All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[Dreamaurora]

chamonix:

Dreamaurora:

Recorded classical music specifically composed for children are rather rare (but strangely there are plenty of scores in the market), that is why it's quite an uphill task to get children to like classical music. It is definitely an area that can be improved in music pedagogy.

I beg to differ, there is a lot of existing books, CDs, and DVDs for young children. Some examples -

http://www.amazon.com/Sergei-Prokofievs-Peter-Wolf-Fully-Orchestrated/dp/0375824308/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1339492550&sr=8-9
http://www.amazon.com/Beethovens-Wig-Sing-Along-Symphonies/dp/B000060OLA/ref=pd_sim_b_11
http://www.amazon.com/Fantasia-2000-Special-Edition/dp/B0040QTNSU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1339492899&sr=8-2

Even on YouTube, you can find Tom & Jerry playing classical pieces.

So, there are many ways to get kids to enjoy classic music.
Both my kids enjoy classical music very much, even though I knew zilch about music before I have kids.

Actually with the exception of Peter and the Wolf, the other pieces you listed are just basically standard classical pieces packaged in a children-friendly format or in the case of Fantasia accompanied by motion pictures (btw, you can also get a live-action DVD of Peter and the Wolf). If you think about it, children will find it hard to like pieces such as Stravinsky's Firebird (one of the pieces animated in Fantasia 2000) unless the story is explicitly spelled out for them. And anyway I don't think the original Fantasia is suitable for children to watch, maybe for teenagers more appropriate. My dad rented the Laserdisc for me when I was 9 because the cover showed Mickey Mouse. And I remembered it was the most boring cartoon I ever watched and it did not make sense to me, especially the sequence on Beethoven's 'Pastoral' symphony, which by the way is kind of errr..trippy. You are correct in using the approach of presenting classical music in a fresh and creative way to get your kids to appreciate classical music. I am glad you listed those things and hopefully other parents can use your posts as starting points.

The issue I am actually discussing here is specifically pertaining to the pieces a child will actually learn on the piano. There is surprisingly a breadth of materials composed for children, but most of them are hard to acquire. I suspect this is because piano learning in Singapore is very much exam driven and a lot of teachers here only work solely on exam pieces from ABRSM. The issue with ABRSM selection is that ABRSM attempts to present as wide as variety of styles as possible in their exam books to accomodate more ages and tastes. And out of entire books, sometimes only one or two pieces will appeal to the kids. This explains why certain few pieces are extremely 'hot' and are overplayed in exams. Unfortunately too, many teachers are not aware of these children-specific repertoire such as those composed by Elissa Milne, Alan Bullard, Janina Garscia, Gretchaninoff, etc. So some children who start classical piano may find that the repertoire they work on a bit stale and uninteresting. But can't blame the teachers also lar, a lot of these materials are expensive and have to import; and most prefer to use materials they are already familiar with. And like I mentioned, the recordings for these materials are also scarce (with the exception of Elissa Milne) so it's quite hard to give them a listen.

[metz]

Dreamaurora:

Actually with the exception of Peter and the Wolf, the other pieces you listed are just basically standard classical pieces packaged in a children-friendly format or in the case of Fantasia accompanied by motion pictures (btw, you can also get a live-action DVD of Peter and the Wolf). ..... You are correct in using the approach of presenting classical music in a fresh and creative way to get your kids to appreciate classical music. I am glad you listed those things and hopefully other parents can use your posts as starting points.

Thanks for the compliment on using the correct approach. Never thought of it as a right or wrong approach. Rather it was just something fun that we enjoy listening and watching together. Besides classical music, we did a lot of others like this as well - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tumble-Tots-Action-Song-Favourites/dp/B0001BPS28/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1339571274&sr=8-15 .

For those who might enjoy Peter and the Wolf (we have the animated version too), they might wanna try Carnival of the Animals too.

[quote]If you think about it, children will find it hard to like pieces such as Stravinsky's Firebird (one of the pieces animated in Fantasia 2000) unless the story is explicitly spelled out for them. And anyway I don't think the original Fantasia is suitable for children to watch, maybe for teenagers more appropriate. My dad rented the Laserdisc for me when I was 9 because the cover showed Mickey Mouse. And I remembered it was the most boring cartoon I ever watched and it did not make sense to me, especially the sequence on Beethoven's 'Pastoral' symphony, which by the way is kind of errr..trippy. [/quote]Different strokes for different kids? For us, it was not so much of what they can understand when they were toddlers/preschoolers. Not sure how to explain it, but a 3 year old boy (who kept watching the DVD) could recount the 'stories' and the mood of the music by just listening to the pieces. He could tell if the segments felt happy, sad, peaceful and so forth. Just showed my kids the firebird yesterday, and they both enjoyed it immensely. When asked for their comments after the first round, my 7 year old said it was rather sad how nature was being destroyed. But she likes the ending as everything feels happy again. As we watched the second round, we talked on how the music brought about the liveliness, franticness, fear, hope and peacefulnes. Boring? Not for us. :evil:
[quote] The issue I am actually discussing here is specifically pertaining to the pieces a child will actually learn on the piano. There is surprisingly a breadth As of materials composed for children, but most of them are hard to acquire. I suspect this is because piano learning in Singapore is very much exam driven and a lot of teachers here only work solely on exam pieces from ABRSM. The issue with ABRSM selection is that ABRSM attempts to present as wide as variety of styles as possible in their exam books to accomodate more ages and tastes. And out of entire books, sometimes only one or two pieces will appeal to the kids. This explains why certain few pieces are extremely 'hot' and are overplayed in exams. Unfortunately too, many teachers are not aware of these children-specific repertoire such as those composed by Elissa Milne, Alan Bullard, Janina Garscia, Gretchaninoff, etc. So some children who start classical piano may find that the repertoire they work on a bit stale and uninteresting. But can't blame the teachers also lar, a lot of these materials are expensive and have to import; and most prefer to use materials they are already familiar with. And like I mentioned, the recordings for these materials are also scarce (with the exception of Elissa Milne) so it's quite hard to give them a listen.[/quote]Haha, actually your earlier post about the composers who composed classical music for children caught my attention. I wasn't aware of any classical pieces composed specifically for young children. I was wondering if you could be referring to contemporary composers who are active in educational music. Indeed, I agree with you that there is a myriad of interesting materials/resources out there. But I suppose there are just so many (and still growing?) that most piano teachers will stick with what they are familiar. (Not only that, they are terribly expensive for parents too! Over in France, I had paid 20 euros for a music book.) Back in Singapore, our piano teacher was kind to loan us her copy by Leila Fletcher. But do keep a rolling list of the composers for children in this forum, if you can. It is interesting to read up on those composers you listed, especially Alexander Gretchaninoff.

[Dreamaurora]

That's the thing, your children like to listen to the music because they can associate the music with visual imagery and a story. If they had listened to Firebird without any background or story they may not like the piece.


For ideas on what piano pieces to give to children, can refer to this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Standard-Teaching-Performance-Literature/dp/0882846558/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339575306&sr=8-1

[metz]

Dreamaurora:

That's the thing, your children like to listen to the music because they can associate the music with visual imagery and a story. If they had listened to Firebird without any background or story they may not like the piece.

Not quite right. My son was first drawn by this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tGA6bpscj8 . He was upstairs in his room when I played it. It was only upon his asking that I showed him the Fantasia version.

[jce]

We all have different likings towards music, children too. So some may be captured by the rhythmic intensity, some by the sonorous melodic lines, some by the different sounds they hear when different instruments come together. Whatever it may be, exposing kids to music - classical, folk, jazz etc is always a good stimulation. Get them tapping, dancing, whatever it is, whatever form, to enjoy, to have fun

[metz]

jce:

We all have different likings towards music, children too. So some may be captured by the rhythmic intensity, some by the sonorous melodic lines, some by the different sounds they hear when different instruments come together. Whatever it may be, exposing kids to music - classical, folk, jazz etc is always a good stimulation. Get them tapping, dancing, whatever it is, whatever form, to enjoy, to have fun

Totally agree with what you said! :goodpost:

[sweetmommy123]

Try Ms. Hazel, she’s coaching my child. Very effective and I am happy with the progress.

[sweetmommy123]

If you want, you can pm me for her contact I dun mind sharing with everyone.

[missk]

Hmm… This is an old thread but I cannot resist to share my personal story… As a student that is. I learnt music all the way till I was in university, and very sadly had to stop because my course was a super demanding one. I must say the teacher is very very important. Maybe paper qualifications are important, but not as important as how encouraging, and how passionate about music, and how well a teacher is able to work with the student. I started out with JMC, yonks ago and absolutely loved it. I know some people claim its mass market and dunno who the teachers are etc… But as parents you need to be able to tell. I next had a lovely lady who taught me piano privately, and she was really good. We didn’t only practice exam pieces and music theory but also actuall taught a broader repertoire, with simple nice melodies. I did well for exams every year, getting distictions and merits AND enjoying the lessons. For some reason, my parents changed my teacher when I was in grade 5, and I totally disliked my new teacher. She was strict, sacarstic, and never ever played for us to show us how music should be played, or how not to play. She would even bang ruler on table if our theory was not up to scratch. In the end, I lost interst and quit. 2 years later, I learnt another instrument at Yamaha, and was very very lucky to get a teacher who was passionate about music and was very encouraging. I practiced everyday and got a very high distiction grade in one year, and was able to do grade 5 the following year, managing a distiction too. But I owe it all to my teacher who made me interested to practise and practise, and to critique my playing each lesson to make my playing even better. What is even better is that years later, I still listen to music and attend concert and would alays dream of the day I can spar the time to pick up learning music again. But when it comes to my child’s turn, I will make sure he gets the best teacher, not according to how well his ither students do in exam, but how well he is able to encourage my child to practise. I believe once a child will practice and love music, even if he does not take exams he has already benefitted from learning music

[kooky83]

Totally agree with missk. This may be a bit of a side-track, but all technical qualifications aside, the ability to encourage and inculcate the love for music is important… Music is really a life skill, I think as parents we must be very clear why we make our children learn music - to pick up a life skill, or you just want them to chase after a certain piece of certificate? so you can see your child perform on stage or to other relatives to feel good about ourselves?


When that happens, of course we feel good. it is natural. but don’t forget the original goal.