How to learn adult piano lessons

Quite often many of the adult piano students are heard saying that they wish they had learned to play piano earlier during their childhood. Many of them fail to learn piano and give up just because they believe that they are too old to learn to play piano. Although it is not true and there is no definite age limit for learning music or any other instrument. Even when you learn piano as an adult, you will more often find it much rewarding than learning it at an age where you are not mature enough to understand the technicalities related to this musical instrument. Adults do have a lot of advantages when they learn piano at a mature age in comparison to learning piano in childhood.

Adult piano lessons: Why it’s never too late to start?

Success with piano isn’t necessarily linked to age of student. In fact adult piano learners develop good habits with piano to a large extent because of their intelligence and critical thinking. Here are some practical reasons why it is never too late to begin to learn piano. Even many times, adult piano lessons can even have added advantage in comparison to children learning piano.

• Children usually are persuaded to be regular with their piano lessons and are often forced to practice on a regular basis. Adults on the other hand are more aware of their practice violation and they don’t need to be forced by piano teachers. Thus adult piano lessons commonly are proved to be a pleasant experience for both students and teachers.
• Adults are often proved to be more creative with piano. This is the case most of the time because adults have logical and creative thinking that enables them to analyze and understand music much better than children. When they are given exposure to material of music and piano, they are more likely to gain clearer understanding quicker. Even with complicated concepts, adult respond better to explanations.
• Adults know the technicalities and can translate concepts of piano much easily in to movements of fingers and hands on piano. With adults learning is more related to understanding than to trial and error.
• They have longer concentration/attention span in comparison to children and thus adults can progress with careful and concentrated practice sessions. Practice without concentration and focus would be unproductive and thus longer the concentration span, the more you will be able to learn out of each session of learning piano.
• Adults have more emotions and they can be more expressive with their piano playing. Their wider spectrum of expressions and emotions enables them to effectively combine musical theory and vocabulary with varied forms and techniques of playing piano.
• Adults have their experiences and lessons learned in life. These experiences tell them that they need to do hard work in order to gain something. This learning they incorporate in acquiring piano playing skills and thus these adult learners are more motivated towards hard work needed in learning to play piano.
• Children at a young age are not fluent readers and thus when they can’t really read well, it makes learning a bit difficult. Most of the basic teaching methods need you to be able to read letters, numbers, fingering and other instructions. So adults do have an advantage in this way that they are able to read with fluency.
• Adults have muscles completely grown and developed. They can maintain a good posture; work with flexibility and practice playing piano with strength. Adults are completely grown and so are their muscles. On the other hand with children, as they continue learning to play piano they need to adapt to the instrument with their growing size.
• Adults go realistic and do not work with unattainable goals or expectations. Thus they know how they can work towards making a satisfactory progress with time.

Even in adult age, you can make substantial progress with serious efforts at learning to play piano. You can begin playing music right away with some practical considerations.

Fastest way to learn piano for adults:

There is no big deal in beginning to play piano and many of the beginners can begin to learn on their own. At times, it is a good idea to begin by your own as there are not many good teachers and finding a good teacher is not really simple. If you begin learning with a poor instructor, you may end up acquiring bad habits with piano. But at the same time learning piano with a professionally qualified teacher is the fastest method of learning. Although, it is important to select a teacher who is an expert in teaching the piano music genre that you are interested in playing. Avoid teachers who are strict and not flexible as they may not be appropriate and helpful for you as an adult beginner. A good teacher will teach you all the fundamentals of piano playing such as hand positioning, posture, movement, fingering and other techniques that are difficult to grasp from an instruction book or from any music material. A teacher can demonstrate and teach you good habits with piano that you can carry for a lifetime.

A piano beginner making mistakes is completely normal.Gaining hands co-ordination skills, rhythm and volume control, timing, speed and other technicalities would be difficult in the beginning but a teacher will help in identification of these mistakes and would correct them first. A good teacher will also advice you with good learning material and would provide a structured learning that would help you in making progress quickly. So getting a good teacher for learning piano would be a wise and cost effective decision for adult piano beginners. In a time frame of few months, you will be all set to continue on your own by following different materials available in the form of books and online lessons that we will be sharing later.

Practical tips for adult pianists:

Some practical tips for learning piano for adults include:

• Always select a piano music genre that you enjoy and are enthusiast to learn. This is the first and most important step in learning to play piano. Selecting a piano genre that you enjoy would help you in staying motivated and you will be able to put more efforts in your learning process. Some of you may be interested in playing classical or rock or blues or jazz. Just opt for something that you are interested in learning.
• Once you know what you want to learn, look for a qualified and professionally trained piano teacher teaching that particular genre. A piano teacher for adult students should be really passionate teacher and should have experience of teaching adults because style of teaching really differs when you are teaching adults in comparison to teaching children.
• Get some piano lessons videos and DVDs along with some piano instruction books as these prove as a great resource for learning at your convenience.
• Make a habit of regular practice. Make a commitment for practicing at a particular time each day. Try not to skip practicing and make it your priority. Each day dedicate at least 30 minutes for practicing and playing piano.
• While taking lessons from a teacher make sure you listen to your teacher. Adults in all cases are more likely to figure out making things work on their own but learning piano is a completely different thing. For this new set of skills, you should make sure that you understand and listen to your teacher in order to make musical development.
• Always keep patience as results would take some time to show. Think about learning a new language, wouldn’t you take some time to learn and begin speaking that language? Learning to play piano is similar to that. Don’t get disappointed if you are not able to play some pieces. Accept instructions and follow them. Be consistent and you will be able to become a better piano player.

Best online piano lessons for adults:

Online lessons are great resource for all the adult piano beginners who wish to experience and learn piano at their own convenience. You can grab these lessons and learn piano at your home. Some of the top ranking and most useful piano online learning resources for adults are:

• Zebra Keys – http://www.zebrakeys.com/
• PianoNanny – http://www.pianonanny.com/
• Plern Piano – http://www.plernpiano.com/
• BerkleeShares – http://www.berkleeshares.com/
• Ricci Adam’s Music Theory – http://www.musictheory.net/

Best Piano lesson books for adults:

Another great resource for learning to play piano is piano learning course books. These books are an ideal way of learning musical theory basics and familiarizing yourself with this new instrument. Some of the high rated books for learning piano include:

• Alfred’s Basic Adult All-in-One Piano Course
• John Thompson’s Easiest Piano Course
• The Classic Piano Course Book
• Bastien Piano for Adults
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Musical Theory

Conclusion

Learning to play piano for adults is not a daunting task. Age is not something that should hold you back if you are interested in learning to play an instrument as beautiful and melodious as piano. Although there are some practical considerations that you should keep in mind in order to be successful at playing piano. Just remember that there is no age limit for learning piano. Just begin with a genre and a melody that you hear most and would love to play on piano. Don’t worry about speed in the beginning, be slow and focus on developing correct habits with piano. Do not rush with piano lessons and learning. Be consistent and follow instructions of your teacher and get help with good music material. Soon you will be able to play piano like a professional.