3 Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Piano Teacher

Private instruction, even with the plethora of online and learn piano DVD videos available, are still the preferred way to learn the piano. There are hundreds of piano instructors in most cities, towns and counties so locating a teacher isn’t tough. The difficult part can be finding a good instructor.

In this article I’ll give you three questions to ask any potential piano teacher before you decide to enrol in their lessons or not. Much of your decision will be based on personal preference, but pay attention to the answers to these questions as well as they’ll let you know what to expect as you progress.

Experience – How did they Learned

The method the instructor learned is important because it will affect their philosophy of how they’ll teach you. For example if the instructor has a degree in music then they should have a solid foundation of what it means to teach a beginner.

Of course on the other side of the coin, if the teacher taught themselves then their method of teaching could be a little all over the road.

How Many Students

The number of students a teacher is currently teaching or will teach at one time is also important. Of course if you’re looking at taking lessons from a school or conservatory this is less of a worry, if the teacher teaches from their home you will want to ensure they aren’t overloading their plate with too many students, this can negatively affect your experience.

Style and Method of Teaching

How does the instructor teach? Are they using a pre-planned lesson plan or workbook? Possibly they tailor a custom lesson plan to your skills and goals. The method will be related to what your skill level is, but if you’re a complete beginner it’s a good idea to choose a piano teacher who has a predetermined piano lessons plan for beginner piano players. This could mean either a custom plan they’ve created or a lesson book they like to follow.

Ensuring you get the answer to these three questions and you feel comfortable with the person are the most important points to choosing a piano teacher.

Something I didn’t mention but you should review is the cost of each lessons. Be prepared to pay about $15-$30 per lesson. This is the going rate for a 30 minute lesson. You can double that cost if you’re taking 1 hour lessons. While price is important try not to allow it to make your entire decision.

Which Provides the Best Results – Suzuki Violin Lessons or Normal Violin Lessons?

When you do research about violin lessons, you will undoubtedly stumble upon these two methods of learning it – Suzuki method and the traditional method. These are the two most popular ways of learning to play the violin. You will hear of this method of violin learning called Suzuki method, as you do your research about the most effective ways to learn violin. It is especially helpful to children and even some adult learners.

Suzuki violin Lesson Overview:

Deciding between Suzuki violin lessons and traditional lessons is an individual decision. Your decision will have to be based on the merits of each method and on which one can provide the most effective lessons to you.

The Suzuki violin method of teaching encourages active participation of the parents in teaching their children. This method requires parents to be included in the lessons as guide and instructor when the children practice. It is a great way to interact with your child. Violin classes using this method can start as early as two or three years of age.

Children first start learning by ear and then repeat what they hear. They are made to listen to recordings at home, and try to play them afterwards. The Suzuki method believes in making the student listen, watch and play music, before making them learn to read music. Basically, it involves the same methodology employed in teaching children language acquisition. There is no child on earth that learns to read before beginning to speak and that learning comes from listening and watching.

In Suzuki violin lessons, the teacher gives both individual and group lessons. The idea behind the group lessons is to allow children to observe other children who play at a higher level.

Traditional Violin Lesson Overview:

Parental involvement in traditional violin lessons is much less. Violin classes are usually recommended between the 6th and 10th year of a child. Through this method, there is no listening to recordings at home, or before practice required of the students. Learning to read music is given much importance from the very start of the lessons and are often prioritized before they are taught to play. Most traditional violin lessons are given individually and group classes are not taught.

Deciding between the two is really not easy. There are parents who bat for the Suzuki method because of the way it involves them in the learning process and kids enjoy it for its fun activities. What some parents don’t like about this method, is the way it requires them to be present during lessons. This could be hard on those that have a full schedule on their hands.

The children also have a great time in the group classes – learning, playing and interacting with other children. When they see that other children have the same practice problems and successes then it makes them feel better.

All in all, choosing between traditional violin lessons and Suzuki lessons needs to be both a parent and a child’s decision and should be based on which method is the most fun, and the most successful.

Learning the Cello the Easy Way

The cello is one of the most popular musical instruments and renowned for its haunting music. The instrument is said to be almost three centuries old and is distinguished from the violin by its much bigger and longer body.

Even the very young people can learn to play the cello for it comes in sizes that will be easy for them to handle. Sizes range from ¾, ½,¼ to the smallest size.

The cello teachers  in singapore have adopted the “Suzuki method” of teaching which originated in Japan and requires a lot of parental involvement and can be taught to children as young as 3 to 4 years old.

Although it is really not necessary for a learner to start young, it is definitely an advantage to let your playing develop in stages as you grow older. The cello musical instrument is not very difficult to learn.

The lessons are similar to the violin lessons and as the fingerboard of the cello has no marks it is difficult to know where to place the fingers and so the teacher and the parents have to be a little patient in the beginning as it takes a little time for the ears to get accustomed to the right notes.

To begin with, you must decide why you want to learn the particular instrument. If you have a passion and a strong desire to learn the cello singapore only then it is advisable to go ahead with it or else it will be a complete waste of time.

If you have made up your mind to be a good cellist the next step would be to have an achievable goal for yourself. Only then one tends to practice religiously and get results. Next step would be to find that special teacher that will guide you to become a great cello player.

You can ask for help from your parents if you so desire. Visit and watch cello teachers while they have their classes to see how they do things. Your observations, schedules and learning aptitude should form the basis for making a more intelligent decision of who to choose as your mentor.

After this comes the very important step of learning the basic steps or techniques to play the cello. When attempting to learn the cello, avoid rushing or taking short cuts in the lessons to prevent acquiring wrong techniques that have the potential to become harmful habits. What’s more, these wrong habits can really be difficult to correct.

These wrong techniques may cause not just harm to your chances of being a great cellist but may also bring physical injury to a beginner.

Begin your practice sessions for short periods of time, then gradually lengthen the time based on your progress and endurance. Be a part of the community or school orchestra to gain the necessary performing experience.

Finally, a learner should concentrate to practice the scales and arpeggios properly as it will make him play the cello in singapore in the best manner.