Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A

[sacredmusicals]

Thanks for the informative reply. However, I wonder, your requirements for students seem to be quite steep. If say a student takes an exam in September, then he will have only approximately four to 5 months to learn 2 or 3 pieces plus all the scales. In reality even less time because the students need to study for year end exams and go for holiday. So I am curious, do all your students manage to meet your requirements?

[Dreamaurora]

To be honest, no. In reality i had to make some exceptions to accomodate some students. Like for example, i have an adult student who wanted to take grade 7 trinity. But owing to his hectic schedule, he could only practice at most 30 minutes a day, and some days even none. He took a total of almost two years to pass the exam. I had to advise him once not to register because his pieces are not ready. He of course managed to pass in the end but he was realistic about his result and i think it was quite a good job considering it is extremely difficult for adult beginners to get where he is.


I also made exceptions for exceptionally hardworking students. Like recently i let a student of mine register for grade 7 exam despite having only one piece ready. But she assured me that she would practice extremely hard because she really wanted to progress and in the end i am quite pleased with her merit result.

So, as you can see, teaching is not exactly as straightforward as it is. As a teacher we must be able to strike a balance between perfection and fun. Too much perfection will cause death of interest in student and too much fun will cause a student to be stagnant.

[Dreamaurora]

And as for your question how to learn the pieces in such a short time. Actually the students should be working on the next grade pieces the moment the pieces for the exams are completed. So let say my student take exam in September, he should finish his pieces latest by may if he has followed my requirement of 2 pieces by February. Beside polishing up, new pieces should be started also to maintain the progress and to prevent the students from getting bored.

[violet04]

Dreamaurora:

I have decided to start this thread to help parents here answer burning questions about their children's piano lessons or piano pieces. Ask me anything under the sun except about choosing pianos or teacher recommendation since there are already other threads for that. I will try my best to answer the questions based on my experience as a teacher

Hi Dreamaurora,
May i know the meaning of the following comments from ABRSM Examiner. Thks

\"The fingers lacked enough support. The fingers would have benefited from more support from the weight of a relaxed arm.\"

[Dreamaurora]

violet04:

Dreamaurora:

I have decided to start this thread to help parents here answer burning questions about their children's piano lessons or piano pieces. Ask me anything under the sun except about choosing pianos or teacher recommendation since there are already other threads for that. I will try my best to answer the questions based on my experience as a teacher

Hi Dreamaurora,
May i know the meaning of the following comments from ABRSM Examiner. Thks

\"The fingers lacked enough support. The fingers would have benefited from more support from the weight of a relaxed arm.\"

If an examiner writes this, most likely your child's playing suffers from weak or overly soft tone, quite common among young children in lower grades. There are a few factors that may cause this, such as:
- poor hand posture and curvature, some young ones like to play with fingers almost completely flat and with dropped wrists below the keyboard.
- home piano keys too light and the exam piano heavy. Can be somewhat remedied by sufficient rehearsal at exam venue.

Do note that this is just a guess. If you can provide me with a video I would be able to advise you better.

[violet04]

Dreamaurora:

violet04:

[quote=\"Dreamaurora\"]I have decided to start this thread to help parents here answer burning questions about their children's piano lessons or piano pieces. Ask me anything under the sun except about choosing pianos or teacher recommendation since there are already other threads for that. I will try my best to answer the questions based on my experience as a teacher

Hi Dreamaurora,
May i know the meaning of the following comments from ABRSM Examiner. Thks

\"The fingers lacked enough support. The fingers would have benefited from more support from the weight of a relaxed arm.\"

If an examiner writes this, most likely your child's playing suffers from weak or overly soft tone, quite common among young children in lower grades. There are a few factors that may cause this, such as:
- poor hand posture and curvature, some young ones like to play with fingers almost completely flat and with dropped wrists below the keyboard.
- home piano keys too light and the exam piano heavy. Can be somewhat remedied by sufficient rehearsal at exam venue.

Do note that this is just a guess. If you can provide me with a video I would be able to advise you better.[/quote]
Hi Dreamaurora,
Thank you very much on your professional advice. My ds is 8 years old who took Grade 2 practical exam on Mar11. I believe my home piano keys too light compare with the exam piano. Will remedied by sufficient rehearsal at exam venue for the next exam. Thks.

[Dreamaurora]

violet04:

Hi Dreamaurora,
Thank you very much on your professional advice. My ds is 8 years old who took Grade 2 practical exam on Mar11. I believe my home piano keys too light compare with the exam piano. Will remedied by sufficient rehearsal at exam venue for the next exam. Thks.

For your info, you can actually request your piano tuner to add weights to your piano keys. Having a student practice on a sufficiently weighted keys will allow him/her to adapt more easily to different pianos.

[violet04]

Dreamaurora:

violet04:

Hi Dreamaurora,
Thank you very much on your professional advice. My ds is 8 years old who took Grade 2 practical exam on Mar11. I believe my home piano keys too light compare with the exam piano. Will remedied by sufficient rehearsal at exam venue for the next exam. Thks.

For your info, you can actually request your piano tuner to add weights to your piano keys. Having a student practice on a sufficiently weighted keys will allow him/her to adapt more easily to different pianos.

Hi Dreamaurora,
Thks for the info. Will contact piano tuner to check the charges.

[Sarah Tan]

Hi, may I know if you are taking new students? I’m looking for a replacement as the current piano teacher will not be teaching from March.


Please PM your location and charges. Thanks!

[Dreamaurora]

Sarah Tan:

Hi, may I know if you are taking new students? I’m looking for a replacement as the current piano teacher will not be teaching from March.


Please PM your location and charges. Thanks!

PM sent