All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[rainrain]

Dreamaurora:

rainrain:

Thanks Dreamaurora,


My girl can play at her fingertips with curved fingers when she play CDEFG with both hands, but when it comes to pieces, i dont think she can. Its just too tough for her, any tips to improve this? Teacher dont really emphasise on this portion though , but did go thru with DD on this portion in every lesson.

Not easy to make children this age to play with proper posture. If nag too much in lesson the kids may get annoyed. Some useful ways to get young kids to play with good posture is to use props and imagination. For example, can ask the kid to imagine that the fingers are spider legs or ballerina tip-toeing. Those plastic fruits you can buy at ToysRus are also useful to get them to curve fingers. Setting challenges with rewards are often useful instead of continually reminding and nagging them, so you can try things like setting a challenge where your girl must play the entire song once with the fingers like spider legs. If she can do this, then can get candy or something.

Thanks for the tips!

[fifiyeo]

To be honest, I don't even know what's our piano teacher's qualifications. :oops: She started interviewing me before I got to that when she returned my call. She was recommended by a friend whose daughter studied up to grade 8 and got her distinction under her.


Not sure if this is a common practice but our piano teacher requested to meet DS before the actual 1st lesson. So she came over to our place and had some 1-1 time with DS on the piano and that was when she told me that DS got a poor pitch.

I often sit outside the music room at the piano teacher's place when my DS is having his lesson (can't go anywhere in 45mins). I can see that her schedule is really tight and she always plays the new songs for DS at least once before she starts to teach him. I suppose all teachers will have to be able to play the pieces before they can teach right? Otherwise how would the student know what to expect??

[Porky Pig]

fifiyeo:

To be honest, I don't even know what's our piano teacher's qualifications. :oops: She started interviewing me before I got to that when she returned my call. She was recommended by a friend whose daughter studied up to grade 8 and got her distinction under her.


Not sure if this is a common practice but our piano teacher requested to meet DS before the actual 1st lesson. So she came over to our place and had some 1-1 time with DS on the piano and that was when she told me that DS got a poor pitch.

I often sit outside the music room at the piano teacher's place when my DS is having his lesson (can't go anywhere in 45mins). I can see that her schedule is really tight and she always plays the new songs for DS at least once before she starts to teach him. I suppose all teachers will have to be able to play the pieces before they can teach right? Otherwise how would the student know what to expect??

Yes my daughter is a beginner and her piano teacher will usually play a new song once to show her. After my daughter \"master\" that new song, the teacher likes to play a duet with her. Tats where my daughter really enjoys even though there is still a big difference between them.

[fifiyeo]

Porky Pig:

fifiyeo:

To be honest, I don't even know what's our piano teacher's qualifications. :oops: She started interviewing me before I got to that when she returned my call. She was recommended by a friend whose daughter studied up to grade 8 and got her distinction under her.


Not sure if this is a common practice but our piano teacher requested to meet DS before the actual 1st lesson. So she came over to our place and had some 1-1 time with DS on the piano and that was when she told me that DS got a poor pitch.

I often sit outside the music room at the piano teacher's place when my DS is having his lesson (can't go anywhere in 45mins). I can see that her schedule is really tight and she always plays the new songs for DS at least once before she starts to teach him. I suppose all teachers will have to be able to play the pieces before they can teach right? Otherwise how would the student know what to expect??

Yes my daughter is a beginner and her piano teacher will usually play a new song once to show her. After my daughter \"master\" that new song, the teacher likes to play a duet with her. Tats where my daughter really enjoys even though there is still a big difference between them.

Same here. DS is given 1-2 duet songs to play with his teacher every week. : ) So DS now learns that he has to be in time with the person he is playing with otherwise cannot pass and move on! DS doesn't not like it when he does not get that approved tick on his score at the end of the lesson.

[Dreamaurora]

Just sharing a couple pieces I worked on recently. I think I may record more pieces more regularly now to give parents and students here ideas on what pieces to work on. I will try to record a wide range of pieces from the various grades.


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZrATbXGQRk][/youtube]

Notes:
Originally written for violin and orchestra, this theme has become one of the most recognizable themes of music from modern movies. The movie it comes from Schindler's List, deals with tragedy of Holocaust and this music always without fails evokes strong emotion from me whenever I practiced and played it.

Thick chordal texture overall requiring good right hand voicing skill.

Difficulty: Grade 6/7 ABRSM.
Source: Anthology of Movie Songs. Hal Leonard.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud0_8BZTUzQ][/youtube]

Notes:
The 'Threnody' is the last piece in the set of 5 Bagatelles published by Carl Vine. Composed to commemorate Australia National AIDS Trust's fund raising, it is bittersweet in tone that one can imagine is a fitting remembrance of AIDS victims. Difficulty in balancing all the musical lines and negotiating the vast amount of jumps in the left hand part. Memorization is essential to perform this piece.

Difficulty: Grade 7/8 ABRSM. Set for LCM Grade 8 Piano Exam previously.
Source: Five Bagatelles by Carl Vine. Faber Music.

[Porky Pig]

Let It Go on the piano is so nice. Any idea whether is it difficult to play?

[Dreamaurora]

Porky Pig:

Let It Go on the piano is so nice. Any idea whether is it difficult to play?

The official songbook arrangement is quite tricky to play, needs to be solid grade 6 or 7 to pull off. There is another easy piano official arrangement that is playable by grade 1 or 2 at musicnotes.com.

[Porky Pig]

Dreamaurora:

Porky Pig:

Let It Go on the piano is so nice. Any idea whether is it difficult to play?

The official songbook arrangement is quite tricky to play, needs to be solid grade 6 or 7 to pull off. There is another easy piano official arrangement that is playable by grade 1 or 2 at musicnotes.com.

Thank you.

[Dreamaurora]

I am feeling rather upbeat this morning, so decided to record this.


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUuRA-dP37I][/youtube]

Clementi's Sonatinas have always been perennial favorites among students. Unfortunately though, they are pretty much neglected as standard performing repertoire by concert pianists. In this rendition, I opt for an interpretation that is much more brilliant and lively that I think will be suitable for a professional performance. For intermediate students, a generally more moderate tempo of 120 per crotchet/quarter note will be more than sufficient for a successful performance.

Difficulty: Grade 5-6 ABRSM. Set for Grade 5 ABRSM/Trinity frequently.
Source: Clementi Sonatinas Opus 36. Schirmer Performance Editions.

[peachbubble]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing your performances.