FantasyLandDreams:

Hi

Can I check : as I am moving the piano from my mum's place to my house, is it better to do the tuning after the moving? Any one has reliable mover and tuning service to recommend? Thanks.

Yes , tune after moving the piano.however before moving the piano from your mother's home , it's best to also check if the piano is in good condition and playable and also able to be tuned to pitch.this may not be the case for older pianos and you will be wasting money to move the piano if it's not in a good condition. Will PM you my tuner's contact.

bumbum:

is it true for ABRSM, it is a must to pass the G5 theory in order to proceed to G6?

For LCM, G5 theory is only required at G8 level?

Yes You need G5 theory for Practical Grades 6-8 ABRSM.

sautille:

Does anyone have experience with piano tuning service from Steinway Gallery? I understand that they also tune pianos that are not from Steinway Group. Each tuning costs $160 but a contract of 2 tunings is $260. The prices are substantially higher than most of the quotes I saw in the market, so am wondering if it is worth the investment. Many thanks!

I wouldnt bother if my tuner was doing a good job with voicing and regulating it. I think you have a Sauter grand? So as long as your keys are being properly weighted, you are happy with the voicing and regulating, I wouldn't really waste money on a Steinway tuner.

I trust my piano enough with my own current tuner and I will be using him for my steinway too. I'm not intending to hire any steinway technician to tune , only if the piano needs some refurbishment or overhauling to maintain the integrity of the parts.

JY2011:

jce:

Any kind of lesson, taken seriously, will require effort. Singing has a separate set of difficulties compared to piano. Your voice is your instrument. So to start singing, and I do mean vocal training, you need to start of with a decent instrument. Not all are cut for this. After that it goes into training of sound projection, breathing techniques, phrasing etc etc.


If it's exploration you are looking for, then perhaps a group class, whether from Yamaha, Cristofori, or other music schools would be advisable. That's for exposure. From there one can decide where the strengths and interests are.

Thanks for the reply, jce.

Sorry for my late reply. JY2011, group lessons will most likely be like your girl's kindergarten music appreciation lessons, some singing, some dancing, but there will be more in depth learning, e.g reading the notes, beginner music theory, and she will get to start learning to play on a keyboard. Most likely it starts from playing the note Middle C..and slowly on and on to simple tunes with the right hand. Bascially a introduction to piano playing. Another point to consider is, in a group lesson your girl may behave better with some peer pressure.

If you will only consider 1 on 1 learning it would be best to start around age 5, many parents ask this same question and I think it would be best if more piano teachers give more tips on this. I would say when your girl is able to write simple words, do simple maths ( 1+1, 4-3...) ,would be best if they could tell the difference between left and right hand, have a decent understandable conversation with a teacher ( many 3.5 year olds still baby talk) , and can sit still for periods of 10 -20 mins , that would be the time to consider 1 on 1 learning.

Hope it has helped you!

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Keara Adara:

Hi,


Am a 14-year-old girl currently without any extracurricular activities. Wanted to take up piano for university qualifications. Can anyone advise as to how long your children took to get to the higher grades (6,7,8, and even diploma)? Is it too late for me to start?

[/quote][/quote]


Keara, it isn't too late for you to start piano at all, it's never too late with anyone. Go to Dreamaurora for lessons and ask him to do a assessment of your abilities for you, but seeing that you are a teenager and you know what you want, you already are halfway to accomplishing your piano studies. As long as you have a clear goal, with hard work and effort, you will be able to accomplish it!

I personally have taught students like you and also teach adult beginners that are in their 30s and 40s, typically it takes 1.5 years to finish grade 3, and another year to hit grade 5-6. The pros are that at a older age you will not struggle with theory and will be able to clear your theory exams in a very short time , and the cons , well I think other than the difficulty of balancing schoolwork and practice, it takes slightly longer for older students to get used to the hand movements and finger techniques needed for keyboard studies. Coordination between left and right hand tend to be slower as well, but all these will pick up after a year or so of practice!

If you are considering piano as your major in university, I'm not sure about the qualifications of local schools, but do note in most music universities there is a age cutoff point if you intend to major in piano performance. 18years is usually the maximum ideal age, and many audition by 15-16 years old. So you will have to keep that in consideration and aim to reach diploma level by 17. However, if you are looking to major in Piano Teaching or Piano Accompaniment, then age is not a factor.

JY2011:

Hi, cse1217.


My DD is 3.5 yo. According to teachers, they teach the kids Do, Re, Me, Fa, So and sing some songs by keyboard. Sometimes, they use xylophone and other musical instruments to introduce high and low tone sth... like what those appreciation classes do. At home, we have only the kid version electronic piano (not really a keyboard) for play play only. Last time, we let her watch nursery songs from youtube.

Once it happened (about 2 yo+) that there were few video clips on guitar version Doreamon theme songs and some young pianoists performance, she actually wanted to watch it over and over again. Particularly, the guitar video clip shows only the close up on how the player plays the guitar, she told us that she likes to watch. Since we try to minimize her tv times, we don't turn on the youtube anymore. So I am not sure if she is just curious what it is at that time or she is really interested in music. Probably, the young kids just curious in everything new to them.

You should consider signing up your girl for group music lessons or music appreciation lessons at this age, it is the right age to start now. If she shows interest,there is always no harm trying out lessons. If you do not even take the first step and send her for lessons, you will never know if she actually has aptitude and a long lasting interest for music. As long as you can afford it, it would be a good idea to send your girl now , instead of dismissing her curiosity- she has curiosity and so , you need to let her explore even more of it , otherwise with no avenue to explore and learn, obviously the interest will diminish and wane eventually.

With regards to china 1-10级, theres many exam boards in China , some are given by music schools, one by a artist association , and also another by the Ministry of Education. Having been trained for that and also having done the ABRSM exams , its safe to say 10级 has lower benchmarks for passing and that is why I said its not equivalent to grade 8. But nowhere near grade 3 ABRSM either , id place it around grades 6-7.


As for the ABRSM exams , while it is a internationally recognised board, these ABRSM certs that parents value so much in Singapore do not hold much significance elsewhere , and that includes the UK. During my studies in Vienna the ABRSM certs were not recognised and I was repeatedly asked to explain to our dean what these certs meant , before finally having it declared invalid and useless. Even in RCM , which is a college under ABRSM , it doesnt hold much significance . Yes they recognise it , but even then, it does not score you any brownie points. All these certs were just shuffled under other papers and rendered useless during applications and interviews. It is the main audition which matters. So parents whose children who are considering to study music in the future , Id strongly advise to focus on proficiency , technicality, musicality and playing alot more than the ABRSM syllabus.

But ultimately , exams are a good way of assessment for parents who have little experience in music , and a very good way of setting goals for young children… sometimes I see huge progress in students I register for exams in a short period of time as they have more motivation. Exams should be considered depending on the student, but definitely not a must every year.

Green-apple:

anyone can advise how much do they charge for grade 3 (piano school and private piano teacher?)

I think the average market rate would be 160-200 for 4 lessons , 1 hour. Depends on your teacher , experience , qualifications and if private , whether the teacher needs to travel to you.

tong2:

Thank you very much! -- Pianoprincess and Dreamaurora.


as you said, this girl is holding 10Ji of cert in China. and I searched via internet, this 10ji is even lower than ABRSM grade 3. she doesn't have such experience to focus on how to pass ABRSM exam. this is most I am worry about.
I mentioned to her on trial lesson that we are preparing to have ABRSM exam in next year. she promised me that she can help if we followed her teaching method and do homework/practices properly.

As same as Dreamaurora's opinion, after learning almost 1year, my girl lack independence and she is very reluctant to learn pieces by herself, preferring instead to wait for teacher to play for her ,memorize teacher's play/ finger movement and sounds like. this is really weak points. I don't want her be that, feel boring and lost interesting.

So, at this moment, I only can do is to let young girl teach my girl a while just to let my girl re-learn notes. At least, my girl can firm her basic theory .After that I have to look for experienced teacher who did exam of ABRSM.

actually I want to get such kind of valued teacher as soon as possible. but as you know, most in current market, it is a dream or look like a lucky draw.

I suggest you continue teacher shopping , maybe you have friends who can recommend you their teachers ? By learning parallel with 2 teachers you may confuse your child , and spend extra time for lessons and not to mention extra money for 2 teachers.

Keep searching , it is not impossible! Dreamaurora may be able to help you or even I can.

tong2:

DO I need to switch to this young girl?


my girl is having private piano lesson with a lady from last Dec. but it seems she couldn't understand note and those information and marks on score properly.
this is always I mentioned to current teacher to take time to teach her theory more and detail. but unfortunately, she only go through home work within 2,3 mins before lesson over.
I am not very sure what she is teaching her in class, due to I had another litter boy to take care, so I couldn't sit in with my girl during lesson time.

recently, I happened to meet a young girl who is studying in NAFA. she is playing double-bass. she told me she is also well on piano for more than 10years, and got cert in China. she recommend herself to me and gave a trial lesson to my girl. she pointed out my girl is not strong on notes. She tested one song which my girl played several times in front of current teacher, but still not perfect on intonation, here and there got mistake. She correct them one-by-one in her trial lesson.

now I am facing doubts to choose.

I felt this young girl can lead my girl to reading notes strongly ability.
but, on other hand, she is quite young, and she only holding cert in China, not from international standard -- ABRSM. in currently, maybe she can teach my girl a while to reach certain level. but after that I have to start to search higher grade teacher again, take quite long time to adjust my girl's chemical with new teacher. It might a harder job and be headache to both of us.

To quit from current teacher , switch to this young girl immediately or stay Parallel for few weeks?
anybody can give me some advise in professional way.

As you mentioned , the new teacher you are considering is doing her major in Double Bass , so there must be reasons why she did not do Piano, especially after learning it for more than 10 years. If the certification from china she has is 10级, then it is not even equivalent to a ABRSM grade 8 , so I would say she is not qualified to teach. Age should not be a consideration , as long as she shows responsibility and committment.

If you noticed your current teacher is lacking in some areas now , either try reinforcing reading the notes at home with your daughter , try playing some games with flash cards , making it more fun for her , or continue teacher shopping till you find the right one .