Practical Tips for Teaching Piano to Adults

Teaching piano to adults can come with its own host of challenges. Use this informational guide for some practical tips to help guide your students to thrive.

Learning how to play an instrument is exciting, and teaching someone how to do it is rewarding. Many adults sign up for piano classes because they want to challenge themselves and learn something new. As a teacher, you want to guide them to success while keeping them motivated and passionate about the piano. Here are some of our practical tips for teaching piano to adults.

Ask About Their Musical Goals

As a piano instructor, you likely teach a wide range of students from young to old. There is no age limit to having a passion for music! However, due to this variety, you will find a need to adjust to the requirements each student has.

As such, talk with each of your students so you can better understand their long-term goals in learning music. Some adults may take the class for fun, but others may hope to better understand piano with plans to compose their own songs. Everyone will have a different goal, and it will guide your instruction by knowing the results each student wants to see.

Work With Them

Another practical tip for teaching piano to adults is to work with them. We all lead quite busy lives, and you can understand and appreciate that. Your students probably have quite a few responsibilities and obligations they have to juggle, but that shouldn't stop them from their passion. Often your students might only have moments they can spare, which can find them playing the piano whenever possible. Unless you make house calls at all hours of the day, you may not be able to lend an instructing hand when they find the time. 

However, you can still be there---with Piano Marvel. Our piano teaching software provides them instant feedback and the ability to track their progress. What's more, it lets your students learn at a comfortable rate. We made our app to aid your instruction as a piano teacher so you can make your class time with them as efficient as possible.

Switch It Up

Many piano teachers will motivate their younger students with external rewards as it can be quite a challenge getting them to stick with it. You will find that with your adult students, you won't have to expend as much energy rallying them. However, that doesn't mean you won't need to motivate them at all.  

That being the case, you may need to switch up your methods of encouragement if they are more tailored to children. It can feel incredibly frustrating when the road gets tough or they reach a plateau. That is why it is so important to know their goals and aspirations and why they chose to learn piano. You can help them push through by reminding them why they are there--this will motivate them to keep going.