All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[Imami]

Dreamaurora:

Thank you. But to be honest, I do wish my journey was a much more smooth one. It did affect me a lot and a lot of opportunities were lost to me. For example, I always wanted to join a piano competition. But by the time I could play decently I was already past the age limit even for smaller competitions.

When I started teaching, because I had very little proper guidance up to my grade 8, I was quite clueless on how to teach because I have no reference model on what a good graded teacher is. I truly regret my first few years of teaching. Although I tried my best, I knew that I neglected a lot of proper teaching methods for my first few students; I am not going to pretend that I did not have failures. It is only recently that I have refined my teaching technique to a passable level. I do wish my first few students could experience the level of teaching I am teaching to my current batch of students now.

:hugs: I feel very sad reading this post. :sad:

[Imami]

The most recent lesson ended with the teacher saying,\"he is ok with his aural (or \"oral\"?) and theory. Fingers not strong enough, need to practise more. And I think we can start to look into musicianship.

:? What musicianship?

Another thing I find a little strange - the teacher showed a picture of a saxophone to my son and they spent some time talking about it. I am starting to wonder if it is common that \" general music appreciation\" is also incorporated into piano lessons? Not that I mind though, just.... Erm surprised.

[waiyean]

Imami:

The most recent lesson ended with the teacher saying,\"he is ok with his aural (or \"oral\"?) and theory. Fingers not strong enough, need to practise more. And I think we can start to look into musicianship.

:? What musicianship?

Another thing I find a little strange - the teacher showed a picture of a saxophone to my son and they spent some time talking about it. I am starting to wonder if it is common that \" general music appreciation\" is also incorporated into piano lessons? Not that I mind though, just.... Erm surprised.

My daughter attends weekly lessons on musicianship.
It is actually a continuation of music appreciation, but covering more advanced stuff. She learns the various characteristics of the different genres, ie. baroque, classical, romantic, jazz, impressionism, etc. Also taught to listen to various textures, identify various kinds of cadences, harmonization, characteristics of a piece, as well as aural/singing. Teacher also ask her to write down the scores for a piece that is played, ie. need to catch the rhythm and pitch correctly.

I think there are more to it, but so far this is what has been covered.

[Dreamaurora]

Imami:

The most recent lesson ended with the teacher saying,\"he is ok with his aural (or \"oral\"?) and theory. Fingers not strong enough, need to practise more. And I think we can start to look into musicianship.

:? What musicianship?

Another thing I find a little strange - the teacher showed a picture of a saxophone to my son and they spent some time talking about it. I am starting to wonder if it is common that \" general music appreciation\" is also incorporated into piano lessons? Not that I mind though, just.... Erm surprised.

I think waiyean pretty much explained what is commonly being taught in musicianship classes. But of course for private teachers who only conduct one lesson per week, the scope may be smaller to accommodate the time constraint. Nevertheless, I think it is an important aspect that is often neglected because, well, teachers tend to focus on whatever is necessary for exams first. It is tragic that many grade 8 graduates and even teachers and full time music students could not even do basic things such as playing Happy Birthday in all keys. If teacher does not teach musicianship does not mean teacher is not good; it's just that nowadays musicianship is not considered integral part of lessons for many teachers.

General music appreciation is more commonly taught as part of dedicated theory lessons, but increasingly many piano teachers are incorporating it into their practical lessons. If you are okay with it, then there's no problem. I generally stick to piano repertoire appreciation for my piano lessons and leave non-piano stuff to the theory lessons.

[Dreamaurora]

Imami:

Dreamaurora:

Thank you. But to be honest, I do wish my journey was a much more smooth one. It did affect me a lot and a lot of opportunities were lost to me. For example, I always wanted to join a piano competition. But by the time I could play decently I was already past the age limit even for smaller competitions.

When I started teaching, because I had very little proper guidance up to my grade 8, I was quite clueless on how to teach because I have no reference model on what a good graded teacher is. I truly regret my first few years of teaching. Although I tried my best, I knew that I neglected a lot of proper teaching methods for my first few students; I am not going to pretend that I did not have failures. It is only recently that I have refined my teaching technique to a passable level. I do wish my first few students could experience the level of teaching I am teaching to my current batch of students now.

:hugs: I feel very sad reading this post. :sad:

Well, that's life. But hey, my journey is just beginning. I sincerely hope one day I can really make a big impact on local and hopefully, international music community.

[phankao]

waiyean:

My daughter attends weekly lessons on musicianship.
It is actually a continuation of music appreciation, but covering more advanced stuff. She learns the various characteristics of the different genres, ie. baroque, classical, romantic, jazz, impressionism, etc. Also taught to listen to various textures, identify various kinds of cadences, harmonization, characteristics of a piece, as well as aural/singing. Teacher also ask her to write down the scores for a piece that is played, ie. need to catch the rhythm and pitch correctly.

I think there are more to it, but so far this is what has been covered.

All that sounds really complex for a preschooler! Especially the aural dictation!

[metz]

phankao:

waiyean:

My daughter attends weekly lessons on musicianship.
It is actually a continuation of music appreciation, but covering more advanced stuff. She learns the various characteristics of the different genres, ie. baroque, classical, romantic, jazz, impressionism, etc. Also taught to listen to various textures, identify various kinds of cadences, harmonization, characteristics of a piece, as well as aural/singing. Teacher also ask her to write down the scores for a piece that is played, ie. need to catch the rhythm and pitch correctly.

I think there are more to it, but so far this is what has been covered.

All that sounds really complex for a preschooler! Especially the aural dictation!

I feel it's quite a normal progress for such dedicated classes. I vaguely remember my daughter covering circle of fifths (something like that) in term 1 of the MYC Sunrise I programme (3-4 years old). They were also trained to listen to rhythms and to repeat them after hearing them once or twice, singing in pitch etc. From what I read, the programme also trained the kids to do simple compositions in Sunrise II. Everything was structured in a simple way for the kids. Not sure if the programme still remains the same.

This a good music appreciation programme if kids can start early with it. However, it's not suitable for those looking for practical piano lessons.

[waiyean]

phankao:

All that sounds really complex for a preschooler! Especially the aural dictation!

Actually, many schools have started these programs for preschooler. I remember when daughter was 4 years old, she was already asked to remember the composers from different eras, and to re-enforce the learning, she has to scrap book a book of composers. Every week, she will ask me to search for about 6-8 piece of information of a composer, together with pictures, so she can write them on a paper and decorate that page with photos and stickers. She enjoyed doing that tremendously. After composers, teacher also asked her to do the same for different instruments.

On aural dictation, it started with melodic dictation and rhythmic dictation separately at first. Melodic dictation is very easy if the child has perfect pitch. After a few months of separate training, teacher merged the two. It is not a long piece, starts from 4 bars to about 8 bars, smallest value quavers. Then depending on progress, teacher increase length and also introduced semi quavers.

These activities are challenging, but certainly not too complex for preschoolers, especially if it is taught well in a fun manner.

metz:

This a good programme if kids can start early on it. However, it's not suitable for those looking for practical piano lessons.

These musicianship programs complements practical lessons very well. In fact is is very helpful for the aural component of the practical exams. If that particular program doesn't include practical, then maybe can engage another teacher to teach practical on top of attending this musicianship program.

[metz]

waiyean:

metz:

This a good programme if kids can start early on it. However, it's not suitable for those looking for practical piano lessons.

These musicianship programs complements practical lessons very well. In fact is is very helpful for the aural component of the practical exams. If that particular program doesn't include practical, then maybe can engage another teacher to teach practical on top of attending this musicianship program.

The programme does include some practical lessons on digital keyboards. However, the progress on practical is kind of slow to me. From the website,

\"At the completion of the highest level of MYC program, children are competent to play at the Grade 2 Conservatory of Music level. Rhythm, theory, and ear training exceed the Grade 2 level.\"

So yes, it makes sense for parents to engage a separate teacher for practical lessons if the child shows advancement in playing music. But that means the parents' pockets must also be deep enough. :evil:

But on a serious note, I don't see my kids missing much without going through all these music appreciation/musicianship programmes. Whatever they didn't learn when they were preschoolers, they are learning them now at a faster pace.

[metz]

waiyean:

phankao:

All that sounds really complex for a preschooler! Especially the aural dictation!

Actually, many schools have started these programs for preschooler. I remember when daughter was 4 years old, she was already asked to remember the composers from different eras, and to re-enforce the learning, she has to scrap book a book of composers. Every week, she will ask me to search for about 6-8 piece of information of a composer, together with pictures, so she can write them on a paper and decorate that page with photos and stickers. She enjoyed doing that tremendously. After composers, teacher also asked her to do the same for different instruments.

That was one of the reasons why I withdrew my daughter from the programme.