All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[Rossae]

Hello all. I'm Cheryl.


I'm a female piano teacher with Diploma in Piano Performance and 4 years of experience teaching a range of ages from 4-40+ year old students with adult students as well. I am quite flexible with my timing and live around Seng Kang/Yio Chu Kang. I can travel to Yio Chu Kang, Seng Kang, Ang Mo Kio and Serangoon area or the student can come over to my place at lower rates.

I'm encouraging and won't put the student down with a encouragement basis for teaching rather than overly strict type of teaching style.

Do contact me at 91706853 for no obligations trial lessons to see if your child likes the piano lessons Feel free to ask me any questions about how I pace the exams and general questions. Texts, Whatsapp preferred as I may be teaching or unavailable to take calls at times. :thankyou:

[Dreamaurora]

happyfeet11:

Hi Dreamaurora ,

Are you a piano teacher? Mind sharing what good habits do you mean?

Well, there are many, but the most important ones that students often neglect are good posture, technique, and practice habits. I will instead list down some bad habits I often see in students:
- Not curving fingers properly and forearm lower than hand
- Tense body and hands
- Not having the habit of learning at least an easier piece or sight reading extracts every week
- Always playing through the piece from beginning to end rather than dividing the piece in smaller chunks for practicing
- Always restarting when a mistake is made
- No constant technical regime i.e. etudes and finger exercises
- Always waiting for teacher to teach notes instead of exploring and reading more by themselves
- Not finding out about the background and context of the piece (you will be amazed how many students do not know what their pieces are about)
- etc

I am nowadays quite reluctant to accept students who have passed grade 5 and above as it's quite hard to change their habits. I had to rework my technique completely when I entered NAFA thanks to years of bad instruction (or lack of it) and it took me solid 2 years before I could acquire some decent technique.

[rawafish]

Hi! I have been having trouble finding a suitable piano teacher for my children and hopefully someone in this forum can help.


I’m looking for a teacher who -

- doesn’t require exams for every grade
- goes with the potential of the kid rather than insist on 1 grade per year
- cares a lot about the techniques and posture
- is inspiring and encouraging
- conducts annual recitals

And also conducts lessons in the borth (TPY, bishan area)

Please let me know if you know a teacher like that. Many thanks in advance.

[Porky Pig]

My DD is 4 years old and she is keen to learn piano. Recently i started her with MIM at White Sands and attended 2 lessons so far. Each lesson is 1 hour. I find that she is not able to sit through the 1 hour lesson esp during the theory part where it is boring. My hubby said she is too young to start. Should i continue or wait till she is 5 years old or look for a 1 to 1 teacher?

[jce]

Could be due to teachers not being able to communicate the theoretical part in an interesting manner. Try looking for another place? 4 is generally a good age to start in a group. 1 to 1 the choice of teacher will be a major factor

[waiyean]

Porky Pig:

My DD is 4 years old and she is keen to learn piano. Recently i started her with MIM at White Sands and attended 2 lessons so far. Each lesson is 1 hour. I find that she is not able to sit through the 1 hour lesson esp during the theory part where it is boring. My hubby said she is too young to start. Should i continue or wait till she is 5 years old or look for a 1 to 1 teacher?

Hi Porky Pig,
4 years is not too young to start the MIM class. My daughter did the MIM program at White Sands too, at a much younger age. Don't be overly concerned whether your DD can sit through the entire 1 hour lesson. Kids will be kids. Just enjoy the class... whatever DD learns is something learnt. Attend more classes, and things will fall into a routine and your DD may better appreciate the class.

[Imami]

Hello folks!


I have a question here. How long does it normally take before the teacher decides to extend the lesson from 30min to 45min or 1hr?

What determines the length of the lesson? Is it the grade? Or is it poorer performing students would need longer sessions?

Will greatly appreciate some replies. Thanks

[waiyean]

Imami:

Hello folks!


I have a question here. How long does it normally take before the teacher decides to extend the lesson from 30min to 45min or 1hr?

What determines the length of the lesson? Is it the grade? Or is it poorer performing students would need longer sessions?

Will greatly appreciate some replies. Thanks

Hi Imami,
I would think that the only reasons for having 30 min lesson is that the child cannot focus for 45 min, or not taking exams. Otherwise, really should start off with 45 mins. It has to go up to 1 hour of practical lesson by the time child reaches grade 4/5.

[sub_evo76]

Hi all,


Can I know what is the current market rate for Grade 2 and Grade piano lessons?

Thanks!

[metz]

Imami:

Hello folks!


I have a question here. How long does it normally take before the teacher decides to extend the lesson from 30min to 45min or 1hr?

What determines the length of the lesson? Is it the grade? Or is it poorer performing students would need longer sessions?

Will greatly appreciate some replies. Thanks

Don't think there are any hard and fast rules. Generally, a young beginner would start off with 30 minutes with one-on-one lessons. For those kids that I know, most start with 30 minutes and gradually to 45 minutes until grade 5.

Duration of a lesson will most probably depend on the student's level of concentration. The teacher would advise accordingly if there is need for longer duration.

In my case, both my kids began their 1-hour long lessons before P1 upon my request. I find 30 minutes too short for them. With 1 hour, the teachers could introduce more songs as well as go into greater details on each piece.