Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A

[metz]

Dreamaurora:

I would say most teachers would prefer to make sure all the students learn the notes correctly and up to speed with all the details as written in the scores observed. This is for practical reason as exams assess accuracy and proficiency first. And also it is easier to experiment with the 'feelings' when the notes are there. If the 'feeling' is already incorporated into the notes during the learning stage, it may be hard to undo it should the student's/teacher's mind changes. This is quite true for the lower grades because students may not have the wide range of expression palettes at their fingertips to be able to express that freely yet. As students progress to higher grades though, they should be able to incorporate 'feelings' more readily in the learning stage thanks to more robust technique and understanding of musical styles. So basically at higher grades, the notes and the 'feelings' are basically intertwined more closely.

As for personal input and imagination, this will depend on the teacher. Personally I encourage students to experiment, but their personal input must not compromise the spirit and style of the piece. So I would discourage my students to play Beethoven's sonatas with the more robust rubato required for Chopin's works; but if they strongly feel about an interpretation I would let them do it if they can justify it. While some teachers may totally let the student have a free rein on interpretation, regardless if it will compromise the style of the piece. There really is no right or wrong in this, it depends on personal preference.

Thanks for the response. It will help me greatly in adjusting my expectations of music teachers in future.

[waiyean]

phankao:

waiyean:

[quote=\"phankao\"]
How does she manage to play so many pieces in so many books? She practices for an hour a day?

1.5 to 2 hours a day, everyday.

All at one go or a few session a day to make up the 1.5-2hrs/day?[/quote]My girls plays two sessions in a day, one in the morning (7.30am) and one at night (8pm). Not exactly the best timing, but she attends full day school in between. I found that concentration level falls after about 45 mins to an hour for her age, hence not advisable to have a single session.

[waiyean]

chamonix:

waiyean:

Yes, probably could have skipped grade 1 and do grade 2 at that time. But, she is still a baby... Let her enjoy herself and take it easy instead of rushing through the exams.

1.5 - 2 hours daily considered take it easy? Then mine must be boh chap. My kids spent an average of 0-2 hours weekly last time.

Haha, well I guess different kids take to practices in different ways. End of the day your kids love music and are doing well, so it didn't matter how much they practice in the past.

I heard that NAFA students practice 2-3 hours a day, so my girl is not practicing too much.

[Angelight]

Hi waiyean, pm-ed you!

[jedamum]

Dreamaurora:

jedamum:

My boy's piano teacher is suggesting that he go for grade 1 practical end of next year while my ks husband want to push for end of this year. :faint: the teacher reassured us that there is no need to do every grade and intends to let ds skip a grade the following year if he aces his grade 1 end of next year. Currently ds is the 'touch and go type' ie he pract until 90% satisfaction then moved on to next piece.

I want to ask, does piano teachers typically assigns how many pieces per session for grade 1 prep? Currently, I try to get ds to sightread in advance 3-4 short 1-page+-pieces so the teacher can emphasize on dynamics during the 30 minutes lessons. I can't help him with the dynamics as I am not musically trained - the best I can do is try out the right hand melody so I have a gauge how that piece sounds like and keep a lookout that his rhythm is correct. The teacher does not assign new pieces to learn for the following week, but rather state down how to improve current lesson's pieces as home revision.

Your boy follows Trinity syllabus? I cannot speak for other teachers, but typically for grade 1-3 I typically focus on 2-3 pieces per lesson (bear in mind my lesson is one hour long). And they will maintain around 4-5 pieces in their repertoire. For higher grades I prefer to focus only on one piece per lesson in detail. Then I will alternate the pieces each week so the students won't get tired going through the same piece all the time in lessons.

hihi Dream,
can u elaborate what is 'Trinity syllabus'? how would i know which is which?
what is 'maintain around 4-5pieces in their repertoire' means?
sorry..i am very layman.
thanks. :oops:

[Dreamaurora]

jedamum:

hihi Dream,
can u elaborate what is 'Trinity syllabus'? how would i know which is which?
what is 'maintain around 4-5pieces in their repertoire' means?
sorry..i am very layman.
thanks. :oops:

Trinity is one of the exam boards available in Singapore besides ABRSM. You mentioned that your ds' exam is scheduled for either end of this year or next year, so I thought he will be entered for Trinity Practical exam that will be conducted on November and December. Which one your son is in now, ask the teacher lar.

When I say maintain 4-5 pieces meaning they will practice these 4-5 pieces at home. But at the lesson I will not go through all 4-5 pieces all the time, instead I will choose 2-3 pieces to go per lesson only.

Edit: Just read the other thread and I see that your ds is in Cristofori, so that means he should be following standard ABRSM syllabus.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

jedamum:

hihi Dream,
can u elaborate what is 'Trinity syllabus'? how would i know which is which?
what is 'maintain around 4-5pieces in their repertoire' means?
sorry..i am very layman.
thanks. :oops:

Trinity is one of the exam boards available in Singapore besides ABRSM. You mentioned that your ds' exam is scheduled for either end of this year or next year, so I thought he will be entered for Trinity Practical exam that will be conducted on November and December. Which one your son is in now, ask the teacher lar.

When I say maintain 4-5 pieces meaning they will practice these 4-5 pieces at home. But at the lesson I will not go through all 4-5 pieces all the time, instead I will choose 2-3 pieces to go per lesson only.

Edit: Just read the other thread and I see that your ds is in Cristofori, so that means he should be following standard ABRSM syllabus.

The other thing is that for ABRSM, for this latter half of the year exam, the registration already closed long ago. The next exam season is early next year.

Not sure if Trinity exam is open for registration now. I think it is, until end August or something like that?

[metz]

waiyean:

Haha, well I guess different kids take to practices in different ways. End of the day your kids love music and are doing well, so it didn't matter how much they practice in the past.

I heard that NAFA students practice 2-3 hours a day, so my girl is not practicing too much.

My children weren't the ones who couldn't take such practices. It's the mummy who lacks the stamina, discipline and drive.

NAFA has very strict requirements, that's why the longer hours of practice? Anyway, most kids there should be 5 and above. Are you sending your dd for NAFA audition?

[waiyean]

Dreamaurora:

Some teachers prefer to let student work on a lot of pieces very fast, meaning touch and go on a piece. There is a saying that to learn the notes for a piece is only 10% of the work, 90% of the work is making it up to standard. So personally I would rather focus on smaller selection of pieces, but these pieces are to be practiced to a high standard fit for performance. My students typically work on around 5 pieces in detail per grade plus miscellaneous stuff such as duets. Have to strike a balance also. Too intense focus on limited number of pieces ala NAFA Young Talents may not sit well with some students as they may experience repertoire fatigue. Lack of repertoire focus may not be good also as students may miss out on the finer points of interpretation.

My girl's teacher wasn't the one who gave so many pieces. She only gives 1-2 new pieces each week. My DD has to perform 2 pieces in a masterclass each month, so the focus is always to bring these pieces up to performance standards. Other than that, she also prepares for the major school concerts and exam pieces.

However, basis your recommendation of spending 50% of practice time on repertoire pieces, that will give her 45 mins a day. That is probably sufficient time to work on 3 pieces a day, including time to work on the difficult parts, and playing the piece a couple of times. Assuming you work on the same piece every other day, the piece is polished probably over a 30 days period. Mathematically, over a 1 year period, should be able to play a repertoire of about 78 pieces to a reasonable level.

Hence, it is not really too much to cover a few books over one year, which is the time most people spend doing one grade. That's why I purchase additional books for my DD to play for her daily practice. Furthermore, the above calculations hasn't factored in the other 50% of time, part of which includes playing shorter sight reading pieces etc.

Having said all this, I have to admit piano practice is not a science. The kid do fall sick, do have the occassional days they spend in grandparent's house which do not have a piano, etc.

I do agree 100% with you that it is important to strike a balance between lack of repertoire focus and too intense focus.

[waiyean]

chamonix:

waiyean:

Haha, well I guess different kids take to practices in different ways. End of the day your kids love music and are doing well, so it didn't matter how much they practice in the past.

I heard that NAFA students practice 2-3 hours a day, so my girl is not practicing too much.

My children weren't the ones who couldn't take such practices. It's the mummy who lacks the stamina, discipline and drive.

NAFA has very strict requirements, that's why the longer hours of practice? Anyway, most kids there should be 5 and above. Are you sending your dd for NAFA audition?

I did consider, but thought the age requirement for NAFA is 6. Do they audition kids who are 4+, turning 5? I posted some questions over the NAFA thread, but hasn't gotten any response so far.