All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[Xiao dou dou]

Hi,

I am very new to the forum here. Love the sharing of ideas and opinion here.
My daughter is turning 4 soon, currently attending MYC. Was wondering if I shall switch to a private piano lesson or continue till next year for the nafa audition? Any recommendation for piano teachers? I think my daughter is more into performing type, she learn pretty fast in her class lesson, that’s y I am thinking if its sufficient for her to learn more things

[sacredmusicals]

I am getting confused. When I prepared grade 8 around 20 years ago, I remembered my mother paying 80$ for one hour grade 8 lesson. And if I’m not wrong grade 1 was $20 for one lesson. My teacher had an Advanced Cert from ABRSM. She was just a low profile SAHM teacher and did not have high achieving students like the so called "elite" teachers have. At least that’s what I knew because she did not organise fancy student concerts like Dream or Winnie Tay. Factoring in the inflation, I feel it would not be out of place for my teacher to charge $50-60 per hour for beginners today. And here Dream and some of you are claiming this amount is reserved for teachers who have fancy qualifications and fantastic performing students. I think full time trained performance oriented teachers like Dream should not undercut lesser qualified teachers and skew the amount of fee parent expect to pay them.

[Dreamaurora]

sacredmusicals:

I am getting confused. When I prepared grade 8 around 20 years ago, I remembered my mother paying 80$ for one hour grade 8 lesson. And if I'm not wrong grade 1 was $20 for one lesson. My teacher had an Advanced Cert from ABRSM. She was just a low profile SAHM teacher and did not have high achieving students like the so called \"elite\" teachers have. At least that's what I knew because she did not organise fancy student concerts like Dream or Winnie Tay. Factoring in the inflation, I feel it would not be out of place for my teacher to charge $50-60 per hour for beginners today. And here Dream and some of you are claiming this amount is reserved for teachers who have fancy qualifications and fantastic performing students. I think full time trained performance oriented teachers like Dream should not undercut lesser qualified teachers and skew the amount of fee parent expect to pay them.

I think we all can agree that being a piano teacher in this modern age is quite different from being a piano teacher 20 years ago. For one thing, the pool of teachers is much larger now. YST, NAFA, Lasalle are producing steady streams of local tertiary music graduates. And there are oversea educated music graduates and teachers who studied for the private music or teaching diplomas. Being a new graduate entering a quite a crowded teaching market is not easy. Well, there is always the option to work in music school, but it is quite hard to convince parents to pay premium fee without any track record. So a private music teacher in early stage of career will most likely need to undercut the competition in order to survive and get students to experiment the teaching method, unless got rich parents to back the career. This was a position I found myself last time. I charged very cheaply and accepted practically everyone who enquired. To be fair, although I was passionate about teaching, I did lack in breadth of teaching methodologies, so I felt my low fee was justifiable.

As for today, I have already explained the reasoning behind my current fee. I feel the way some teachers decide their fee can be rather arbitrary. But in this social media age where parents and students are more tech savy, comparisons are bound to be inevitable. This is why parents always ask about the so called market rate and if the fees they pay their teachers are reasonable. So I guess the market in this sense corrects itself. Teachers who may be undercharging will get more business because the parents can perceive the additional value they provide. Teachers who overcharge will eventually lose their student and suffer reputation loss.

[Dreamaurora]

Dear all,


I am organising a private recital for my ABRSM grade 8 and DipABRSM batch who are taking exams this year on 18 July 2015 Saturday 630-800 PM. If you are interested to attend do PM me and I will let you know the details. This is a serious and long concert hence not really recommended for beginners and lower grades to watch.

[wishababy]

hi

Does anyone have recommendation for piano teacher who can come to our house and teach my boy?
He is currently attending group lessons. I have misgivings about the music school he goes.
the program is good. It does not stretch to his best ability. So I am looking for a piano teacher to come teach him the songs he like and wish to learn. It is something we can never achieve in group lesson.
He will still attend the group lessons as he loves socializing and interaction.

[xueyan]

Dear all


My boy who is 7 years old just started piano lesson in June 2015. He is progressing quite well but I feel that the teacher teaches very fast. She kinda tell me that he will be able to go Grade 1 in around 2-3 months time.

My friend’s son who is in Cristofori stayed in beginners stage for more than 1 year before promoting to Grade 1.

I am now feeling perplex why do my son’s teacher want to rush to Grade 1? Because she can charge more for Grade 1 or is he really that fantastic (I am very doubtful).

May I ask parents here how long do your kids stay on the beginner’s stage?

Thanks for advice!

[waiyean]

xueyan:

May I ask parents here how long do your kids stay on the beginner's stage?

Highly dependent on starting age of the child.
At 7, probably don't need to spend that much time in beginner stage. A child half that age probably has to spend a year there.

[Dreamaurora]

xueyan:

Dear all


My boy who is 7 years old just started piano lesson in June 2015. He is progressing quite well but I feel that the teacher teaches very fast. She kinda tell me that he will be able to go Grade 1 in around 2-3 months time.

My friend's son who is in Cristofori stayed in beginners stage for more than 1 year before promoting to Grade 1.

I am now feeling perplex why do my son's teacher want to rush to Grade 1? Because she can charge more for Grade 1 or is he really that fantastic (I am very doubtful).

May I ask parents here how long do your kids stay on the beginner's stage?

Thanks for advice!

The question you need to ask is not whether getting to grade 1 is too fast, but rather if all the skills expected at grade 1 level are developed properly and consistently. Obviously some students will have the capacity to progress faster to a number of factors such as natural facility, older age, helpful parents etc. But does not matter how long it takes to progress, the foundation has to be laid properly and proper learning not compromised.

I think too many parents and often teachers assume a student is ready for a grade just because the student is already playing pieces at that grade or one grade lower. I always advise that if a student is truly ready for that grade, the student needs to be thoroughly well-rounded in all aspects of learning expected at that grade e.g. sight-reading, etc.

[jessieyl]

Any good , one-to-one home piano teacher to recommend for teaching grade 1 , for areas in Punggol? Looking at fees ranging $100 - $120.

[bunnybluey]

Is it ok for a 4 years old to start 1-1 piano lesson or is it better to start with programme like Cristofori MLM? Any advice is appreciated, thanks.