). . .this works for oboe and harp, too.
Being an ADULT teacher to an ADULT student, let’s consider issues which ADULTS afface nowadays:
-daily work schedules
-transportation & road raging issues/travel
-something called “kids” schedules to juggle
As these may all seem to be excuses,
Joyce, you answer was very thought provoking. I don’t see myself as teacher #1 or #2 in your first posting.
A few more thought about goals for a specific piece, since everyone may not do this.
I find that if I share goals with the student, progress is better for a number of reasons.
Hi, The URL is correct http://harp.itgo.com/index.html. I don’t have the “Harp Teacher Directory” UP yet…I am just looking for teachers to contribute their information right now. I could put up the few teachers that I have available soon. Julie
Noone seems to have mentioned the fact that until a child is ready to recognize the written word (read words) they will not be able to be taught to read music. The physiological exercise is identical: being able to translate what the eye sees into logical meaning. Only the symbols are different, i.e. translating letters or translating notes. Just as a baby cannot be “taught” to walk, neither can a child be “taught” to read until the brain response is developed enough. And I dearly hope we are finally not backing away from teaching reading instead of saying to the parent, “Have the child study piano for a year or two and then contact me again”. This is surely a “cop-out” and once the parent starts the child on Piano chances of their returning to the harp teacher are very, very slim!! Good luck on developing your teaching studio, Kimberly! They say you never really know your craft until you try to teach it to someone else!!
