Piano Lessons for Adult Piano Students. We provide online piano lessons focusing on the adult piano student.
Jay and Dan discuss the finer points of teaching kids vs. teaching adult piano students, Jay introduces his new blog, www.potbellystudios.com, and an update on recent efforts to clean up the subscriber list.
Show Notes:
PotbellyStudios.com The Home Recording Blog
Extensive research has shown that music study helps people of all ages
(Note from Dan Starr: For the next several essays I’ll present other writings by like-minded teachers.)
Nancee Marin (Inland Empire, CA)
They gain overall life skills and increased well-being (visit HERE for further details). However, research findings have been usually skewed to promote the idea (and thus perpetuate the myth) of starting children earlier in music lessons, which isn’t necessarily better.
The Psychology Behind a Common Problem of Adult Piano Students
As almost all adult piano students know, “nervousness” remains a constant problem. I thought I’d share with you the exact psychology that underlies adult lesson nervousness in the hopes that some of you will find a new tool to help you enjoy your lessons more. I know it frustrates you – my personal piano students tell me about it several times a week. (more…)
What YOU can Do to Create Faster, Better, and More Enjoyable Lessons
Once you’ve found a good piano teacher, someone you trust, someone who understands you and your needs, then almost all the rest depends on YOU. The piano student is mainly in charge during a series of piano lessons, for the simple reason that most of your learning occurs during your regular piano practice. Sure, your instructor can tell you what to practice and how to best practice it, but only you can follow those directions. Learning to play piano is something you do without the teacher present. Thus, anything that helps you do that would also make your lessons faster, better, and more enjoyable – right? (more…)
A Comparison of Live Adult Piano Instruction and Online Adult Piano Lessons
Adults all want to learn to play piano faster and have more fun doing it. Some adult piano students are beginners, perhaps folks who always wanted to play but never got around to it. Other adults are already pianists but seek adult piano lessons to learn new styles of playing piano. (more…)
Get a Greater “Return on Investment” of Money, Time, Effort, and Hope
In the last essay in this series, we set out to discover how we could get more value from our piano lessons. I used a business term “ROI – Return on Investment” to take the discussion out of the emotionally charged world of music My first points were defining the role of the piano teacher in order to maximize the value to you, the adult piano student, of that worthy individual. (more…)
Get a Greater “Return on Investment” of Money, Time, Effort, and Hope
The purpose of these essays is to “WIN (be successful) at piano lessons.” Of course, saying this means nothing unless we fully and carefully define what we mean by “success.” We could say that it means different things to different people, and to some degree this is true. However, for the vast majority of piano students, “success” means the ability to play various pieces of music they like in a reasonable manner after a reasonable amount of piano practice. (more…)
How Adults Piano Students Can be Less Nervous When Playing for Their Piano Teacher
One very large barrier during adult piano lessons is the fear of playing for your piano teacher. I well recall losing a good adult student to this during a Christmas break. This gentleman phoned me right after New Years to announce that he wouldn’t be returning to piano lessons, “They just make me too upset and nervous.” In a similar manner, adult students often try to cancel any lesson following a week where their practice was a bit lacking. (more…)
Many Piano Students Hate Them but Used Properly Metronomes are Great Tools
The metronome, that thing that sits on many pianos, is the subject of a love/hate relationship for many piano students. Most adults who took piano lessons in their youth likely had some experiences with the metronome, often bad experiences. In this essay, I hope to offer advice that will make the metronome your favorite tool for improving both your piano practice and piano performance. (more…)
Efficient Use of These Famous Finger-Trainers Can Improve Your Piano Playing
The finger exercises of C.L. Hanon are without a doubt the most famous and most widely used piano finger exercises in the world. The reason, of course, is that they work. Many, perhaps most, piano teachers use them, and every teacher seems to have a slightly different approach. In this essay, I will provide the procedure I’ve found most useful for adults taking piano lessons. (more…)
