All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[arielina]

Dreamaurora:

arielina:

Hi,


I'm thinking of letting my children learn piano. Purpose is to strengthen their ablity to focus, increase their self-confidence and also if any luck, they would love playing piano as a lifelong hobby.

However, they are 7 and 3 years old respectively, with no music background at all.

Is it too late to start my 7 year old? (if not, what kind of lesson is recommended?)
Is it too early to stary my 3 year old? (if not, what kind of lesson is recommended?)

Sorry if I've asked questions which have already been discussed in this forum long ago. I have gone through this forum from 2008 posts till now but still confused and have no idea what is better for my children.

Please anyone can advise?

Thanks a lot!

Hi Arelina,

7 years old is by no means too late to start, unless you plan your child to finish grade 8 by P6. I myself started as complete beginner at a very \"young\" age of 17 and still ended up as a professional, so really it's never too late to pick up an instrument.

3 year old is possible to start private lesson, but the primary considerations here will be if you are willing to sit down with your child during practices and finding a teacher who is familiar with teaching methodologies suitable for this age group.

There are various factors that may affect what kind of teacher will be suitable for your children. Perhaps you can provide more info by answering the following questions:
- Do you play the piano yourself to a decent level and willing to assist regularly in practice sessions? No I don't play the piano at all
- Are your children naturally competitive in academic studies? No, the 7 yr old is actually is quite active, he lacks concentration.
- Do you expect regular exams be taken and the results to be consistently excellent? Exams is good to be taken for recognition of their skill, but excellent results not required.
- Would you mind if your children don't play at the highest standard but love learning and playing, or do you place excellence above the interests? I just want them to love playing and enjoy it as a hobby.
- Do you want regular performance opportunities for your children?Yes, this will boost their self confidence too.

Thanks for help

[waiyean]

Hi arielina,


I think you should just go ahead and sign both your kids up for lessons. The elder one should have no problems at all with individual lessons, it’s never too late to enjoy piano lessons.

For your 3-year old, you probably may just want to start off in a group class. It’s a bit too young to begin private one-to-one lessons. Wait till the child is at least 4 years old before starting individual lessons. Meanwhile, it is not too early to begin music appreciation with a bit of piano playing in a group environment, which will be more fun.

[XiaoXin]

Hello,


Can anyone help me? Is there a popular piano book sounds like "Master Series - Level 3"? The teacher told me to buy it but cannot remember the name. She said it is a popular book.

[Dreamaurora]

waiyean:

Hi arielina,


I think you should just go ahead and sign both your kids up for lessons. The elder one should have no problems at all with individual lessons, it's never too late to enjoy piano lessons.

For your 3-year old, you probably may just want to start off in a group class. It's a bit too young to begin private one-to-one lessons. Wait till the child is at least 4 years old before starting individual lessons. Meanwhile, it is not too early to begin music appreciation with a bit of piano playing in a group environment, which will be more fun.

Speaking of those group classes with a bit of piano playing, there is a danger of picking up bad technical habits especially because young kids internalise movements easily. The teachers conducting these classes have to follow a specified syllabus and they are not likely to ensure everyone will play with proper technique; most students on these classes do not even have actual pianos. I had a few students who came from these classes and they had gotten to a point where they could attempt some simple basic 2 hands together songs, but the basic posture and technique was all wrong and had already been ingrained.

I am not saying that these classes are useless, in fact I do encourage parents to send their very young children to them. But I think if the parents don't play piano it will be good to read up a bit on piano technique or know someone who could advise them on how to ensure the initial technique is learnt correctly.

[Dreamaurora]

XiaoXin:

Hello,


Can anyone help me? Is there a popular piano book sounds like \"Master Series - Level 3\"? The teacher told me to buy it but cannot remember the name. She said it is a popular book.

Hours with the Masters?

[joyofmusic]

Masterwork Classics?

[XiaoXin]

Got it. It is the Masterwork Series. Thanks all.

[Dreamaurora]

arielina:

Dreamaurora:

[quote=\"arielina\"]Hi,


I'm thinking of letting my children learn piano. Purpose is to strengthen their ablity to focus, increase their self-confidence and also if any luck, they would love playing piano as a lifelong hobby.

However, they are 7 and 3 years old respectively, with no music background at all.

Is it too late to start my 7 year old? (if not, what kind of lesson is recommended?)
Is it too early to stary my 3 year old? (if not, what kind of lesson is recommended?)

Sorry if I've asked questions which have already been discussed in this forum long ago. I have gone through this forum from 2008 posts till now but still confused and have no idea what is better for my children.

Please anyone can advise?

Thanks a lot!

Hi Arelina,

7 years old is by no means too late to start, unless you plan your child to finish grade 8 by P6. I myself started as complete beginner at a very \"young\" age of 17 and still ended up as a professional, so really it's never too late to pick up an instrument.

3 year old is possible to start private lesson, but the primary considerations here will be if you are willing to sit down with your child during practices and finding a teacher who is familiar with teaching methodologies suitable for this age group.

There are various factors that may affect what kind of teacher will be suitable for your children. Perhaps you can provide more info by answering the following questions:
- Do you play the piano yourself to a decent level and willing to assist regularly in practice sessions? No I don't play the piano at all
- Are your children naturally competitive in academic studies? No, the 7 yr old is actually is quite active, he lacks concentration.
- Do you expect regular exams be taken and the results to be consistently excellent? Exams is good to be taken for recognition of their skill, but excellent results not required.
- Would you mind if your children don't play at the highest standard but love learning and playing, or do you place excellence above the interests? I just want them to love playing and enjoy it as a hobby.
- Do you want regular performance opportunities for your children?Yes, this will boost their self confidence too.

Thanks for help [/quote]Those answers you provide will help narrow down your search.

You will most likely need to source for a studio-based teacher or a music school teacher, since your criteria for regular performance opportunities basically eliminate most travelling teachers, unless you are willing to source and organise these performances yourself.

You would want someone who is familiar with the exam syllabi and are not so particular about the exam results. If a teacher claims he/she is specialised in producing distinctions or pushing students through the grades very fast, then these teachers are the perfectionists type and will not be suitable for your children. However, this does not mean non-perfectionists type should not be familiar with the exam syllabi. They still should know how to plan and achieve good results, but they understand that they will not push the students beyond what they are willing to achieve.

You would also want someone who can engage your children through various activities if your children are the active and restless types. You can observe this in trial lesson if the teacher just sit down throughout the lesson or he/she tries to engage and be more animated.

Hope this helps.

[Dreamaurora]

Last set of grade 2 pieces for the week, I will focus on other grades for the rest of the week.


Grade 2 A2 ABRSM 2015-2016: Minuet in C by Friedrich Schale

Another piece that is more difficult than it sounds, but the tune is nice. There are some tricky jumps and fingerings that will be awkward for young children.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOihhJSER78][/youtube]

Grade 2 A6 ABRSM 2015-2016: The Bird Catcher's Song by Mozart

This is probably the most attractive A piece in the grade 2 list AKA the famous Papageno's Aria from The Magic Flute. It's an alternative piece but the score is easily available in the local shops. Very catchy tune and most kids would have heard it somewhere. This arrangement has relatively simple texture and is suitable for children to play.

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

[Dreamaurora]

From now on I will post teaching notes to accompany every video I upload.


Notes for the previous two videos.

Grade 2 A2 ABRSM 2015-2016: Minuet in C by Friedrich Schale

Teaching Note

Despite sounding not too difficult, there are many pitfalls that students need to watch out for in this piece. There are some tricky jumps that are difficult to negotiate, especially for young children. From bars 2-3 and bars 4-5, the left hand has to make a 9th jump and the right hand also has position changes. For both these cases, committing these few bars to memory will free up the eyes to coordinate these jumps better. If necessary, the 9th jumps can be simplified simply to a just step down and still sounding correct e.g. LH of bar 3 becomes 3 same repeated As.

For students with smaller hands, the fingerings of the LH broken chords printed at bars 2 and 4 in the score may pose an issue. They can be safely rewritten as 5 3 1 1 instead of 5 4 2 1 since they are supposed to be played detached anyway. Be careful not to play these broken chords too “chunkily”, shape them with a gentle crescendo to the concluding crotchets.

Students would be well advised to keep their fingers as close as possible to the keys and attempting to play the entire piece by mostly finger actions. The left hand should be contrasted with the legato right hand by playing it lightly detached as much as possible. Some students may fall into the habit of raising their hands slightly and dropping them down especially since there are numerous repeated notes here; advise them to always touch the keys first and then push them down.

Take care also not to start the piece too loud. The forte passage only comes towards the very end, so leave some allowance for increased loudness. It may be helpful to ask students to think of the dynamic levels printed as one level lower e.g. mf becomes mp and mp becomes p. Tempo should be kept the same throughout. A gentle smorzando for the last bar is effective to end this minuet more gracefully.

Grade 2 A6 ABRSM 2015-2016: The Bird Catcher's Song by Mozart

Teaching Note

The famous Papageno’s Aria will be a favourite among many students due to its extremely catchy tune. This arrangement by Alan Bullard is relatively simple in texture and should not pose much technical issue for most students.

There is not much notes to go around here unfortunately, so trying to replicate the larger orchestral sounds here may be tricky. I would advise a smaller range of dynamics here. The fortes need not be too loud, otherwise students risk playing them harshly (especially the accented fortes at bar 18). Take care also the upbeat notes found here; do not start them with ugly accents. Think of them as leading into the first beats.

The numerous dotted rhythms found in this piece (especially bars 7-10) will need some extra care. The semiquavers are easily accidentally accented here; they can be purposely played a lot softer for practice purposed first. Another common error here is playing them as triplets instead. Don’t miss out the horn melody starting from the last quaver of bar 8!

The rapid piccolo notes found in the right hand e.g. bar 15 can be easily executed by thinking them as broken 5 notes chord. The one octave higher response is optional and students can keep these notes in the same register as per the original aria. The left hand slurs preceding these piccolo notes need slight emphasis on the first notes of the slurs. Push the first notes of the slurs and then lean towards the second notes.

This aria is traditionally performed quite lively and so I would recommend at least a tempo of 90 per crotchet, but this may significantly increase the difficulty of the piece. A slower tempo of 70 per crotchet (as suggested by Matthewman in his rendition for the CD) may be easier to handle for grade 2 students.