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    All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Music, Singing, Dancing, Speech & Drama
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    • D Offline
      Dreamaurora
      last edited by

      sleepy:
      tong2:


      actually I want to get such kind of valued teacher as soon as possible. but as you know, most in current market, it is a dream or look like a lucky draw.

      Dont have to hesitate to change teachers. We are on our 6th teacher right now. Okay, i guess we are the exception rather than the norm to switch so many teachers. Even if you think you found the 'perfect' teacher, circumstances or chemistry may change over the years too that render the need to switch teacher again.

      For theory exam prep, we went music school. So different teachers 1 theory and 1 practical. Practical teacher, although strong in practical, is too erractic so hardly prep properly for theory. No choice i engage another teacher just for theory.

      Even then, that practical teacher has been spoon feeding my dd. Current teacher complained wrong approach, so my dd is not independent loh

      Being not independent is a common issue with a lot of children who are accelerated to complete grade 8 before 12. Teaching kids to understand and apply advanced music concepts is time consuming, the faster way is still to demonstrate to them and asking them to copy. This is an issue I struggle also now that I am preparing a few of these kids for grade 8. If I demonstrate they could easily play what I want them do to in practically a few minutes, but if I explain more thoroughly and lead them to the answer instead it takes a far longer time like say around 10-15 minutes. So with tight deadlines and limited lesson time, it is often tempting to just spoon feed the kids. But I try to have a balance lar, if not the kids will find it not interesting if they are just trying to channel my playing all the time.

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      • C Offline
        crm
        last edited by

        Taking about ABRSM syllabus, it is really not a big issue. As a parent without any music background, I am now able to teach any elements except for practical playing. Purchasing the whole set of syllabus books and reading thru them , that’s all




        That is if you are willing to do this, and most parents are not so on or free to learn parallel with their children and assist them at home. Even then, you still need a qualified teacher who is familiar with the syllabus to provide feedback if you are assisting your child correctly.




        Being free or not is simply an excuse,
        Those with this kind of excuse can expect tr to be so responsible ?

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        • P Offline
          pianoprincess
          last edited by

          tong2:
          Thank you very much! -- Pianoprincess and Dreamaurora.


          as you said, this girl is holding 10Ji of cert in China. and I searched via internet, this 10ji is even lower than ABRSM grade 3. she doesn't have such experience to focus on how to pass ABRSM exam. this is most I am worry about.
          I mentioned to her on trial lesson that we are preparing to have ABRSM exam in next year. she promised me that she can help if we followed her teaching method and do homework/practices properly.

          As same as Dreamaurora's opinion, after learning almost 1year, my girl lack independence and she is very reluctant to learn pieces by herself, preferring instead to wait for teacher to play for her ,memorize teacher's play/ finger movement and sounds like. this is really weak points. I don't want her be that, feel boring and lost interesting.

          So, at this moment, I only can do is to let young girl teach my girl a while just to let my girl re-learn notes. At least, my girl can firm her basic theory .After that I have to look for experienced teacher who did exam of ABRSM.

          actually I want to get such kind of valued teacher as soon as possible. but as you know, most in current market, it is a dream or look like a lucky draw.

          I suggest you continue teacher shopping , maybe you have friends who can recommend you their teachers ? By learning parallel with 2 teachers you may confuse your child , and spend extra time for lessons and not to mention extra money for 2 teachers.

          Keep searching , it is not impossible! Dreamaurora may be able to help you or even I can.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • P Offline
            pianoprincess
            last edited by

            Green-apple:
            anyone can advise how much do they charge for grade 3 (piano school and private piano teacher?)

            I think the average market rate would be 160-200 for 4 lessons , 1 hour. Depends on your teacher , experience , qualifications and if private , whether the teacher needs to travel to you.

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            • D Offline
              Dreamaurora
              last edited by

              crm:


              Being free or not is simply an excuse,
              Those with this kind of excuse can expect tr to be so responsible ?
              Well, yours is a good attitude that I wish more parents have. I have encountered far too many parents who are quick to blame when things did not go as well even when their teachers tried their best to be thorough. But thankfully most are parents are willing to help out when I involve or prompt them, though very few are very proactive like you to find out and fill in the gaps themselves.

              But I think it is fair to expect music teachers offering lessons leading towards exams to know the syllabi well and familiar with methods to teach the components. If they have limitations in preparing certain sections, then this should be made clear from the outset.

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              • D Offline
                Dreamaurora
                last edited by

                pianoprincess:
                tong2:

                Thank you very much! -- Pianoprincess and Dreamaurora.


                as you said, this girl is holding 10Ji of cert in China. and I searched via internet, this 10ji is even lower than ABRSM grade 3. she doesn't have such experience to focus on how to pass ABRSM exam. this is most I am worry about.
                I mentioned to her on trial lesson that we are preparing to have ABRSM exam in next year. she promised me that she can help if we followed her teaching method and do homework/practices properly.

                As same as Dreamaurora's opinion, after learning almost 1year, my girl lack independence and she is very reluctant to learn pieces by herself, preferring instead to wait for teacher to play for her ,memorize teacher's play/ finger movement and sounds like. this is really weak points. I don't want her be that, feel boring and lost interesting.

                So, at this moment, I only can do is to let young girl teach my girl a while just to let my girl re-learn notes. At least, my girl can firm her basic theory .After that I have to look for experienced teacher who did exam of ABRSM.

                actually I want to get such kind of valued teacher as soon as possible. but as you know, most in current market, it is a dream or look like a lucky draw.


                I suggest you continue teacher shopping , maybe you have friends who can recommend you their teachers ? By learning parallel with 2 teachers you may confuse your child , and spend extra time for lessons and not to mention extra money for 2 teachers.

                Keep searching , it is not impossible! Dreamaurora may be able to help you or even I can.

                I second this. Learning parallel with 2 teachers are bad idea. Though it can be beneficial though for a more advanced student to have occasional masterclass sessions with another teachers to refine their pieces or seek second opinion.

                I sympathise with the difficulty of finding a good teacher, even with friend's recommendation it is still very much possible to end up with a not so good teacher.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • T Offline
                  tong2
                  last edited by

                  strongly agree with you.

                  now this current teacher is also recommended by my friend…

                  good or not good, it is really hard to discriminate.

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                  • S Offline
                    sleepy
                    last edited by

                    Friends may not necessarily be a better judge loh. Sometimes I asked how they found their teachers and they said through agency or relative's recommendation or ex music school teacher's friend. Hmm...

                    and mostly no idea what is their teacher's qualifications. Hmm...

                    For private teachers, firstly I must be satisfied with their qualifications. Then I will interview and assess if that teacher can click or cannot click with my dd. If my judgement failed :oops: , there's really nothing to stop me from switching teachers anyway

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • phankaoP Offline
                      phankao
                      last edited by

                      tong2:
                      Thank you very much! -- Pianoprincess and Dreamaurora.


                      as you said, this girl is holding 10Ji of cert in China. and I searched via internet, this 10ji is even lower than ABRSM grade 3. she doesn't have such experience to focus on how to pass ABRSM exam. this is most I am worry about..

                      Er, where did you get the information that 10 级 is only Grade 3 ABRSM level? So strange.

                      10 级 is the Diploma 演奏级 ( 演奏文凭 ). To do this exam, you'd need to present your original Grade 9 exam certificate from the examining board for that instrument first.

                      Take a look at the Grading Levels by the Examining Centers in Singapore.
                      NUS Centre for the Arts (Look at Page 2 - shows Grades 1-9 and 10 diploma)
                      http://www.nus.edu.sg/cfa/education/exa ... m_2011.pdf


                      NAFA - administrator of the Beijing Central Conservatory Exams 中央音乐学院 .
                      (On 1st Page, you can see the Grading Levels already)
                      http://www.nafa.edu.sg/PDFS/Home/Chines ... llabus.pdf

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • T Offline
                        tong2
                        last edited by

                        your 10ji is Singapore standard.

                        I talked about 10ji is in China.

                        if you can read Chinese character, please open this link to see.

                        http://zhidao.baidu.com/search?word=%B8 ... d=7&ie=gbk


                        this is just a internet information as I mentioned earlier. I am not sure about realness. That's why I posted here, and request you and others' second opinion.

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