Tips for Adult Beginners

How hard is it in general for adults to learn how to play the piano?

That's a great question. It depends also if you are interested in playing classical music or popular music from the radio with chords, or jazz improvization or a bit of everything.

Potential Challenges
Adults will understand music theory, the structure of chords and why notes sound good together (mathematically) as well as the the concepts of note reading and rhythm, much easier than a young child would. However the the hand eye coordination may seem harder for an adult, the hands may be more rigid and tense (that is a generalization). But there's no reason that an adult couldn't learn to play piano.

The other challenges that adults may face are the distractions with work, tv, sports, life in general and some are not likely to practise.   All my students are young children or teenagers who started with me when they were younger.  The oldest beginner was 13 when he started.  I've had alot of inquiries from adult beginners but I've been relucant to accept one based on my schedule and personal preferences.

Finding a Teacher
If you are seriously looking for a teacher, it sounds funny but you could ask a piano teacher you already know for contacts, or look on usedottawa.com or kijii and browse the piano teacher ads. Some will actually say that they are accepting students of all ages and adults too, while others will say children only. So you know who to call.  Check out the Ottawa Folk Music Center or Long and McQuade music store or, Yamaha on Bank Street or Granata Music.

The Yellowcat Music Sheets that I use in my lessons for the kids work well for older beginners too.

Success Stories
The potential to succeed is there. It depends alot on your committment, your personal goals and the right teacher to tap into the talents you already have.  My mother's friend started taking beginners piano lessons as an empty nester when the kids went away for university and left the piano behind. She started from Beginners and Grade 1 and studied with her kids' piano teacher for about six to eight years.  She just used her kids' piano books.  At the time we talked a few years ago, she was playing Grade 10 RCM level pieces (classical music) and even offering substitute piano lessons when the senior teacher was not available.  This is an amazing feat because if a child starts piano lessons at age 6 an average or non-music-performance-major student would probably reach the Grade 10 level around age 15 or 16.

If you have the desire in your heart and the means to make it possible, just do it. You won't regret piano.

How do you say goodbye?

To be a Tiger mom or not a Tiger mom. How about the part about putting a child's heart first?  I'm sharing some thoughts from the perspective of a parent of a small child, age 4 going on 13, who recently decided to take a break from piano. This is my introspection on the right time to resume lessons.

My post is about having the strength to recognize a child's desire and dislike, having the courage to wait for a better opportunity in the future, and having a heart to understand the child's heart. The first step is just to be patient.

The Symptoms

Maggie has been happily playing her music by heart and I suspected she wasn't doing note reading, but I let it slide until recently.  Her other two classmates are boys her age and they are amazing at piano. The MYC  method truly works well for them, as they were just flying through the pieces and learning new ones ahead of time while Maggie and I were still working on the recital piece from before Christmas. On the plus side, her C major scale in the right hand and left hand are carefully executed. In the fall, the teacher taught them the C-G bridges to go with the tonic, mediant and dominant degrees of the C scale. She loved it! It was sad to see her level of interest and passion change.  Over the summer (6 months ago) she was very enamoured with the A minor scale! Now she sulks through it and I have to resort to bribery.

Then we started note reading on the staff with real notation and things just went downhill from there. She was always looking at my face and my reaction, more so than the notes on the page. I should've just let her look at the hands but I wanted to be sure she was reading. But after pointing out every note, she would wait for me to say the name and look at my face, which was not a smiley face unfortunately, which added to the tension. It got to the point where she would find every excuse not to practise piano.  Occasionally there would be the day where she would take out the "music rhythm bag" and copy out the music on the floor, which was startling! Or we would do the homework pages (though usually it was her younger brother AJ who did the homework part for there).  There were times when tears were shed; my precious tears that is. She had every excuse possible to get out of piano practise. It got to the point where she even would fall asleep at the group lesson (probably a Sunday afternoon scheduling issue).

For my child I poured my heart into, starting piano at age 3 with all the hope for her to be a child prodigy, I knew I couldn't keep this up until age 17 let alone 7. I decided to stop the lessons and perhaps resume at a more appropriate age for her.   I'm not proud that we couldn't finish the second year of piano lessons, that I let her stop in mid-February instead of pushing onwards to the end of June.  But I wanted to end on a good note, and we could say, "Let's have the last lesson, say good bye to your teacher."

Decision Making Steps

Identify the problem - Maggie loses interest and hates piano, loss of motivation to practise
List some solutions - stop lessons, change the teacher, change the method, (can't change the parent!)
Practical steps - Call the teacher and talk in person, be prepared to agree to disagree
Decisions - depending on the studio policy, lessons could be terminated with or without notice, ask for a refund for the remaining months (March to June)

In the end I had a heart to heart talk with her teacher, and we ended on good terms. I had referred many students to her, all doing very well, and I indicated that I would certainly continue to do the same.

After Action Report
It's been a week, Maggie has approached the piano to play her scales on her own once! This happened when it was my turn to practise piano. Perhaps that was the way to motivate her to the piano by hearing me play.  We are still keeping music alive as she still likes singing and directing the Mississippi Hot dog of Suzuki Book 1, looking for the right time to sit down and play it with her, though perhaps we should wait. The obvious question is, why don't I teacher her; well I would rather wait a bit.

Above all Maggie loves singing. She can listen to any song on the radio and start belting out the words in tune; she can improvise the words for any nursery rhyme with alternate lyrics; she teaches AJ her French songs from school and they sing together. I have a first recording of her singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at 22 months, it's golden. Last summer at age 3.5 she was singing Jana Alayra songs from VBS and acting like an MC leading singspiration.  My husband has considered voice lessons for her or even joining a youth choir. There is talent and heart there, perhaps that is where we could apply it.

  

Teacher Perspectives
As a teacher, when did this happen to me and how did I deal with it.

• A high school student who lost interest and wanted to pursue a new hobby.  The siblings have since joined my studio
• A high school student who had a busy schedule with part time jobs, after school activities, and transportation issues; I recommended a more suitable location for piano lessons at the Long and McQuade Music School run by the music book store near to the high school.
• A 3 year old in my group class wasn't quite ready; she will try private lessons at 3.5 in the spring time.

On the other hand, I also have high school students very committed to competitive sports but still finding the time to schedule lessons, practise piano and excel. That's motivating for me, to see passion in the kids music.

Music Community

Found a list of piano teachers in Ottawa posted by the Leading Note. I put my name on the Roladex years ago, it's still funny everytime I stumble upon this list online.  My daughter's piano teacher is there too.
http://www.leadingnote.com/customers/music-teachers/piano/


Ottawa-Gatineau Suzuki Piano. I recently auditioned and was invited to join them, along with my  Suzuki students.  However because I was suddenly moving, I had to decline but fortunately I was able to connect with teachers from the group to transfer my students to.  There is a $140 registration for the students to be in the Suzuki Piano School, however it is well worth it with the Saturday group classes, recitals and concerts year round.
http://www.suzukipiano.on.ca/suzuki8.html

ARCT Blog. Seems like someone I have alot in common with. She's in IT, I'm in Engineering and we are both teaching piano and at various stages of reaching the ARCT.
http://sites.google.com/site/eleanorsmusic


ORMTA Ottawa Chapter Events.
Previously, to be of ORMTA you had to have a Masters Degree in Music or the full ARCT with six students who got First Class Honours in the RCM piano exams, with the annual fee being $300 which is why I never joined.  They didn't even advertise their events. But now they have also allowed memberships for teachers who have Grade 10 RCM and additional Pedagogy training (like me with the ARCT Beginners and Intermediate, Suzuki, etc) but that must be new so maybe I will join in if I end up teaching again in Trenton!
http://www.ormtaottawa.ca/Events.htm

Piano, Violin, Cello, Guitar, or Flute?

Not really sure if piano is for your child? Would you like to introduce him to other instruments and see what other kids are up to?

Ottawa Suzuki Headstart Program - Strings
The Suzuki Music School in Ottawa runs a week long music camp each summer for the students in Suzuki violin, cello, guitar and flute at the Canterbury High School. Formally, this is called a Summer Institute where the levels 1 to 8 are available.  The 2012 dates are not listed yet, but in previous summers this took place at the end of July.  Another course offered during that same week is the Headstart Program which is a five day workshop focusing on an introduction to musical concepts and rhythm instruments, and each day a string instrument is presented to the class. An older child from the camp will perform a short recital piece the younger children on his violin for example, and then invite everyone to have a turn to try it out.  The Headstart program actually runs all year on Saturdays for a series of 5 weekly lessons in the fall, winter and spring.

My daughter age 3 at the time, and son age 2 attended the class and they learned all about "Mississippi hot dog" and "pepperoni pizza". Here is more information quoted from the website:

Headstart Suzuki is a pre-instrumental programme designed to introduce three and four year olds to basic musical concepts and beginning Suzuki rhythms and repertoire. Emphasis is on rhythm, singing, motor development and aural training, aided by the playing of percussion instruments. There are 5 sessions per term; on Saturdays at Canterbury HS. The fee is $90 per term.
Download the Registration Form here, though check again for summer information.


Musicland Adventure Camp
I model my Musicland Adventure Camp course a bit like the Headstart Program, packed with more emphasis on Piano and Suzuki Book 1 music appreciation, for 10 lessons at the Pre-Twinkle level.  Children ages 3-5 are at the right age for group learning of early keyboard skills, pre-staff music reading, solfege pattern recognition, melody playback by ear and more!

ABOUT Musicland Adventure Camp (10 classes)
GROUP classes for ages 3-5 will involve storytelling, magical characters, interactive games, song and dance to introduce kids to playing piano at the introductory level. Topics include keyboard geography, right and left hand independent playing, note reading, music writing skills, music performance and beyond.

Royal Conservatory Smart Start
This program caught my eye but it must be only offered in Toronto. Sounds like it would be competing with other franchises like MYC, Making Music Together or Kindermusik. They classes for ages 0 to 12 months, 12 - 24 months, age 2, 4, 5, 6, 7+ Orff

A brief course description: Typical classes begin with the introduction of the day’s musical concept, often explained using a familiar rhyme, poem or song. Students further explore the concept by locating it in other songs or rhymes and improvising their own small musical pieces. Instruments used are un-pitched percussion, such as rhythm sticks, drums, etc., and pitched instruments, which have been designed specifically for the curriculum.


Judging a book by its cover, I would say this course sounds alot like my Musicland course though my target age group is 3-5, followed by private lessons in the Suzuki method.


Royal Suzuki Program
I found this on the Royal Conservatory of Music website for Violin and Cello. At one time there was a job posting for a Suzuki Piano Teacher at the RCM in Toronto requiring Suzuki Book 2 and a music degree.  Perhaps they are changing the approach to beginners piano and this is converging point of the two methods.

Musicland Notes

A young child can learn note reading and even music writing when it involves a large Staff paper and some common colourful objects such as juice caps!

Treble clef notes (top); Bass Clef notes (bottom). The Middle C above the bass clef staff sits on a small imaginary line.

At my group class last week, we played the game "On the Line, Off the Line" where the kids had to jump on/ off a little straw on the ground.  This was a lead-in to the topic of placing notes on the staff - on the line, in the space!

Method:
Review the Treble Clef, Bass Clef, count the lines (5), count the spaces (4)
Talk about the belly of the treble clef (second line). You could colour this line red for Red Giant.
Point out the dots in the bass clef (line four). You could colour this line blue for Blue Fairy.

The kids already know the friends in Musicland:
Yellow Cat
Purple Dragon
Green Elf
Blue Fairy
Red Giant
Orange Albert
Brown Beethoven (black cap)
Yellow Cat

Point out the small extra line below the treble clef staff for Middle C, ask someone to mark it using the yellow cap and call it Yellow Cat (on the line)
Have the next child place the next note, someone will know that it`s Purple Dragon (space just hanging below the staff)
The next child will catch on quickly that the next note is Green Elf (on the line 1)
...and so on.
Work to the next Yellow Cat and review the word ``Octave``

If applicable, move on to the Bass clef. Yellow Cat is in the space (second from bottom).

In fact one of the children recognized a pattern right away and he started to sing, Step-ping Up!  That was so wonderful that he could relate the notes on the page to tone direction though it wasn`t perfect pitch he still sang a sequence of stepwise notes in whole tones!

For an older child, take notes away and name the thirds (the space notes form thirds, as do all the line notes)
You could use the coloured notes to build chords in root position and all inversions!

Piano Teacher in the home studio or a Music School?

Most piano students will do private piano lessons in the home studio of an established piano teacher or at a music school, for example a school, academy or conservatory (this term is more widely used in Quebec, more restrictive in Ontario).  Just to point out, in North America most students will do piano lessons in the piano teacher's home studio or a music school setting, whereas in Hong Kong, it is more common to go to music institute or music school operated as business establishment.  In New York, because parents are too busy working on Wall Street to take their kids to lessons, I have a friend who is a piano teacher on wheels (actually she travels by subway) who teaches at the students' home, with the nanny!


Here is a list of music schools in the area I wanted to mention about. Some of them are recommended by my colleagues at work, others from graduates or transfer students. In your search for the best piano teacher, I urge you to consider all options and be very selective with your search. Choosing the best piano teacher is the most important decision you will make for your child's musical eduation and future advancement.

HOME STUDIO
Some piano teachers are very selective. If they have a very full and active studio, there may be only a specific age or playing level they are looking for in a prospective student to fill a spot, if any.  You may be invited to an interview. As a parent, take this as an opportunity to interview the teacher! Visit the teacher and even observe a lesson if possible. Discuss your musical goals and ambitions for your child. The teacher should also have a series of interview-like questions for you and your child and do not be surprised if your child is required to play something on the spot. You may be lucky to receive a free impromptu lesson the spot.  Look for the musical qualifications such as minimum Grade 8 RCM piano; a Music Degree in Pedagogy or Performance and/or  ARCT Teachers Certification would be even better. Look for years of experience, manner of approaching technical diffulties, patience, how she deals with her own children, command of language, studio setup and just an overall gut feeling. If and when you get to the discussion on payment, expect to pay the tuition up front for the year, in post dated on the first of every month or quarterly.


CONSERVATORY
Conservatoire de Alymer/ Conservatoire de Hull/ Quebec belong to the same government program, offering free piano lessons to residents of Quebec, if the children meet the audition and admission requirements.  It is a very competitive admission process to this prestigious school.  I have a friend named Ruth (age 25) who did her piano lessons at the Conservatoire de Alymer from age 5 until she recently graduated and now she's doing her Masters in Piano Performance in New York City. She just came back to Ottawa on the weekend to play at the NAC to sub for a piano solo for the Mamma Mia pianist, her first professional gig at the NAC!

Macey Conservatory of Music 819-682-8888 http://www.conservatoire.ca/ Offering lessons in piano, violin, singing, guitar,drums etc. They offer instrument rentals and a free six week music discovery program before a child chooses an instrument. The rates seem to be $25 per half hour.

As previously mentioned, the word Conservatory may appear to be widely and broadly used in Quebec. In the USA, the Conservatory level is equated to the post-secondary institution level. In the rest of Canada, you'll hear about the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) which is a national school of national-wide standarized exams and repertoire; or the Canada National Conservatory of Music (CNCM). You'll have to be your own judge what is a true "Conservatory".


MUSIC SCHOOLS
Sonart Musique in Alymer, www.sonartmusique.com 819-557-0776 All the instructors have music degrees, owner Vincent Boudreault is a frequent judge at CEGEP en Spectacle and they have good ties with the Conservatoire in Hull.



The Ottawa Music Academy on Conroy Rd. My friend used to be a part-time piano teacher there; she's a professional financial analysts in the federal goverment (not a music major) but she was still very qualified to teach private piano lessons. She felt that the tuition rates were reasonable but the payment for the teacher was not.  I also have two transfer students who played beginners piano there for two years. Although their mother felt that the piano teachers were young high-school/ university age students and junior quality, I have to point out that they did a fairly good job teaching the kids. A strong foundation in listening, rhythm, tone and touch.

The Long and McQuade music store on Alta Vista @ Bank has music school. I have an older former piano student in high school who moved her lessons there because it was closer to her high school and she could work the schedule better with her part time job and sports etc.  I buy my music materials for my studio from this music store because they have a wide selection, the staff is friendly and they offer me a piano teacher discount on books!


The Yamaha Music School on Bank street offers private and group lessons too. About 10 years ago I took piano lessons there too because I was preparing for piano teacher exams and I needed a teacher too.

RATES
The going rate for piano lessons truly varies for the wide spectrum of teachers qualifications and the demographics for the city. I would say that the starting rate for a high school student just starting to teach piano is probably about $15 for half hour lessons.  Advertised in an expensive newspaper ad for a music teacher in Ottawa offering private lessons at the studio or student's home, $25 for half hour or $40 for an hour.  My own teacher with over 30 years of experience and teaching at the advanced levels but claiming to no rate hikes for years, charging $45 for one hour lessons.  My friend teaching piano in New York, the one traveling to the suburbs by subway, charges $90 per hour.

PIANO LESSONS AT SCHOOL

At my daughter's school and many others in the public school board, they have a program offering group, semi-private or private piano lessons after school hours to the children ages 6 and up - 30 minutes/ week for 32 weeks.  The fees are $365 for group class, semi-private cls is $499 and the individual instruction is $799. The contact information http://www.ocdsb.ca/Continuweb or http://www.artsforkidsatocdsb.com/ 613-239-2747

The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) also has a program called "Music Therapy" sponsored in part by Long and MacQuade. I don't know the details about how the course is run or which patients qualify for the lessons and how it is funded, but it sounded like something that might be on a volunteer basis perhaps.

Ways to Sparkle or Fizzle at Piano Exams

I am currently preparing a small handful students for piano exams in the upcoming Winter 2012 Session for the Royal Conservatory of Music.  I also attended a teacher training workshop and one of the topics focused on piano exam preparation. I decided to transform my notes into a list and added a few of my own ideas into two categories I'm referring to as Sparklers and Fizzlers. This is a collection of ideas on how to sparkle or not sparkle at your next piano exam.


How to Sparkle
1) Teachers believe in your student; student believe in yourself. Temper this with realistic expectations.
2) Provide a good edition. Urtext is not always the best fit for all pieces; be sure to find an edition that has useful fingering and not too much editing.
3) Focus on the concepts, context, musical relationships and technic. When teaching, make comparisons with other works, use contrast, comment on the style of the period and character.  The student workbooks provide good insight.
4) Teachers demonstrate colourful sound, describe the tone production. These could include arm weight, round out the wrist.
5) Develop the Music Skills early in the year (Technique, Sight Reading, Interval Naming, Melody Playback, Rhythm Clapback combined, accounts for more marks than Repertoire).
6) Build a performance in gradual steps. Learn the individual sections but join them, don't practise the mistakes!

Ways to Fizzle or Lose Marks!
1) Student has weak basic skills (intervals, melody playback, rhythm counting etc)
2) The performance pieces are still in the learning stage with unncessary skips and disturbances to the flow; imprecise rhythm, lack of right-left hand balance, unsteady tempo.
3) The music piece is at the wrong level based on the student's ability and maturity
4) Student did not adequately prepare the requirements. For example the Sonata performance requires Movement 1 and 2 but the student only prepared the first; otherwise, the last pages missing from a rondo.
5) Inappropriate repertoire choice. Stick to the list, or go through the proper procedure for the substitution approval.
6) Lack of stylistic variation
7) Lack of structual awareness and dynamic range
8) Insufficient control of touch, unstantial tone, misplaced accents and bumps in the melodic line. The effect is a beat by beat playing.
9) The tempo is too slow and breathless, ignoring rests and accelerating.
10) Shy or insecure student succumb to nerves.


* The list was compiled from my notes at the RCM Teacher Professional Development Seminar presented by Dr. Hahn