Interesting 2 Things that Interfere with Adult Beginner Piano Learning

August 2, 2021 Leslie Young

Off

I had a delightful first piano lesson with an adult beginner who had never had music lessons. During the session, it became apparent to me that previous learning she had experienced in unrelated subjects was interfering with her understanding of note-reading. This was enlightening to me as a teacher and gave me insight into learning from an adult beginner’s viewpoint which will be also helpful in teaching younger students.

The first interference that became apparent was finger placement. She had excelled at learning typing in a high school class many years ago. It was necessary at that time to learn which finger was assigned specific alphabet letters on the keyboard. For example, to perform the typing action correctly, the right hand 2 finger oriented on the “j” key but also would reach over to type keys h, y, u, and 7. This mind set of each finger be assigned specific keys to type is essential for learning typing/keyboarding, but this is quite an obstacle to overcome for the adult beginner pianist.

Simply, the piano keyboard has 88 keys which are spread in basically a straight line. The pianist will be using all fingers all over the keyboard. No finger should be assigned to a specific key.

I know there are multiple learning methods that use various hand positions in order for the student to learn to note- read, orienting on five different sequential keys for each hand’s five fingers.

However, I counter that this approach much more likely has the student learning that finger 1 (the thumb) is the C key, by reading the finger number 1 written above the note on the staff. Similarly, finger 2 is the next key over (not actually reading the “D” note on the staff, and so on. The approach is further strengthened by only using songs written within the five-finger positions.

The Revolutionary Piano Method never has a piece written in five-finger positioning for the purpose of learning five particular keys. It also never displays a finger number for every note to be read and played. There are a few included for general orientation, but seriously, as the author and educator of many years for all ages of students, I do not disagree with those teachers who prefer to mark out all, or practically all, finger numbers. Students naturally begin to use “more correct” fingering once they begin to play larger intervals and chords.

If that seems “wrong” – consider again the horizontal expanse of the 88 keys and then consider the restrictive approach of only playing a specific key with a specific finger. If not deemed illogical – it certainly frustrates and interferes with accurate note-reading thinking processes. It is more important to accurately identify a note on the staff and be able to locate it correctly on the keyboard – rather than use fingering that would be considered to be optimally correct.

The second interference I noticed during the adult beginner lesson was very puzzling to me at first. I had seen this frequently in my students who are children, and I always attributed it to inattentiveness. But that could not be the reason with this adult beginner student who was concentrating intently.

Quite frequently, after playing one note correctly, if the next note was one step lower, instead of thinking “this is the next key going down to the left” – she would play the next key up to the right on the keyboard. We talked about this and decided that she was relating the reading/playing of notes to the reading of words, where after reading one word, the next thing to do is go on to read the next word – going on to the right!

So with piano, after playing one note, (regardless if the melody then went up or down a step) the next note she would think – go on to the right – which is playing UP the keyboard, not down to the left.

This realization provided a reasonable explanation for the reading errors. Once we had the discussion, she realized the proper thinking process to use in reading notes. The whole lesson was quite interesting for me with this adult beginner!

Leslie Young is the author/composer of the Revolutionary Piano Method. She co-founded a K-12th grade charter school in Texas and has been a piano teacher for about 40 years. She has had experience teaching a variety of students tackling piano for the first time or as returning students

She states: “In teaching piano to students of varying ages, what also varies is a commitment of time and the amount of dedication. Children of certain ages may do very well with a parent as teacher; others may need someone who is not family to instruct them. Some older children and adults prefer to make progress on their own, and this method is designed to act as a meticulous guide through new material. Some adults and teens insist on professional teachers, which also encourages continuity. Because these books are self-explanatory, a new or experienced professional teacher will have no trouble using the Revolutionary Piano Method with students. It is an easy way to learn piano.”

Leslie believe that “learning to play the piano is more about diligence and perseverance” – but would add that just as critical to success is the method that is used, the encouragement of critical thinking, and the instructional principles that promote immediate success.

What Would the First Lesson for a Young Student Look Like?

What Would the First Lesson for a 6 to Teen Look Like (video)?