Adult student needs help with worship band
Found in: Accompaniment, Adult Students, Students with Prior Experience
Joy O., Alabama
I have a prospective student who has been playing piano at church since she was 12, and she’s in her fifties now. She said several times that she was “groomed” for playing hymns at church, and she reads music, but she doesn’t play with freedom (my sense of what she said).
Now they have a praise band style at church, with lead sheets. She wants to know if I can teach her. She mentioned Harry Connick, Jr. and his ability to improvise, as seen on TV.
I’m still a first-year SM teacher, so I’m a bit intimidated. Any advice from you veterans?
Rebecca G., Colorado
This takes some courage, but I would consider meeting with her, having her play for you, and seeing if you think you can help her and if she feels drawn to how you do things. In my first couple of years of teaching, my own insecurity caused me to be overly intimidated by prospective students who had been playing longer than I had. I soon discovered through experience that the vast majority of traditionally-taught players had no clue how to improvise or think about music in terms of patterns and shapes, which meant I actually had a lot to offer them. One student who’s still with me could improvise circles around me when he started, and I was really nervous about teaching him, but after a couple of lessons I realized he was doing the same thing over and over and couldn’t figure out how to break out of that box.
If you’re an expansive musical thinker (even if you haven’t been playing for long), you often have more to offer than you may be giving yourself credit for – because most traditional players are trained to think about music in one very specific way. One thing you have to address repeatedly with adult students like this is the fact that it’s going to feel a bit like starting over when it comes to learning new skills that they’ve never worked before. But I’d still be inclined to meet with her and see how things feel.
Missy M., Iowa
I love these kinds of students! I had a similar situation when an 82-year-old woman asked me for the same kind of help. She had the same kind of history, but even after traditional reading and playing the piano her whole life, she wasn’t the best reader and definitely could not improvise or function in an ensemble like a worship team. We spent a lot of time on Accompaniment 1. If that’s all you give someone with extensive reading/playing history, it’s enough to open their eyes to play from the heart.
We also spent time developing blues (the whole I, IV, V concept) which helped her immensely and she got really good at using that structure for any kind of ensemble piece. It’s all about chords, rhythm, and managing your choices/freedom when it comes to playing in this kind of context. You can do it for sure!