All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[metz]

peanut_butter:

Thanks Chamonis for the publicity. I received a few PM for home tuitions. I do conduct trails but I can’t travel in the evenings any more.

My pleasure. In fact, I enjoyed reading posts from you guys as well as jce and joyofmusic. These contributions are certainly useful for those of us who Music illiterates. Hopefully, interested parents will be able to id suitable teachers for their children from all your sharing.

Parents looking for music teachers on this forum, i would urge you to comb through the relevant teachers' posts to have a better understanding of their teaching styles. (You can use the 'search' function to call up their posts.) It is really not easy to engage good music teachers, so do spend some time finding out more about them before committing yourselves. I hope things will work out well for all parties.

peanut_butter:

Dreamaurora:

I use a reward system (collect 20 stickers and exchange for a toy), but I am extremely strict in dispensing the reward. Like if the piece not up to my expectation, then no sticker. I find that this approach works better and the children can feel the loss of not practicing well without being traumatised.

You are good. The ‘carrot’ approach didn’t work for me some years ago. The kids were initially keen but the excitement die down after a while. I discovered that the ‘stick' method worked better. When they repeated the same mistakes frequently, I put a skull sticker on the chart board. I threaten them by telling them that whoever accumulate the most stickers would have to treat everyone else at MacDonalds on 31st Dec. It worked wonder for some. The downside is the trick can only use for one year. So I couldn’t renew my contract with the school. :evil: I want to try the reward method again this year. But my students want to ipad2. :imdrowning:
[/color]

The 'carrot' approach using stickers didn't work for my son. But for ipad2, it might just turn him into a workhorse at the piano, hehe...

PS: He laughed and said, 'Maybe.'

[Dreamaurora]

Well, stickers are not big enough ‘carrot’ for most children. The trick is to dangle a ‘carrot’ that even their parents are reluctant to buy for them. Like for example for girls I gave out ZhuZhuPets and for boys Transformer toys. They will probably need around 20 to 40 lessons to acquire enough stickers for the toy exchange, so the ‘carrot’ will give the kids a sort of long term goal.

[metz]

Dreamaurora:

Well, stickers are not big enough 'carrot' for most children. The trick is to dangle a 'carrot' that even their parents are reluctant to buy for them. Like for example for girls I gave out ZhuZhuPets and for boys Transformer toys. They will probably need around 20 to 40 lessons to acquire enough stickers for the toy exchange, so the 'carrot' will give the kids a sort of long term goal.

Phew, fortunately mine don't need 'carrots'. Otherwise, their teachers will run of ideas soon. (Actually, we don't encourage the use of 'carrots' at home.)

[nissin]

chamonix:

phankao:

[quote=\"chamonix\"]

Btw, I did see another preschooler crying during his lessons. Yet, he would still go for lessons week after week. The violin teacher may be strict but some kids still like him. For some children, a strict teacher may not necessarily result in a loss of interest.

[/quote]This I agree. My kid is like that too. His English enrichment teacher is very strict and demanding. Some kids will cry before coming to her class so you know she is the no-nonsense kind. However my almost 6yo boy,instead of being phobia going to her class, does not mind attending and keeps telling me although he got scolded sometimes,he still want to attend because he is learning a lot from this teacher.. I'm like :? :scratchhead: ..

[metz]

nissin:

This I agree. My kid is like that too. His English enrichment teacher is very strict and demanding. Some kids will cry before coming to her class so you know she is the no-nonsense kind. However my almost 6yo boy,instead of being phobia going to her class, does not mind attending and keeps telling me although he got scolded sometimes,he still want to attend because he is learning a lot from this teacher.. I'm like :? :scratchhead: ..

Exactly! Maybe they understand the strict teachers meant well? Both my children just expressed their wish to train under the strict violin teacher again when we return to Sg.

[Dreamaurora]

chamonix:

nissin:

This I agree. My kid is like that too. His English enrichment teacher is very strict and demanding. Some kids will cry before coming to her class so you know she is the no-nonsense kind. However my almost 6yo boy,instead of being phobia going to her class, does not mind attending and keeps telling me although he got scolded sometimes,he still want to attend because he is learning a lot from this teacher.. I'm like :? :scratchhead: ..

Exactly! Maybe they understand the strict teachers meant well? Both my children just expressed their wish to train under the strict violin teacher again when we return to Sg.

Depends on the students though, that is why we teachers have to learn to vary our approach depending on the students. Some students are naturally competitive and ambitious, so can be more strict and push the student. Some students are more laid back and prefer to take things slow, so I will be more friendly but still insist on seeing some progress. I sincerely hope I will never make any students cry in my lesson though. Some teachers adopt one singular approach to their students. It may work or it may not work, but we should never judge a teacher's ability based on their best visible results, rather we should evaluate a teacher's collective results across all his/her students.

And sometimes even results do not tell the entire story. I am sure many of us have heard horror stories of stellar students who won competitions and gotten grade 8 distinctions or diplomas but swore off piano for the rest of their lives thanks to hothousing by their teachers and parents.

[Dreamaurora]

peanut_butter:

chamonix:

You can find a list of piano teachers on the Homepage under 'Latest Trainer'. Alternatively, you can PM either Dreamaurora (river valley) or Peanut_butter (travels to student's home) for further queries and recommendations. Both, with some others, have contributed regularly on the forum.

Thanks Chamonis for the publicity. I received a few PM for home tuitions. I do conduct trails but I can’t travel in the evenings any more.

Dreamaurora:

I use a reward system (collect 20 stickers and exchange for a toy), but I am extremely strict in dispensing the reward. Like if the piece not up to my expectation, then no sticker. I find that this approach works better and the children can feel the loss of not practicing well without being traumatised.

You are good. The ‘carrot’ approach didn’t work for me some years ago. The kids were initially keen but the excitement die down after a while. I discovered that the ‘stick' method worked better. When they repeated the same mistakes frequently, I put a skull sticker on the chart board. I threaten them by telling them that whoever accumulate the most stickers would have to treat everyone else at MacDonalds on 31st Dec. It worked wonder for some. The downside is the trick can only use for one year. So I couldn’t renew my contract with the school. :evil: I want to try the reward method again this year. But my students want to ipad2. :imdrowning:

The skull method sounds interesting, too bad I got no more children guinea pigs to try them on. Majority of my students are teenagers and adults

[nissin]

Dreamaurora:

chamonix:

[quote=\"nissin\"]

This I agree. My kid is like that too. His English enrichment teacher is very strict and demanding. Some kids will cry before coming to her class so you know she is the no-nonsense kind. However my almost 6yo boy,instead of being phobia going to her class, does not mind attending and keeps telling me although he got scolded sometimes,he still want to attend because he is learning a lot from this teacher.. I'm like :? :scratchhead: ..

Exactly! Maybe they understand the strict teachers meant well? Both my children just expressed their wish to train under the strict violin teacher again when we return to Sg.

Depends on the students though, that is why we teachers have to learn to vary our approach depending on the students. Some students are naturally competitive and ambitious, so can be more strict and push the student. Some students are more laid back and prefer to take things slow, so I will be more friendly but still insist on seeing some progress. I sincerely hope I will never make any students cry in my lesson though. Some teachers adopt one singular approach to their students. It may work or it may not work, but we should never judge a teacher's ability based on their best visible results, rather we should evaluate a teacher's collective results across all his/her students.

And sometimes even results do not tell the entire story. I am sure many of us have heard horror stories of stellar students who won competitions and gotten grade 8 distinctions or diplomas but swore off piano for the rest of their lives thanks to hothousing by their teachers and parents.[/quote]True. Teachers must vary their approach accordingly to the students' character, ability and their MOOD.. no one method suits all and I believe there's no best method.
I personally do not like to see kids crying because of the teacher or feeling too stressed up in the class too as its not too healthy. I kept asking my boy if he's ok with the teacher and if he wants to stop the Eng lessons I am totally fine with it. But he insisted he's ok with it so maybe I think too much... And I don't think my boy is the ambitious type, maybe he just simply loves to learn.

[ccgoh]

My kids cry too when they do not practice their violin hard enough and they know they will get it from the teacher but they still want to learn so I am not stopping the class but I do get a bit worried when I see them come out of class red-eyed. Is this normal for violin teachers or lessons?

[Dreamaurora]

ccgoh:

My kids cry too when they do not practice their violin hard enough and they know they will get it from the teacher but they still want to learn so I am not stopping the class but I do get a bit worried when I see them come out of class red-eyed. Is this normal for violin teachers or lessons?

Many teachers use fear and negative pressure to instill results in their students. Sometimes can't blame them especially if they are in music schools and have quota to meet. Some parents happily follow along because they want their kids to do well to have some bragging rights.

I won't say your children experience is normal or abnormal. What you should ask is if your children gain a deeper appreciation of music from the lessons. Or everything is just on superficial level.

P.s. Personally I think music lessons should not be associated with fear and suffering.