Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Got my first piano teacher and first lesson today

couple of days ago, I went to the shop that sold me the yamaha. I asked them if you have a teacher that you can refer to. They have a few and I asked for the best one. The piano shop is also a training center so im not surprised that he's around. I talked to him briefly for 5 min because he's in a rush for a one-to-one class. The yamaha shop is located just outside the 3rd best conservatory in China. The guy's 32 years old and got a Master's degree from said conservatory majored in piano.

Today I have a one hour session with him ( about US $50 ). I didn't even touch the piano, all talks, LOL.

First thing he asked me is "what's your objective? What do you want to become?" I said “ my fantasy target is a concert pianist playing bach and beethoven's, etc 's work. I know I won't achieve that given my age, but I'll just enjoy the journey. "

2nd thing he asked me is "what's your level of reading music?" I said :" if I am allowed to see the keyboard, I can strike every key correctly, no matter how difficult/complex the score is, if no clock's ticking". He then asked " If I show you a random note between 3rd line above&below the treble/bass clef，are you able to tell within 1 second if it is a do, or re, or mi, or fa, or sol, or la, or ti ？” I said: "some I can, maybe just 1, 4 and 5 within the clef, others I need a few seconds, not just 1" then he asked me to order a bunch of cards, on the face of each there's a note on a clef and the corresponding name on the back. This is my first homework ---- to memorize and to be able to tell if it is 1234567 within 1 second no matter which note is shown.

3rd thing he wanted to assess my ability to comprehend music's expression.
He played "happy birthday to you" like a music box and ask me how do I feel. I said " i felt like somebody's opening a music box in space"
He then played the same "happy birthday to you" with a few chords on the left hand and with some scherzo feeling and asked me how I feel. I said I felt like some kids are having a good time with his/her parents.
He then played it again with lots of chords and very loud with foot on pedal and ask me how do I feel. I said I felt like at least 2-3 kids are having a good time with a huge family of 10.
So then he told me I passed the "music expression comprehension IQ test". ( bad translation, sorry)

4th thing he asked me is that "if I give you a random score, say, a Chopin's prelude, can you beat it on your leg without mistakes at first try" I said I don't know. He said he'll bring some scores next time. Then there's my 2nd homework --- he asked me to have some try on those Thompson's easy scores when at home. (after I got back home, I tried bach's 2part invention #15, heck no, I won't make it right the first time, took me half a minute to just figure out the first 3 measures, although almost all latter parts are repetitive, beat-wise. Tried some easy Thompson's , well , that's a success.)

Then we discussed musicality and technicality and how his philosophy is. The conclusion is that I have a nerdy approach to music, which itself isn't a bad thing as long as you do the nerd part on your own ( whatever that means). He said he himself had the same approach when he's a teenager. He also said he's a serious guy and don't have a habit of praise his students for small improvements, etc

We conclude the session in a sharp manner, exactly 1 hour. He then went to his next student next door. Seems to be a busy guy.

Glad you found a thorough teacher, enjoy! 😊👍

Congrats on finding a teacher. just curious with these “tests”, is it implied that he won’t accept you as a student if you didn’t pass?

Not sure if you have any experience playing an instrument in the past such as a violin or flute. I have experience playing violin so starting piano was easier. I had to train myself to read the bass clef that violin students don't have to do.

I hate to stereotype people but over the years I find things that are common in the Asian community (Chinese & Koreans):

1. Music grade levels.
I've seen many videos of young Asians playing with the grade level in bold in the title with the piece they're playing such as: ABRSM Gr. 5 - Bach Invention #8 or Mozart Sonata #16 sort of thing.
Every grade level you pass successfully is a sign of accomplishment. In the Asian community they like to show-off their piano grade especially.

2. Lack of praise /complement.
Unless you won a piano competition as #1, there is always room for improvement. People in the West would praise a student even if he/she is not the best. People in the East would get students to work harder to correct mistakes before giving praise.

3. Idolizing concert pianists.
Many young Chinese students would tell you they want to be like Lang Lang or Yundi Li. You ask a young virtuoso like Ryan Wang from Vancouver, Canada and he'd tell you he wants to play like Y. Li. You get a lot of "I want to play the Chopin Concerto #2 or Tchaikovsky Concerto because of LL" from the Chinese community.

4. Learning Classical music.
Many Asians would start with Classical music regardless what instrument they're learning. Although Popular music have been around for more than half a century, it's not as popular in the Asian community.

When someone asks me (assuming I'm a beginner starting my first lesson) what I want to get out of playing piano... I might give a common Asian reply something like I want to eventually pass the ABRSM Gr. 5 exam, I want to play like LL or I want to learn Classical music.

Good luck with your music journey!

Sounds like a disciplined and "true" teacher. Good for you. :-)

Sounds to me as though he's assessing a few basics to see where his new student stands. Good for him.

That was my take on the interview and the questions asked.

Regards,

I think he's assessing where I stand, as the other forum member indicates.
Now I remember he said musicality, the feeling of music expression can be trained.

aha, what you said is so true.

now I remember I told the teacher that im not after any grade exams. i told him that I play piano for self improvement, not something Im going to show off.

Being in China 2/3 of my life, I am ok with not being praised. A few years ago, when I was on the cusp of mental breakdown, I cried and yelled to my dad that for 40+ year, he never ever praised me for any one thing I achieved, including entrance to a privileged high school, admission to a Univ of Cali graduate school, etc. What a life i've had, sign.

I do idolize Lang Lang, when I saw videos of his playing, i wonder when can I achieve 1/2 of that. I think that's a good thing, isn't it?

I'll be very interested to learn how your second lesson with this teacher goes.

Wax On, Wax Off
(That's not meant to be in an way an Asian related comment, more about the long preparation before the learning begins)

here we go, Carey, since you asked.

I got my 2nd 1-hour lesson today. He's 5 min late and 20 min before the lession began, he messaged me saying he's got a traffic congestion so he'll be 10 min late.

Please note all stuff within quotation marks are from my memory and are translation from Chinese, so expect some loss or distortion.

1st , he ask me: "do you know what is syncopation?" I said : "yea," and I tap on the piano for a simple syncopation. He asked: "do you know what it really means?" I said "No" with confusion on my face. he continued:" its really meaning is that the forte of those notes lies on the longer note, its like when you say something, usually you elongate the word that's important in that sentence." Blah blah. Then he shows me several examples of syncopation in Thompson's book and how those notes should be played on piano. He said "it should be second nature to you when you see syncopation"

2nd, using Thompson's book, he shows me a 2/4 piece and that piece starts with silence sign (in english, it may be called a "pickup" , but im not 100% sure). he asked: "do you know why you don't move this weird single note to the beginning of a measure and adjust all the subsequent notes's position to suit it?" I said : "because this single weird note should be a weak note， if you put it into the beginning of a measure, you'll mess up with the beats" he said: "correct, its called "ruoqi", now next topic“ ( ruoqi should be the music jargon for "pickup" in English, I guess)"

3rd, using a piece in Thompson's , he wrote a sharp mark on a note (there are 4 notes in that measure, 2 of them are the same note), and said: "if I put a sharp here, should the late 2nd note also be sharped?" I said "yes." then he wrote a natural mark on the 2nd note, blah, and asked a few similar questions, and I answered correctly. he then said:"ok, you got this".

4th, he said: " so a G major song, you'll see a sharp mark on the stave, and you'll see 2 sharps, 3 sharps, 4 sharps, 5, 6,7, do you know the tricks on this? is there any laws governing this?" I said:" are you talking about circle of 5?" Him: "so you know it?" I:" a little, given enough time I can calculate all of those thing" Him: "there's a better way” ， then he played do-sol-re-la- etc etc in one octave.

5th, he play 3 notes in one measure, all of those notes are quarter notes. He played as if the 3 notes are of different length in time. He said" this is called cheating" ( in english, it should be "ru-something" I can't remember the word for this. basically means that it is not played strictly adhering to the sheet music.

6th, "I asked you to sing and tap the beats with those Thompson pieces, now, show me one of them". I singed and tapped one simple Thompson's piece. Then he asked along the lines of "if this is a F sharp major, do you still sing it this way? is a Do still a Do?" I then wasn't sure, so he continued: "this is what we call fixed do and moving do system" Then he explained what it is. He also said that fixed do is better for a pianist and moving do is better for a singer. because if you are doing moving do while playing piano, somethings, when you got a hiccup, you'll mess up worse than those with fixed do.
He also said he is one of the rare comrades that don't have a perfect pitch back in his conservatory days and his fixed do is better than all of his classmates.

7th, homework a) continue to speed up note recognition and reach the speed of 1 second per note ( about 45 notes). Next homework will be playing each note on piano within 2 seconds after you see the note.

b) Beyer's book. # 11, 23, 24, 30, 45, 46, play it, but don't polish it, we are not trying to assess if you can play well. just to be able to play it in full, i'll be asked to play in front of him next time.

c) buy the "abrsm 1-8 piano specimen Sight-reading Tests.“ We'll need it next time.

5) is rubato, though I don’t get why he’d call it “cheating”

It’s a little strange he’s hitting a lot of topics but that may not be relevant to you yet, but.... if you enjoy his teaching style then all is fine

Wow...

There is more material presented in the 2nd lesson than my 50th. When mom took me to the first piano lesson, the teacher showed me how to play a few notes in the C-scale. Got no further than "Twinkle" in a month and the lessons were on hold for another 3 decades. At age 5 I wouldn't be able to tell you what is syncopation, major & minor scales. There was no Google search or Wikipedia so wouldn't be able to look them up.

In the beginning there are people who learn to count with a metronome and play in a mechanical way. And there are people who avoid using a metronome unless the teacher requests it. The counting gets uneven unintentionally. Nobody would call the playing rubato if someone makes a 1 beat note sound like 2 beats.

Looks like you already have an idea how far you can go. Like to hear your progress a year from now and hear a recording from you in the quarterly PW Recital.

Good luck...

partly because I played various other instruments before, so I know music notations pretty well before I started piano.

well, my teacher told me the same thing about 1 year recital which gathers all of his students. Looking forward to it.

its lost in translation, its not like cheating a wife or cheating in an exam. In Chinese, there are at least 10 words for cheating, he used one of them, so.....

ah , right! that's the word, RUBATO.

Yao, what's your take on this teacher? He appears to be very intelligent. I'd like to know how you feel about him

I really appreciate the detailed assessment your teacher did at this lesson to determine ‘where you are’ and what instruction you need. Great start

I’m also a beginner like you, so others may be more qualified to judge the teacher than me. But for comparison my teacher (also Chinese, trained in middle/high school of Sichuan conservatory and then studied piano in US college) in the first lessons focused more on basic techniques (correcting hand shape, the way to apply force, etc). From your description it sounds like you didn’t spend much time on the piano, so it is a little concerning if he asked you to practice Beyer but not first checking if you’re playing correctly.

Also why would he talk about syncopation, pickup measure, rubato etc if you aren’t playing pieces with these elements yet? I wonder if this is because you’re a new student so he’s trying to impress you with knowledge. I personally would prefer the teacher to focus on my current level and only introduce an item when I can use it.

But this is 1) my personal preference and 2) only judging him based on what you wrote so far, so it’s very possible that he did more things that you just didn’t include in your description...

My initial note recognition speed is 75 seconds for 45 notes ( notes printed on a flash card)
10 days passed,
my speed now is 55 seconds, occasionally I can pull off 48 seconds

2 more days for next lesson, I need to achieve 45 seconds for 45 notes in these 2 days. I doubt it will happen because of diminishing returns