Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A

[daffyhan]

Hi Dreamaurora, u’ve got mail.

[daffyhan]

Hi Dreamaurora,


Thanks much for your advice.

[Dreamaurora]

Honesty:

Dreamaurora:

[quote=\"Honesty\"]
Thanks, Dreamaurora for your explanation. My DD is 8 this year and I believe a year preparation is good for her too. Her teacher basically asked her to learn the exam pieces herself. She will correct her if some notes are read wrongly or the fingerings are placed incorrectly.

After the upcoming exam, DD will explore classical/jazz pieces. Just wonder if it is still possible to prepare and take the gr 5 in Jul/Sep 14...

Well, you should probably sit down and plan together with your dd's teacher the planning for that. By the way, abrsm Singapore is going to resume graded jazz exam syllabus next year, you might want to consider it.

Wow, graded jazz syllabus! What will be the difference? :scratchhead:[/quote]Syllabus is here.

http://sg.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/jazz/jazz-piano/

I'm planning to take the grade 5 exam also next year.

[momresource]

Hi Dreamaurora,


I am a parent with a 8yr old active boy. When he was 2+yrs old, he was accepted to a group keyboard class meant for 3+ onwards. He went on the program for about 2 years; then followed by another keyboard program for 2 more years. We tried to start him on piano 1-1 when he was 6year old, but has changed 3 teachers during the 1 year period(reasons: teacher moved on to other school, timing clashes etc). All their feedback was he was too active, can’t focus, lack of practice, short-term memory… then we are back at square ones again with each new teacher… start from the beginning to correct seating posture, hand position, basic notes reading.

After much consideration, we put an end to it to stop all lessons, be it group or individual. We felt it was a waste but recently, the boy is humming tunes and kept talking about those good memories of learning piano. We are tempted to start him again but with fear of history repeating itself.

Do you have any advice for us?

PS: kid is straight A, Band1 student, is not just not musically inclinced?

[Dreamaurora]

momresource:

Hi Dreamaurora,


I am a parent with a 8yr old active boy. When he was 2+yrs old, he was accepted to a group keyboard class meant for 3+ onwards. He went on the program for about 2 years; then followed by another keyboard program for 2 more years. We tried to start him on piano 1-1 when he was 6year old, but has changed 3 teachers during the 1 year period(reasons: teacher moved on to other school, timing clashes etc). All their feedback was he was too active, can't focus, lack of practice, short-term memory.... then we are back at square ones again with each new teacher... start from the beginning to correct seating posture, hand position, basic notes reading.

After much consideration, we put an end to it to stop all lessons, be it group or individual. We felt it was a waste but recently, the boy is humming tunes and kept talking about those good memories of learning piano. We are tempted to start him again but with fear of history repeating itself.

Do you have any advice for us?

PS: kid is straight A, Band1 student, is not just not musically inclinced?

It is hard to postulate what is the cause of your son's bad experiences with individual piano lessons. But I will try to hazard a hypothesis. Individual piano lessons are generally taught more traditionally by most teachers, meaning students are expected to sit down throughout the lessons and listen to instructions from their teachers. Many young children aged 3-6 find it hard to be able to do this. Teachers who want to teach this age group need to know how to connect to the children at their level e.g. using storytelling and analogies; they also need to vary the activities to keep students interested towards the lesson. So it could be possibly that your son's previous teachers were simply not trained or experienced to deal with this age group.

If your boy loves music and lessons, I would recommend you to resume lessons again. Though this time round, you may want to source for a teacher who can connect with him better. 8 year old is a good ripe age to start piano lesson proper. Personally, I believe everyone can be trained to play piano decently whether they are musically inclined or not, though of course those who are musically inclined could offer better insights into their music. There are many good life skills that your son can pick up from learning music, so if you have the time and the fund, why not?

[momresource]

Hi T Dreamaurora,


Do you have any teacher in mind to recommend? i am thinking of switching to male teacher, for a change. What do you think?

Thanks!

[Dreamaurora]

momresource:

Hi T Dreamaurora,


Do you have any teacher in mind to recommend? i am thinking of switching to male teacher, for a change. What do you think?

Thanks!

Gender of the teacher does not really matter; more important is the chemistry between the teacher and the student. Which area are you located? You can PM me directly if you want.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

momresource:

Hi T Dreamaurora,


Do you have any teacher in mind to recommend? i am thinking of switching to male teacher, for a change. What do you think?

Thanks!

Gender of the teacher does not really matter; more important is the chemistry between the teacher and the student. Which area are you located? You can PM me directly if you want.

hahah - it matters if they are older. If girls especially, I would definitely sit in the lesson if it's a male teacher. LOL. So far, once my boys reach upper primary, I've left them to attend lessons on their own and to manage on their own.

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

Dreamaurora:

[quote=\"momresource\"]Hi T Dreamaurora,


Do you have any teacher in mind to recommend? i am thinking of switching to male teacher, for a change. What do you think?

Thanks!

Gender of the teacher does not really matter; more important is the chemistry between the teacher and the student. Which area are you located? You can PM me directly if you want.

hahah - it matters if they are older. If girls especially, I would definitely sit in the lesson if it's a male teacher. LOL. So far, once my boys reach upper primary, I've left them to attend lessons on their own and to manage on their own.[/quote]Haha, phankao, quite a number of male piano teachers are actually gays, so you should be worried for the boys! Anyway, nowadays female teachers have risk also; lately got a lot of recent cases of older female teachers preying on young boys.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

Haha, phankao, quite a number of male piano teachers are actually gays, so you should be worried for the boys! Anyway, nowadays female teachers have risk also; lately got a lot of recent cases of older female teachers preying on young boys.

LOL. OK, must say I know my boys' teachers (not piano though).