All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers
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ilovemusic:
It really depends on the qualification/ experience of the teacher. Since the teacher is coming to your place, $160 is reasonable. (i am assuming it is 45 mins lesson)
If my calculation is correct, a beginner's fee at a budget school like Cristofori (weekdays charge) is $131 per 45min, when you include term breaks, holidays and GST. My colleagues charges between $150-170 for home tuition. -
Dreamaurora:
Great! Thank you. I never think that way. I will pay more attention to this difference when I have time to go for their students concert next time:)watercooler:
Dear Dreamaurora, could you deliberate what is the main difference of Albert Tiu and Hecht's students?
Broadly speaking, Albert tiu focuses on beautiful singing line whereas Thomas Hecht sounds more orchestral. Thomas approach is also more textbook and suited for large scale works whereas Albert tiu excel in shorter romantic works. -
I really wonder why people need so much time in preparing exams. I am sorry that I am not teaching any student now. But when i was young in China, my friends and I only practiced the exam pieces for 3 months. I think that should be enough if the students have been up to that level. I only practice one month for my grade 8:( (when i was pregnant)… before that, I was registering anyway (the fee was so dear) and i decided not to find any teacher…I think I was too confident. It was lucky that my friends told me on the audition part and then I checked the syllabus again and bought a few books. Otherwise, I would definitely fail that part (no ideas on what was going on). I really wander what i was doing during the audition ( too many guesses from intuition), but luckily, I passed with merit. I regretted that i did not practice a bit longer. I was too nervous at the beginning when i found the piano sounded so differently from my own. but 3 months should be much more than enough.
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watercooler:
I really wonder why people need so much time in preparing exams. I am sorry that I am not teaching any student now. But when i was young in China, my friends and I only practiced the exam pieces for 3 months. I think that should be enough if the students have been up to that level. I only practice one month for my grade 8:( (when i was pregnant).... before that, I was registering anyway (the fee was so dear) and i decided not to find any teacher...I think I was too confident. It was lucky that my friends told me on the audition part and then I checked the syllabus again and bought a few books. Otherwise, I would definitely fail that part (no ideas on what was going on). I really wander what i was doing during the audition ( too many guesses from intuition), but luckily, I passed with merit. I regretted that i did not practice a bit longer. I was too nervous at the beginning when i found the piano sounded so differently from my own. but 3 months should be much more than enough.
Now, you have to realise that not all students are born equal, and not all of them will have the ideal learning environment. I have students who are very prodigious but also students who do not pick things fast. It is very important as a teacher to realise this fact and to adjust the teaching methods accordingly to each student. Yes, it is very much possible to prepare exams in short amount of time and many students have done this. But to expect my lesser students to be able to accomplish this will be tantamount to musical suicide.
So, with this mind, the exam boards have designed their syllabus with a one year progression per grade in mind (except for grade 1, which most exam boards plan to be taken after 18 months of lessons). Most students will be comfortable with this progression. And also it does not mean the students will only be playing the same 3 pieces for the entire year. -
1. Students from the past invest more time and energy into practising despite that thy may not get a good teachers. (we do not have that many music graduates back in the 80s). The students are more independent.
2. Managing exams within 3 months also require quite a bit of talent and hard work. -
Agree with peanut butter and dreamaurora, there is no "one size fits all", some require more time to prepare and some less.
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peanut_butter:
Actually I think last time the learning environment was much more relaxed. Students went back home on time with reasonable homeworks and plenty of time for other activities. Now a lot of children are so drowned in schoolworks and tuitions, and as a result music study is secondary.1. Students from the past invest more time and energy into practising despite that thy may not get a good teachers. (we do not have that many music graduates back in the 80s). The students are more independent.
2. Managing exams within 3 months also require quite a bit of talent and hard work.
But anyway, it is my view that an exam should be treated like an actual performance. And most musicians will agree that to perform a piece well, you need to let the piece 'mature' over a period of time first after the notes are learned and memorised. 3 months simply not enough to 'mature' the pieces, especially those higher grades or diploma ones. This is a fact that even a lot of professional pianists neglect. I have seen a few performances where the pianists were very capable, but the playing lacked many details that came from careful study of the pieces. I once asked a student of one such pianist after the concert. She said to me that her teacher prepared the pieces within one week because he was extremely busy. So this begs the question? Why such disrespect for the music? -
It is good to study the piece thoroughly. Children are different. But over-emphasis or only work on the exam pieces are just not my opinion. To be honest, I felt I am the one who did not practice good amount of piano works. I only practiced for one month for exam is because of my pregnancy and some other logistic problem. But I felt that 3 months are good enough if the students have time to practice. It might depends on the situation of the students as " children are drown in school works and tuition". they may need longer so that the stress level would go down. what I do not agree is that some teachers just let the students continuing practicing the same pieces again and again for one year. Young children would lost the interest. . But I also think understanding and practice more pieces will make people get to know more on music. Studying through other similar pieces might enhance the understanding of exam pieces. I think the exam pieces are just guidelines. Only when the foundations are strong, the student can understand well and express correctly. It is bad to hear someone only prepared one week for a concert. But for general public, what is the purpose of learning the piano? what is the purpose of taking exam? Maybe everyone has different answers.
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watercooler:
It is good to study the piece thoroughly. Children are different. But over-emphasis or only work on the exam pieces are just not my opinion. To be honest, I felt I am the one who did not practice good amount of piano works. I only practiced for one month for exam is because of my pregnancy and some other logistic problem. But I felt that 3 months are good enough if the students have time to practice. It might depends on the situation of the students as \" children are drown in school works and tuition\". they may need longer so that the stress level would go down. what I do not agree is that some teachers just let the students continuing practicing the same pieces again and again for one year. Young children would lost the interest. . But I also think understanding and practice more pieces will make people get to know more on music. Studying through other similar pieces might enhance the understanding of exam pieces. I think the exam pieces are just guidelines. Only when the foundations are strong, the student can understand well and express correctly. It is bad to hear someone only prepared one week for a concert. But for general public, what is the purpose of learning the piano? what is the purpose of taking exam? Maybe everyone has different answers.
That is what I have been trying to say. Although the students may start the exam pieces as early as one year before the exam, it does not mean they will only work on these exam pieces for the duration until the exam. A good teacher will definitely assign additional piano pieces and technical exercises so the students will acquire a healthy amount of repertoire. Just focusing on exam pieces may kill interest and few students can withstand such dry and pressuring environment. As for my myself, my policy is I do not require all the graded exams to be taken, but the students must complete the requirements of each grade. And also, a minimum of 5 solo pieces+duets+technical exercises per grade.
Exams are good milestones and can provide great motivation boost for students who do well in them, but they should not be the reason to learn piano. Rather treat the exam syllabus as a framework to achieve a well- rounded and holistic learning experience. -
So, dreamaurora, i am just curious, what is your opinion on NAFA Gifted Pianist Course? Since you and a few posters here said that it is not healthy to learn just exam pieces.
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