With a lot of energy and passion stored up during the summer holiday, I'm glad that I will meet my lovely students again from next week! I hope my students will make great progress this year as they always did and become a confident, competent pianists. I wish those who are preparing for grade exams and diploma exams the very best and I will do my best to teach and guide them to achieve their goals. I have a feeling that 2018 will be a great year!
What a delightful afternoon for piano teachers. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Mrs. Tess Hill and impressed by her passion for music teaching and preparation for the presentation. She is truly a teacher of teachers.
It's been a wonderful year to me personally and as a teacher. Teaching talented students and seeing them grow was pure pleasure to me and I feel so blessed with lots of students who are most kind and warm-hearted. They truly make my year. I feel sorry and sad to think about two students who will no longer see me in the new year as they move to Melbourne, Ashmeet and Bimin. You will always have a special space in my heart. I wish you could find an excellent piano teacher there soon to continue your progress.
This year, I wanted to make my Christmas article more interesting, so in the last lesson, I asked some of my students to leave a short end-of-year message to everyone and here they are: Nicholas- Merry Christmas, everyone! Esther- Have a good Christmas, be safe everybody. Prathyush- Merry Christmas and happy new year. Hannah- Piano is the best! Sohee- I've really enjoyed playing piano with Grace. Tracy- Merry Christmas and good luck next year. Eun- Don't eat too much in this festive season! Harsh diet is coming! Jayla- I love piano! Akiho- I learned a lot this year. Ashmeet- It's been amazing to learn from you, Grace. Nicholas - This year was awesome! Venzhel- Grace is the best piano teacher and it was a great year. Bimin- I enjoyed learning from you. A few students were too shy to say something, and some others had intensive lessons so I did not have time to ask them for a message. All those who did not leave a message but whom I taught and loved spending time with- Sophie, Ronalee, Roneesha, Matt, Hannah, Carl, Catherine, George, Judea, Luke, Madelyn, Whitchill, Jessica and Christine- I thank you so much for being great students to me. Congratulations on your amazing achievement this year and hope you will continue to make remarkable progress in the new year. You make me proud.
of my Kawai GE-30 to make sure it sounds at its best for all my students. It was necessary especially because the piano is new and it's been only about 3 months and it needs time to settle in this new environment.
Now, 10 great weeks are ahead of us and I feel well-prepared and fully recharged for it!
evolving mechanisms of the early pianos worked and how they were reflected in music written in that era. Not only did he explain different pianos in chronological order, but he also described the development of the early pianos by region (Italy, Germany, Austria and England). Some of the areas he covered in the lecture were about the invention, construction and components of the early pianos including the harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano. It was fascinating to know that a lot of classical era music was written with the damper raised. It worked to clear the very common misconception that we should avoid using the damper pedal when playing a classical piece! After the lecture, I realised how I cannot put all early pianos into the same category and how largely different they were from one another.
No wonder accurate performance comes with accurate understanding of the history!
feel relaxed, happy and curious what I' going to learn next.[....] One day, I'll become a famous pianist. [....] I wish I could have piano lessons everyday!"
It's a joy for me to see Sophie grow as an all round musician and I can't wait to perform her own duet piece in the next student forum. ![]() I attended a WACE performance preparation seminar held by WAMTA on Saturday 16th May. The seminar was delivered by three current WACE examiners- Peter Sunman, John Beaverstock and Andrew Patrick. We had many points for discussion which covered various aspects of WACE exams including what to expect in the examination room, repertoire selection, timing of pieces, role of instrumental teachers in preparing the candidates and performing scores, just to name a few. Without doubt, the seminar was highly informative and effectively prepared teachers and students for WACE exams. It was worth attending despite the wintery, stormy and rain-drizzling weather:D
This year's first Student Forum was held last saturday, 2 May at St.Mary's Anglican Church, South Perth. Many students from more than 10 teachers participated, and amongst them were quite a few advanced students. The programme was wonderful and lasted for about 2 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!
It was particularly more special for my dearest student Katie as it was her first public performance. Unlike most students who perform for the first time, she didn't get nervous at all and played the prepared pieces beautifully with a careful attention to details. Congratulataions! No doubt that I was very proud and happy! I'm sure she was happy, too: ) I hope she will play to her best in her grade exam in July. |
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