Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A

[Dreamaurora]

Hi all,


This is an essay I wrote recently about motivating students recently in preparation for DipABRSM Teaching. Hope some of you find it useful.

https://www.box.com/s/rs97ub8ex7eihc0z0f58

[snappleapple]

Hi there parents. I am back after being away for a while to settle my school work.

I just took my G1 music theory on last saturday and i was given the ‘S’ paper. Does anybody have any idea what does S paper stand for?

[sleepy]

kathyh:

Hi, sleepy


May I know what grade is your child now? my child seems having exactly the same sort of problem ...

Beginning to learn grade 6

Yours at which grade?

I only notice aural becoming a problem at grade 5

[Dreamaurora]

snappleapple:

Hi there parents. I am back after being away for a while to settle my school work.

I just took my G1 music theory on last saturday and i was given the 'S' paper. Does anybody have any idea what does S paper stand for?

It is just a title code for the paper signifying the period you take the paper.

[snappleapple]

Dreamaurora:

snappleapple:

Hi there parents. I am back after being away for a while to settle my school work.

I just took my G1 music theory on last saturday and i was given the 'S' paper. Does anybody have any idea what does S paper stand for?

It is just a title code for the paper signifying the period you take the paper.

Okay. Thanks a lot!

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

snappleapple:

Hi there parents. I am back after being away for a while to settle my school work.

I just took my G1 music theory on last saturday and i was given the 'S' paper. Does anybody have any idea what does S paper stand for?

It is just a title code for the paper signifying the period you take the paper.

When would the results be out - any idea?

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

Dreamaurora:

[quote=\"snappleapple\"]Hi there parents. I am back after being away for a while to settle my school work.

I just took my G1 music theory on last saturday and i was given the 'S' paper. Does anybody have any idea what does S paper stand for?

It is just a title code for the paper signifying the period you take the paper.

When would the results be out - any idea?[/quote]Around 6 weeks. Should be out the first week of may.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

phankao:

=

When would the results be out - any idea?

Around 6 weeks. Should be out the first week of may.

Great - thanks.

[Honesty]

Hi Dreamaurora,


Due to my DD’s small fingers, the piano teacher said it would require a year to master ABRSM Grade 5 practical. How true is it and is there a solution? Many thanks

[Dreamaurora]

Honesty:

Hi Dreamaurora,


Due to my DD's small fingers, the piano teacher said it would require a year to master ABRSM Grade 5 practical. How true is it and is there a solution? Many thanks

Speaking from personal experience of preparing young children for grade 5(I've prepared 2 6 year olds and a 8 year old for grade 5 ABRSM), to prepare all the components well and score distinctions for grade 5 practical, a one year preparation is ideal. Not because hand is small, but because the supporting components are significantly more difficult than earlier grades i.e. scales, aural, sight reading and need more time to prepare. Teenagers and adults can prepare these components better and faster due to their higher cognitive skills, but I still recommend at least one year preparation.

I've attempted to prepare students with shorter duration before, but the result is less than optimal. Just recently I've entered a 8 year old boy for the February exam session to attempt grade 5 ABRSM (a side note, I normally do not allow this but the boy and the parent themselves say they really wanted to try and they understood that some compromises would be made); the boy started preparing from early September last year and the supporting components were not fully prepared. He scored distinctions for his pieces but took quite big penalty to other components and scored only merit overall.

Small hands will limit the choice of repertoire, but with careful consideration and some clever omissions or rearrangements of notes young kids still can play grade 5 repertoire well. Personally, I don't think small hand is a barrier to attempt grade 5, perhaps your DD's teacher just use it as convenient excuse to convince you to have at least one year to prepare. For grade 8 though, if cannot reach octave comfortably yet not recommended to try. There is no solution to small hands short of growing up, because well, you are born with them (yes, I myself have small hands and many of my students have longer fingers than mine). Technical studies can help extend the stretch between the fingers but you can't actually do anything to extend the length of the fingers.