Teaching adult bagpipe students

[Macswegan]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wright

I certainly don't want to discourage such people - but I've also seen a lot of adult beginners who never really go anywhere, never even getting to the point of being able to play with a Grade 5 band.

I've seen a lot of students of all ages, including ten and twelve-year-olds, who never go anywhere. When I think of my young students who have quit or stopped improving, I don't think "Young students are terrible!" I think, "Well, that one got too busy with scouting and soccer" or "that one never practiced anyway." The fact that those specific kids didn't thrive as pipers says nothing about other kids who do and who will.

When a student shows up for lesson one, practice chanter in hand, I never know how far he or she will go. But I have never seen any reason to assume that all the kids are going to succeed or that all the adults are going to suck. The two best students I ever had were both adult learners. That might be unusual, but there it is.

In my experience, the people who listen carefully and practice hard always get better, no matter what age they are. Some get better faster, and some will no doubt go farther. But anyone who works at it can improve.

[Bruce Wright]

Originally Posted by Macswegan

I've seen a lot of students of all ages, including ten and twelve-year-olds, who never go anywhere. When I think of my young students who have quit or stopped improving, I don't think "Young students are terrible!" I think, "Well, that one got too busy with scouting and soccer" or "that one never practiced anyway." The fact that those specific kids didn't thrive as pipers says nothing about other kids who do and who will.

I really wasn't thinking about those of whatever age who simply drop out: I've had many of those as well, of all ages. Rather, I was thinking of those who kept at it, and of those, as a group the kids will almost always outperform the adults, and few of the kids who keep at it will be terrible, while a disproportionate number of adults will be. That doesn't mean that adult beginners are hopeless; some do OK, many do not.

In my experience, the people who listen carefully and practice hard always get better, no matter what age they are. Some get better faster, and some will no doubt go farther. But anyone who works at it can improve.

This is undeniable. However, some things simply get much harder to learn as you get older: Language, for example. If you learn a new language before the age of about 10 or 12, you can often acquire the facility of a native speaker; but even by the age of about 13 or 14 that ability has been lost. This has been well documented in the literature.

Music is not unlike language - there are certain concepts which if you don't learn as a youngster will be much harder to learn as an adult. I'm not primarily thinking about all the piping embellishments, but the basics of music: rhythm, pitch, things like that. And in fact the adults who learned music as kids tend to do much better than those who did not, especially if they did it a lot and even more so if they continued into adulthood.

That doesn't mean that adults who didn't learn music as kids can't learn those things - but they will probably never be native speakers so to speak. The cutoff age seems to be much like language - somewhere around 10 or 12. But like language, it is possible for adults to learn, even to do fairly well for themselves, but they'll probably never have the facility of someone who learned when they were young.

FWIW.

--Bruce

[wysper]

At the risk of flogging the dead horse the piper rode in on or the dead piper the horse rode in on or whatever, I will add my thoughts.

As one of the afore mentioned adult beginners this is what I think so far and will most likely change as I gain more experience and different perspectives.

Often it is said an adult piper wont reach grade 1 or grade x or where ever you chose to set the benchmark. And this is most likely true. I believe the main two reasons are;

1. The students reason for learning. I would bet that the majority of adult students aren't in it to make grade 1 or play at the worlds. I know I am not learning for that reason. I am learning because I love the sound of the pipes and want to learn how to play them WELL.

Granted, the young uns might not have the goal either, but they are more likely to develop that goal as they are introduced to competition and bands. The may even be piping because of bands and competition.

2. The difficulty of learning an new skill when you are older and good old father time. It is definitely harder to learn a new skill as an adult. You don't have the same neural pathways and lots of other scientific reasons that it is harder. What you do have is dedication, desire and determination (hopefully).

What I don't like about the whole "you won't be a grade 1 piper" thing, is that it is like that is the only way to show you are a good piper. I agree it is the way to show you are a better piper than the piper next to you from a technical point of view. But I believe you can be a great piper without having a grade.

I get this in the motorcycle world too, I ride a harley, my friends riding sports bikes say my harley isn't as fast, doesn't corner as well, doesn't have as good brakes. But I didn't buy my harley to be the fastest rider on the road, or corner like Valentino Rossi. I bought my harley because I loved the look of it, the sound of it and the grin I get when I ride it.

So for me piping is a bit the same, some will pipe and look to make Grade 1 or Open, and that is their benchmark of success. Others will pipe so that when they play the people they are playing for smile, laugh, cry, clap (at the appropriate times and for the right reasons hoepfully ) or just play so they smile themselves.

To me they both are successful pipers. So when you take on that adult student, if their goal isn't to become a medalist then there is no need to compare them to that benchmark. When I started I had no limits on what my potential was, now I am beginning to realise how to set reasonable and attainable goals given my personal desire, practice commitment and available time.

I was going to talk about a few other things like rhythm and keeping an adult student engaged but I have blathered on for long enough already!