You get a phone call and it’s a potential new student… an adult piano student… let’s call her Recreational Rhonda. She’s 54. She played piano about 20 years ago and hasn’t touched it since. Her mother-in-law just passed away and she’s inherited a nice piano. She’s inspired to start up again.
Sounds great, right?
But… Recreational Rhonda works shift work so is wondering how you would be able to work around her schedule. She’s not keen on classical music (“My mom forced me to play out of those old boring books and I’m not into that”) and she’s totally blunt about her lack of musical ability.
Teaching Piano Lessons to Adults
This is a very common scenario; and one that has some piano teachers inventing full studios and writing her name on their pretend waiting list with invisible ink; she’s not your “cookie cutter” 8 year old student. But for those of you wanting to build your studio, or for those of you wanting to tap into a unique niche to expand your student list or switch up your studio hours, Recreational Rhonda is your opportunity.
Here’s how to find success with adult piano students like Recreational Rhonda…
Be Flexible, But Set Expectations
For many adult students, a touch of flexibility is in order. They have work and family commitments that our young piano students just aren’t dealing with. For this reason, it helps to offer a spot in your schedule that allows you to be flexible with your scheduling (my adult students come either at the start or the end of my teaching day). With this flexible time slot comes the ability to then offer Recreational Rhonda different choices in how lessons with you will happen (every other week, on a rotational schedule etc.).
However, with this flexibility needs to come clear expectations. Make sure you are forthright with payment expectations, missed lesson repercussions and discontinuation policies; and by clear I mean have it in writing and discuss it face to face before you begin.
Work Within Your Adult Piano Student’s Goals
As piano teachers of children, we don’t know exactly where each of our students will “go” with their musical career. Some may be destined for college studies in piano, some may become piano teachers themselves… and some may become an airline pilot and never touch the piano again. Because we don’t know, we’re bound to offer them as comprehensive of a piano education as we can muster.
However, Recreational Rhonda knows exactly where she’s “going”. Discussing her personal goals for her piano lessons helps you to then zero in on exactly what she needs from you to reach them. If she only wants to chord along with her husband while he plays the guitar, she’s not going to need to know about Sonatina form. Most adults have a clear idea of what they want out of their lesson experience. Tailor her lessons to her as an individual.
Create Opportunities for Instant Gratification
Adult students are more needy than your teenagers when it comes to this aspect of teaching piano lessons. Adults are busy. Adults are hard on themselves. If they don’t feel some sense of progress and enjoyment early on they’re quick to pull the plug. Choose your material and set your pacing with this in mind.
I’m a big fan of using lead sheets with my adult piano students. It gives them that “full” sound they’re looking for, with music they recognize… but they only really need to be able to read the treble clef. Because Recreational Rhonda is in this just for enjoyment, it’s okay if her bass clef reading skills are sub-par for the time being. If she can produce something within the first few lessons that sounds like music and that she finds enjoyable, you’ll have her hooked. And once she’s hooked, then you can work on what you think she needs to know.
Make Use of the Friend Factor
Recreational Rhonda can be a hoot to teach. Adult students like Rhonda usually respond well to humour and a casual approach. If she didn’t practice that week she doesn’t want to be made to feel guilty about it (because if she does, it’s easier to just cancel the lesson). If she just can’t master a certain skill, she appreciates a good laugh about it and the chance to puzzle through it at home (rather than spending weeks working on that one ability). She wants to look forward to her lesson time as a chance to revel in the fun that is music and the enjoyment that is your company.
Recreational Rhonda’s sometimes get a bad rap – “Adult students are inconsistent, never practice, don’t show up and quit after a few months…”… heard that before? It doesn’t have to be so! Switch up your approach, and Recreational Rhonda may just become Long-Term Linda.
Looking for more “How To Teach Piano” instruction? We’ve got an entire blogging series dedicated to this subject including “How to Teach Piano to Newbie Natalie”, “How to Teach Piano to Anthony Ants-in-his-pants”, “How to Teach Piano to Perfectionist Pete”, “How to Teach Piano to Mr. Casual McTryitout” and much, much more! Check it out.
I have a few adult piano students and absolutely love teaching them! Interestingly, they all want to learn classical music and proper technique and history and everything, so that’s really fun for me. Plus, they tend to practice MORE than kids (because they actually WANT to!) and learn a lot faster than them, too.
Hi Leia – I love getting those kind of phone calls too from Adult students like you describe! These kinds of students are just as enjoyable to teach as “Recreational Rhonda” – they just require a different approach.
i totally agree Leia adult pupils are much more fun to teach, and work much harder! I have one pupil who went from complete beginner to grade 2 in 6 months!
Some great ideas in the article though.
I started piano again as an older adult while working a 12 hour night shift doing 48 to 60 hours a week. I scheduled my lessons on my day off. I NEVER missed a lesson and always made up lessons if I took vacation. That was 5 years ago and I am playing Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Bach, etc. I love piano and have much more interest in it than the children who are also doing soccer, basketball, gymnastics, ballet, violin, recorder, language training, play dates, etc., and don’t have time to practice. Please do not make generalizations about adult learners. Most are very eager and willing to learn.
Hi Cindy – yes, as with any “type” of student, everyone is different. This posting was specifically about adult students who want to take piano lessons as a recreational activity (Recreational Rhonda).
Cindy, we LOVE students like you! This article is for teachers who have unfortunately had bad experiences teaching adults and want a positive article to read in hopes of learning something new. I’ve taught private lessons for 20 years. It’s sad but true when we generalize about the negatives behind teaching adults. However, it’s best for us to stay on the bright side and keep an eye out for ones like you. If more adults would just do a little research before taking lessons then the stereotype would eventually fall away. Bottom line…this article is one way for us to get that messege out there! Students like you are rare but when we find them they are golden.
My current oldest adult is 82. She only wants hymns and 20’s pop music. I use lead sheets. Because of the hand coordination, usually just one bass note. She is having so much fun and always has a new song in her mind that she wants to learn. The oldest student I have ever taught was 93. She only did treble clef and played with CDs.
I have several adult students, and I absolutely LOVE working with them!! I find they are highly motivated because pursuing music lessons is a goal they have set for themselves, and they truly WANT to be there. They are also very open and honest with me about how much they have practiced and what they are looking for in their lessons. Sadly, some of my students who are children are only taking lessons because their parent(s) have decided they should. My most advanced student is an adult and, for several years, we have scheduled her next lesson around her work schedule the following week. I find being flexible in scheduling my adult students has allowed me to fill some of the middle of the day time slots that would otherwise go empty.
I find teaching adult students hilarious!! They are so much fun. A lot of my adult students travel, but I have gotten them into the habit of updating me periodically on their travel schedule and they understand that they still have to pay each month to reserve their time slot. It works very well!
music doesn’t have an age, so why should it be taboo for an adult to study piano. Bach didnt quit he composed until he died.
I had tried adult students in the past and they either never started, I showed up at their place for the first lesson and they weren’t home and never bothered to contact me again, or started and a month later decided they couldn’t make it work with their schedule, too much going on. This year I took on 3 adult students all seemed like exceptional circumstances. A mother wanted to learn along with her very young kids (I didn’t think this family was going to last long, but they are dedicated and mom has really worked hard and come a long way.) A grandmother wanted to learn in a semi-private with her pre-teen grandson – this is going well. She is motivated to practice so she can keep up with his progress. A mother whose daughter last minute decided she wanted a break from piano. Mom felt she had found an excellent teacher and didn’t want to lose on a space in my studio. She asked if she could take her daughter’s lesson time so she could hold it for when her daughter decided she was ready to play again. I agreed. This is the first year I’ve had adult students work out for me. I’ve been enjoying it.
I have two adult students at this time. One is 55 and the other in her mid-30’s. They are actually a mother and daughter, and the daughter’s two kids take lessons from me, too! I had to learn how to give lessons to adults through these two amazing women. The mother wants to learn just so she can play for herself. We move at her pace, and I am actually using an adult method book (for both). She actually enjoys it. We also branch out and play from some other things occasionally just to break it up. The daughter is very motivated and moves at a faster pace, but we branch out way more often to play different music she has found here and there. It’s a lot of fun, and they both are very committed. They’re definitely not Recreational Rhondas. I would LOVE to have more adult students. It gives me (a homeschooling mom) some adult time, as well!
I started fast out of the gate as an adult piano student achieving roughly a Grade 3 then stalled for a year then switched to Suzuki and after a year stalled again. I want to get back to it and am trying hard to discipline myself. Particular pieces seem to motivate me to learn. Very frustrating with seemingly no motivation. I will try again tomorrow.