All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[paopei]

I am very blur about piano but my gal loves to play piano so I signed her 1 to 1 in Christofori - Woodlands Mart. We do not have piano at home so basically she just plays during her lesson time. My question is, how do I know the teacher is good? and how do we know that the children is progressing well or not? I mean, for ballet, we can see how she can etc. Piano? Sorry, really not good with music note etc … really need help as I do not want to waste my money, my time and my gal time. She really enjoys playing piano so really hope she can learn the proper and correct way. Thanks a lot

[kwcllf]

Hi paopei,


For a start, I thinkyou will need at least a keyboard at home so that your gal can practise.

For both my children, we had a casiotone borrowed from my in-law at first for them to practise. As we not know how well they would progress or whether their interests would sustain, we decided against buying a acoustic piano.

But after more than 6 months, my older kids has progressed sufficiently and he started to place some simple pieces that required him to use the piano pedals. That is when we decided to get an acoustic piano.

As to your question as to whether your gal is progressing well or not, I think you have to be able to see how she practises at home. For my two kids, they would play/practise their music every now and then using the casiotone. This is how I can gauge their interest and progress.

During lessons time, I would also peep into the room without my kids knowing to see how they learned and how the teacher handled them. This would give me some idea whether the teacher is good or not.

My older kid has a childcare classmate learning piano just beside his room. Sometimes, I tried to be a little 'kay-poh" and peeped into his room. To my astonishment, the kid is extremely restless and playful, and the teacher seemed to let him be. According to this kid’s mom, he had learnt the piano for quite a while and I thik longer than my own kid. But he did not seem to be more advanced than my son.

[corneyAmber]

Hi belinda, i will recommend music appreciation for children at age from 2-3. As for 4+, it will be good to go for one to one. However, if you feel that your son might not be able to focus, then go for music appreciation first.


I agree with kwcllf that 1-1 will be able to cater to the child’s pace and the chemistry with the teacher is very impt. Teacher will be able to cater lesson plan according to the child’s attention span and to lengthen it as time goes by.

Paopei, you have to let you girl learn notes as when she progress, note and rhythm reading is very very impt. Practise at home is also very impt if you want her to progress well. If not the progress will be very slow.

I feel that once start learning piano, should learn the correct way and build a strong and good foundation. Hence it is good to learn from the correct way and practises regularly at home. Practise straight after the first lesson is also impt as the child will develop a good habit and discipline. Hence music becomes part of their life. This way, they will not give up easily as music is already part of their life and they are used to practising regularly. So as when work load becomes heavier in school, they will still tend to continue music as well.

[ctct61t]

my daughter learn piano in Chritopher over half years, compare to Yamaha music course she learned there before, my feeling is Yamaha is more system on training course.


I’ll moving by the end of this year, and will look for another place for my daughter to study Piano.

Dear parents, any comments for me? I will move to Tiong Barhu area.

[checkered]

Hi, my gal is 3.5yrs and she has an interest in music and would like to enroll her in some music course, can anyone feedbacks on mandeville, seimpi and yahama?

[Parent]

Hi checkered,


I have checked out Siempi at Funan Centre once. They have group lessons for young kids. They also have different grade of teachers. Some of them are called Master piano teachers (or something like that). They are supposed to be more qualified and experienced and that also means you have to pay more. So, maybe you want to check with them if you want to enroll your kid.

Once, I asked to be allowed in the room to see how their group lesson was conducted. Beside learning simple notes reading using games, the kids were also taught how to play simple pieces of music. Parents were also with the kids during lessons to help guide them.

From my observation, it seemed quite OK and may be a good start for young children. Some of the kids could play the piano quite well while others were not so good. I had the opportunity to ask one of the parent about one of the better kid and she told me she practised with him at home often.

As for Yamaha, I don’t have any experience with them. But my wife’s niece and nephew were enrolled with Yamaha since they were about 4-5 years old. Now they are 9 and 7 years old and they seem to have progressed quite well although the older one seems to have lost some interest as he pursued his other school activities such as badminton. Just recently, they have stopped their lessons at Yamaha as after a certain stage, they are advised to find another piano teacher outside to supplement what they learned at Yamaha as the once-a-week lesson is no more adequate for them to progress at a certain required level.

At Yamaha, they can also recommend piano teachers to conduct additional lessons at their home. Hope this helps.

[checkered]

Hi Parent, thanks for the info ^_^… yes, i also understand they hv different level of teachers and seems like the masters are only in funan.


anyone has any more feedbacks? would love to hear from you… Hi painojazzy, would like to hear yr comments too.

[corneyAmber]

Hi Checkered,


I have students from seimpi, mandeville and yamaha. For Seimpi, i understand they teach notes and counting. However, the feedback from parents are the teacher is not able to focus on individual student. The parent mention each student only get 2min of teacher’s time. However this is very common for group lessons as they are suppose to learn in a group. Hence they require an adult to sit in so that they can coach them at home.

As for Yamaha, they learn through listening hence notes and counting are not focused till after 2 yrs. That’s why students need to get another teacher to supplement what is not focused in yamaha. Parents are also required to sit in to coach their kids at home.

As for mandeville, it is similar to seimpi. However, my student from mandeville is not able to read notes. Maybe she didn’t practise much.

[mickeyhmh]

Has anyone heard of the brands \"Pearl River\", \"Samick\" or \"Weber\"? I'm looking around for a piano for my son who will be taking the Grade 1 exam next year. Saw the advert by Cristofori : \"Easy Piano Deal @ Special Moment\". Am wondering if any of the pianos are a good buy. As I have another son & a daughter who will be learning the piano in the future, I intend to get a new piano if the price is right.


All advice will be appreciated. Sad to say, I'm 'piano illiterate'.

[corneyAmber]

These brands are not advisable. If you need more info, check out my blog or pm me as it is not very nice to discuss certain brands and shops here.