Teaching Adults

[This post was written in response to a question from a former student who is a teenager, but is teaching some adults.  Hence the tone of the piece.  If you’re not a teenager, sorry 😊 .  And thank you, thank you, thank you to the adult learners who answered my questions.]

Teaching adults is weird.  For you.  And for them.  It can feel like an odd boundary has been crossed.  After all, they’re older than you, so shouldn’t they be in charge?

Nope.  You’re the expert in your instrument and that’s why they’re coming to you for lessons.

There may well be a bit of a generation gap.  It’s your job to bridge it.  Don’t go all giggly and teenagery.  Don’t use slang.  Don’t hog all the playing time with your brilliant, amazing playing.  As a teacher, your job is to relate to your students, so rather than focus on yourself, and how awkward you might feel, focus on them and their needs.

Make sure you’re organised – you have all the books/photocopies/exercises you need.  Be prompt – start the lesson on time and finish it on time.  Adult students, especially those with children, are juggling a million more things than you are.  They have carved out a specific time to do something for themselves, and you need to respect that.

“[T]he social element was one of the biggest things for me. It opened up a whole new social group for me which is definitely hard to come by once you're a parent.” - ES

Find out what their goals are, and tailor the lessons towards that.  Adult students come to lessons of their own accord, their parents aren’t forcing them, nor are their parents paying for their lessons.  Maybe they want to be able to join an orchestra, play in church, play duets with their child, perform at their parents’ wedding anniversary.  Cater to these goals, but still include technical work, and other repertoire.

“Starting to learn to play the flute was for me almost symbolic of being able to regain something of myself, at a time that most of my time was dedicated to my 3 young children and working full-time.” – LT

“I have always wanted to learn an instrument but mum and dad didn't have enough money for music lessons.” - KF

“It was an enjoyable common interest for me and two daughters” - LT

As an adult, it’s weird learning something new.  You feel very vulnerable – after all, we’re always taught adults know everything, right?  Adults’ formal education is over and they are usually focussed on work and/or family and other established hobbies.  Coming to learn music, a very personal hobby, can make you feel very exposed and nervous.  And then to top it off, your teacher could very well be the same age as one of your children!

“I found I was incredibly nervous in lessons ... still am because [my teacher] has high expectations” – KT

“Can't find the time for either [of the two instruments I want to learn] - and then there is the feeling of embarrassment when you learn with young ones …” - KF

As a teacher, you need to understand this.  Your adult students might be really nervous.  They don’t want to make mistakes – they think everything should be perfect, but they’re fully aware that it’s not.  You need to be patient.  They might stop every few bars and mutter to themselves.  That’s ok.  Your job is to be encouraging.  Once your adult student feels more comfortable and confident, their playing will become more confident too.

“My main challenge has been to really listen ... I have often heard just what I want to hear myself playing, not what I actually am playing. I think this led to me bypassing lots of important technique. I was and still am pretty impatient. Perhaps the product of already being an experienced musician. It also led to 'practicing ' lots of mistakes...” – KT

“I find I am not particularly relaxed about the learning process possibly because I know what I should be able to do it but (a) I get too analytical about everything and (b) my fingers, elbows, wrist, shoulder etc don't seem to readily do what my mind tells it to do. Well not all at the same time anyway.” - KT

When you teach children say, the C major scale, you can get away with “because it just is” and on the whole, they will accept it.  Adult learners are generally more curious.  They will want to know why, and they tend to want to relate the new information to what they already know, and make connections.  Adults have a rich and complex history, and to make sense of new information, they process it differently to children.  Be aware they with adult students you will have to do more explaining.  Be prepared.

Think about your parents.  How often do they take time out to do a hobby just for themselves?  If they do have a hobby, when do they do it?  Do they share their hobby with you?  Think about how many responsibilities your parents have compared to how many you have?  And, on top of that, they have to make sure you keep up with your responsibilities, right?  Drop you off for babysitting.  Shove you out of bed for your paper round.  Make sure you’ve done your homework.  Then they have their own responsibilities, like putting a roof over your head, making sure there are groceries, doing their job that pays for all that other stuff.

Basically, what I’m saying is that adult students have very little time to practise.  Sometimes it’s all they can do to carve out 30 minutes to get to their lesson.  Don’t nag them about practicing more.  They’re already on a massive guilt trip themselves.  They know they’d be better if they did some more playing, but then their kid started spewing just before dinner, or their boss sprung a new deadline on them, or life just got in the way.

“Playing actually became a means of sanity in a rather stressful job so was quite focused. And [I] made time. But until recently it was quite patchy, often late at night.” - KT

“The big problem for me is finding time to practise at all!!” - KF

“I enjoyed practicing as I got some time to myself, and sometimes got to play flute with my daughter (although she was less keen to practice). I hoped that if I practiced regularly that my daughter would as well, but this didn't always work.” – LT

 “[Learning drumming], I could practice…just with my arms anywhere - even in the shower.” - ES

Teaching adults is really rewarding and fun.  There are different challenges to teaching children, but you’ll get to explore music in a whole new way.

Anything I’ve missed?  Comment below and let me know.

“When I have been asked about something I am most proud of, I said that it was learning to play the flute as an adult!” - LT