SE22 Piano School – Page 6 – SE22 Piano School ~ East Dulwich

37% of Piano Teachers Struggle To Find The Right Formal Professional Development

Recently, I participated in a Piano Teachers’ survey organised by Finchcocks, a wonderful centre for musicians in Kent. Whilst myself and my colleagues at the SE22 Piano School all have piano teaching qualifications, there is no governing body in the UK for private tutors that demands a minimum requirement to teach. Even with qualified teachers, it can be difficult to find the time for Continuing Professional Development courses when juggling a heavy workload.

Finchcocks have introduced a one day course that is conveniently held in the October half-term and focussing on the new ABRSM piano syllabus as well as the chance for some music-making and a delicious lunch in the magnificent Georgian house where Finchcocks is situated in the Kent countryside. I am very much looking forward to finally visiting the Finchcocks Piano School as I have spent many happy times there when it was previously the Finchcocks Musical Museum but have yet to return and see the exciting new developments. If you are a teacher, do join me in the half-term for a fantastic day out. The nearest train station is Paddock Wood which is around 40 minutes direct from London Bridge. If you are a South Londoner, there’s no need to go into town but you can change at Bromley South instead.

Over a third of piano teachers (37%) undertake no formal professional development
25% of professional piano teachers rate the provision of teaching resources to teachers as poor or very poor
But 90% of piano teachers state they do want to do some form of professional development

Revealed: Motivation, practice and rhythm are key teaching challenges

Finchcocks aims to meet this need by providing workshops and residential piano courses aimed specifically at piano teachers

Finchcocks (www.finchcocks.com), which was formerly the internationally renowned piano museum in Kent, has recently re-opened as a piano school, and commissioned a survey of 389 piano teachers to get an insight into the key challenges piano teachers face.

Over a third of piano teachers undertake no formal professional development

Interestingly, Finchcocks’ survey revealed that over a third of piano teachers – 37% – do not undertake any formal professional development. For most teachers, this was not because they had no interest in developing their skills – in fact the vast majority (90%) said they wanted more training – but it was because of the scarcity of courses available for teachers. Indeed 25% of piano teachers surveyed rated the provision of teaching resources available to piano teachers as “poor” or “very poor”.

Motivation, practice and rhythm key teaching challenges

An almost unanimous 94% of piano teachers surveyed stated that they’d like to develop techniques for better motivating their students; 9 out of 10 teachers stated that they’d like to develop methods of instilling better practice techniques in their students; and 89% of teachers admitted that teaching students to play rhythmically was a key challenge.

When it came to areas for their own personal improvement, memorisation and improvisation were the hottest topics, with more than half of the respondents saying that these were areas they would like to further develop.

ABRSM still dominates as an exam board

Finchcocks’ survey revealed that piano teachers would like to develop their skills in regards to preparing their students for exams, as well as their day-to-day teaching skills.

Teaching sight reading and aural skills were the areas where teachers were most interested in developing their exam related teaching skills, with an overwhelming majority (90%) of teachers agreeing that they would like more training on these subjects.

When it came to the choice of exam boards, The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) still dominates, with 67% of teachers entering their students for these exams. Trinity College London came second with just over 10% of candidates, with the London College of Music attracting just 5% of participants.

Majority of piano teachers do so on a part-time basis

Interestingly, most teachers who took part in Finchcocks’ survey teach between 10 and 20 students on a weekly basis, but a hard core of 9% reported teaching more than 50 pupils per week. Only 2% teachers specialised in teaching adults, with 23% exclusively engaged in piano lessons for children.

Finchcocks launches courses for piano teachers

Commenting on the survey results, Neil Nichols, owner of Finchcocks piano school, said:

“Our survey has revealed that piano teachers –both part-time and full-time – are interested in professional development, but current teaching resources and courses are relatively limited. That’s why we have decided to launch a series of workshops and courses aimed specifically at piano teachers, covering the topics and issues they have told us they are keen to develop. ”

Finchcocks, which recently relaunched as a piano school, offering piano courses to adults of all abilities, is launching the first of its one-day workshops designed specifically for piano teachers on Thursday 25th October 2018. A week long residential course for teachers in also scheduled in the summer holidays next year with Graham Fitch and Penelope Roskell.

The first of these one day workshops coincides with the release of the new ABRSM piano syllabus, and is titled “Helping your students achieve their full potential in exams”.

Masterclass sessions will be run on the new grade 5 and grade 8 repertoire, together with a detailed explanation of the framework used by examiners when assessing pieces. It will be followed by a session where teachers will get the chance to make their own assessment of a real performance of the new reportoire in a mock ABRSM exam led by Nigel Scaife, a former ABRSM examiner. There will also be specific technique sessions on how best to teach aural and sight reading led by David Hall, a former organ scholar, choir master and member of the European Piano Teachers Association.

Tickets are £60 per attendee (including lunch and refreshments) and available via the Finchcocks website:

https://www.finchcocks.com/teachers/finchcocks-launches-courses-piano-teachers/

Finchcocks was constructed nearly 300 years ago in 1725. It was originally built as a family home by wealthy local land owners. It passed through various families before it was used for a variety of things in the 20th century: a venue for a private art collection; a home for evacuated school children in the Second World War; a ballet school; a world famous keyboard museum.

Back to School! Lessons start on 3rd September 2018

Hello Pianists – lessons start next Monday 3rd September (my birthday!). The Summer break has been quite full of musical activity despite a break from lessons. I’ve been practising for my upcoming recital at Bell House in Dulwich Village that is now only a few days away. Do come along – me and Alex are performing a short recital on the harpsichord and we’d love to see you there. [Book Tickets]

The timetable has just been emailed out via MailChimp to all subscribers. Nearly all students are signed up to the group newsletter but lots of new students have not yet subscribed. Please sign up so that you can receive the latest information about upcoming events and performance opportunities. [Join Mailing List]

The rest of my Summer has been busy with helping young musicians prepare for the upcoming state secondary Music Scholarships. We’ve had three group Music Aptitude Test workshops and there’s one more in September and October. [September Workshop]

Music Scholarship entrance tests are taking place throughout the Autumn term for UK schools. Don’t forget to let your teacher know if you are entering Year 6 and preparing for the scholarships so that we can spend time each lesson getting you ready for the Round One MAT. If you are thinking about local schools such as Kingsdale, Haberdashers or Prendergast then we can assist with scholarship entry. Many other schools in London Boroughs use the test such as Chelsea Academy, Cardinal Vaughan, Dame Alice Owen, Marylebone, West London Free School and Twyford to name just a few.

If you have any questions about the MAT, feel free to join our Facebook discussion group as it has lots of helpful tips and frequently asked questions.

Upcoming Events

As always, we have loads of great events coming up for musicians of all ages. Take a look at our Eventbrite page to see what’s on this Autumn and Spring [Upcoming Events]

I Wish I Didn’t Quit Music Lessons

Your child starts playing an instrument. Then they grow frustrated, impatient and bored. Then they quit and years later wish they didn’t. Why does this happen to so many people? Bad teaching? Boring music? Is playing the clarinet not cool enough? How can you stop this from happening? What can you do to help?

Nathan Holder will perform on the saxophone and also discuss his new book I Wish I Didn’t Quit: Music Lessons at a book launch in Dulwich Village on Saturday 29 September. His book gives you the tools and ideas to help your child succeed along their musical journey.

He has gathered tips from world class musicians to help you to understand how you can give your children an amazing set of lifelong skills, confidence and experiences.

There will also be short performances from musicians of all ages at this event and a giveaway of the book selected from the list of attendees pre-registered for this free event.

All ages welcome. Free entry.

29 September @ 2pm
St. Barnabas Parish Hall, Dulwich Village

Register online for a free ticket: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-wish-i-didnt-quit-music-lessons-in-conversation-with-nathan-holder-tickets-48307762819

Hello, I’d like to enquire about piano lessons. My daughter is turning 7 soon, would she be able to reach Grade 5 by age 11?

Hello, I’d like to enquire about piano lessons. My daughter is turning 7 soon, would she be able to reach Grade 5 by age 11?

This is a common message that I receive from parents of prospective students. To understand the reason behind the question: Grade 5 is commonly cited by private schools as a minimum standard of achievement to enter secondary school on a music scholarship. Age 11 coincides with the time that a student would sit an entry exam.

Whilst it’s impossible to assess a child’s future potential without having met them, it is possible to give a reasonable indication of what would be required to reach Grade 5 by this age. We have many students attaining higher grades at this age but with it comes a great deal of behind the scenes preparation and above all, a huge passion and enthusiasm for the piano. Without a real desire to learn the piano, there will be limited progress that can be made, especially when it comes to attaining the higher grades that become very demanding of the hours of practice you need to do at home.

Also be aware that music scholarships will often have candidates of around Grade 7 and 8 playing the piano to distinction level, so a Grade 5 piano certificate may not always be sufficient to gain a music scholarship. If you have ever heard the performers at the Dulwich Music Festival, you will know that there are some extremely talented youngsters in our area performing on multiple instruments to a fantastic level of proficiency. Many of these performers are music scholars at local private schools.

As a very rough measure, we say it takes around 1 to 2 years to start working on Grade 1 from the time of starting lessons, and then usually a further year to learn all the requirements for the exam. For some of our younger students, it may be 3 years from your first lesson until you sit your exam – or perhaps longer. I prefer not to prescribe any time limits as each child learns differently but this could be considered a guideline amount of time.

The recommended amount of daily practice is 30 minutes for Grade 1 and this increases significantly with each grade. Not all students can commit to this level of practice as they have several extra-curricular activities during the week so this may slow down progress. Younger students often practice better in the morning before school as they are usually quite tired after school.

Many of our students prefer not to follow the graded exam system and some are playing at an extremely high level and have explored a much larger range of repertoire than students that only work on graded exams. They participate in music festivals, competitions, study GSCE music and can choose to dip in and out of graded exams as required. This pattern of learning suits many students, particularly teenagers, as it empowers them to be in control of their piano journey, not learning according to a prescribed syllabus.

Exams complement the learning experience but our teaching philosophy is to impart a love of music and a passion for the piano in all of our students. If a student comes into each lesson eager to show us what they have done at home, or to show us their own composition, or to tell us how they are going to play for the whole school in assembly soon, then we know we have instilled the joy of music in them that will last for a lifetime, not just during the school years. Many of the parents of our students learned an instrument in their youth – sometimes to a very proficient standard beyond Grade 5, but few have continued to play and some have forgotten much of what they learned. This is why we believe that learning the piano just to pass a few grades is not the a holistically musical way to teach. We listen to the individual needs of each student. We find them repertoire they love – whether it’s pop music, classical or film music. We encourage them to improvise, to perform duets with their teacher or fellow students. We love to see them performing at our recitals to showcase their hard work to friends and family. We give them opportunities to play at amazing venues in London such as Handel & Hendrix Museum and Clementi House in Kensington.

We want to pass on the baton of enthusiasm for piano playing to the younger generation, just as our teachers did for us!

For those that need some ideas to motivate children to learn an instrument, we recommend this book by Nate Holder I Wish I Didn’t Quit: Music Lessons.