14 Reasons To Start Teaching Adult Piano Students

For many years, I only taught piano lessons to kids. This wasn’t intentional; I just never considered teaching adult piano students.

When I took piano lessons as a child, I was surrounded by other children who were also taking piano lessons. I never saw a mom, a dad, or a grandparent emerge from my teacher’s studio.

So, when I began teaching piano lessons, I simply assumed that little kids were who I would teach.

It wasn’t until I taught my first adult piano student that I realized what I had been missing. Teaching adult piano students is awesome!

If you haven’t already started teaching older piano students, in today’s post I’m sharing 14 reasons why you might want to take the leap.

Why Teaching Adult Piano Students Is Awesome!

A new year is a natural time to take a fresh look at your piano studio—who you teach, when you teach, and how your schedule supports the life you want. For many teachers, this is the perfect moment to reconsider an often-overlooked group of students: adult beginners.

And many of you will be thinking about how to fill or rebalance your teaching schedules.

This year, as you look ahead and consider attracting new piano students, I strongly encourage you to advertise for older beginners.

Wondering why? While every experience will differ, based on my own experience, here are 14 reasons to start teaching adult piano students.

1. Adult piano students magically replicate.

Moments after you teach your first adult piano lesson, you may find yourself inundated with requests from other older beginners. Adults are wonderful for word-of-mouth marketing. When adults get together after work or on the weekends, they inevitably ask each other, “What’s new?”

When someone responds with a description of their first piano lesson, the other adults take notice—and many begin to consider giving piano lessons a try themselves.

2. Adults can be easier to schedule.

Many adults who sign up for piano lessons are empty nesters or retirees, which makes them far more flexible when it comes to scheduling. Unlike kids, adult piano students can often attend lessons during the day or later in the evening.

By opening up these previously undesirable time slots, you can take on more students while still keeping those precious after-school lesson times available.

3. You may stay healthier.

When you work with little kids, you are inviting colds and cases of the flu right into your studio. Every piano teacher has been sneezed on, coughed at… and worse. In a perfect world, sick piano students stay home. We all know, however, that this rarely happens.

Adult piano students are much less likely to get you sick. They generally don’t spend their days in virus incubators (aka schools), and they are more likely to stay home if they are not feeling well.

All of this means that a studio with adult piano students tends to be just a little bit healthier.

4. Older adults are more stable in bad economies.

In my experience, older adult piano students are more likely to stick with lessons if the economy takes a downturn.

This isn’t true for all adult students, of course. Adults with children may give up their own lessons before they give up lessons for their kids.

However, retirees and empty nesters often have fixed, dependable incomes. They sign up for piano lessons only if they know they can comfortably afford the monthly expense.

5. Your recitals will sound better.

If you can convince your adult students to perform, your recitals will sound noticeably better. Unlike young children, adults tend to be very self-conscious. They don’t want to sound unprepared in front of an audience.

So when adults commit to performing at a recital, you can almost guarantee they will bring their A game.

6. You will be more satisfied with student progress.

Compared to preschool and primer students, adults usually progress faster. Their fine motor skills, longer attention spans, and consistent behavior allow them to move through method books more quickly.

As a teacher, watching meaningful progress is incredibly rewarding, and your overall job satisfaction will rise.

7. You won’t be so lonely.

Teaching piano can be a surprisingly lonely profession. This may sound odd in a job where you work with people every hour of the day, but spending time with children is not the same as spending time with adults.

Piano teachers need adult conversation too. Teaching older beginners can feel more like meeting a friend for coffee than working.

8. You won’t have to hound people for lesson payments.

Chasing lesson payments is one of the least enjoyable parts of teaching. With child students, you may go weeks without seeing a parent, leaving payment reminders to emails and phone calls.

When you teach adult piano students, the person paying the bill shows up every week. And adults are generally very uncomfortable being in the company of someone they owe money to.

9. Your poor piano will get a break.

Kids are tough on pianos. Even with regular reminders about piano etiquette, they will pound the keys, cough on the keyboard, and generally test your instrument’s patience.

Adult piano students, on the other hand, tend to treat your piano with far more respect.

10. Your lesson planning will be easier.

Anyone who teaches preschool or primer students knows that a 30-minute lesson often requires five to seven different activities. That takes a lot of planning.

Adults don’t need nearly as much variety. While they shouldn’t play the same piece endlessly, three focused activities in an adult lesson is usually plenty.

11. You will receive no pressure from parents.

It’s unlikely that the parent of an adult piano student 🙂 will ask for makeup lessons, demand schedule changes, or request specific recital times.

When you teach children, you have two clients: the student and the parent. When you teach adults, you have only one person to keep happy.

12. Your entire studio may start practicing more.

Many parents of your current students may become interested in taking lessons themselves. Once they begin practicing at home, something magical happens—they suddenly care a lot about practice time.

As a result, their children are far more likely to practice too.

13. Adult students will improve your energy.

Adult piano students are far less physically demanding than young children. You won’t be hopping around the studio or constantly switching activities to maintain attention.

Teaching adults often feels like a mental break. And after that break, you’ll have more energy for your younger students.

14. Studio communication will improve.

Children often act as the middlemen between teachers and parents. Unfortunately, they’re not always the most reliable messengers. Important information—recital dates, overdue payments, lost books—can easily disappear.

With adult students, communication becomes simple. You’ve eliminated the middleman, and messages go directly to the source.

Sounds Great! Now, What Book Should I Use?

Making the decision to teach adult piano students is just the first step. Once they walk through your studio doors, you have to win them over.

And you can win them over with WunderKeys Pop Staff Piano Library For Older Beginners.

Our piano program for older beginners is a game-changer that is being quickly adopted by studios all over the world.

If you are new to our Older Beginner Series and you want to know more about the program and the Pop Staff, read this post.

And, if you want to grab a copy and explore this series, click on one of the covers below…