I had a converstaion with a friend recently about teaching adults. They wondered if I liked it. And why I did it. And did I have adults I liked to teach more than others.

So this got me thinking. AND my mother (hi, Mum!) told me I haven’t written a blog post in ages, so I am doing just that.

Yes, I like teaching adults cello. I don’t like it more or less than teaching kids. It is different, because you are wokring around their jobs, and other commitments. You are often dealing with self-doubt, or habits of over-thinking, and also older (and so a bit slower) bodies that take longer to physically learn things. I often have to explain things more carefully. But I am just as bossy, and just as demanding.

I don’t care what standard they are. I care if they practise. I care if they trust me to teach them well. I care if they improve. I don’t care if they take weeks to learn a musical concept. I don’t care if I have to explain something a number of different ways.

I do it because I can. And I am good at it. And I love sharing music with others. Playing the cello is so wonderful for me, I’d like it if more people did it. (Imagine a world where everyone played something. Wouldn’t that be a good place, eh?) And for every adult student that comes to me, I try and get them to play the best they can.

And do I have some I like more than others? Not really. I like the ones who pay me on time. I like the ones who try their best. I like the ones who enjoy the process of learning. Because learning something as a grown-up is challenging. It’s often hard. It makes the adult learner often uncomfortable.

We all should keep learning, you know. Keep our brains active. Keep pushing ourselves. I do this to remind myself of what my adult students go through each week – because they are inspiring. To me, but to themselves, mostly.