All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[cse1217]

JY2011:

Hi, cse1217.


My DD is 3.5 yo. According to teachers, they teach the kids Do, Re, Me, Fa, So and sing some songs by keyboard. Sometimes, they use xylophone and other musical instruments to introduce high and low tone sth... like what those appreciation classes do. At home, we have only the kid version electronic piano (not really a keyboard) for play play only. Last time, we let her watch nursery songs from youtube.

Once it happened (about 2 yo+) that there were few video clips on guitar version Doreamon theme songs and some young pianoists performance, she actually wanted to watch it over and over again. Particularly, the guitar video clip shows only the close up on how the player plays the guitar, she told us that she likes to watch. Since we try to minimize her tv times, we don't turn on the youtube anymore. So I am not sure if she is just curious what it is at that time or she is really interested in music. Probably, the young kids just curious in everything new to them.

Nice to hear your daughter has an interest in watching how the guitar was being played over and over again. Music appreciation classes sounds like something light which your dd can start out with. It doesn't focus on exam but more on teaching your daughter to recognize sounds and differentiating it from a young age. Especially when she's growing up now, her sense of hearing might be best developed at a young age. Learning how to sing to the tune is a very useful aural skill as well. Which means her listening skills might be better than others.

I will propose you to let her listen to music when she's at home and see if she's able to sing to the tunes. I see that parents who expose kids to music at a young age, kids will naturally pick it up better. When they play the piano they might even know they are playing the wrong note without having to teach them.

These are some of my experience as a piano teacher hope it is helpful to you.

[JY2011]

Hi, cse1217.


Thanks for your encouragement. Yes, I should let her listen to music more at home now. We went for a music assessment (very kind offered by a piano teacher, not sure I shld reveal the teacher's name here.) recently and DD is not quite ready for 1 to 1 lesson obviously. She doesn't listen to instruction still and take the piano as toy (I feel coz she keeps touching the keyboard randomly). We also feel \"pai seh\" that she doesn't really behave well as what the preschool teachers said. So we will just wait for another half a year or 1 year to see if she is ready by then. She is keen on touching most of the music instruments as she said she wants to play guitars and violins displayed in the music school where the assessment attended.

She is keen/curious in things but not ready for formal lessons. DD is an active child but need times to refine her learning behaviours. If not, difficult for teachers to teach also and progress may not be good too. Anyway, I really appreciate all the advices and comments given here.

[waiyean]

Hi JY,


The music lessons conducted in preschools are similar to those music appreciation classes in music schools. So far, all the music schools my kids attended also are engaged with preschools, conducting their music lessons.

Sounds like your DD will do well in these music appreciation group classes at the moment. Good teachers are hard to come by, so it’s still not too early for you to start looking now although it may be another half or 1 year before she is ready for formal individual lessons.

[JY2011]

waiyean:

Hi JY,


The music lessons conducted in preschools are similar to those music appreciation classes in music schools. So far, all the music schools my kids attended also are engaged with preschools, conducting their music lessons.

Sounds like your DD will do well in these music appreciation group classes at the moment. Good teachers are hard to come by, so it's still not too early for you to start looking now although it may be another half or 1 year before she is ready for formal individual lessons.

Hi Waiyean,

I totally agree with you. At least I can relax for another 6-12 months not too worry on the music classes or school... then buying piano stuff... I will just relax now... focus on her other skills like writing and reading first... It is also very tiring oledi actually...

Thanks.

[phankao]

JY2011:

She is keen/curious in things but not ready for formal lessons. DD is an active child but need times to refine her learning behaviours. If not, difficult for teachers to teach also and progress may not be good too. Anyway, I really appreciate all the advices and comments given here.

My youngest spent much of his early lessons in his preschool years running around his teacher's studios. That's for his violin. For piano, he was amazingly seated and focussed for at least 20 of his 30min lessons. But even though he spent much time playing games in his violin lessons (games bc he couldn't stand still for instructions! Play games v happy!).... he could play and he could progress, so do not discount that an active child CAN learn and can play instruments. He started at just around 3yrs old.

[waiyean]

phankao:

JY2011:

She is keen/curious in things but not ready for formal lessons. DD is an active child but need times to refine her learning behaviours. If not, difficult for teachers to teach also and progress may not be good too. Anyway, I really appreciate all the advices and comments given here.

My youngest spent much of his early lessons in his preschool years running around his teacher's studios. That's for his violin. For piano, he was amazingly seated and focussed for at least 20 of his 30min lessons. But even though he spent much time playing games in his violin lessons (games bc he couldn't stand still for instructions! Play games v happy!).... he could play and he could progress, so do not discount that an active child CAN learn and can play instruments. He started at just around 3yrs old.

After my daughter attended violin lessons, she could appreciate piano lessons much more. For piano at least she gets to sit down..... for violin, need to stand up for 1 hour.... legs tired....

By the way, is it common for violin students to stand up throughout the lessons?

[phankao]

waiyean:

phankao:

[quote=\"JY2011\"]

She is keen/curious in things but not ready for formal lessons. DD is an active child but need times to refine her learning behaviours. If not, difficult for teachers to teach also and progress may not be good too. Anyway, I really appreciate all the advices and comments given here.

My youngest spent much of his early lessons in his preschool years running around his teacher's studios. That's for his violin. For piano, he was amazingly seated and focussed for at least 20 of his 30min lessons. But even though he spent much time playing games in his violin lessons (games bc he couldn't stand still for instructions! Play games v happy!).... he could play and he could progress, so do not discount that an active child CAN learn and can play instruments. He started at just around 3yrs old.

After my daughter attended violin lessons, she could appreciate piano lessons much more. For piano at least she gets to sit down..... for violin, need to stand up for 1 hour.... legs tired....

By the way, is it common for violin students to stand up throughout the lessons?[/quote]Mine stands!

[JY2011]

Hi, phankao.


I think you have a musical talented son. He must have sharp eyes to capture what he observes and then learn by himself.

In fact, DD kept reminding us before the assessement. She even took out her electronic piano to play and rushed us to step out from house. So when she saw the real piano, she just touched and played with the keyboard. When we asked her to follow instruction to hit this key or that key, she said she doesn't want to do it. She just played the keyboard by her own way without following instruction. So your son is good that he can sit for 20 mins... mine not even 1 min.... when I told DD that we have to wait for some times later for the piano class after the assessment. She asked me why and I told her the truth that she can't follow instruction and not sitting long enough. But she still insisted she wants to attend lessons. Not sure if I shld send her to other group lessons but it will be quite similar to her preschool music lessons actually. Honestly speaking, we don't want to spend too much now if she is not ready for serious classes.

Thanks for your sharing that active children also can learn well.

[Dreamaurora]

JY2011:

Hi, phankao.


I think you have a musical talented son. He must have sharp eyes to capture what he observes and then learn by himself.

In fact, DD kept reminding us before the assessement. She even took out her electronic piano to play and rushed us to step out from house. So when she saw the real piano, she just touched and played with the keyboard. When we asked her to follow instruction to hit this key or that key, she said she doesn't want to do it. She just played the keyboard by her own way without following instruction. So your son is good that he can sit for 20 mins... mine not even 1 min.... when I told DD that we have to wait for some times later for the piano class after the assessment. She asked me why and I told her the truth that she can't follow instruction and not sitting long enough. But she still insisted she wants to attend lessons. Not sure if I shld send her to other group lessons but it will be quite similar to her preschool music lessons actually. Honestly speaking, we don't want to spend too much now if she is not ready for serious classes.

Thanks for your sharing that active children also can learn well.

I think it's great that you are realistic about what your daughter can achieve currently. I think too often parents have narrow-minded views on how they should develop their children's abilities. Though it is tempting to believe that all our kids are little Mozarts and they can handle whatever thrown at them, the reality is learning an instrument properly is a long difficult journey and one that is becoming increasingly unattractive in this era of instant gratification.

I myself often have to advise my own students' parents to adjust their own expectations and not push their kids beyond what they are willing to achieve. Surmounting a difficult challenge can be a very powerful motivation for young children, but the one they should be challenging should be themselves, not other children. A common question often asked to me by parents enquiring my lessons is \"my son/daughter's classmate is preparing grade X now, will he/she be able to achieve the same too next year?\" Though certainly a valid question, I caution parents about comparing their kids others, especially in this age of social media. So normally I will ask back this question \"Who do you think is more talented? A 6 year old girl who plays grade 5 pieces very average, or a 8 year old girl who plays grade 2 pieces beautifully with artistry?\" And most parents should be able to see the point afterwards.

[cse1217]

Hi JY2011,


Happy to hear that your daughter went through the assessment class so you have a better gauge whether to put her through formal lessons or not.

Dont worry, what your daughter is doing now is very normal. A lot of young children do like to play randomly at the at piano. Sometimes even older students like 9-10 years old still cannot sit still.

Take time to teach her bit by bit and slowly when she learns to follow instruction and able to sit down for longer period of time, that's when you can start.

I actually started learning piano when I was 8 years old. Haha! So no hurries!!

Hi Waiyean

Whether the kid gets to stand throughout or get some time to rest and sit down, it depends on how long the music lesson is. Typically if the student only have half an hour, I observe the teacher will make the student stand throughout because it makes them more disciplined.

However for higher grade students like grade 8, sometimes the lesson might be more than 1hour, so when explaining concepts to the student, the teacher might let the student sit down.

It also depends whether the student is able to take the long standing during the lesson. If your kid is really tired during lesson, you can tell your kid to tell the teacher. Then she/he can get some rest accordingly.

Dont worry! Just voice out! Its not a punishment.

Orchestra violinist most of the time are seated unless they have solo. So even sitting down, you can play well too!