First I will start with some motivational tips/articles..my personal
tips are written at the very bottom
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It's important to choose a teacher who is prepared to work with adult
beginning students. Adult piano students learn differently than young
piano students. A seven-year-old beginner generally has better
coordination than an adult beginner. When asked to imitate a phrase of
music, the young student readily plays it back. An adult beginner, on
the other hand, would probably want to hear the phrase again! Or
perhaps want to hear only the first two or three notes of it . But
adult beginners have much better developed thinking skills than a
seven-year-old. Adults can think of more than one thing at the same
time. This is a tremendous advantage in learning how to play piano and
how to read music.
It was once thought that in order to learn how to play the piano, one
would have to start lessons as a young child. Countless students,
including those who've learned how to play when they were past
retirement age, have proved this common perception to be untrue.
During the past couple of decades, trends in adult education have
encouraged many to take classes in various subjects. So these days,
it's quite common for adults to begin piano lessons. They learn to
play beginners' pieces, then intermediate level pieces, and sometimes,
after enough study, even advanced level pieces.
It is generally agreed that the best teaching method involves sight,
sound, hands-on and one-on-one coaching. The one-on-one coaching
aspect requires an experienced teacher to teach you but to prepare you
with the other three aspects, there are several exercises you can do.
Most adult students are taking lessons because they want to enrich
their lives, attain a personal goal, or perhaps fulfill a long-held
dream. A lot of students do it for rest, relaxation and therapy from a
stressful job. The result is that most adult students are highly
motivated to learn. Your teacher should function in the role of a
guide and support system as you discover which form of learning is
best for you, and which music you might enjoy playing. If your
teacher's methods and your way of learning don't fully mesh, don't
give up. Simply find a teacher who works better for you.
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The most important tip for adult students is to be patient with
yourself. Give yourself the time to learn things and don't get too
frustrated if these skills do not come as fast as the kids do. The
finger coordination is not that of 5 yr. olds and it will take a bit
longer for this to settle in. Most particularly, don't expect to learn
as fast as your 7-year-old child; that expectation is unrealistic.
Your advantage is the maturity to focus well on the task at hand and
to really understand the musical language of the piece you are
playing. Hence, chances are you will enjoy it more, even if your
technique is slower to develop.
There are many adult-oriented methods for learning to play. They all
have their strengths. We find that most adult students prefer to chart
their own course and choose their own music, at least to some extent.
One method that does a good job of giving adults flexibility and
choice is the Play by Choice Adult Piano Method by Fred Kern,
published by Hal Leonard Publishing. One of the strengths of this
method is that it approaches learning from a "many door" attitude,
rather than telling adults that they must learn using only one
approach to piano. For example, the Play by Choice book deals with
note reading from different approaches and lets the adult student
choose which one is most comfortable. Many of the rhythmic problems of
initial cross coordination are dealt with by using the concept of
finger taps away from the piano, on a computer desktop or table top,
thereby removing the focus from wrong notes, but working on the
different rhythmic problems and coordination problems before they are
taken to the piano. Subsequent repertoire books in the series give
adult students a substantial choice of what pieces they would like to
learn. Before any repertoire is done, the student is taken through a
series of warm-ups and prep. Exercises help prepare for the playing of
the individual piece. The text part of this method is approached much
like a college level book, not a "baby" book.
Our advice to adults for practice techniques is much the same as that
we would give for children. Here, you have an advantage in that you
are probably more focused and motivated than the average child
student. It's best to try to practice when the kids are not around, so
that you avoid interruption.
Learning to play piano is more than just playing the notes. There can
be no better way to begin to speak the "language of music", as opposed
simply to knowing the vocabulary, than to immerse yourself in it. If
you are working on a piece, try to listen to a recording of it. You
will gain the benefit of the understanding of a professional musician,
as well as develop additional insight into how you perceive and might
play the music. It is much easier to develop a feel for the music when
you don't have to worry about playing all the notes correctly.
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It's Never Too Late To Start
If you, too, have doubted that adult beginners could attain success at
the piano, examine the evidence. It should give you the courage and
confidence to discover for yourself the enormous pleasure of playing
the piano! Just consider the following:
· Adults who study piano do so because they are self-motivated. They
sincerely wish to make music. This gives them an immediate advantage
over someone who doesn't have a choice in the matter.
· Adults have developed greater intellectual powers than children. An
adult's concentration and capacity for analytic thinking improves his
capacity to learn.
· Adults, who have listened to significant amounts of music during
their lifetime, have greater musical sophistication and are more
readily aware of differences in style, tone quality, pitch.
· There is no reason that learning should be restricted to childhood.
In fact, psychologists have discovered that the learning capacity of
adults declines far more slowly than most people believe. An
eighty-year-old, for example, can learn at about the same rate as a
twelve year-old. Individual differences in intelligence and experience
account for greater discrepancies than age. Constant practice in
learning can offset any presumed decline in capacity.
· The piano was really designed for adults. Its large dimensions and
the weight of its keys are most suited to a grown person. While other
stringed instruments come in small sizes to accommodate small persons,
one must "grow into" the piano.
· Adults are more conscious of spending and therefore more likely to
make the most of music lessons.
The many adults who are now taking up piano in their mature years are
living proof that it is never too late to learn something new and that
the very wish to accomplish something is a powerful aid to success.
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Amateur pianists, like amateur athletes, face precisely the same
challenges as do the professionals - development of technique,
facility, endurance, strength, agility, concentration, rapid reflexes,
and individual style. In both sports and music there is a marriage of
physical and intellectual skills, with mind of necessity controlling
the muscle. The good pianist, like the good athlete, intelligently
analyzes his movements to perfect his technique. At the highest levels
of attainment athletes, like musicians, become real artists.
For more information on healthy piano technique, please read
http://mclellandpiano.homestead.com/Preface.html
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Now for some personal experience and thoughts.
As a child I have played the violin and had some basic music concept
drilled in my head when I first learned how to play the piano as an
adult. The biggest problem I had was coordination; my fingers were
way too stiff and relaxing seemed impossible to do. The key is to
start with the most basic songs with PROPER fingering, no matter how
ridiculous and childish you feel. Memorize the fingerings of simple
songs by playing them over and over. Then, close your eyes (you can
leave them open if necessary) and play those songs in a relaxed,
loose, improvising manner to get the feel of the music. Moving the
fingers smoothly and loosely, yet firm enough to find the right keys
with the right amount of dynamics, will be a daunting task. But the
important thing is to MEMORIZE fingerings for simple songs and play
them without the music. This will make the transition into the piano
world much smoother.
A good teacher will make things a hell of a lot easier for you but if
you cannot find a patient *experienced* teacher, being completely
honest, you will not get the same result; and your progress will be
much slower.
If you are teaching yourself, I would recommend getting “Adult
All-In-One Course Level 1” by William Palmer, Morton Manus, and Amanda
Vick Lethco. Start with the basic fingerings, again, memorize as many
“songs” as you can so you can play them any time, whenever you pass by
the piano, and your progress will be much faster.
Playing a simple song out of memory for a few seconds whenever you’re
passing the piano adds up to be a significant amount of practice time;
I believe that, along with confidence, patience, and love for music,
is the “system” that is successful among adult beginners. It has
worked very well for me; it has stimulated my abstract mind, I can
currently play very advanced level piano music as well as all my
favourite songs, I am able to play accompaniment with the instruments
that my friends/family members play. This simple tip has worked well
among both teenagers and other adults; I hope it serves you well.
Best of luck,
Tox-ga |
