All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[Dreamaurora]

waiyean:

Hi Dreamaurora,
If the theory lags the practical by 1-2 grades, then would you face the danger of having the student at grade 6 practical, but without the necessary grade 5 theory? Or do you jump straight into grade 5 theory preparation, potentially skipping some contents in grade 3-4 theory?

I start my students on grade 5 theory lessons roughly when my students are around grade 3 practical. So they will take their grade 5 theory before their grade 5 practical is attempted. The syllabus for grade 1-5 is cumulative, so preparing grade 5 means must cover whatever is being taught in the lower grades anyway.
[quote]Hence in these cases, would you not suggest an adjustment to the lesson duration? This is exactly what I meant in above posts, where i mention that there is not enough lesson time. In situations where the student has the capacity to go faster, but limited by the lesson duration per week, should parents just lower expectations, or should they request for additional lessons? Would appreciate your views as a teacher.[/quote]IMO, I think it will be a disservice to limit a child who clearly loves music and has potential. The only instance where I think parent should lower expectation is when a child has serious foundation issue and bad habits that urgently need to be fixed before progressing further. Other than that, if a child is doing well in music, why limit him/her?

Maybe you can request for slightly longer lessons first for one month to see if there is a marked improvement in progress?

[Dreamaurora]

metz:

For aural, even for violin, I was told my son would probably need only 2 or 4 lessons before taking grade 5 exam. Most teachers don't cover aural in class until nearer the exam date, I believe. I may be wrong.

Personally I would not take the risk of spending only 2 or 4 lessons for higher grade aural; even if a student is very strong in aural he still needs some time to practice answering the questions, especially for the viva question. What I would do is I would assess the student's current aural capability first by giving him/her a mock aural test of the grade to be taken, then after that I will plan accordingly and go through the aural regularly in lessons.

For grade 5-8 aural, as far as piano students concerned, 2 or 4 lessons definitely not enough. For grade 8 aural, I already started the aural training 2 years before the planned exam date; very kiasu I know, but better be safe than sorry.

[Imami]

waiyean:

teacher will smack my head, screaming \"read the question!\"

:mad: :rant:

[phankao]

Imami:

waiyean:

teacher will smack my head, screaming \"read the question!\"

:mad: :rant:

If the tr does that, especially to my preschooler, I would *smack* the teacher back. So rude!

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

Imami:

[quote=\"waiyean\"]teacher will smack my head, screaming \"read the question!\"

:mad: :rant:

If the tr does that, especially to my preschooler, I would *smack* the teacher back. So rude![/quote]Haha, when I started learning piano at a music school locally around 13 years ago I recalled when I was walking to the teacher's studio for lesson I would hear this theory teacher screaming at her students in group class every week without fail.

But I guess the era of strict and sadistic teacher is almost over, yeah.

[metz]

Dreamaurora:

Personally I would not take the risk of spending only 2 or 4 lessons for higher grade aural; even if a student is very strong in aural he still needs some time to practice answering the questions, especially for the viva question. What I would do is I would assess the student's current aural capability first by giving him/her a mock aural test of the grade to be taken, then after that I will plan accordingly and go through the aural regularly in lessons.

Yes, I was surprised too when I first heard that. The student is supposed to book 2 one-hour lessons or 4 half-an-hour lessons for intense aural training. The aural teacher will then assess if the student require more sessions. Perhaps Phankao can share her son's experience on aural for violin exam.
[quote]
For grade 5-8 aural, as far as piano students concerned, 2 or 4 lessons definitely not enough. For grade 8 aural, I already started the aural training 2 years before the planned exam date; very kiasu I know, but better be safe than sorry.[/quote]Similarly, aural training is provided by our piano teacher during the lessons. You are not considered kiasu lah. My kids started some simple grade 5 sight-singing work when they were doing grade 1 pieces . :evil:

[Imami]

For how long can the parent sit in class? actually, when my son attends his lessons, I would sit in (now definitely no problem since my son is still very young). Would there be a day when the teacher or the sch admin stop me from sitting in?


Erm… Actually I am also learning as the teacher teaches my son. So I would be most happy sitting to listen.

[waiyean]

Imami:

For how long can the parent sit in class? actually, when my son attends his lessons, I would sit in (now definitely no problem since my son is still very young). Would there be a day when the teacher or the sch admin stop me from sitting in?


Erm... Actually I am also learning as the teacher teaches my son. So I would be most happy sitting to listen.

For schools that allow parents to sit in, I dont think they will stop you later. Probably can sit in till grade 8 I suppose. Anything higher, I think will be your son who dont want you there anymore.

[Dreamaurora]

metz:

Yes, I was surprised too when I first heard that. The student is supposed to book 2 one-hour lessons or 4 half-an-hour lessons for intense aural training. The aural teacher will then assess if the student require more sessions. Perhaps Phankao can share her son's experience on aural for violin exam.

Hmm, so it's dedicated aural lessons, so maybe still somewhat doable.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

metz:

Yes, I was surprised too when I first heard that. The student is supposed to book 2 one-hour lessons or 4 half-an-hour lessons for intense aural training. The aural teacher will then assess if the student require more sessions. Perhaps Phankao can share her son's experience on aural for violin exam.

Hmm, so it's dedicated aural lessons, so maybe still somewhat doable.

Usually for those not with schools , the child would have aural training only when having practice sessions with their accompanists. Usually not many practices with accompanists. At most 2, or 3 or 4 times. This is doable for lower grade, but certainly quite not enough for high grades like gr 8. So instrumentalists are disadvantaged in a way compared to piano students who receive aural training every so often throughout the year during their regular lessons .

For my boy's gr 4 exam , I was his accompanist, so I asked his theory teacher to train him during their lessons. For his gr 8 exam, I booked extra practice sessions with accompanist, but that is sure not cheap. Sigh.