All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[jedamum]

Dreamaurora:

Hmm, 10 months for grade 1 pieces are way too long. Moving on, I think if another exam is attemted the pieces are going to get harder and if the same trend continues, this will kill your son's interest. You might want to check if the teacher goes through sight-reading, aural, etc on a regular basis. Like I mentioned before, students often learn slowly because their foundation is weak.

The way your son practices is common among many young children, that is why the teacher needs to be specific in what is to be practiced during the week.

yes...10 months was very long. he worked out the notes and committed to memory within 2months from purchase of the book. the rest of the 8months involve dynamics, reworking on fingerings (remember i mentioned about reworking the fingering on the last month....on hindsight, maybe we should not attempt to try out the pieces before the teacher went through with us on which fingering to use - what u think?). home prac performance went downhill around the 6th-7th month....son really relieved to forget about the pieces after stepping out of the hall. we got the results...the piece that he had the most problem with (C2: March; which he fumbled even the day before exam) he managed a 29. his aural and sightread are 17, so i think these were covered in class though i was clueless.

so with our new teacher (we switching to pte), i will be able to sit in to listen to what is going on, instead of standing outside the room when we were with the centre.

looking at G2 or 3 theory next year as not doing prac exams; looked up youtube on some online teaching....thought i should learn something in advance so can help him if needed...realised not easy....i listened already, still doesn't understand. :oops:

[Dreamaurora]

metz:

Dreamaurora:

Hmm, 10 months for grade 1 pieces are way too long. Moving on, I think if another exam is attemted the pieces are going to get harder and if the same trend continues, this will kill your son's interest. You might want to check if the teacher goes through sight-reading, aural, etc on a regular basis. Like I mentioned before, students often learn slowly because their foundation is weak.

The way your son practices is common among many young children, that is why the teacher needs to be specific in what is to be practiced during the week.

What is the average preparation time for those taking abrsm grade 8?

Depend on the student's foundations and the teacher's capability. But on average, most students will attempt grade 8 one and half year after they completed grade 7.

For my studio, I prepare grade 8 immediately after my students complete grade 5. They should be an all-rounder at this stage and exhibit high degree of independence (meaning they can learn most of the pieces by themselves and know how to structure their practice). The duration for the preparation is 2 years and one exam piece takes around half year to complete. This means my students work one grade 8 piece at a time alongside grade 6 and 7 level pieces. This is to prevent the student from being overwhelmed from practicing 3 grade 8 pieces simultaneously for too long. 2 years is also a good duration to perfect aural and sightreading.

If a student's foundation is poor, normally not recommended to attempt grade 8 immediately; it is preferable to spend some time first to fix what is missing (still can do the reading for the grade 8 pieces though). Make sure the technique and sightreading are at proficient level sufficient to execute the technical demands of grade 8 pieces.

[Dreamaurora]

jedamum:

Dreamaurora:

Hmm, 10 months for grade 1 pieces are way too long. Moving on, I think if another exam is attemted the pieces are going to get harder and if the same trend continues, this will kill your son's interest. You might want to check if the teacher goes through sight-reading, aural, etc on a regular basis. Like I mentioned before, students often learn slowly because their foundation is weak.

The way your son practices is common among many young children, that is why the teacher needs to be specific in what is to be practiced during the week.

yes...10 months was very long. he worked out the notes and committed to memory within 2months from purchase of the book. the rest of the 8months involve dynamics, reworking on fingerings (remember i mentioned about reworking the fingering on the last month....on hindsight, maybe we should not attempt to try out the pieces before the teacher went through with us on which fingering to use - what u think?). home prac performance went downhill around the 6th-7th month....son really relieved to forget about the pieces after stepping out of the hall. we got the results...the piece that he had the most problem with (C2: March; which he fumbled even the day before exam) he managed a 29. his aural and sightread are 17, so i think these were covered in class though i was clueless.

so with our new teacher (we switching to pte), i will be able to sit in to listen to what is going on, instead of standing outside the room when we were with the centre.

looking at G2 or 3 theory next year as not doing prac exams; looked up youtube on some online teaching....thought i should learn something in advance so can help him if needed...realised not easy....i listened already, still doesn't understand. :oops:

I love it when students try out new pieces and attempt to work out as many things as possible including fingerings. Making mistakes is part and parcel of learning, but students do have to be trained to be critical of their mistakes. I think it is good to try to work out fingerings; teachers can then check if the fingerings are suitable later.

For lower grades (1-3), learning and internalising the notes for the pieces really should not take longer than half a year. This also includes the correct dynamics and proper fingering. Then afterwards for the next few months just go through on and off in lessons to polish up the minor issues. Ideally towards the exam students should be working on new pieces alongside revising the exam pieces to keep practice sessions fresh and to have sufficient time to prepare other components such as aural.

[waiyean]

jedamum:

yes...10 months was very long. he worked out the notes and committed to memory within 2months from purchase of the book. the rest of the 8months involve dynamics, reworking on fingerings

Hopefully, that wasn't the only 3 pieces he worked on in those 10 months? Is he looking forward to learning the pieces for the next exam?

[Imami]

Dreamaurora:

Often a student's real capability is stifled because of less than ideal instructions, or simply because he/she has not developed the passion and discipline yet. Or could be also the student has poor chemistry with the teacher and as such not motivated to do well.


I was once deemed not teachable to the extent that two teachers actually advise me sternly not to go into music field. But hey, look where I am now. Over the course of my teaching, I have encountered some students who are actually very musical but the parents do not believe that they are. Normally I will try my best to help them and I will try to personally teach them or recommend someone suitable for them, but unfortunately it is often the parents who are unwilling to take the plunge to invest more money and effort to develop their children.

there is definitely much truth in what dream aurora has said. If I could, I would always look for such a teacher to teach me/my kid - those who didn't have a smooth sailing learning journey but has overcome much and has a lot of passion.

There are just too many distraction, too many \"more impt thing\" in singapore's context. Time and money, are never enough.

[Imami]

Dreamaurora:

Imami:

Normally, how soon would teachers get the students to play simple stuff like twinkle twinkle little star(no left hand)?

Depends on teacher. For me, I teach pieces with progressive intervals. Twinkle Little Stars has intervals of fifths along with a change in hand position, so normally the students will only encounter that after a few lessons.

Ooh ok. So that's normal. I was kind of shock that the teacher had it as a homework for my son. I didn't know what to expect and hence the question.

[Imami]

Dreamaurora:

Hmm, 10 months for grade 1 pieces are way too long. Moving on, I think if another exam is attemted the pieces are going to get harder and if the same trend continues, this will kill your son's interest. You might want to check if the teacher goes through sight-reading, aural, etc on a regular basis. Like I mentioned before, students often learn slowly because their foundation is weak.

The way your son practices is common among many young children, that is why the teacher needs to be specific in what is to be practiced during the week.

Dreamaurora, what about my case? If I am neutral to grading exam and had told the teacher that I would let my son go with the flow and see how/where he can go, what target shd I set?

While I am no keen on grading exam (I think it would kill my son's interest to get him practice and practice, nagging on the fingering etc), I am not close to the idea. I just take the cue from the teacher and see how my son respond to it.

[waiyean]

Imami:

There are just too many distraction, too many \"more impt thing\" in singapore's context. Time and money, are never enough.

Many a times, it's all about priority and what you view as important.
Instead of watching TV, child can practice piano.
Instead of going on vacation, can buy upright.
Instead of buying a new car (or maybe just the COE), can buy grand.

But, I do agree... they are never enough.

[Imami]

waiyean:

Many a times, it's all about priority and what you view as important.
Instead of watching TV, child can practice piano.
Instead of going on vacation, can buy upright.
Instead of buying a new car (or maybe just the COE), can buy grand.

But, I do agree... they are never enough.

I hv no problem for two and three. Family vacations and new car is under hubby's budget but if say I hv to pay for them, then I would have adopted what you had said. If really cannot, then have the purchase placed on installment.

But for first point, what I view as impt is not impt at all, since it's my skn who is learning the piano. He needs to see that watching tv is not as impt, not me. The problem is then how to engage him and get him to practice.

[phankao]

Imami:

Dreamaurora:

[quote=\"Imami\"]Normally, how soon would teachers get the students to play simple stuff like twinkle twinkle little star(no left hand)?

Depends on teacher. For me, I teach pieces with progressive intervals. Twinkle Little Stars has intervals of fifths along with a change in hand position, so normally the students will only encounter that after a few lessons.

Ooh ok. So that's normal. I was kind of shock that the teacher had it as a homework for my son. I didn't know what to expect and hence the question.[/quote]Don't be too shocked either. I told you twinkle was taught at first lesson for my boy. That's bc he does the Suzuki programme under a Suzuki piano teacher. As many of you might know, Suzuki starts off with the Twinkle variations. So it's just a different school of teaching .