All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[Imami]

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[sleepy]

fifiyeo:

Does DS have to be pitch perfect to learn music? A friend just told me that I should check out if DS is pitch perfect before I get the piano and put him into classes. : (

Recently an aural teacher concluded my dd2 is tone deaf :faint: because she can't sing la, all way off tune. dd2 is very weak in her aural.

However, she can hear the slightest imperfection whenever her piano is out of tune and get extremely irritated.

So I am doubtful she is tone deaf.
I believe she can hear perfect pitch but cannot sing perfect pitch.

So you might wanna test your ds listening. If he can hear perfect pitch, he can play any instrument.

[sleepy]

Seeking advice


I believe my dd2 can hear perfect pitch but cannot sing in tune.
This weakness is affecting her aural component drastically.

How to resolve this?

[metz]

sleepy:

fifiyeo:

Does DS have to be pitch perfect to learn music? A friend just told me that I should check out if DS is pitch perfect before I get the piano and put him into classes. : (

Recently an aural teacher concluded my dd2 is tone deaf :faint: because she can't sing la, all way off tune. dd2 is very weak in her aural.

However, she can hear the slightest imperfection whenever her piano is out of tune and get extremely irritated.

So I am doubtful she is tone deaf.
I believe she can hear perfect pitch but cannot sing perfect pitch.

So you might wanna test your ds listening. If he can hear perfect pitch, he can play any instrument.

My son has the same problem when he was younger. He has no problem differentiating the pitch, even on violin. But singing was a great problem. However, he has outgrown this problem now. According to the teacher, his vocal cord is more developed now and that allows him to sing what he hears.

[Dreamaurora]

sleepy:

Seeking advice


I believe my dd2 can hear perfect pitch but cannot sing in tune.
This weakness is affecting her aural component drastically.

How to resolve this?

I had this problem with some young students. This is often because the kids did not get enough chance if any to sing at home or school, thus leading to underdeveloped vocal cord and unfamiliarity with basic intervals. One way to fix this is to get the child to sing sight-singing exercises that progresses gradually in difficulty.

These 2 books are great for this purpose

http://www.amazon.com/Singing-Lessons-Little-Singers-Sight-Singing/dp/1450530605/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385258314&sr=8-1&keywords=sight+singing+for+singers

http://www.amazon.com/Sightsinging-Complete-Musicians-Institute-Essential/dp/0793581915/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1385258314&sr=8-6&keywords=sight+singing+for+singers

It is also helpful to get your kid to sing along while she practice her scale to get her used to the different tonalities and intervals.

[waiyean]

fifiyeo:

So how to know if DS has a good pitch or perfect pitch? Test and see if he can guess what note that is played? Or sing out the note??

DS sure isn't tone deaf but as for pitch perfect...???

Nevermind lah. After I meet the music teacher then see what she says. Hopefully she is not a perfectionist otherwise DS will be stressed out!

A child with perfect pitch will be able to identify any note played on piano without looking. The test would be to play a few notes and ask your DS to identify them. Best not to let him play on the piano before the test.

[phankao]

waiyean:

fifiyeo:

So how to know if DS has a good pitch or perfect pitch? Test and see if he can guess what note that is played? Or sing out the note??

DS sure isn't tone deaf but as for pitch perfect...???

Nevermind lah. After I meet the music teacher then see what she says. Hopefully she is not a perfectionist otherwise DS will be stressed out!

A child with perfect pitch will be able to identify any note played on piano without looking. The test would be to play a few notes and ask your DS to identify them. Best not to let him play on the piano before the test.

some kids may not consciously know the names of the notes on the piano or other instrument. But they may *know* the notes. Eg. when I ask my boy to sing the piece he is going to play, he would always start on the correct note. And when he plays pieces by ear from songs he's heard on radio or CDs, he would play in the same key as the one in the CD. I think for many young kids, that already indicates a good ear.

Anyway, hearing can be trained. My DH couldn't differentiate even the scales last time, but now he can tell if a performer is playing out of tune even if he hasn't heard of those songs before.

[fifiyeo]

Today we met the teacher for the first time. Not the official first lesson. A get to meet and know short session.


She seems like the more serious about kids learning type. Might be a good thing cos DS can get quite playful once he's used to the person / environment. But I hope it won't be too stressful.

She played some music on the piano and asked DS some questions. She told me that he has a poor pitch and will need to work on that. I would think so cos DS doesn't sing and we all don't sing. But she also said she was sure he's not tone deaf. Sounds like this music learning thing is going to be quite serious.

[fifiyeo]

Is it necessary for mom / dad to learn with DS?? Another music teacher who is a long time friend told me to consider doing that even though I once had some music training.

[Dreamaurora]

fifiyeo:

Is it necessary for mom / dad to learn with DS?? Another music teacher who is a long time friend told me to consider doing that even though I once had some music training.

It's a great idea and I think more parents should do that as it adds a social dimension to the learning e.g. can do duets at home. But if you wish to do that, you need to make sure that you are putting the same or more amount of effort as your DS, and for adults with busy work life this may be a challenge. It may not be easy as well to find a teacher who is more comfortable teaching adults.