All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[ipiano1980]

Good luck in your masterclass session Dreamaurora. What an awesome opportunity for your students.


Its interesting to read that a lot of starter teachers holding only a grade 8 cert are charging that much. Seems im below market rate. I wonder how much is the considered market rate for grade 5 and beyond then. If anyone would contribute that would be good otherwise its okay.

[ipiano1980]

Dear fabbymum


I just read your post.

It is unfortunate that you and your son had a poor experience with his first piano lesson. It is understandable that youre angry about the experience. The abrupt termination of lesson by the teacher was probably better for everyone involved and it is a blessing the teacher terminated early and not waste your time as well.

Eventually it could be you who would opt for termination eventually. It is not necessary in my humble opinion to make a complaint because there are probably many other pupils who might appreciate her harsh tutelage and probably others who dont as well. It will lead to nowhere. Take some time to let this go and move on to another teacher. This was a good lesson to learn from.

[Dreamaurora]

ipiano1980:

Good luck in your masterclass session Dreamaurora. What an awesome opportunity for your students.


Its interesting to read that a lot of starter teachers holding only a grade 8 cert are charging that much. Seems im below market rate. I wonder how much is the considered market rate for grade 5 and beyond then. If anyone would contribute that would be good otherwise its okay.

ipiano1980, thank you for your well wishes.

Setting prices for beginners and lower grades is a tricky business. Very rarely students and parents will immediately be willing to spend a princely sum for beginner lessons. The same goes in acquiring a beginner instrument. There is somewhat this misconception that one can do with a 'cheaper' teacher for beginners and then switch to a better one once the child shows interest; and being able to travel to the student's place is often preferable. Rarely that parents will evaluate a teacher carefully with the goal of selecting someone who can carries the child up to grade 8 competently.

So this effectively puts more established teachers in the same pool of competition with other lesser qualified and experienced teachers when it comes to getting beginner and lower grade students. The really established ones can choose to teach only higher grades and Diplomas, so they are not really affected by this. Parents often are willing to settle for lesser qualified teachers for cheaper fees and convenience. More established teachers who charge higher are often priced out of competition and as a result is forced to lower down their beginner fees. Otherwise their pool of potential students is smaller significantly. This is a sentiment that is echoed by my colleagues as well. I am not saying that all lesser qualified and experienced teachers are not good. There will be definitely be rare passionate few that will go on to become better teachers, but unfortunately the chance of landing a dud one is significantly higher. When the student is switched to a better teacher, the damage is already done. It is often an uphill battle to correct bad technical and practice habits inherited from other teachers, and correcting these often takes significantly longer time than learning good habits from the beginning.

For higher grades, parents or students are generally more discerning and would vet a potential teacher more carefully. So they are more likely to pay the premiums for better teachers. So the gap between lower grade fees and higher grade fees can be quite significant within same teacher.

[ipiano1980]

Thanks Dreamaurora. That is exactly straight to the point. It really is an eye opener for me everytime till this very day. It is not only for the lower grades charges but higher grades as well.


When I took over students who were in their higher grade with’ damaged’ long embedded in their playing taught by grade 8 teachers who happen to be poorly skilled, I discovered their fees were higher too or just the same as mine. I do feel affected by it because I know the hard work Ive put in even now to upgrade myself for all these years of exp. So its interesting this trend. I thought piano should be a specialised art and something you build up with exp and your fees will follow suit.The pool of new teachers enter this trade just because they hold grade 8 for the opportunity to earn as this could be a gold mine and charge just as much, doesnt seem to make sense to me. Maybe because I didnt choose to start of that way over a decade ago. Its interesting la, I learn lots from reading this forum.

[Dreamaurora]

ipiano1980:

Thanks Dreamaurora. That is exactly straight to the point. It really is an eye opener for me everytime till this very day. It is not only for the lower grades charges but higher grades as well.


When I took over students who were in their higher grade with' damaged' long embedded in their playing taught by grade 8 teachers who happen to be poorly skilled, I discovered their fees were higher too or just the same as mine. I do feel affected by it because I know the hard work Ive put in even now to upgrade myself for all these years of exp. So its interesting this trend. I thought piano should be a specialised art and something you build up with exp and your fees will follow suit.The pool of new teachers enter this trade just because they hold grade 8 for the opportunity to earn as this could be a gold mine and charge just as much, doesnt seem to make sense to me. Maybe because I didnt choose to start of that way over a decade ago. Its interesting la, I learn lots from reading this forum.

Well, this is the reality of the profession. We face competitions from teachers who may not necessarily be in this field with genuine passion of teaching as evidenced by the glut of part time teachers who are non-music university undergraduates or hold a day job. There are a lot of parents who contacted me for recommendations because their teachers have decided to stop teaching the kids because of schedule/other commitments.

This begs a question, why decide to teach if you can't commit to the end? I always tell my students' parents that the moment I accept their children into my studio it is my responsibility to teach them all the way to grade 8 or beyond. They are of course free to switch or leave my studio for whatever reasons, but I will not kick or transfer the students out. Teaching music is very different from teaching tuition in that it requires more specific skillsets and knowledge that are only attainable by proper pedagogy training or tutelage by a more senior teacher. And learning music is a much longer journey that needs to be planned correctly right from the very beginning. So it angers me whenever I hear a student is dropped because the teacher can no longer commit to the student. This really makes mockery of the serious nature of our profession.

But look at the positive side, parents can get quality instructions for their kids nowadays for not a lot of money if they bother to research more.

[ipiano1980]

It really is a mockery to this profession and it cant be helped.


Well after my grade 8, my teacher who already held a Licentiateship in piano then, said she had no confidence to teach diploma level and adviced me to seriously find a teacher who had at least a certain qualification. I appreciate her honesty.

A friend of mind who has a teaching diploma for many years dare not even teach grade 7 and 8. Quite extreme but I wish there were more teachers like these.

Lastly, my student who is a grade 8, had a Grade 8 teacher who taught her till grade 8. It is like the blind leading the blind. She nearly failed her grade 6 -7 exams under the teacher. The teacher left for further studies otherwise she would have just continued.

That’s the reality these days. I wish people take more pride and consideration when they want to start teaching piano themselves. Dont just do it for the money.

Thank you Dreamaurora.

[reiner]

my girl Piano teacher has been requested me to search for the Music sheet for my girl to play, like bach 2 part no.13, sunflower kinda… (@ least 2/3 times) although the tr did loan some book to us…


so wonder is it in this way of "practice"? coz i have hard time searching yah… there seems to have diff "version"…

or please enlighten me where to dwload FREE and its the right one?

[waiyean]

reiner:

my girl Piano teacher has been requested me to search for the Music sheet for my girl to play, like bach 2 part no.13, sunflower kinda... (@ least 2/3 times) although the tr did loan some book to us....


so wonder is it in this way of \"practice\"? coz i have hard time searching yah.... there seems to have diff \"version\"....

or please enlighten me where to dwload FREE and its the right one?

Quite common. Teacher will tell us which piece she wants my daughter to play, and I will go buy the scores. They are usually available from stores like Yamaha. You can check with the teacher whether there are any preferences in terms of publication for that piece. Even if you have gotten a different version, the teacher should be able to easily mark down on the scores how it should be played differently.

You may want to purchase the original scores, especially if your girl will be performing those pieces as some events, eg. the ongoing SMTA Performers Festival, ask for submission of original scores.

[reiner]

haha… just play play only lah… my girl said those pcs are very hard yah…

[Fabbymum]

For those who followed our sharing earlier on...on the Seletar piano teacher.


After abruptly ended our lesson, she did not return the fee we paid for the planned recital lesson that she is organizing in July. After more than a week of termination, I asked to collect my money back (since the lesson was terminated by her), and the teacher got very worried. I asked that I stop by to collect since my house is a just a stone's throw away and she refused to see me. Asked for my bank account and insisted that she banked in for me immediately yesterday night. I sensed she was very worried last night. That was also a shame to her name for not returning our money earlier until asked to do so - trying to pocket it. I wanted to tell her off on this incident but I did not.

Some parents have also written to me and rightly guessed who this teacher was, of course with bad reputations from their experience. I am more convinced now that the teacher terminated our lesson not merely because of misalignment in expectation (which is a more objective reason), but because of her poor personality (i.e. hot tempered, impatient, lack of integrity, teaching out of selfish reasons).

Glad that we are moving on now Thank very much to those who had wrote in via PM and for your good advice. Truly, God only has a better plan for us and He is taking away the bad choices in our lives!

:thankyou: