Yamaha or Cristofori

[eelsemaj]

Hi,


My daughter has just switched from Cristofori to Stellar Music School. Reason being that the performance exposure in Cristofori is practically nil. The only performance she gets is in the group class, which isn’t much. We want to get more exposure for our kids.

At Stellar, they organise yearly school concerts, and every student gets to go on stage and perform in a concert hall. Granted, it was compusory to purchase 4 tickets for the concert, but we think it was well worth it.

My daughter is also taking violin lessons with Mac’s Music School, since she was 3. Fees are expensive, but they have 2 performances per year - mid year concert and end of the year X’mas public performances. Also, the school stresses a lot on the musicality - feel of the music.

My 2 cents worth.

[sleepy]

MMM


I called kawai but was told they only conduct individual lesson.
I prefer group lesson, at least can sit in. Otherwise my blur blur girl will not know what to practice at home :lol:


Hi parents

any recommendations for group lesson?

[moonee]

yamaha used to be good some 10 years back. i understand they train the hearing more. cristofori is good for group, for age 4 , u can start off with music appreciation. dont expect yr kid to play a song as fast as kids from yamaha. they learn notes in the fun way and get to recognise the notes and symbols so they know their theory. I prefer the slow pace as 4 years old is still young, my kid started there at 4, shes now 9and doing individual. You need not sit in but when the class ends u will be briefed as to what they taught and write it down. btw, u get to learn at the same time. go check it out. i have friends that are quite dissapopinted that their kid cant read notes after attending yamaha.

[barney]

Actually yamaha has changed their teachings and books for their JMC course some 1 year ago. Think the current way of teaching focus more on note reading which they are aware most of their students are lack in.

[MMM]

Hi,


My kids started on individual lessons from 5 yr old. I prefer individual so that they can get all the attention. I am not music trained but the teacher will update every week in the communication book on the pieces to practise and the homework,etc… so I will refer to that and ask my kids to practise. Hope that helps.

[eelsemaj]

sleepy:

MMM


I called kawai but was told they only conduct individual lesson.
I prefer group lesson, at least can sit in. Otherwise my blur blur girl will not know what to practice at home :lol:


Hi parents

any recommendations for group lesson?

There are some schools out there that allow the parents/guardians to sit in during an individual class. One of the reasons I switched my girl out of Cristofori, to Stellar(in Bishan).

Typically group classes are more of an introductory class, and not really into piano playing. Thus might only be good for kids who are just starting out.

You might want to check with various schools, to see if they allow you to sit in, cos some schools' group classes also don't allow parents to sit in.

[mamachris]

My son is currently with Cristofori Simei since this Mar. He ever joined Cristofori Punggol last year but drop out due to the fact that the teacher was very unmotivated. Rejoined cristofori MLM class in Mar this year after a fren shared with me that the teacher in another centre who teaches MLM is good and effective.


So far, he is progressing well. I must confess that he is not diligent in his practises as we are not strict with him… and it will affect the learning progress.

Thus, it’s all depend on the teacher and the amount of practises the kids put in , not solely on the school… the school curriculum does play a part in creating the interests and wanting to learn.

[MMM]

Yes. I agree and it’s definitely a challenge getting the kids to practise.


However in my son’s case (6 yo), he had a great teacher who is great with kids. Under her coaching, I see tremendous improvement in his piano learning. He is able to memorise some pieces,etc… though he don’t practise every day but we see that he is alot more confident and enjoy piano.

Unfortunately she is leaving the school at year end… so he will be getting a new teacher. We are just hoping that his new teacher is good. He happens to be a male teacher so he is alittle excited that he is getting a MALE teacher at last iso all FEMALEs…

[ngchris]

My boy is in Yamaha JMC since he was four (the min age requirement). I personally prefer group learning for younger kids as they will find it more interesting. Plus I was told that they have a chance to perform on stage later which of course is a bonus as compared to individual lesson. I chose Yamaha simply due to its proximity to I where I stay and that it’s established with different branches in the event that I swift house, I know that continuity is not an issue.


The most important thing is the kid’s interest in music. It is true that Yamaha has its focus on listening for younger kids as it believe that this skill is harder to train after 6 /8 years old. I appreciate that 'cos now my boy, after 1.5 years of Yamaha, can literally listen to any piece of music and replay the piece on the keyboard. I was pleasantly surprised too when he came home last Saturday after hearing Frosty the Snowman whilst we were shopping and played it back on the keyboard the next day.

He has no problem in reading notes too. He loves new songs and I brought him a music book for young children and he actually played songs from the book by reading the scores - the traditional way ie one of my relative told me hers learn to identify Cherry as C note - mtd which am not in favour.

The only downside I see is I am sure that he can definitely learn at a faster rate in individual coaching session. Then again, why the rush?

[moonee]

My daughter is and have been in cristofori {funan}since she was 4, shes now going individual after attending 2 years mlm group. She had a very good and dedicated teacher called miss ivy, unfortunately shes now in germany. Many kids that she taught wanted her back. My daughter could play the piano well at the end of the two years. As my daughter strted pr1, I stopped her from piano for 6 months as i was stressed with her school homework, she wnt back and this time for individual coaching.My daughter is now 8 and has not taken a single exam as I wanted her to take up piano for leisure and to destress. She practices at her own time {as and when she wants to} Of course i do remind her to practice but i dont stress her as i believe that playing the piano is something that she should like doing and not meant to be a pressure. Of course i hope she can go as far as she can, at the moment Im letting her go at her own pace. She now tells me that most of her friends are in grade 2 or higher and started playing the piano later than her and since primary 1. She feels that she wants to be graded too. Shes been using the grade 2 books and the teacher feels that she is ready to skip grade 1 and go to grade 2 instead. Though she may be slower as she does not put in much practice, I think whats more important is that she enjoys and love playing the piano

and the rest will fall into place naturally.