All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[PianistbackinSG]

Hi Blue Pearl,

I just want to add to the good points made by Dreamaurora and Waiyean.

It sounds like the problem is that after two weeks, your daughter is still rushing in a part of the music, and so her teacher has probably given instructions to help (Be it counting/tapping rhythms out loud, checking with metronome, staccato/rhythm drills etc.)

The difficult thing about communicating over video, is that though the problem of rushing is easily detectable, there are several underlying reasons that the teacher may need to troubleshoot with the student before finding the real issue.

Here is a possible list:
1) Learning the piece with an incorrect reading of the note values.
2) Not noticing a harmonic change and so pianist just hurries along.
3) Not knowing which melodic line goes where, not knowing what to listen for in that particular bar
4) a genuine technical issue (be it fingering, wrong technique, tension, stiffness etc.)
5) Not having a clear sense of the tempo in that bar.

It could even be a combination of all these, with many different ways of approaching the solutions, and even when you correct one, another one may arise, so the process of figuring it out, I think is one that is much easier done in person.

[Dreamaurora]

waiyean:

Blue Pearl:

As my piano teacher complained that my girl did not get certain bar correct after two lessons, i made my gal to play took a video and sent to the piano teacher and asked her whther she played correctly. BUt i recd reply from her that i will listen next week during her lesson.


I was just wondering whether is this norm from a teacher because as a parent, when the teacher complained that my gal made mistake at the particular bar for two lessons, so i thought to avoid any comments in her next lesson, took a video and sent to her.

Is this wrong? Just want to hear some piaon teacher or parents with similiar situation views. thank you.

Technically speaking, a teacher is paid for the lesson time only. Hence teacher is not obliged to spend additional time outside of lessons to review video, communicate corrections, etc. You can imagine if a teacher is fully booked, how can she manage all these requests if many of her students send videos to her?

Having said that, I am aware that some teachers do encourage students to send video recordings during their practice at home to them. My daughter's teacher is one of them. The teacher does it out of goodwill, and indeed I must say that it's very useful to be able to get instant feedback instead of waiting a week for the corrections. It makes practice at home more effective, instead of propagating a mistake for a week.

There are times when I send a few videos daily, and the teacher do take the time to review them and even spend about 30 mins telling me how to correct the technique. Sometimes teacher will also do a recording of how it should be done, and send it to me.
Of course, this is certainly not normal practice amongst piano teachers, and nobody should expect a teacher to do all these.

At times, the teacher will tell me that her data plan is reaching max, and to avoid sending videos till the next month, which I will respect.

I think it's great to have a teacher who is very committed and willing to go beyond what they are required to do. And I think this is a mark of teachers who are truly passionate in teaching, as opposed to those who just treat the profession as a way to survive or earn extra pocket money.

I would be delighted if parents or students asked me questions related to their learning outside their lessons and would be more than willing to reply to them. But I think there is a risk that the student may become less independent if feedback is too easily available. Sometimes it is a good idea to let students experience the effects of mistakes or bad practice rather than correcting them immediately all the time. This will allow them to understand the relevance of the correct approach more. This I feel is quite important if the students plan to become teachers themselves in the future.

[Blue Pearl]

True n many tks for all contributions. Most importantly kids must enjoy n shld not hate music.

[Miaor]

Blue Pearl:

As my piano teacher complained that my girl did not get certain bar correct after two lessons, i made my gal to play took a video and sent to the piano teacher and asked her whther she played correctly. BUt i recd reply from her that i will listen next week during her lesson.


I was just wondering whether is this norm from a teacher because as a parent, when the teacher complained that my gal made mistake at the particular bar for two lessons, so i thought to avoid any comments in her next lesson, took a video and sent to her.

Is this wrong? Just want to hear some piaon teacher or parents with similiar situation views. thank you.

I don't like to judge the teacher but I don't like her attitude :siam:

[waiyean]

Dreamaurora:

I would be delighted if parents or students asked me questions related to their learning outside their lessons and would be more than willing to reply to them. But I think there is a risk that the student may become less independent if feedback is too easily available. Sometimes it is a good idea to let students experience the effects of mistakes or bad practice rather than correcting them immediately all the time. This will allow them to understand the relevance of the correct approach more. This I feel is quite important if the students plan to become teachers themselves in the future.

Hi, I understand your point Dreamaurora. I am pretty sure my daughter has more than her fair share of making mistakes and practising wrongly....

Balancing school work, other enrichment activities, and the practice of piano at home is very hectic. I guess many parents just want to save some time, and reduce the amount of mistakes made so that lesson time with teacher will not be spent on correcting past mistakes.

[sabchua]

Hi, I am looking for a piano teacher in the West - between Bukit Batok to Dover Road. to teach my daughter who is 8yo and in beginner's level. She can only attend weekend classes. If you have someone to recommend, please email me. Thanks [email protected]

[BeThankful]

Hi, I hv zero music background myself. Am looking for a piano teacher for my 9yo DD. Been recommended 2 teachers (both more than 15years teaching experience) and they quoted me S$80/lesson for 45mins for coming to my place in Bt Timah. Does it make sense to pay this fee for beginner level?

[reiner]

is FINGERING impt? sorry if this is nonsense qns yah…


my girl starts to dislike playing piano as the Tr has been correcting her fingerings… my girl said… she still plays all the keys/notes but her fingering is not right… how should I convince her (since the Tr is right yah)… keke…

[Dreamaurora]

reiner:

is FINGERING impt? sorry if this is nonsense qns yah...


my girl starts to dislike playing piano as the Tr has been correcting her fingerings... my girl said... she still plays all the keys/notes but her fingering is not right... how should I convince her (since the Tr is right yah)... keke...

Yes, correct fingerings are extremely important next to proper hand and finger posture. There was a pedagogue (I think it's Jane Magrath?) who mentioned that 90% of technical problems in a piece can be solved by working out fingerings that are suitable for the student.

For little kids it is hard to convince them since they are so easily satisfied. Normally what I do for my students I would purposely exaggerate the flaws caused by the wrong fingering and then demonstrate how the correct fingerings will sound. Normally they will understand. But some of the younger ones can be quite stubborn and insist on their own fingerings, so sometimes I just close one eye lar as long the effect is not so severe.

[reiner]

haha… but my girl is "strong" headed yah… she did flared up @ the Tr as the Tr tired to correct the fingerings… then my girl said she wanna change the Tr… she has bring up this matter a few times… I don’t have any musical background to help her…