NAFA School of Young Talents - Discussion

[Dreamaurora]

broadshouldersgal:

waiyean:

Hi, I have read the earlier posts on this thread few years back that the environment in NAFA is quite tough, teachers are strict and scolds the child even if they can play well. Also the focus is mainly on exam pieces. Has the situation changed now, or is it still the same? What's the current feedback from parents who have kids in their program?

I have had 2 students at NAFA. They have a few mutual opinions & different opinions as well since they are brought up differently.

The first one is talented, mature and tough. I encouraged her to apply for NAFA and she actually got in easily, beating many other higher grade students. She didn't like her first 2 teachers and requested for a change of teachers and finally got one who's suitable. She mentioned that for the first 2 teachers, lessons got really boring many times, over emphasis of techniques, and she felt that she was not gaining much until the third teacher. She's not easily affected by negative remarks, she said she just stared back at the teacher and smiled. She made it through to diploma. I saw her performed and she's technically better, but sight reading wise, still weak.

The second one is just a kid, quite emotional, but multi-talented. She kept repeating that she hates her teacher, because there was much scolding till she lost the passion to play and she often cries silently in class. She wants a change of teacher but unfortunately her parents think that her present teacher is the best in the world, & that made the kid hates the teacher even more. I was hired to help her find her passion back, and her playing was really expressionless at the beginning though her technique was good. I got to see how her teacher taught her. I gotta say that the teacher really emphasizes on technique a HUGE lot, but only on one piece for the entire lesson, nothing else, nothing on expressions either. I was getting bored after 15 mins into the lesson. Scales and arpeggios are left to the kid to learn on her own, so I had to be the one to teach her that. There was no other repertoire, they only focus on their exam/performance pieces for the whole year, thus the kid's sight reading is... really... baaaaaaaaad. Techniques taught to the kid is also different from I have learnt in the States, thus the kid's posture seemed very awkward to me.

So different kids will respond differently even under same environment, and it all depends on the kid and how you brought up your kid.

ABRSM exams tend to value accurate and detailed playing over musical and individualistic playing, so it is understandable why NAFA decide to teach the students this way. Trying to cover everything in a grade in half a year is a tall order.

NAFA's technique is based closely on PRC's piano technique philosophy according to Fang Yuan herself. There is an emphasis on finger tapping and practicing on piano with heavier keys. Finger tapping produces sound that is full and bright at the cost of sounding percussive. For asian children with small hands and fingers, admitedly finger tapping is the easiest way to achieve ready tone even on grand pianos. Personally, I prefer a more holistic approach to technique that involves the entire body and arm movements, but admitedly this is harder to teach to young children.

[wittlewabbit]

Hi Catloh


May I know how old is your Ds? My son is 5, he is with Yamaha at the moment, but it’s a little slow for him. He is showing interest in composition etc, and is already playing the scales. Although I am trained in music, I do not know how to guide him… would you suggest NAFA?

Thank you so much for your advice.

[lwzh]

My son both study in yamaha and nafa. My suggestion to you is never quit yamaha before he is selected by jsac program at age six. which will educate him in improvisation and competition. Nafa only focus on piano performance. Jsac is all around music education.

[wittlewabbit]

hi!! I am grateful for your suggestion lwzh. I didn't know that yamaha has that course, iw as was jmc as well, but i suppose they had changed the system. my son is showing interest in composition and transposition and hearing from what parents describe about NAFA, i am quite skeptical as the motive for letting him learn music is to have a balance in life and not to create stress. Hence, i will wait for jsac.:)

[wittlewabbit]

I understand that there is a special audition for this course, may I know roughly what is to be expected? scales? hearing test?

[lwzh]

At my son’s time, he was asked to hear melody and sing back, hear chords and play back. Then play one or two songs. They may also asked to do very simple improvisation. All within jmc’s syllabus I think.

[wittlewabbit]

Thanks!!:) I will speak to his teacher a lil more this saturday as well.

[CatLoh]

wittlewabbit:

Hi Catloh


May I know how old is your Ds? My son is 5, he is with Yamaha at the moment, but it's a little slow for him. He is showing interest in composition etc, and is already playing the scales. Although I am trained in music, I do not know how to guide him.. would you suggest NAFA?

Thank you so much for your advice.

Hi wittlewabbit, my DS is 5 1/2 years old. He was on JMC for 1 year before we switched him to private piano teaching cum JMC as he found JMC 'boring'- having to play the same piece over and over again. Furthermore, the teacher does not care if the student play it with the right technique. However, after about year with a private piano teacher, he managed to pass the audition at NAFA and so we enrolled him there. NAFA drill the students on hand technique and they will have to spend much time practising. So, if this is something you think you child can take ( lots of frustration from both yourself and him though), I think it is worth a try at NAFA.

[kooky83]

lwzh:

At my son's time, he was asked to hear melody and sing back, hear chords and play back. Then play one or two songs. They may also asked to do very simple improvisation. All within jmc's syllabus I think.

The auditions are usually just to see if the potential student has any pitching, hearing of rhythm issues which are usually inborn and difficult to \"teach\" or \"train\".

[wittlewabbit]

Hi Cat,


Honestly i am tempted at trying NAFA, but i kept asking myself what happened to all my years of piano learning. I apply the same question to my son. I was trained in piano and a lot of my other gfs as well, some even to diploma, but in the end, the certs went to waste. The only good out of it i saw was that when kids perform , it gives them confidence and when I improvised in the past, I love music for what it was, to be able to express myself. Thus, i think ultimately letting him learn music is to let him have a balance in life and to hone up his other skills. I am a quite scared of the pressure after hearing about NAFA, but i believe there’s always good in tough training too, just that we are not up for it. hehe.