I fully agree with Dreamaurora and JCE on teacher qualifications, and I’m speaking from personal experience. When I was a child, I had teachers who only had Grade 8 and below, and I didn’t progress in my music education. I only realised why recently when I decided to take lessons again, just so I could support my DS’ learning. My current teacher not only has a Masters in Music Composition from the USA, he also trains aspiring music teachers for the ABRSM Dip in Teaching, and he teaches me some simple pedagogy to support my DS’ learning at JMC. I realised how many techniques I was never even exposed to as a child…and I’m basically re-learning everything I was ever taught in music. Teacher qualfications and pedagogical knowledge as well as passion for music is extremely important. Knowing what I know now, I would never go for a teacher with anything less than ABRSM Dip for my child when he’s ready to transit to individual lessons.
Latest posts made by Chattyirena
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RE: All About Piano Lesson Costs
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RE: Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A
I agree that fun and enjoyment of music is really important for young children, particularly pre-schoolers. Fun is a motivator for interest and persistance in the subject matter. Hence, a well structured program with an interesting variety of topics would be better - be it in group or individual classes.
Hence, if you can find a private music teacher to provide fun lessons while imparting musical concepts and techniques to your preschooler, then it would be great. If not, I would recommend going for classes in established schools like Yamaha, for a start, before moving on to a private teacher when the child is more ready for it. -
RE: All About Choosing and Buying Pianos
Dear All,
Someone asked about Yamaha Serial Numbers. Here's the official listing with age and place of manufacture:
http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/Text_WithCatMenu_XC.html?CNTID=12173
Yes, there is a shop which lies about the age of the pianos. The one which lied to me that the U1s were 20 years younger than they actually were is located in an Industrial warehouse in Jalan Peminpin. However, the shop I eventually bought my U1 from was honest about the age and condition of the pianos and I managed to verify it on-line as well.
Hope this helps! -
RE: Ask a Piano Teacher anything!
Hi Music Amor,
My upright is 5 cm away from the wall. The piano movers said this was the right distance, and the piano tuner didn’t have a problem with this distance. -
RE: All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers
Dear All,
I’m posting this on behalf of my friend.
My friend is looking for a piano teacher who can travel to her home in Spottiswoode Park on Saturdays. Her 6.5 year old daughter (Primary 1) will be completing Yamaha JMC in June this year, and she hopes to start individual lessons from July onwards.
The piano teacher should be experienced, comfortable working with young children, and have at least an ABRSM Diploma in Teaching.
Please pm me if you’re interested or know anyone suitable, so that I can forward your contacts to her.
Thank you. -
RE: Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A
Thanks Phankao, I'm going to try your suggestion this weekend...my DS' JMC teacher just shared that one of her student's parent was so frustrated that she grabbed a cane and threatened to hit her child's hands... Poor kid was so scared she immediately curled her fingers and has never ever played with flat fingers again since... :scared: ...I hope I won't ever resort to such threats :xedfingers:
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RE: Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A
Dreamaurora:
Thanks I will try this out with my Ds
Still very young; fingers can still grow a lot more. Anyway an exercise that normally teachers use to determine if you can move your fingers independently is this: put your hands on a table and curve it like how you play piano. Then try to lift each finger one by one while maintaining the curves on other fingers. Not all fingers will be raised equal heights, but you should be able to lift all the fingers independently.Chattyirena:
Hi Dream Aurora,
My DS is 4.5 years old... -
RE: All About Piano Maintenance & Tuning
Hi Nickw,
I watched a piano technician from Emmanuel & Sons voice a Grand Piano recently at someone’s home. From what little I understand, any piano technician who can work on grand pianos can do the same with uprights (they all start basic tech training on uprights and then do advanced training on grands). Maybe you can check with Emmanuel & Sons? -
RE: Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A
Dreamaurora:
Hi Dream Aurora,
Well there are also other possible causes other than those I listed above. If your child's fingers are rather small and the piece have some big spans the fingers can go flat also. Anyway it is an uphill battle to make children play with curved fingers and it may take quite some time for them to get used to play with curved fingers, so don't expect overnight change.Chattyirena:
Thank you Dream Aurora
I will try the fake decoration fruits to help him get the curve back....I'm not sure if the U1 keys are too heavy for him or whether it's the ipad. I don't think it's height...
BTW, I really appreciate your free PDF books - have been slowly trying out as it's been many years since I played the piano...thanks for posting those books online.
Cheers!
Do you know us pianists curve our fingers naturally also when using our smartphones and tablets? One of the ways to identify if a person is a pianist. Anyway, glad you find the books useful. I am trying to find time to revise them and add new ones to collection, but with various concerts I am trying to organise and new commercial stuff I am working on now I am kind of overwhelmed now. :sad:
My ds is only in the middle of Book 1 of JMC - he's currently learning to join notes together (as opposed to \"staccato-like\" movements). After some practice, he's more or less able to join doh and mi (c & e) together, but not mi & sol (e & g) together. His fourth finger always hits fa (f) when trying to join mi & sol together. Part of this is due to flat fingers, but I'm also wondering if it because he hasn't yet learnt to separate the movement of fifth finger from fourth, or it's merely a finger span issue? Incidentally, he doesn't have problems joining notes when playing all five notes (c to g) one after another...
Your observation on how pianists use smart phones and tablets with curved fingers is interesting...