WHAT TYPE OF TEACHING APPROACH IS USED FOR ADULT BEGINNING PIANO AND KEYBOARD STUDENTS?

Music Reading Skills

For adult beginning keyboard students, the approach to music reading is a crucial aspect of teaching. It often determines the success of the student in learning the language of notated music.

The greatest amounts of materials successfully used with these students are based on the “landmark/intervallic approach” to reading, including bits and snatches of other current pedagogical trends, including the “multi-key approach.”

Practice Steps For Learning Pieces

Adult students need to have a specific task at hand to concentrate on, so they don't become frustrated when learning new pieces. Graded practice steps are quite effective. These may include steps such as circling landmark notes, saying intervals, tapping rhythms and playing and counting aloud.

If you’re an adult beginning keyboard student, it's important to choose a teacher who is prepared to work specifically with adult beginning students. This is because adult piano students learn differently than young piano students.

For one thing, 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, again. Slowly!

But adult beginners have an advantage, in that they have much better developed thinking skills than a seven-year-old. We adults can think of more than one thing at the same time. This is a tremendous asset in learning how to play piano or keyboard and how to read music.