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 also taking piano lessons. I never saw a mom or a dad or a grandparent emerge from my teacher’s studio.

So, when I began teaching piano lessons, I just 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 to teach older piano students, in today’s post I am sharing 14 reasons why you will want to take the leap.

Why Teaching Adult Piano Students Is Awesome!

While you may not want to believe it, in just a few short weeks you are going to be starting to think about your next year of piano lessons.

And many of you will be looking to fill your teaching schedules.

This year, when you set out to find new piano students, I am strongly encouraging you to advertise for older beginners.

Wondering why? While all experiences will differ, from my personal 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 will be 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 will take notice and consider giving piano lessons a try too!

2. Adults can be easier to schedule.

Many adults who sign up for piano lessons are empty nesters or retirees. They are way more flexible when it comes to scheduling. Unlike kids, adult piano students often can come during the day or later at night.

By opening these previously undesirable time slots, you will be able to 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 flu right into your home. 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 is rarely the case.

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

All this means, that if you teach adult piano students, a few more lesson slots will be just a little bit healthier.

4. Older adults are more stable in bad economies.

It is my belief that older adult piano students are more likely to stick with piano lessons if the economy goes south.

This, of course, is not the case for all adult students. If you teach older beginners with children, then they will give up lessons before their kids give up lessons.

However, retirees and empty nesters who sign up for lessons generally have fixed and dependable incomes. They sign up for piano lessons only if they know they have the monthly income to make it happen.

5. Your recitals will sound better.

If you can convince your adult students to perform, your piano recitals will sound better. Unlike young children, adults are very self-conscious. They will not want to sound bad in front of an audience. So, if adults commit to performing at a recital, you can guarantee that they will bring their “A” games.

6. You will be more satisfied with student progress.

Compared to preschool and primer students, adults will progress faster. Their superior fine motor skills, increased attention spans, and perfect behaviors mean that they will progress rapidly through method books.

As a teacher, watching students make progress is very rewarding and your sense of satisfaction with your job will soar.

7. You won’t be so lonely.

Teaching piano can be a lonely profession. This seems like an odd statement to make about a profession where you work with people every hour of every day. But spending time teaching kids is not the same as spending time with adults.

Piano teachers need the opportunity to be in the company of other adults. Teaching older beginners can feel like getting coffee with friends!

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

Chasing after piano lesson payments is the worst. Often, you can go weeks without seeing the parent of a piano student. Because of this, your ability to collect payments is left up to email and phone communications.

When you teach adult piano students, the person who is paying the bills shows up at your studio every week. Not only that, but adults are really uncomfortable with being in the company of someone to whom they owe money.

9. Your poor piano will get a break.

Kids are tough on pianos. Even if you spend part of every lesson on piano etiquette, kids will hammer on your piano and cough on your keys. Adult piano students, however, will treat your precious instrument with much more respect.

10. Your lesson planning will be easier.

Anyone who teaches piano to preschool or primer students knows that a 30-minute lesson can involve five to seven different activities. That requires a lot of planning each and every week. With a longer attention span, adults do not require quite so many activity changes. While they shouldn’t just play the same tune over and over, including three different activities in an adult lesson is plenty.

11. You will receive no pressure from parents.

It is unlikely that the parent of an adult piano student 🙂 will ask for make-up lessons, demand schedule changes, or need specific recital times. When you teach piano to children you have two clients: the student and the parent. When you teach piano to adults you have only one client to keep happy.

12. Your entire studio may start practicing more.

It is very likely that the parents of your current students may be interested in taking piano lessons. These parents will then be practicing the piano at home. And, since they are sitting down to practice, they will definitely make sure that their children practice too. This means practice habits amongst many of your students will improve!

13. Adult students will improve your energy.

Adult piano students are not nearly as demanding as young children. You will not be dancing and hopping around your studio. You will not be constantly shifting activities to keep the attention of a distracted child. Instead, you will discover that teaching adult piano students feels like a break. And, after your break, you will have more energy to deliver awesome piano lessons to kids.

14. Studio communication will improve.

Kids serve as the middlemen between your studio and their parents. Because they are not the most dependable middlemen, important information like recital dates, overdue payments, and lost books can, well… get lost.

With adult students, home communication becomes easier. You have cut out the middleman and all 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 this program, you can learn more in this post.

If you just want to get the books now, click here or on the cover below to get started.