ranjit That's a great question, ranjit. One of them won a Bach competition. The next had been a piano student but I think did not go far. The third was a music major in college who decided not to do the competition circuit and instead teachers out of a Guitar Center shop, and the fourth had been a student from childhood and lessons as a returning adult and aspirations of being a concert pianist, but not music school.
I never heard the first one play. The second played my method book tunes well but seemed freaked out by my ambitions to one day play more advanced stuff, the third one had a very "piano bar" style, and I did hear a CD from the fourth and think they play well, but not elite competition level. I honestly don't know what sort of questions to ask a teacher. It seems like quite a scary thing asking for credentials. I'm always afraid I'm going to get a, "Who do you think you are, adult beginner worm! How dare!" 🤣
So it seems a varied sample and I'm not sure how to assess why so little focus on, "Oh, she says there's pain, let's dig into technique for answers." Perhaps because I was asking questions that are not typical for a student with a very modest playing skill. Typical adult learners might not arrive with pain from playing too much Hanon, so the first solution is, "Stop playing Hanon. Problem solved."
Sadly, there is also pain while playing an easy arrangement of He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, so it's a pressing matter, unless I should just skip any piece in my method books where pain arises. But I would rather pause my method books and just do exercises for improving my technique if it will help me in the long run. I have all the time in the world to address the actual problems. I have no impulse to press ahead into repertoire as fast as I can.
