All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

blingbling:

1. If the teacher knows our intentions of letting our child take the examination, shouldn't the teacher start to practice the orals, and sight readings instead of just practicing the exam pieces every lesson? DS could already play 3 pieces from practice book in early March.

Generally sight-reading need to be incorporated regularly in lessons regardless of preparing an exam or not. Specific aural training for exams normally can go through after registering for the exam, though for the higher grade ones may need to go through earlier for those weaker in aural.

blingbling:

2. The school should inform parents what are the registration dates and exam dates so that parents are aware and can make informed decisions. We had trusted the teacher to register and this is what happened.

3. The school had failed to register our child twice for the year and gave excuse saying that our child is not ready.

I am not sure how Aureus is ran, but is there a principal/manager who is usually a senior teacher who coordinates exam preparation among teachers? This person should provide all the necessary infos to students and their parents. He/she should also set general guidelines on how to ascertain a student is ready. From the way you describe this, it seems like there is a general lack of communication between the teachers, students, and the school managements. But I will reserve my judgement until we hear Aureus' side.

Not ready can be a valid excuse for not registering student for an exam, and in fact I myself have advised exams to be delayed because of this reason. But these are not arbitrary decisions, for any of my students who plan to take exams, there are specific goals they need to meet by registration before they are allowed to register. All these expectations and deadlines are conveyed very clearly months before the registration. So, if the students do not meet the pre-registration goals, then the parents can see for themselves the students are not ready.

blingbling:

4. We were told to buy a sight reading book and theory book. But after a few lessons, the teacher said that there is no time for theory and asked me to do it with my child at home. The sight reading book was only used once.

How long is the lesson? If it is only half an hour, I would concur it's very difficult to do a well rounded lesson every single week. But it is still possible to ration theory, sight-reading, and technical training into short lessons. Just that may need to alternate.

I thought most music schools run separate theory and aural lessons ? Separate from practical ?

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

I thought most music schools run separate theory and aural lessons ? Separate from practical ?

The standard practice for most music schools is to let the teachers go through theory grade 1-4 in practical lessons with their students. For grade 5-8, usually the students will be asked to attend additional theory lessons, either individual or group. For aural, the teachers are expected to go through in practical lessons from grade 1-8.

[blingbling]

Dreamaurora:

I am not sure how Aureus is ran, but is there a principal/manager who is usually a senior teacher who coordinates exam preparation among teachers? This person should provide all the necessary infos to students and their parents. He/she should also set general guidelines on how to ascertain a student is ready. From the way you describe this, it seems like there is a general lack of communication between the teachers, students, and the school managements. But I will reserve my judgement until we hear Aureus' side.
once.

Hi Dreamaurora, thank you for your unbias and meaningful reply.
We never knew there is such a person who can help.

Dreamaurora:

Not ready can be a valid excuse for not registering student for an exam, and in fact I myself have advised exams to be delayed because of this reason. But these are not arbitrary decisions, for any of my students who plan to take exams, there are specific goals they need to meet by registration before they are allowed to register. All these expectations and deadlines are conveyed very clearly months before the registration. So, if the students do not meet the pre-registration goals, then the parents can see for themselves the students are not ready.

We would be very Glad to accept the facts if they had inform us that he is not ready before the closing date. And not after. It seems they are finding an excuse as they have forgotten about it. No goals/expectations/datelines have been drawn out before. Why then did the teacher promise to register for us? :sad:

[FantasyLandDreams]

Recently I realise a trend whereby friends’ children are taking grade 3 or higher practical exams soon but only halfway through grade 1 theory book. The emphasis seem to be to ‘cheong’ for practical exams first due to time constraints ( no time for theory at all for a 45min lesson). I am just puzzled and I wonder, is this method feasible at all, and what are the pros and cons, as I always thought you need to learn the theory behind to be able to read notes, keys etc to play the scales and pieces well?

[waiyean]

blingbling:

We would be very Glad to accept the facts if they had inform us that he is not ready before the closing date. And not after. It seems they are finding an excuse as they have forgotten about it. No goals/expectations/datelines have been drawn out before. Why then did the teacher promise to register for us? :sad:

Did you leave your email address with the school? My daughter is with this school, and we registered our exams with them both for the March and September sessions. The admin sends an email out to all parents to inform about registering for exams, and ask us to go to the front desk personally to register, probably due to making of payment and confirming personal particulars. I received these emails.

However, it's true that the teacher should have reminded you as well.

[waiyean]

FantasyLandDreams:

Recently I realise a trend whereby friends' children are taking grade 3 or higher practical exams soon but only halfway through grade 1 theory book. The emphasis seem to be to 'cheong' for practical exams first due to time constraints ( no time for theory at all for a 45min lesson). I am just puzzled and I wonder, is this method feasible at all, and what are the pros and cons, as I always thought you need to learn the theory behind to be able to read notes, keys etc to play the scales and pieces well?

That's quite common right? Not everyone takes all the theory grade exams, some goes directly to grade 5 theory. Most of them may not have \"finished\" the grade 1 theory books, but it doesn't mean the teachers never go through theory concepts with the student. It also depends on the age of the child, if they are too young, then they may not be ready to do structured theory lessons, but still can do practical. As long as they catch up with grade 5 theory by the time they are roughly doing grade 5 practical, it's okay.

[blingbling]

waiyean:

Did you leave your email address with the school? My daughter is with this school, and we registered our exams with them both for the March and September sessions. The admin sends an email out to all parents to inform about registering for exams, and ask us to go to the front desk personally to register, probably due to making of payment and confirming personal particulars. I received these emails.

However, it's true that the teacher should have reminded you as well.

Yes I saw the email. It had said to discuss and confirm with the teacher about it before the payment. Which I did. But nothing came out of it twice.

Anyway, I'm going to pull my child out of Aureus after this episode.

[yernying]

waiyean:

blingbling:

We would be very Glad to accept the facts if they had inform us that he is not ready before the closing date. And not after. It seems they are finding an excuse as they have forgotten about it. No goals/expectations/datelines have been drawn out before. Why then did the teacher promise to register for us? :sad:

Did you leave your email address with the school? My daughter is with this school, and we registered our exams with them both for the March and September sessions. The admin sends an email out to all parents to inform about registering for exams, and ask us to go to the front desk personally to register, probably due to making of payment and confirming personal particulars. I received these emails.

However, it's true that the teacher should have reminded


I always discuss with parents what actually they wish for their child.I will explain to them about child progress
before parents consider when to go for exam.Normally I aim for distinction result for children,so preparation for exam will take longer time.everything must explain to parents in very early stage because final decision in on parent side.

[waiyean]

It’s a problem faced with many music schools, ie. their teachers are jam packed with students from morning to night, some with only 1 day rest per week. Add to the fact that lesson time is so short and rushed, they leave most of the exams/admin stuff to the admin desk. With so many students and so little time, coordination between the teachers and admin is never perfect.


I guess the situation is better for teachers who run their own studios, and can better manage their time?

Various parents have different needs, ie. what works for one may not for another. Some parent may find that teachers with good qualifications & network are most important, some may find ability to teach to be of priority. To others, seamless admin might be more crucial. Hence selection of teachers/schools should be done basis whether they meet your needs, not solely based on other’s recommendations.

[Dreamaurora]

waiyean:

It's a problem faced with many music schools, ie. their teachers are jam packed with students from morning to night, some with only 1 day rest per week. Add to the fact that lesson time is so short and rushed, they leave most of the exams/admin stuff to the admin desk. With so many students and so little time, coordination between the teachers and admin is never perfect.


I guess the situation is better for teachers who run their own studios, and can better manage their time?

Various parents have different needs, ie. what works for one may not for another. Some parent may find that teachers with good qualifications & network are most important, some may find ability to teach to be of priority. To others, seamless admin might be more crucial. Hence selection of teachers/schools should be done basis whether they meet your needs, not solely based on other's recommendations.

Running a music school is by no means an easy task, but I don't think any lapses in teaching or admin are excusable. After all, most music schools charge quite a premium compared to private teachers of similar standards, so logically they should provide more value right?

There are a lot of factors that may contribute to a poorly ran music school. I like most teachers started my career in a music school and there were a lot of issues I observed as a teacher and feedback but nothing was ever done in the end, yet most of these issues are easily solvable with some effort. You raised the issue of teachers teaching back to back with little break. This is a terrible practice and caused heavy fatigue on the teachers. On a typical weekend I taught from morning and only ended in the evening. By near evening I was so tired that I could not teach with the same effectiveness at the start of the day. Now as private teacher, I could schedule sufficient shorter breaks in between students so I could be fresh for each student. I wonder why the same can't be done for music schools.

There were also complaints leveled against my teaching as I was a junior teacher and a lot of things I still did not know. Fair enough, but nothing was done by the management/principal to support me. There was no staff meeting, no mentor ship, no curriculum, no performance review whatsoever. So basically I pretty much functioned like a private teacher in the music school, with the exception that I have much less freedom. Students are registered for exams even against my recommendations and ended up doing badly.

So as you can see, my experience in a music school was not a positive one. And unfortunately in my conversations with some music school owners, there are plenty like the one I was in. I believe running a music school first and foremost requires a deep passion in teaching, this is why music schools started by established teachers tend to fare better as they have reputation to upkeep. But more commonly, a lot of music schools are started by junior teachers with a lot of ready capitals at their disposals, either provided by their parents or other means. And the inexperience of the management in this case show in the day to day running of the schools.