All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[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.

[waiyean]

phankao:

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.

Any reasons why instrumentalist teachers, other than piano, don't teach aural on a regular basis?

[Dreamaurora]

waiyean:

phankao:

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.

Any reasons why instrumentalist teachers, other than piano, don't teach aural on a regular basis?

Because aural tests are always conducted on the piano and few instrumentalist teachers are proficient in piano sight-reading enough to sight read the exercises without practice; or there is no piano during the lesson at all.