Late arrivals

String teachers are reporting an increase in the number of adults taking their first steps in playing. How do they adapt their teaching methods to this different discipline?

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More adults than ever are taking up stringed instruments

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The pandemic lockdowns led to many adults learning to play an instrument for the first time, with others rekindling a long-lapsed interest in playing. For string teachers more used to teaching children, teaching adult students offers different challenges and rewards, and requires some thoughtful variations in approach.

Whether they want to play certain pieces, or be able to join a local orchestra, or are just learning an instrument because it’s something they’ve always wanted to do, adult students often have a strong, clear motivation, says Laura Rickard, a violinist who teaches privately and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. ‘This leads to a different pupil–teacher relationship. You don’t have to be so involved in making everything fun, and you don’t have the same role as you do with a child in terms of motivating them to practise.’ Ariane Zandi, a cellist and teacher in London, says: ‘Often adult learners come almost with a brief. They will tell you what they want to learn and why, and that focus can be very helpful for a teacher.’

The language that teachers use in lessons with adults can be vastly different from how they communicate with child learners. Rachael Ridge, who is based in Lafayette, IN, US, and runs a programme for adult violin beginners, says:

‘Adults want to know the technical aspects behind what they’re being taught, and as a teacher you can talk in complex terms. But not all adults can handle lots of detail all at once, especially if music is fairly new to them, so it’s a matter of breaking things down, going step by step, but giving them the full picture.’ Bergen-based cellist and teacher Ragnhild Sannes says: ‘I think it’s important to talk to adults as you would talk to a professional in any field, even though the level of playing might be very basic.’

Compared with children, adult beginners can be more self-conscious, self-aware and sensitive about mistakes and the sound they make. ‘Most of the time in the professional world, you feel as an adult that you can’t make mistakes,’ says Zandi. ‘Suddenly you’re in an environment where making mistakes is how you learn, so I work hard to make my adult students comfortable with making mistakes.’ For Rickard, establishing a relationship of trust is vital. ‘Students need to know that it’s fine to make sounds that aren’t beautiful,’ she says, ‘and they also need to trust the learning process, and know that they are going to get where they want to go, but it may take some time.’

‘You just have to see what works with the student’s physicality’

One source of frustration for adult learners can come with the physical aspects of playing. Some older students will have lost muscle elasticity or flexibility in their joints, and it can be a challenge to rediscover the ability to learn fine motor skills. ‘As a teacher, responding to physical issues has forced me to verbalise the things that I do naturally,’ says Ridge, ‘Adults often have good body awareness and understand what I mean by “shoulders back and down” or “open up your chest”, but being more specific with my words has been important. And for those students without good body awareness, I always encourage them to do yoga, Pilates or another activity to help build that awareness.’ Sannes says: ‘You need a good strategy when addressing physical issues. An adult might have difficulties with the bow hold and pronating the hand properly, so you might need to find different exercises to help. We can improve microcoordination, but you have to know how.’ Teachers can also find ways of adapting instrumental technique to take into account particular physical conditions. ‘I had an 80-year-old student who couldn’t do a full bow because of a problem with his elbow,’ says Zandi. ‘But we got around it, and it didn’t stop him playing. You just have to see what works with the student’s physicality.’

As beginner teaching materials are almost always geared towards young children, teachers often take creative and more tailored approaches with their adult students. ‘I create a little booklet of basics and exercises especially for them,’ says Sannes. ‘I don’t like to give children’s songs to adults, so I replace them with simple classical tunes, for example swapping Twinkle, twinkle with Ode to Joy. Then I will usually guide students to Book 2 onwards of the Suzuki books, and supplement those with Rick Mooney’s Position Pieces.’ Ridge adapted a curriculum that she’d made for children by making it look more professional, for adults. ‘A lot of other books were either too slow or very childish looking,’ she says, ‘and I felt it would be discouraging to learn like that.’ Rickard finds that materials that may be out of fashion with children work well for adults. ‘Student concertos, which can seem dry for children, are good examples,’ she says. ‘But I also use materials that are more geared towards children, such as Mary Cohen’s books. And folk songs and anything rooted in solfège work well for any age.’

Teaching adult students gives teachers a different, often more relaxed lesson experience, with a more balanced atmosphere. ‘With adults, you get a sense of being two equals,’ says Rickard. ‘They might be an expert in an interesting field that’s not anything to do with what I do, so it’s a great way to spend time with people from all walks of life.’ Sannes says that her lessons with adults are usually longer than children’s lessons, and are more easy-going: ‘It’s a little like having a friend over for an hour. We can have coffee and take our time. It’s inspiring too, seeing people aged 50, 60 or 70 think, “I want to learn the cello.” It makes me wonder if there’s something new in my life that I want to do.’