All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[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.

[checkered]

Hi pianojazzy, thanks for the info. i’m not sure if my gal will enjoy these lessons, would like her to try perhaps a yr in music school env then probably go to pte learning. can pm me which school is a better starting point?

[Parent]

Hi mickeyhmh,


Pearl river and Weber are made in China and Samick in Indonesia, if I am not wrong.

There have been alot of "controversies" about these made-in-Asia pianos. But from my own research, I think they are OK at a particular price-point. Of course, they cannot be compared to Yamaha or Kawai, which cost substantially more for a similar size piano. But for someone, like myself, who do not want to spend too much as we don’t not know how long our kids’ interest will sustain, it could be a trade-off.

Alot of pianos are made in China nowadays due to production cost, obviously. There are also famous brands like Steinway Essex range of pianos being made in China. So, I will not label all China pianos as bad.

Maybe, one of the brands you will want to consider is Hailun, a Chinese brand made in China. Although it has a relatively shrot history of buidling pianos under its own name, it seems to be one of the up-and-coming brands. If you go to the "Piano World" forum and do a search for "Hailun", you could get quite alot of info and most of them seem to be quite impressed by the brand.

For myself, I bought a Wendl & Lung Universal 122, also made in China by Hailun. However, this brand is fully Austrian-owned with a long history. It has also received many favourable feedbacks from my research and I am pretty happy with it so far.

Both Hailun and Wendl & Lung are sold by Piano Master in Geyland East. By the way, I am in no way promoting any of these brands. I am just one of those consumers that was totally confused by the wide amount of brand available in the market and who do not play the piano. This make it especially difficult to decide what to buy for our kids when we decided to get one.

[corneyAmber]

Hi mickeyhmh,


I've replied your queries on piano selection and piano school via pm

[mickeyhmh]

Thanks pianojazzy

[checkered]

hi pianojazzy, i think the piano schl queries is from me… hahahah… can pm me? tks.