Getting Back to Lessons A Q & A with Teri Parker of Annex Academy of Music
KEYBOARDS
Teri Parker is a Toronto-based pianist , composer , and performer . She is a University of Toronto Jazz Performance graduate and has also studied in New York City under the tutelage of world-renowned pianists and composers Aaron Goldberg ,
Sophia Rosoff , and Guillermo Klein . Her bands the Parker Abbott Trio and Teri Parker Quartet have released four acclaimed original albums and toured across Canada . www . teriparkermusic . com .
By Teri Parker
Getting Back to Lessons A Q & A with Teri Parker of Annex Academy of Music
CM : Speaking about adult learners with some competency on the keyboard , what do you find is often motivating these people to get into – or back into – formal lessons ?
TP : There are many reasons why adults return to lessons . Maybe they saw how much fun their kids are having taking music lessons and want to start themselves or they have recently retired and now have the time to dedicate to practicing . Adults often have fond memories of playing piano when they were younger , and decide it ’ s time to start experiencing the joy of music-making again . Maybe they ’ ve had years of working and taking care of family , and they ’ re coming back to music as an activity that ’ s for them and their inner desire to learn and grow . They come to lessons for guidance , but also to keep them motivated and to get ideas for things to work on and how .
CM : What are some of the general differences you ’ ve noticed between adult learners and youngsters , speaking to things like practice , taking instruction , etc .
TP : Children really want to keep progressing through the levels , getting to the next book or stage ; adults aren ’ t as interested in that . They ’ re doing this for enjoyment and to learn their favourite songs .
Speaking generally , I find adults are more self conscious and worried about making mistakes . Kids kind of just dive in ; they have all this energy and they ’ re like sponges . They don ’ t worry too much about messing up . I find a lot of my adult students are overly concerned with hitting the wrong notes or making mistakes , and that can sometimes prevent them from really just enjoying that piece . They may not get to the emotion or mood of the piece because of that self-consciousness . And when it comes to performance , kids love getting in front of people and playing . I find most adults are not keen to perform and get very nervous on stage . As for practicing , my adult students are all different ; some have demanding jobs and limited time to practice , while others will do an hour or more daily .
CM : How do you assess a particular student ’ s skill level when they ’ ve returned to lessons after time away , and then design a course of study with that student ?
TP : The first thing I ’ ll do is have them play for me , and bring in any materials they have worked on recently . I also ask them to share some things that they are interested in learning . This gives me an idea on what direction to take the lessons in .
Some come back with specific goals , like wanting to learn jazz – standards , improvising , accompaniment ... If they ’ re coming back and want to do jazz , we can start with song ideas and artists they like , and then we can analyze them and talk about chord structure , theory , transcribing , scales , and ideas for improvising . With adult learners [ with a background on the instrument ], we don ’ t usually go into a set of books . The one I use most often is The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine , which is laid out very clearly , gives listening examples for all topics , and clear direction for how to practice . But usually with my students , once we pick a song to work on , I write out notes on how to tackle it at home . I give them different chordscale exercises , bass lines to practice , phrases to learn and play in different keys , and a plan for practicing .
Other students are mostly interested in classical piano and want to work through the Royal Conservatory [ of Music program ], and some just want to learn pop songs , so I figure out what they ’ re interested in and then we take it from there .
Another thing I do for my adult students is pair them up with someone else who is at a similar place in their learning . We ’ ll schedule their lessons back to back , and then have some overlap time to play together ; my students like the social aspect of learning music . For a lot of my jazz students , it ’ s people who started their lessons from a more classical perspective , so they come back for ear training and to work on jazz standards and that ’ s where pairing them up with other people to get them interacting works really well .
CM : Do you have any special or unique means of keeping adult students engaged with their lessons ?
TP : More so than with kids , I have to keep everything really positive . I can ’ t get mad at someone for not practicing [ laughs ]; I have to be very positive because I don ’ t want people to feel like giving up just because they didn ’ t play their song well for me . My goal is to make the lessons positive and encouraging regardless of where they ’ re at so that they ’ ll stay at it .
I find adult students are often very critical of themselves and don ’ t need me to comment on what could ’ ve been done better , so a lot of times , they ’ ll call themselves out on something and I respond by minimizing it a bit and keeping them focused on the bigger picture . I ’ ll give them things to work on , but I ’ m always encouraging them because it ’ s easy for adult students to start thinking they can ’ t do something and want to stop .
Also , most of the adults I teach have busy work and family lives , so they ’ re struggling to find the practice time . They ’ re pushing themselves to get better , but for a lot of them , it ’ s more of a fun activity . They ’ re not necessarily looking to become professional musicians ; they ’ re coming back because they enjoy it and want to do it . They want to learn , but that ’ s not the primary motivation ; it ’ s almost like a stress reliever for some of them – that sitting down to practice for 30 minutes can counter stress and be an enjoyable and relaxing activity .
26 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN