3 Ways to Create the Right Learning Environment for Adult String Students
3 ways to provide the proper setting and supply context for grown-ups
Photo courtesy of Melissa Waterhouse
Photo courtesy of Melissa Waterhouse
More and more adults are picking up instruments later in life. According to a 2003 Gallup poll, 40 percent of US adults between the ages of 35 and 50 were playing a musical instrument, and that number is rising. The fortunate studio string teacher may see this reflected in enrollment, but the savvy educator will know how to cater to this unique group of learners.
A key to teaching adult learners is understanding the mature mind. It’s not a decreased faculty for learning that’s the trouble. In fact, it’s the opposite. “Adult beginners tend to overthink things from the get-go,” says Laurie Meeder, who teaches children and adults, often in the same day. “The script inside their head says, ‘Wait a minute—this is easy, this is supposed to be hard,’ and they find a way to make it more difficult than it is.”
Adults need to relearn the learning process before they can be proficient string players, but there is much a teacher can do to aid in this development.
1. Set the Mood
Children are familiar with the learning process—it’s what they do each and every day, and they don’t need much in the way of environmental cues to set their minds on “learn.” However, adults are a different matter.
String teacher Laura Klein knows this well. She picked up the violin at age 40 and ten years later began her second career as an educator. To stimulate and create a sense of trust in her adult students, she provides a safe studio environment. That means a professional, orderly atmosphere where the student—who’s there of his or her own volition, and paying for the privilege—senses control. “The house is quiet, I’m focused on them, I talk very quietly, and approach slowly,” Klein says.
The teacher must recognize that an adult doesn’t have the same endurance as a child. “So I say, ‘Would you like to take a break? Would you like to sit down?’ It’s not like a kid, where you can have them playing for an hour straight. Sometimes [adult beginners] need to be reminded of simple things like that, but a big part of a safe studio is reminding adult students that they’re in control of everything.”
2. Teach in Context
Context is a way to slow down an overeager adult learner who comes into the studio with all the latest books and learning tools. “They want to learn by words,” Klein says. “I identify with it—that’s what I did, too.”
But those words need to be translated into movement, which means starting with the basics before moving onto the classics, and making sure the student knows that sequential progression cannot be circumvented.
Klein remembers an adult beginner who wanted to immediately learn more advanced music like Elgar’s “Chanson de matin,” but was at the “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” level.
Driven adults with successful careers and advanced degrees might scoff at learning a nursery song, so it’s important to put that nursery song into the context of learning more difficult pieces. In Klein’s case, she needed to put “Twinkle, Twinkle”in the context of eventually learning Elgar.
“Everything starts on ‘Twinkle’—good setup, good bow arm, beautiful tone, intonation—and everything in those variations [of the song] prepares the student for everything that’s coming,” Klein says.
3. Be sure to Provide Performance Opportunities
One of the best practice motivators is a performance, but care must be taken in choosing the proper forum for an adult beginner. “The worst possible thing you can do is have adults perform alongside the kids,” Klein says. “Imagine doing the best you can and then having a 12 year old play rings around you.”
Adult beginners naturally gravitate toward small ensembles or chamber quartets once they’ve become more familiar with playing, Klein says, but until that level of comfort is reached, it’s up to the teacher to create a showcase.
Try an intimate setting, with three or four adult beginners and a few of their close friends and family. Set up an evening meal or potluck, with the student performances as the centerpiece of the evening. There’s no pressure, and most importantly, there’s no competition with a prodigy who could be the performer’s grandchild. “It’s very well received,” Klein says. “Everybody’s chilling.”
But with some adult learners there’s increased performance anxiety. For that, Meeder has a secret weapon. “Serve some wine,” Meeder says. “It’s legal, right?”
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