THE WAY OF PIANO • MIND • BODY • SOUL
Written by ANDREW EALES
Recent decades have seen a resurgence of piano playing by adults for their own personal enjoyment, relaxation, and as a social activity. While many revisit their childhood learning and play privately, others return to lessons or take up formal piano tuition for the first time.
Andrew Eales has enjoyed teaching adults for many years, from working with complete beginners, to supporting diploma candidates and mentoring other teachers. In these articles, he shares the lessons he has learned, and the importance of tailoring tuition to suit adult learners…
START HERE
These articles cover these adult learning fundamentals:
- How does adult education differ from childhood learning?
- Which methods suit adult beginners?
- What are our ultimate learning priorities?
Teaching Adults to Play the Piano
Adults do not learn in the same way as children. A different approach is clearly needed. In this post I share some of the strategies which have worked for me over the last three decades of teaching adult learners…
Which Adult Piano Method?
Adults learn differently to children. It follows that they benefits from resources tailored specifically to adult needs. Here are ten top method book choices…
The Three-Dimensional Pianist
Understanding the importance of the three dimensions of musical learning, Musical Mind, Body, and Soul, empowers us to teach, learn and practise music holistically, making effective and lasting progress.
IMPROVE YOUR PLAYING
Pianodao’s Online Feedback service offers a fresh approach to receiving expert guidance online. For just £20.00 you can play and ask questions about one or more pieces.
Online Feedback
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SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION
While many adults attempt to learn independently using print and online resources, there are huge benefits from collaborating with a good teacher, attending courses, and sharing your piano journey with other adult players.
However, successful collaboration isn’t guaranteed, and requires wisdom, compromise, and patience in order to realise the best benefits…
Who needs piano lessons anyway?
More and more learners are trying to teach themselves piano without the support of a good teacher, using apps, videos and online resources. What (if anything) does a teacher offer that can’t be found elsewhere?
Piano Lessons: Dealing with Anxiety
I am sure that most piano teachers will be alert to the fact that some pupils coming to lessons are anxious. This post will look at some reasons for that, and offer some suggestions that might help normalise lessons.
Contradiction and Connection
A healthy teacher-student relationship offers a safe space in which we learn to pick up on cues, work stuff through, foster realistic expectations of others, navigate and embrace contradictions…
A Piano Teacher’s Foibles
Which of the incredible teachers in this picture would you like to sign up to have piano lessons with? Finding the “right” match can certainly prove challenging for some…
The Wisdom of Trust
As a new academic season gets underway, and our thoughts turn to piano education, let’s consider how much more effective we can be when we have the wisdom to trust the advice of others…
A Fresh Perspective
If we limit ourselves to our own perspective, ignoring the opinions, ideas, insights and beliefs of others, we can quickly become arrogant and indifferent.
Wisdom and Expertise
How do you feel when so-called “experts” say things that just don’t match your experience?
Piano Paradigms
While social media can become an echo-chamber where we limit our attention to those we already agree with, good writing tries to do more. Being humble and truly open to learning from those whose paradigm is different to our own can be life-changing…
Chetham’s Summer School for Pianists
The Chetham’s International Summer School styles itself as “The Friendliest Summer School in the World”. I decided to find out for myself …
EFFECTIVE LEARNING
Many adult learners take an active interest in educational research, learning trends, and effective methods. These articles tackle some of these topics…
ADHD • A Pianist’s Guide
Discover how ADHD impacts piano practice, lessons and performance, along with a range of expert clinical advice, and educational strategies that help.
Putting the PLAY back into Playing the Piano
Are you bored by method-book teaching, disappointed by the exam system, and perplexed to find that piano isn’t proving more fulfilling? If so, then this radical new manifesto for piano education in the 21st Century is for you!
The Gamification of Musical Learning
In what has been hailed as the “Ludic (play-centric) Century”. we can see growing evidence of gamification in music education. In this article I consider the transformative impact this may be having, for better or worse…
Can we really trust educational research?
Let’s consider some popular education theories from recent years which are regularly cited in discussions about piano teaching…
Rote Learning: a waste of time?
What exactly is “rote learning”, and does it really work? Can rote learning ever be an effective way to develop the understanding, technique, and musicianship needed to become a three-dimensional piano player?
Sound before symbol: lessons from history
If we commit to an approach rooted in aural transmission and musicality, while equally insisting on the importance of fluent notation reading, we can preserve and build upon the great traditions of classical music education…
DIGGING DEEPER
The following articles include more ideas and encouragement to support adult learners and those working with them:
10 Piano Resolutions for 2025
HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2025! And good news for piano players looking to turn over a new leaf in 2025: there’s no shortage of great resolutions that can be made… and followed through!
Keeping Your Own Piano Journal
Have you considered keeping your own Piano Journal?
In this post I explain how you can use a journal to improve your progress, deepen your engagement, track progress, get organised and plan for the future…
Why Bother with Scales?
An in-depth look at the learning benefits, the importance of fingering, cumulative learning, and a more creative approach:
Your New Piano Journal
Keeping you own Piano Journal is an idea that is so simple it seems obvious, yet so powerful that it could transform your piano journey in the months and years ahead…
Embracing our limits
It is possible to admire and be inspired by the achievements of the world’s greatest players while enjoying working at our own level…
A Lifelong Love of Music
Ask piano teachers what we perceive our highest goal to be, and many of us will affirm that we hope to foster a love of music that will last a lifetime. So how can we all better communicate these aims where they are ignored or misunderstood?
The Power of Returning
If you feel you have lost your momentum or enthusiasm for playing the piano, it’s time to consider the “Power of Returning”…
The Importance of Notation
The current fashion for denigrating the importance of musical literacy is an educationally corrosive fad which, for the sake of all our students, we must seriously challenge and urgently resist…
Four Mistakes a Student Makes
Sometimes, the pathway ahead of us as piano players can appear forlorn, forbidding, difficult, uneven, shrouded in doubt. These are the times where we most need to cultivate patience…
The Pianist’s Resolution
The start of any new year or season is for many a time for making resolutions: for ambition, grit and determination. But what are the ingredients of perseverance which will foster that success?
Simple fixes for easing piano pain
Due to discomfort associated with ganglions on her wrists, Bernice doubted she would be able to continue playing, but with just a few adjustments, she was able to resume practice and find joy at the piano again. Here’s how…
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