Bill Hilton on “The Seven Superpowers of Adult Piano [music] Learners”
Bill Hilton is on of my favorite online music educators. I am an adult piano student, and find Bill’s videos and books really helpful. But I think students of any instrument would benefit from many of Bill’s videos, like the one about which I am writing today, because they relate not just to playing music, but also to how to learn to play music.
In his video, “The 7 Superpowers of Adult Piano Learners,” Bill explains that traditional music teaching methods tend to be oriented around the learning needs of younger students, that such teaching methods may not be appropriate for adults, and he explains the “superpowers“ that adult music students possess, which can make learning music a markedly different process than it is for younger, pre-adult students. I list those Superpowers below, along with the respective time signatures in the video.
Superpower 1 - Determination (01:04)
Because of their experience through all of life’s ups and downs, adult students are able to “stay the course doggedly,” as he says, throughout the music learning process.
For example, we can utilize the “push/past” concept to improve, by which one learns a sill beyond the point at which we think we have it down. In addition, we can consciously and consistently reinforce earlier levels of their musical development (scales, chords, fingering, reading, etc.).
Bill Hilton - The 7 Superpowers of Adult Piano Learners. (Copyright and all other intellectual property in this video are owned by Bill Hilton.)
Superpower 2 - We Have a Broader Learning Experience (2:25)
By virtue of our age and life experience, our learning experience is broader than it was when we were younger. As a result, we can reflect on what we have enjoyed learning and what we have not enjoyed learning, identify weak spots, and lean into working on the weak spots (with determination) until the subject matter is no longer a weak spot for us.
Superpower 3 - We Can Decide Upon a Determined Mindset (3:26)
In contrast to children, who necessarily have to take new knowledge on authority from their teachers, adult students have the ability to consciously decide upon a determined mindset that will take us through the learning process. While we can question the value of what we are learning, decide what is most important to focus upon, and maximize the efficiency of our learning, we can also simply take on trust what the teachers we pay are teaching us, which saves time and mental energy that can be freed up for learning.
Superpower 4 - We Have Experience Planning Things and Following Through With Our Plans (6:34)
Adults are experienced with planning and execution. And we know how planned activities generally play out. Importantly, we know that the direction of our travel through the learning process is more important then somehow being on “the right direction of travel,” whatever that is supposed to be!
We can all relate to how easy to go down rabbit holes of endless YouTube videos by many different online creators and other online resources. To progress, it’s better to be determined and stick with “a plan” for some reasonable period of time, for example, several weeks or a few months, than to endlessly search for some nebulous “right plan.” When we are challenged, we can stay the course on our plan, and not get sidetracked.
Superpower 5 - Fundamental Tasks Become Rewarding and Absorbing (8:33)
Whether it’s learning a scale or a rhythm pattern, figuring out how to play a melody by ear in more than one key, or playing a tune with a backing track, it can be very satisfying to master a skill that we had identified as previously having been a weak spot!
Superpower 6 - We Have the Ability to Maintain a Good Level of General Health (9:41)
Because adult students typically have many tasks and obligations competing for their time and attention, like raising children, working at our job, etc., finding time and energy to learn music can be challenging. What helps is that we can also be aware that we have the power to maintain a good level of general health, with respect to our maintaining a healthy diet, exercising, and getting enough sleep. Maintaining our general health provides us with the mental and physical energy to support our musical learning process.
Superpower 7 - We Are Pretty Good at Using Meta-Cognition (10:44)
Meta-cognition means “thinking about what you are thinking.” It is easy to feel frustrated when we are not able to play something we think we should know how to play. For example, even if we may know the key, the chords, the notes, and the groove for a particular song, sometimes our hands just don’t cooperate. It can be all to easy to become momentarily demoralized and start to question whether learning music is even a worthwhile use of our time, money and energy!
When we learn, we store information first in our “declarative memory,” and then in our “procedural (muscle) memory.” We develop declarative memory when we consciously think about our fingering, how we adjust our hand and wrist angle as we play, the rhythm, chord progressions, the groove, syncopation, etc. That is a very deliberate, iterative process, and takes time, i.e., practice.
It is the lag between the time when we create declarative memory for a new learning item and the time that our procedural memory kicks in that can cause frustration, especially for adults, because we adults can tend to think, “I should be able to learn this song faster.” When we aren’t able to learn it right away, it’s natural to be frustrated. But also because we are adults and understand how to use meta-cognition, we can say, “OK, slow down, this is going to take time, I know why I feel frustrated, and I’m gonna utilize my determination superpower and just keep working on my weak spots until I get this down reliably.”
Final Thoughts
So take heart, adult music students! You have the potential to become the musician you dream of being.
Although his video title refers to adult piano students, I believe the concepts Bill discusses apply to adult students of any instrument, and I am grateful to him for making this video. Please watch Bill’s video in its entirety in order to fully benefit fully from his insights!
Bill’s books can be found here and here.
See Bill’s YouTube Videos About Jazz Piano
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