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Real teaching for adult beginners — technique, reading music, and how to practice so that it works. Written by Dr. Maria Pisarenko, DMA, concert pianist and university professor.
October 14, 2026
Adults are told to pick a side. Both camps are describing something real — and for a beginner the answer is far less dramatic than the argument.
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October 13, 2026
A piano teacher's lineage shows which ideas shaped them; I lay out both branches of mine, from Liszt and from Leonid Nikolayev, and offer adults a practical way to judge any teacher.
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October 12, 2026
A straight answer about key counts — what runs out, when it runs out, and the question that matters considerably more than this one.
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October 9, 2026
A specific answer rather than an encouraging one — including what “a real piece” turns out to mean once you are inside it.
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October 7, 2026
It is the least interesting subject in music and the one that quietly decides how you will sound. Three minutes, once, and most of the usual problems never arrive.
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October 5, 2026
Most of learning the piano can now be done alone, and done well. Four specific things cannot — and knowing which four is the whole difference.
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October 2, 2026
You are not starting from nothing, whatever it feels like in the first week. But you are also not starting from where you left off, and knowing the difference saves a year.
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September 30, 2026
Adults tell me the bass clef is the hard one. It is not harder. You have simply seen it a tenth as often, and there is a fix for that.
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September 28, 2026
It should not hurt. Not at your age, not at any age, not even at the beginning. If it does, it is information — and it is usually about four specific things.
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September 25, 2026
Most of what is argued about here does not matter. Two things do, and one of them is not on the box.
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September 23, 2026
One thing goes wrong more often than everything else put together, and it is not a musical mistake at all. It is the height of your wrist.
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September 21, 2026
Ear before eye, voice before hands, and naming what you hear. Three ordinary parts of a European childhood in music that most American adults were simply never offered.
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September 18, 2026
The commonest reason adults stop is not difficulty. It is time. So here is precisely what I would put in your twenty minutes, and what I would cut first.
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September 16, 2026
Almost nobody stops because they lack talent. They stop for four ordinary reasons, and every one of them can be designed out in advance.
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September 14, 2026
I was trained in Moscow and I have taught in American universities for years. The two traditions are not better and worse. They are strong in different places, and an adult learning alone needs to know where.
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September 14, 2026
Counting is not a beginner's crutch you outgrow. It is the only way a pulse gets into the body, and there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.
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September 11, 2026
It is not decoration and it is not a difficulty level. The treble clef does exactly one job, and once you know what that job is, the lines and spaces stop being something to memorize.
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September 9, 2026
Eighty-eight keys, one pattern, and a single landmark that makes the whole keyboard readable in about a minute. Piano note names for adult beginners.
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September 9, 2026
A specific answer rather than a reassuring one: what is genuinely harder as an adult beginner, what is genuinely easier, and what actually decides the outcome.
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September 9, 2026
Most adult beginners repeat rather than practice. Five techniques that professionals use, and what a genuinely good fifteen-minute practice session looks like.
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September 8, 2026
Adult beginners blame stiff hands and their age. It is almost always tension, it has three specific causes, and a concert pianist explains how to undo each one.
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September 3, 2026
A concert pianist's plain-English guide to reading piano music for adult beginners — the staff, the treble clef, the time signature, and quarter vs. half notes.
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August 26, 2026
Relaxation, keeping your mind sharp, a lifelong wish, or coming back after years away - how to start piano as an adult, whatever brought you here.
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August 25, 2026
A friendly, honest guide to choosing a piano teacher — why training, playing ability and teaching experience matter, and what to look for before you commit.
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August 24, 2026
A concert pianist's clear explanation of the grand staff, middle C, and how to stop naming every note and start reading by shape.
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August 24, 2026
The hand shape professional pianists use, why flat fingers limit your tone and speed, and how to fix it in one practice session.
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August 24, 2026
Why 20 focused minutes beats two unfocused hours, how to structure a practice session, and what actually drives progress for adult beginners.
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Everything on this blog comes from my free beginner piano course: a real, university-level course I taught for years at colleges, now on YouTube from your very first note. No hacks, no bad habits to un-learn.
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The book I teach from: Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One, Level 1. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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