All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers
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Got a question and hope someone can enlightened me. Does piano teachers play out the songs they are teaching to their pupils? Or they can still teach well if they don’t have mastery of certain pieces?
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Kee Kor:
Got a question and hope someone can enlightened me. Does piano teachers play out the songs they are teaching to their pupils? Or they can still teach well if they don't have mastery of certain pieces?
Of course, being able to demonstrate well is an important aspect of good teaching. Now, this does not mean a teacher must be able to sight-read and perform 100% perfect a complete piece in lessons, but at least the teacher must be able to demonstrate select passages well enough with the details or insights the teacher want the student to learn. A student's playing ability will be limited by the level of musical proficiency of the teacher. This may not manifest in the lower grades yet as the pieces are still rather straightforward and still possible to get distinctions even the pieces are not played very musically. But for higher grades (5-8), the student will be expected to have insights beyond what is printed on the page, and this is where having a teacher who can play very well will be necessary to secure those distinctions. There is a saying that not all good performers will be good teachers, BUT all good teachers are good performers.
The breadth of piano repertoire is so wide that it is impossible to know everything, I would say 90% of repertoire I teach my students I have not personally worked on myself. This is why some teachers always assign the exact same exam pieces for their students rather than letting them freely choose. A good teacher can still teach well a piece he/she has never played before by drawing insights from other similar pieces he/she has played before. -
Celerebaby:
No two kids will learn the same way or at same rate of progress. The kind of pieces they like may be different e.g. one may prefer more classical another may prefer more contemporary ones. Their learning approach can be different too. I don't advocate group lessons for this reason. Group appreciation classes such as Yamaha JMC is different story because they are focused more to develop interest and basic musical skills first. If you are getting a private teacher, I would advise you to go fully one-to-one so the lesson is more specific to each of your child. If you don't mind a slower rate of progress overall and place more emphasis that your children are happy in lessons, then perhaps you can consider group class.Hi all,
I'm on the prowl for a dedicated piano teacher who loves teaching young children. Someone who can inspire and nurture them to appreciate and develop a life long love of music. Not too bothered about exams. Staying in Pasir Panjang/Buona Vista but willing to travel within the vicinity. My sons are 5 & 6, both absolute beginners and we don't own a piano (yet). Would really appreciate personal recommendations from parents. Would it be more conducive to have individual lessons or both of them in the same class? Thanks much in advance. -
Dreamaurora:
Kee Kor:
Got a question and hope someone can enlightened me. Does piano teachers play out the songs they are teaching to their pupils? Or they can still teach well if they don't have mastery of certain pieces?
Of course, being able to demonstrate well is an important aspect of good teaching. Now, this does not mean a teacher must be able to sight-read and perform 100% perfect a complete piece in lessons, but at least the teacher must be able to demonstrate select passages well enough with the details or insights the teacher want the student to learn. A student's playing ability will be limited by the level of musical proficiency of the teacher. This may not manifest in the lower grades yet as the pieces are still rather straightforward and still possible to get distinctions even the pieces are not played very musically. But for higher grades (5-8), the student will be expected to have insights beyond what is printed on the page, and this is where having a teacher who can play very well will be necessary to secure those distinctions. There is a saying that not all good performers will be good teachers, BUT all good teachers are good performers.
The breadth of piano repertoire is so wide that it is impossible to know everything, I would say 90% of repertoire I teach my students I have not personally worked on myself. This is why some teachers always assign the exact same exam pieces for their students rather than letting them freely choose. A good teacher can still teach well a piece he/she has never played before by drawing insights from other similar pieces he/she has played before.
I came across a blog post that sums it up \" A good teacher though, is a totally different ball game. In my opinion, a good teacher has to first be a good performer, because, after all, he is teaching a performing art; so, if he doesn’t know how to perform something how is he going to teach it? However, bear in mind that knowledge of music and ability to communicate it to people are vastly different.\"
The whole post and the link:
A great performer is not necessarily a great teacher: Myth or fact?
Posted on June 2, 2013 by Nikolaos — No Comments ↓
[HELLO-IN-ALL-LANGUAGES]!
So… if you are a “bad” performer that means you are a great teacher? Well, let’s not oversimplify things… It’s not really black or white.
To start, we have two sides; the performer’s side and the teacher’s side. Let’s see what is happening in their lives.
Let’s quickly define (as if that’s even possible) both first. The great performer is naturally doing concerts all over the world. It goes without saying that he is a virtuoso*, and that’s why he is considered great, however, mostly to gullible non-musicians. As a result, this type of musician has limited time to enlighten the young and learning people.
The teacher, or the one who makes his living mostly by teaching, is the person that is NOT, most of the time, a virtuoso; otherwise, he would have just given concerts all over the place to celebrate his talent. (You wouldn’t call Vladimir Horowitz a teacher, would you? Even though he has taught during his illustrious career); let’s stop kidding ourselves here for a second, please. At the same time, a teacher might or might not be a very competent performer – it doesn’t matter; remember also, that there are different levels of teaching abilities and, unfortunately, in this world anyone can teach an instrument even without formal qualifications.
A good teacher though, is a totally different ball game. In my opinion, a good teacher has to first be a good performer, because, after all, he is teaching a performing art; so, if he doesn’t know how to perform something how is he going to teach it? However, bear in mind that knowledge of music and ability to communicate it to people are vastly different.
So, let me elaborate by taking for example the scale of C major. There are a few possibilities for a teacher:
1. The teacher can play it correctly, can find the student’s weaknesses, and can demonstrate it correctly.
2. The teacher can play it correctly, but cannot find the student’s weaknesses to correct.
3. The teacher can’t play it correctly, but can find the student’s weaknesses, and can correct them.
4. The teacher can’t play it correctly, knows how it should sound though, but doesn’t teach correctly.
5. The teacher can’t play it correctly, cannot find the student’s weaknesses, and doesn’t know how to teach them.
Therefore, sometimes we can see brilliant teachers, that have great relationship with students and can communicate their knowledge wonderfully, however, their lack of the pragmatic depth of the piano can give away their pianistic ignorance. So, their skill, per se, in knowing HOW to teach something might not be enough in recognising them as great teachers. At the same time though, technical knowledge is not the only prerequisite of a great teacher.
Performers, on the other hand, are responsible for their own skills and body. And for this reason, in many instances, they haven’t learned how to be “responsible” for other people’s skills and body. So, even though they can perceive and do things greatly themselves, they often haven’t “practiced” in explaining those things successfully to others. So, for instance, a virtuoso pianist may know very well how to play a scale, however, he might not be able to describe to the student how to play that scale, because he just does it naturally and hasn’t really thought for a long time about the mechanics of the hand and fingers. Still, he will, in all probability, be able to hear the “wrongness” in a performance of an inferior performer to himself.
As with the teacher above, let’s see what is happening with the virtuoso (or great performer) by taking as an example the C major again:
1. The virtuoso can play it correctly, can see/hear the weaknesses of a student, and can correct them.
2. The virtuoso can play it correctly, can see/hear the weaknesses of a student, but cannot correct them efficiently.
So, I believe that, more often than not, a virtuoso will be able to identify a student’s weaknesses. However, this doesn’t mean that he can correct them efficiently.
So, to recap:
Keep practising and keep performing, because this will make you a better teacher? I think, yes.
*Virtuoso: The person who performs super-fastly, with minimum mistakes. He often possesses the rest of the… “unavoidable” and “yawning” for him musical necessities, such as correct tone, intended articulations, respect of composer and style. In the case of singers, he sings mostly repertoire above 90 decibels and has a pompous expression at all times.
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http://www.pianopractising.com/a-great- ... h-or-fact/ -
Dreamaurora:
So how do we know for sure if the teacher can teach beyond G5. Most will claim that they are able to. Will their track record in exam results be able to confirm that? Then again how to check what's their track record?Kee Kor:
Got a question and hope someone can enlightened me. Does piano teachers play out the songs they are teaching to their pupils? Or they can still teach well if they don't have mastery of certain pieces?
Of course, being able to demonstrate well is an important aspect of good teaching. Now, this does not mean a teacher must be able to sight-read and perform 100% perfect a complete piece in lessons, but at least the teacher must be able to demonstrate select passages well enough with the details or insights the teacher want the student to learn. A student's playing ability will be limited by the level of musical proficiency of the teacher. This may not manifest in the lower grades yet as the pieces are still rather straightforward and still possible to get distinctions even the pieces are not played very musically. But for higher grades (5-8), the student will be expected to have insights beyond what is printed on the page, and this is where having a teacher who can play very well will be necessary to secure those distinctions. There is a saying that not all good performers will be good teachers, BUT all good teachers are good performers.
The breadth of piano repertoire is so wide that it is impossible to know everything, I would say 90% of repertoire I teach my students I have not personally worked on myself. This is why some teachers always assign the exact same exam pieces for their students rather than letting them freely choose. A good teacher can still teach well a piece he/she has never played before by drawing insights from other similar pieces he/she has played before.
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Kee Kor:
So how do we know for sure if the teacher can teach beyond G5. Most will claim that they are able to. Will their track record in exam results be able to confirm that? Then again how to check what's their track record?
There is no way to know for sure if the teacher can teach your child beyond G5. You can increase the chance of success by looking at track record of the teacher or school, if they have a history of teaching many advanced students who does well. Not all teachers will showcase students' exam results, but they might organize student concerts. Attend those concerts and listen.
Having said that, having students who score distinctions or does well in concerts & festivals does not confirm that the teacher is good. It could be just that the teacher has a couple of very good students, who \"obviously\" will be selected to perform in concerts. Or, the good students may score distinctions without much guidance from the teacher.
Also, the teaching style of the teacher may not be suitable for all students, ie. what works for another child may not work for your child.
In my opinion, never engage a teacher who disallow parent to sit in during the lessons. How will you know if the teacher is teaching well if you are not in there to listen? -
Kee Kor:
So how do we know for sure if the teacher can teach beyond G5. Most will claim that they are able to. Will their track record in exam results be able to confirm that? Then again how to check what's their track record?Dreamaurora:
[quote=\"Kee Kor\"]Got a question and hope someone can enlightened me. Does piano teachers play out the songs they are teaching to their pupils? Or they can still teach well if they don't have mastery of certain pieces?
Of course, being able to demonstrate well is an important aspect of good teaching. Now, this does not mean a teacher must be able to sight-read and perform 100% perfect a complete piece in lessons, but at least the teacher must be able to demonstrate select passages well enough with the details or insights the teacher want the student to learn. A student's playing ability will be limited by the level of musical proficiency of the teacher. This may not manifest in the lower grades yet as the pieces are still rather straightforward and still possible to get distinctions even the pieces are not played very musically. But for higher grades (5-8), the student will be expected to have insights beyond what is printed on the page, and this is where having a teacher who can play very well will be necessary to secure those distinctions. There is a saying that not all good performers will be good teachers, BUT all good teachers are good performers.
The breadth of piano repertoire is so wide that it is impossible to know everything, I would say 90% of repertoire I teach my students I have not personally worked on myself. This is why some teachers always assign the exact same exam pieces for their students rather than letting them freely choose. A good teacher can still teach well a piece he/she has never played before by drawing insights from other similar pieces he/she has played before.[/quote]Actually for grade 8 as long as a student can play securely at a decent tempo can pass lar, don't have to play fantastic. Most teachers should be able to guide student to get this standard. But to teach a student to play grade 8 pieces with good technical control and insights require a teacher who can play well and has deep musical knowledge. Easiest way to check is observing how the teacher conduct the trial lesson or ask to sit in one of the higher grade lessons. A good higher grade teacher will try to explain and discuss more about the musical aspects of the pieces rather than just merely correcting notes and marking errors. He/she will also demonstrate frequently on the piano.
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waiyean:
Yes, attending concerts or performance classes are the best way to see a teacher's work.Kee Kor:
So how do we know for sure if the teacher can teach beyond G5. Most will claim that they are able to. Will their track record in exam results be able to confirm that? Then again how to check what's their track record?
There is no way to know for sure if the teacher can teach your child beyond G5. You can increase the chance of success by looking at track record of the teacher or school, if they have a history of teaching many advanced students who does well. Not all teachers will showcase students' exam results, but they might organize student concerts. Attend those concerts and listen.
Having said that, having students who score distinctions or does well in concerts & festivals does not confirm that the teacher is good. It could be just that the teacher has a couple of very good students, who \"obviously\" will be selected to perform in concerts. Or, the good students may score distinctions without much guidance from the teacher.
Also, the teaching style of the teacher may not be suitable for all students, ie. what works for another child may not work for your child.
In my opinion, never engage a teacher who disallow parent to sit in during the lessons. How will you know if the teacher is teaching well if you are not in there to listen?
Waiyean, no matter how talented a student is, she will not be able to figure out the finer details of playing by herself. She will still need a great teacher to put those finishing touches necessary to secure prizes and awards. So any teacher whose students do well in concerts and festivals definitely has the capabilities to bring her students to that level, but like what you said her approach may not be for everyone. That being said, you are correct that most teachers will have two or three star students they will feature often. Not all students will have the capabilities nor the drive to reach that level, but I think we can still assess the consistency of the rest of the teacher's students. If the rest of the a teacher's students' standards are far below the her star students', then it speaks volumes about the attitude of the teacher and her teaching approach.
Yes, I personally will not engage a teacher who disallow sit in as I would want to be proactive in my children's music lessons. I do recognise that many teachers are not comfortable to be observed and some music schools have this rule too where parents can't sit in. I think it's still acceptable if the teacher maintain an open line of communication to the parents outside lesson time. -
Dreamaurora:
Agree, and I am not saying the student does it all by herself without any help from teacher. Rather, with a talented student, the contributing factors of success may be more towards the student's hard work and ability to learn fast and well, even if the teacher is just \"average\" or below in the teaching.waiyean:
Having said that, having students who score distinctions or does well in concerts & festivals does not confirm that the teacher is good. It could be just that the teacher has a couple of very good students, who \"obviously\" will be selected to perform in concerts. Or, the good students may score distinctions without much guidance from the teacher.
Waiyean, no matter how talented a student is, she will not be able to figure out the finer details of playing by herself. She will still need a great teacher to put those finishing touches necessary to secure prizes and awards. -
waiyean:
Agree, and I am not saying the student does it all by herself without any help from teacher. Rather, with a talented student, the contributing factors of success may be more towards the student's hard work and ability to learn fast and well, even if the teacher is just \"average\" or below in the teaching.[/quote]Yes, that was why I said earlier it is still possible to score distinctions for lower grades even if the teacher not so stellar. But for higher grades, from my experience almost practically impossible. I prepared my grade 8 by myself without teacher by copying everything from the ABRSM CDs. I played securely up to speed without any noticeable mistakes save for a brief lapse for one of the pieces. But I still only managed to secure only Merit (24, 26, and 25) marks for the pieces because my playing was superficial and lacked finesse.Dreamaurora:
[quote=\"waiyean\"]Having said that, having students who score distinctions or does well in concerts & festivals does not confirm that the teacher is good. It could be just that the teacher has a couple of very good students, who \"obviously\" will be selected to perform in concerts. Or, the good students may score distinctions without much guidance from the teacher.
Waiyean, no matter how talented a student is, she will not be able to figure out the finer details of playing by herself. She will still need a great teacher to put those finishing touches necessary to secure prizes and awards.
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