Adult learning style vs childrens learning style

“Kids compare themselves to the kid next door, and adults compare themselves to Art Tatum and Glen Gould”. 

Yes!  This quote comes from Business Week magazine quoting Matthew Harre, a piano teacher in Washington state.  

I specialize teaching ‘piano chords’ to adults.   When I initially get to know an adult student and can peer inside their thought process, yes, they are setting their bar very high. 

Progress is achieved when you do things in small bites.  This includes where we set our bar. Too high and it becomes discouragement.

Discouragement is achieved when we feel an overwhelming sense of dread that we will never reach our goals.   

Small bites example: Record your student playing a song in September, October and November.  Listen to the recordings in December.  You will see and hear the progress.  Especially if the piece is at the same level as the student.

As teachers, we have the ability to break the learning process down to tiny bits depending on each students needs. This is as critical to good teaching as teaching musical information.
 
Set the bar at a reasonable level and enjoy the good feelings that bubble up when your students feel progress!

Teachers, please comment on how you create achievable goals with your adults.

What I Learned Teaching Piano Chords on a Cruise Ship!

I just returned from our Latin Musical Adventure, teaching how to play piano chords on a cruise ship in Brazil!  Great to hear Brazilian music at the source.  Love the infectious latin rhythms!  My cruisers learned how to play Girl from Ipanema and Brazil for the final piano party.

Things I learned teaching piano chording lessons to 26 adult students on a cruise ship:

1. Adults LOVE to play familiar songs from their youth.  They are more willing to repeat a song over and over if it's familiar
2. All adults can learn songs quickly when they learn them by playing piano chords.  Even the classically trained students loved it!
3. Adults learn fairly quickly and accurately when they have many lessons a week.  It is a luxury as a teacher to meet with them every 'sea day'.  They had 11 lessons in three weeks!
4. They respond very well to patterns.  For example I broke down the melody for Girl from Ipanema to a simple pattern.  Put your RH in C position (fingers covering C D E F G) and play the following finger pattern - 5332 then 53332, now repeat.  Move your hand down so your little finger is on F and play 5332.  Now move your hand down so your little finger is on E (with second finger on B flat) and play 5332 ending with finger 3.

Here's the whole pattern:
(G) 5332 - 53332 (repeat)    (F) 5332     (E) 5332 - 3      Ta Da!
That's the melody for the head of Girl from Ipanema.   
If you want some easy piano chords to go with Girl from Ipanema, email me at playpianotodayATgmailDOTcom
 

I'm ONLINE!

Wow! First blog (ever!) and the launch of my new website www.playpianochordstoday.com.  I've been working furiously with Alex to put up the site before my husband (Dave) and I head to Brazil to teach piano on a cruise ship.  I know, tough job but someone has to do it! Alex has been terrific to work with so if anyone is looking to build a website on a limited budget I highly recommend him (www.raraavismusic.com). 

OK what's this about Brazil you ask?  Our cruise ship has a large room with 16 keyboards where we teach two 1 hour classes on sea days.  One class is for adult beginners and the other for adult's who have played a bit before.  It's wonderful to do what you love while cruising the seas.   Teaching piano chords to adults has been the best job in the world.  We wrote out the music for Brazil as a piano ensemble so the Latin groove will be happening while we cruise the east coast of South America!

I'd love you to check out the website and leave me your comments.  It's not complete yet but there's lots to look at.  More videos and stuff to come in April.  Oh, and don't worry about becoming a member.  It's painless and I won't bug you (unless you want the monthly newsletter about tips on playing piano chords). The member page has lot's of cool stuff like FREE piano sheet music, music activities and a video about what Play Piano Chords Today is all about. 

I'll keep you posted about our Latin Musical Adventure...