• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Piano Lessons
    • Join the Waiting List
    • Lesson Options
    • Preschool Piano
    • Adult Piano
    • Tuition Fees
    • Lesson FAQ’s
    • Work for us
  • Teaching Blog
    • START HERE
    • Business
    • Creativity
    • Music Theory
    • Planning Lessons
    • Practice
    • Preschool
    • Resources
  • Teaching Store
    • Go to Cart
    • Composing Books
    • Practice Cards
    • Sightreading
    • Theory Packs
    • Workbooks
  • Members’ Login

Colourful Keys logo

You are here: Home / Planning lessons / A Practical Guide to Teaching Adult Piano Students

16th March 2017 By Nicola Cantan 9 Comments

A Practical Guide to Teaching Adult Piano Students

Teaching adult piano students is a very different ball game than teaching the little ones. For one thing, they’re making the decision to take lessons completely of their own volition. For another, they’re probably putting way more pressure on themselves than any parent would put on a kid.

Teaching adult piano students without losing your marbles

Piano teacher tips for teaching adult students

I’ve come to love teaching adult piano students, but I didn’t always. Many teachers complain about the drop-out rate, the lack of practice or the frequently cancelled lessons. I used to have all these issues too.

But my adults are now some of my most dedicated and reliable students. Plus they practice waaaaaaay more than most of the kiddos.

Here are the four key changes that flipped the switch and made teaching adult piano students my strength – not my headache.

1. Goal Setting

One of the benefits of adult students is that they should be able to articulate what they want, at least a little more clearly than children or teens.

At your first lesson with a new adult student, make sure you find out what their goals are. What kind of music would they like to play? Do they want to play with other musicians? Or perform? Or play Elton John arrangements on a Sunday afternoon?

Knowing where your adult students want to go is very important. After all, they’re choosing to go to these lessons and pay for them. If you’re not taking them down the right path, they’re not going to stick around. And you won’t know what path they want unless you ask.

What if they don’t know or won’t say? Some adults can be a bit shy or hesitant to tell you their goals at the first lesson.

That’s OK. Suggest a path for them to take for now, and as you move along, continue to check in with them. Make sure they have plenty of opportunities to have a say in repertoire choices down the track too.

2. Expectations

Another thing that’s very important to get right at the outset when teaching adult piano students is the expectations. Both your’s and the student’s.

Let’s start with the teacher’s expectations. For instance:

  • Do you expect a certain amount of practice to be put in?
  • Do they understand your policies including reschedules/cancellations?
  • What happens if they don’t like a piece, can they just skip it?
  • Do you want them to perform in concerts or other events?

And then there’s the student’s expectations. This is the part that most commonly goes awry with adult piano students. Make sure they have realistic ideas and assumptions.

  • How much are they going to be able to practice?
  • How fast are they expecting to progress? Try picking out a particular piece they want to play and give them an idea of how far away that is, if they stick to their practice projection.
  • Do they have a good instrument? If they have a keyboard that’s sufficient for now – make sure they know when they will need to upgrade.

This might look like you’re going to scare your brand new adult student away as soon as they set foot in the door. Keep it conversational – but yes, you really do need answers to these questions. Otherwise you’re setting yourself up for a mismatch down the road that could have been avoided.

If you align your expectations properly, your adult student could be in your studio for years to come. If you don’t – they’ll be driving away faster than you can say: “unrealisticexpectations“.

By the way, if you need a good way to keep track of those expectations and improvements, you might like these adult assignment sheets.

3. Keep it Light

You need to get work done and improve their skills – I’m not saying don’t get serious about the piano. Just don’t be too heavy.

Piano is (most likely) supposed to be a fun, recreational activity for your adult student. Even if they’re very good, this isn’t their job. It’s supposed to be enjoyable and low stakes.

So don’t give out to them if they don’t practice. Don’t tell them anything “isn’t good enough” or “needs dynamics” or “lacks phrasing”. Correct these things, but correct them as a helpful guide, not as a critic.

Many of my adult students enjoy their scales and exercises, but if your student hates them, you have my permission to stop. Find another way to teach them the theory and technique of scales. Or wait until they need it for their repertoire.

Align everything to their goals, not your own standards. Help your adult student to play well – within their parameters. Don’t force them into a certain curriculum and suck all the enjoyment out of it.

Above all, make sure the lessons are fun and helpful. Adults more than children can be very self-aware and self-critical. Which brings me to my next point…

4. Three Stars

Do you know the phrase, “three stars and a wish”? It’s a catchy way to remember to give three compliments for every one thing to improve. It’s often cited by teachers of all subjects.

But we can sometimes forget this praise when it comes to our adult students. We may feel like adult piano students don’t need the outside validation in the same way that kids do. Maybe we think it will come across as patronising or insincere.

Don’t think that way. Adult students often need more praise, not less.

Even when given compliments many adult students will brush them away, passing the reward to someone else (“oh, well it’s a lovely arrangement”) or diminishing it by gradients (“It’s been a few weeks but it is a bit better, it sounds OK now alright”).

Just as with kids, make sure the praise is enthusiastic, and TRUE. Don’t give some half-hearted compliment – they’ll see right through it. And don’t just say it – exclaim it.

Make sure you help your adult students to see and celebrate their wins. Otherwise they’ll simply brush by them on their way to the next thing. Us adults are terrible for doing that.

Do you like teaching adult piano students?

What are some differences you’ve noticed between teaching adults and teaching kids? Do you struggle to keep adult students in your studio?

Share your experiences in the Vibrant Music Studio Teachers community on Facebook.

Pin
Share
Tweet

Filed Under: Planning lessons Tagged With: older students

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thanh says

    14th May 2017 at 11:09 am

    Thank you Nicola for these tips. I have an adult student who has just started having lessons with me. She was really excited when I showed her the bionic pianist tip you shared about using your whole arm to play. It made sense to her and she was really grateful. The younger students just weren’t that bothered! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Nicola Cantan says

      14th May 2017 at 6:15 pm

      Yes, certainly adult students will have more of an understanding of why something like that is important, and might just take it and run with it themselves. Younger students need much more teacher guidance and input to use strategies like that.

      Glad you enjoyed the article! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Laura Aske says

    14th September 2017 at 5:26 am

    Thank you for this! It has helped me restructure the questions I need to ask my adult students!
    Laura

    Reply
    • Nicola Cantan says

      14th September 2017 at 7:47 am

      That’s great to hear Laura. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Khorae Olivier says

    15th March 2018 at 5:55 pm

    I like how you talked about encouraging adult students taking piano by giving them compliments that are enthusiastic. I know I have a tendency to brush away and rationalize compliments out unless they are really spontaneous and true. Thank you for pointing out how adults are good at brushing by compliments on their way to the next thing and will need a celebration to take a win seriously.

    Reply
    • Nicola Cantan says

      16th March 2018 at 7:38 am

      Me too! I think it’s a big, important part of our role to help them see their wins. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Amanda says

    22nd December 2018 at 5:16 pm

    Do you have a preference for an adult method book?

    Reply
    • Nicola Cantan says

      24th December 2018 at 8:52 am

      Yes I have several I like. I think my fave right now for most adults would be Fired Up! by Jennifer Eklund.

      Reply
  5. Ruth says

    28th October 2019 at 10:47 am

    Hello, very interesting commentary you offer. I have had adult students ask me when they will start playing like me, ha ha, and I ask them how much serious work are they willing to do. I’ve been playing my whole life and they just started playing as adults and most of them work full-time or manage their familes. I do try to make it fun for them as well, but I am also honest with them and tell them the more work (Practice) they put in, the more results they will see. “Repetition is the name of the game is what I say”.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

New in town?

Start Here If you want some help finding awesome piano teaching ideas START HERE.
Piano practice cards

About Nicola

Nicola Cantan is a piano teacher, author, blogger and creator of imaginative and engaging teaching resources. She loves getting piano students learning through laughter, and helping teachers to teach through games and off-bench activities, so that their students giggle their way through music theory and make faster progress.

Thinking Theory Music Workbooks

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Colourful Keys is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Footer

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • About

Copyright© 2021 Colourful Keys by Nicola Cantan

We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website and we share this data with marketing and advertising partners. Do you consent to the use of cookies?OK!NoRead more