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I have a question for experienced players and teachers: What should an adult beginner, possessed of no particular musical talent, expect to achieve in piano when piano is first taken up in mid-life? In other words, a adult in his late 40's wants to learn piano, and will start from scratch. How much should he expect to achieve in a few years? Keep in mind this person is a very busy professional with an active family and social life and great demands on time. What level of playing and satisfaction should one one realistically expect in a few years?

I wonder if your question wouldn't be better asked in the Adult Beginners' Forum or the Teachers' Forum. Without the personal experience of having been down that very path, or having at least taught adult students who began late in life, I would hesitate even to speculate about the matter. After all, what would I base my answer on?

Steven

OK. I did just that. Thanks for the suggestion. But if anyone has an opinion on this, I'd be interested.

I see your post in the Teachers' Forum, and expect that you'll get some valuable insights there. Perhaps you wish to avoid the appearance of needless cross-posting, but there are definitely people in the Adult Beginners' Forum with backgrounds comparable to the situation you described; I think they would happily share their thoughts, too. And I have a couple of my own, after all.

Among the meaningful variables that bear on an adult beginner in piano is whether it is one's first musical instrument. Past experience with another instrument probably means some familiarity with notation and the basics of theory, which should be a significant advantage.

Also, I think it's important that one pursue the genre of piano playing for which one has the greatest affinity. While classical, jazz and pop piano have commonalities, the respective skill sets are somewhat different and they are approached in different ways. That's not to say that any one is easier than another, but students are likely to learn most quickly and make the greatest progress when being taught to play the type of music that interests and motivates them the most.

Steven

There are a lot of variables - how good your teacher is, natural talent and facility, curiosity, open mind, etc.

Consistency in practicing is probably the most important aspect. If you're extremely busy, and can only practice about twice a week, you will progress slower, and have less fun. If you can practice 5 or more days per week consistently, you will see regular gradual improvement. There might be the odd week here and there where your practicing gets derailed. That happens. However, the more consistent you are, the more you will see results.

Also, attitude plays a huge part. The more you are willing to work on some stuff that might not be thrilling - 5 finger exercises, scales, easy pieces, etc - and also enjoying the process of learning, the more success you will have.

My uncle did exactly that. Managed his own accounting firm, 3 kids, and decided mid-life he wanted to study piano, after never having studied before. Can't say much about his prior musical ability, though I don't assume there was any.

He studied for 3-4 years, and I had heard from a few different family members that he was doing "VERY WELL." I finally went home for the first time in a long time this summer, and heard him play. I really wasn't expecting him to be playing Chopin etudes or full Mozart sonatas, but I was expecting a little more. He still couldn't play any "real" pieces, meaning, everything he was playing was still from beginner level books, and spiritual hymns simplified by his teacher.

Now I would not be happy only being able to play right hand single-note melody lines, accompanied by single-note, and MAYBE 2-note harmonies in the left. And as a teacher, I would not be happy if that's the progress my student has made in 3-4 years, regardless of prior experience. But it seemed to bring him joy, so that's all that matters.

I wish I could give a more detailed progress report on his development, his practicing habits etc., but I think you'll be able to tell if the student is happy and enjoying his progress.

Daniel

Practicing every day is important because of how the mind and body interact. It's as if the mind said "He's doing this every day, it must be important." So if you practice even 10 minutes a day you will see improvement. Daily practice and with purpose will let you advance a lot faster.

And, it's the quality of the practice time more than it is the quantity....

What we put into it, is what comes out.

Pianists are combinations of natural talents and acquired skills.

We have strengths and weakness to accomodate in our piano playing....progress requires an eye toward improving our weaknesses. Our strengths are producing capably.

We need discipline, time, effort, attention to detail, and a quiet mind that does not interfere with our intentions.

Don't think "practice", think "building skills".

Being musical is a whole different set of skills, strengths, and knowledge stored and retrieved on demand.

Input. Output.

There are many beautiful pieces that are not very difficult. I just recently began learning several pieces by Rachmaninoff. But before that I was mostly into Richard Clayderman ballads and they are not very difficult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc9roTAkXXs

This may help. I'm 73, retired, self taught and doing this for fun. I've been playing keyboard for just under a year. My keyboard was a Christmas present last year.

I brought 8 years of rhythm guitar experience with me, however, I had to first teach myself standard notation - flash cards were a great help. Used the Alfred Basic #1 book and moved to lead sheet music about 3 months ago.

Frozen hand block chords and octave melody with simple songs keep me happy. If at all possible I transpose everything to C, failing that I love those big E-Z note sheet music pieces.

I've moved to chord piano accompaniment using lead sheet and fake chord sheet music. As this works nicely with my rhythm guitar experience I think this is where I'll spend some time and see where that will take me.

Although retired I'm active with civic and church work plus as I mentioned play rhythm guitar with an active (four to six gigs a month) Country band. So practice does suffer.

Realistic goal -- One year from now I think you will have the fundamentals down and have a better idea of what you want to do with your piano.

Good luck, I'm enjoying the trip.

Malcolm

MAK: It depends on many factors, such as:

- How much time can you practice every day?
- How motivated are you to learn? Besides the daily practice, will you listen to and learn more about classical music?
- How willing are you to take direction from a teacher?
- How willing are you to focus on some of the more mundane tasks, e.g. finger exercises, proper posture and hand form, etc.?

I'm amazed at how often this question comes up, and even though it was asked in two forums, isn't it time for a reality check?

How much can anyone in his (or her) late 40s expect to acheive in anything, in a few years?

How can we begin to say without more information?

.

And in addition:
In my experience this kind of attitude screams to me:

"I want to learn to play well with very little work and dedication. Don't ask me to give up time from any of the other things in my busy life to learn something new."