Why do so many adult learners quit in the first year?

Many adults find themselves at a stage in life where they'd like to either go back to piano (having played in their youth) or fulfil yearning they might have to play a musical instrument.

The ones who played as kids will usually have quit in the past for various reasons ranging from bad teachers to boring material to the stress of performances and graded exams.

But what they still have is a love of music.

Often times it's a particularly inspiring piece that's relit their musical fire; a performance of something that has really resonated with them.

This is a great starting point.

With what I would describe as a slightly reluctant enthusiasm (they've 'failed' to continue playing in the past) they commit to lessons in the hope of playing some of the beautiful music they know and love.

'Can you teach me the Moonlight Sonata or Fur Elise?', they ask their teacher. Sure! But these are fairly sophisticated pieces of music for which you'll need to spend many hours ‘programming-in’ the muscle memory to play them. It will likely take months, even years to learn this material. 'I know, but now I'm retired/have some time on my hands so I'm willing to commit.'

And so they come to their first lesson and are given a few bars of music to decode and programme into muscle memory at home.

From the very first practice session, when the drudgery of learning music by muscle memory kicks in, the enthusiasm starts to steadily decline. The realisation 'This is REALLY hard work!' kicks-in and, depending on how stubborn the individual is, the lid on the piano is invariably closed once again - usually and very sadly for good this time.

Then come the rationalisations...'I'm just not musically talented', 'I really just don't have the time' etc. etc.

The problem started back when an incorrect association was made between HEARING the Moonlight Sonata and PLAYING such a sophisticated piece of music.

Because we appreciate the beauty of a piece of music it's clear that we already understand it, albeit on an unconscious level. We hear the rhythms and harmonies unfolding before us and they make perfect sense.

But in order to perform the same music we must understand it on a CONSCIOUS level, the same way we understand words and sentences so we can execute them to express ourselves effortlessly and with meaning.

Traditional muscle-memory approaches to learning music do not teach us to consciously understand music like we do language. It's like learning to recite a french poem but not understanding how to speak french. Sure it may sound impressive but it's really just being 'performed' from muscle-memory. And the thing about muscle memory is that if we don't use it we lose it. So even the stubborn students who persevere and finally do learn Fur Elise will need to play it regularly so as not to lose it - a guaranteed way to fall out of love with any piece of music.

Musical fluency training teaches us to fully understand the music we are playing so we no longer need to rely on muscle memory to play it in the future.

It teaches us to express with authenticity all the elements of music from the ground up so we can consciously know and intend each of these elements when we sit at the piano. And, over time, we'll understand the Moonlight Sonata as clearly as we understand everyday conversation so can 'speak' it with our fingers at will.