All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[peanut_butter]

blingbling:

We registered our child with Aureus Academy last Dec trusting that we could find a good teacher. We had told the teacher at the start that we wanted to register our child for Grade 1 in 2016....\"

Most average lower primary school kids take 6-9 months to complete their 'beginner' syllabus and another 6-9 months to prepare for the exam. The teachers should had expressed their concerns in the beginning.

blingbling:

1. If the teacher knows our intentions of letting our child take the examination, shouldn't the teacher start to practice the orals, and sight readings instead of just practicing the exam pieces every lesson? DS could already play 3 pieces from practice book in early March.

Your kido only started lesson 5 months ago. Unless his lesson is at least an hour long and you are helping him to practice intensively, there isn't really much time to cover anything adequately. It's a common practise for many teachers to focus on the pieces and scales first because they carry the most marks (max 90 marks for pieces, max 21 marks for the scales. you need 100/150 to pass). The theory exam is registered separately from the practical exam. Thus when time is short, it gets push aside.

Are the 3 pieces from the Grade 1 exam book?

[blingbling]

Our child was with another music school for 2 years plus prior to Aureus. He is a fast learner and can master a song within a short time frame. Every lesson the teacher will give New pieces to play for fun. From Dec till April, he had learned 10 new songs on top of the 3 exam pieces.


What we are upset is the school didn’t bother to inform us anything until the registration has closed.

Yes, the 3 pieces are from grade 1 exam piece and we practiced with him intensively for an hour Everyday.

[sleepy]

You can register for exam with abrsm directly.

Even though music teacher is from a music school, we register on our own.

Not sure about trinity exam though. No experience.

[phankao]

blingbling:

Our child was with another music school for 2 years plus prior to Aureus. He is a fast learner and can master a song within a short time frame. Every lesson the teacher will give New pieces to play for fun. From Dec till April, he had learned 10 new songs on top of the 3 exam pieces.


What we are upset is the school didn't bother to inform us anything until the registration has closed.

Yes, the 3 pieces are from grade 1 exam piece and we practiced with him intensively for an hour Everyday.

No big deal since your child is a fast learner then ! Register him for grade 3 at least. Don't waste time with grade 1 lah ... So in the end no time wasted at all. Since he is so fast , ascertain what grade he can handle, & register for that.

[phankao]

blingbling:

We registered our child with Aureus Academy last Dec trusting that we could find a good teacher. We had told the teacher at the start that we wanted to register our child for Grade 1 in 2016. The teacher said then that she will register for our child for the June exam. However, after the registration has closed, she told us that our child is not ready so its better to go for the one in September. We recently changed to another teacher in the same school as we wanted a Saturday slot. And upon checking with the new teacher about the exam for September, she told us that the registration has already closed and the previous teacher had not registered for our child as she felt that our child is not ready.


1. If the teacher knows our intentions of letting our child take the examination, shouldn't the teacher start to practice the orals, and sight readings instead of just practicing the exam pieces every lesson? DS could already play 3 pieces from practice book in early March.

2. The school should inform parents what are the registration dates and exam dates so that parents are aware and can make informed decisions. We had trusted the teacher to register and this is what happened.

3. The school had failed to register our child twice for the year and gave excuse saying that our child is not ready.

4. We were told to buy a sight reading book and theory book. But after a few lessons, the teacher said that there is no time for theory and asked me to do it with my child at home. The sight reading book was only used once.

We were utterly disappointed in the way the school runs!

You can always stay informed http://sg.abrsm.org/en/exam-booking/exam-dates-and-fees/http://sg.abrsm.org/en/exam-booking/exam-dates-and-fees/

[Dreamaurora]

blingbling:

1. If the teacher knows our intentions of letting our child take the examination, shouldn't the teacher start to practice the orals, and sight readings instead of just practicing the exam pieces every lesson? DS could already play 3 pieces from practice book in early March.

Generally sight-reading need to be incorporated regularly in lessons regardless of preparing an exam or not. Specific aural training for exams normally can go through after registering for the exam, though for the higher grade ones may need to go through earlier for those weaker in aural.

blingbling:

2. The school should inform parents what are the registration dates and exam dates so that parents are aware and can make informed decisions. We had trusted the teacher to register and this is what happened.

3. The school had failed to register our child twice for the year and gave excuse saying that our child is not ready.

I am not sure how Aureus is ran, but is there a principal/manager who is usually a senior teacher who coordinates exam preparation among teachers? This person should provide all the necessary infos to students and their parents. He/she should also set general guidelines on how to ascertain a student is ready. From the way you describe this, it seems like there is a general lack of communication between the teachers, students, and the school managements. But I will reserve my judgement until we hear Aureus' side.

Not ready can be a valid excuse for not registering student for an exam, and in fact I myself have advised exams to be delayed because of this reason. But these are not arbitrary decisions, for any of my students who plan to take exams, there are specific goals they need to meet by registration before they are allowed to register. All these expectations and deadlines are conveyed very clearly months before the registration. So, if the students do not meet the pre-registration goals, then the parents can see for themselves the students are not ready.

blingbling:

4. We were told to buy a sight reading book and theory book. But after a few lessons, the teacher said that there is no time for theory and asked me to do it with my child at home. The sight reading book was only used once.

How long is the lesson? If it is only half an hour, I would concur it's very difficult to do a well rounded lesson every single week. But it is still possible to ration theory, sight-reading, and technical training into short lessons. Just that may need to alternate.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

blingbling:

1. If the teacher knows our intentions of letting our child take the examination, shouldn't the teacher start to practice the orals, and sight readings instead of just practicing the exam pieces every lesson? DS could already play 3 pieces from practice book in early March.

Generally sight-reading need to be incorporated regularly in lessons regardless of preparing an exam or not. Specific aural training for exams normally can go through after registering for the exam, though for the higher grade ones may need to go through earlier for those weaker in aural.

blingbling:

2. The school should inform parents what are the registration dates and exam dates so that parents are aware and can make informed decisions. We had trusted the teacher to register and this is what happened.

3. The school had failed to register our child twice for the year and gave excuse saying that our child is not ready.

I am not sure how Aureus is ran, but is there a principal/manager who is usually a senior teacher who coordinates exam preparation among teachers? This person should provide all the necessary infos to students and their parents. He/she should also set general guidelines on how to ascertain a student is ready. From the way you describe this, it seems like there is a general lack of communication between the teachers, students, and the school managements. But I will reserve my judgement until we hear Aureus' side.

Not ready can be a valid excuse for not registering student for an exam, and in fact I myself have advised exams to be delayed because of this reason. But these are not arbitrary decisions, for any of my students who plan to take exams, there are specific goals they need to meet by registration before they are allowed to register. All these expectations and deadlines are conveyed very clearly months before the registration. So, if the students do not meet the pre-registration goals, then the parents can see for themselves the students are not ready.

blingbling:

4. We were told to buy a sight reading book and theory book. But after a few lessons, the teacher said that there is no time for theory and asked me to do it with my child at home. The sight reading book was only used once.

How long is the lesson? If it is only half an hour, I would concur it's very difficult to do a well rounded lesson every single week. But it is still possible to ration theory, sight-reading, and technical training into short lessons. Just that may need to alternate.

I thought most music schools run separate theory and aural lessons ? Separate from practical ?

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

I thought most music schools run separate theory and aural lessons ? Separate from practical ?

The standard practice for most music schools is to let the teachers go through theory grade 1-4 in practical lessons with their students. For grade 5-8, usually the students will be asked to attend additional theory lessons, either individual or group. For aural, the teachers are expected to go through in practical lessons from grade 1-8.

[blingbling]

Dreamaurora:

I am not sure how Aureus is ran, but is there a principal/manager who is usually a senior teacher who coordinates exam preparation among teachers? This person should provide all the necessary infos to students and their parents. He/she should also set general guidelines on how to ascertain a student is ready. From the way you describe this, it seems like there is a general lack of communication between the teachers, students, and the school managements. But I will reserve my judgement until we hear Aureus' side.
once.

Hi Dreamaurora, thank you for your unbias and meaningful reply.
We never knew there is such a person who can help.

Dreamaurora:

Not ready can be a valid excuse for not registering student for an exam, and in fact I myself have advised exams to be delayed because of this reason. But these are not arbitrary decisions, for any of my students who plan to take exams, there are specific goals they need to meet by registration before they are allowed to register. All these expectations and deadlines are conveyed very clearly months before the registration. So, if the students do not meet the pre-registration goals, then the parents can see for themselves the students are not ready.

We would be very Glad to accept the facts if they had inform us that he is not ready before the closing date. And not after. It seems they are finding an excuse as they have forgotten about it. No goals/expectations/datelines have been drawn out before. Why then did the teacher promise to register for us? :sad:

[FantasyLandDreams]

Recently I realise a trend whereby friends’ children are taking grade 3 or higher practical exams soon but only halfway through grade 1 theory book. The emphasis seem to be to ‘cheong’ for practical exams first due to time constraints ( no time for theory at all for a 45min lesson). I am just puzzled and I wonder, is this method feasible at all, and what are the pros and cons, as I always thought you need to learn the theory behind to be able to read notes, keys etc to play the scales and pieces well?