7 Responses to “Music Lessons Update”

1. 

   Everyday Healy said on October 6th, 2009 at 11:18 am

   Which school is this ar? Once my girl finish her kinder beat, may be I can send her there. 🙂

2. 

   chanelwong said on October 6th, 2009 at 11:54 am

   Well done…great to know she is having fun..

3. 

   huisia said on October 7th, 2009 at 11:24 am

   how i wish my Jo could do as well as Emily, but he’s just so reluctant to go to his piano class.

4. 

   slavemom said on October 7th, 2009 at 8:27 pm

   Lucky that u managed to find a good teacher for Em. Sometimes it’s not becoz the child’s not talented or interested, the probs lie with the teacher.

5. 

   miche said on October 8th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

   she plays well! how i wish we can afford piano lessons for my children.

6. 

   xywen said on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:32 pm

   which school is this?

7. 

   Eli said on December 22nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm

   Hi! Stumbled upon this and just wanna relate my experience with JMC…

   My son is 7+ and has been doing JMC and now JXC for 3 yrs +. He just completed Book7 (JXC).

   I wld say that JMC is excellent intro exposure for young children at an age when they are not quite ready for traditional lessons yet.

   It exposes them to hearing (aural), basic improvisation (in later stages) and allows them to perform in public (the mini concerts for the parents at the end of each book). However, you will find that if your child is progressing well, he/she may find it a little slow as he grows (6-7/8 years old). This is because the course is structured such that it takes 6 months to complete a book – no faster. Of course how much the teacher can teach in terms of sight-reading, scales etc depends on how fast the students in your particular classs is, and how good the teacher is also. I know coz my 5-yr old daughter is also doing JMC under another teacher – and both teachers are diff.

   Anyway, once u have completed JMC, when u move to Book 5 (JXC) – teachers will advise that u take 1-1 traditional lessons on the side to supplement – especially if u’re thinking of having your child do music seriously. If u just follow the JMC/JXC/JAC/AXC route – u will find that your child will only be at Grade 6 (Yamaha grading) piano when he is around 12 – this is only like Grade 4 ABRSM – that’s pretty slow for someone who started music at 4 or 5.

   Of course there is an accelerated program which the child can audition for after JMC – but its only available at Kelana Jaya, not at most of the franchise holders – and thus, if you are gg to a Yamaha franchise school – they most probably won’t suggest it nor prepare your child to sign up:(

   Anyway, I delayed starting my son on 1-1 lessons coz I wanted him to adjust to primary 1 school, and I really loathe the traditional way of teaching classical piano – repertoire are often boring and I seen one too many kids who although can play well by sight reading, have absolutely no musicality in them, nor do they know anything abt improvisation, and worse, can’t hear any notes at all.

   Whereas, my son can put in simple chords to a piece of melody, have pretty good relative pitch, and is already doing simple improvisation.

   Nonetheless, I just signed him up for 1-1 piano lessons lately as the JXC class was painfully slow for him, and I finally found a course/teacher that focuses on musicianship rather than piano players.

   He is now doing the ANZCA syllabus (their modern and classical repertoires are more fun), and he gets exposed to jazz/boogie woogie etc styles. The teacher’s background was also fm JMC, so she does a gradual switch for him from do-re-mi to CDE – which is good – but finally he is improving on his sightplaying – and learning proper methods and stuff like scales diligently. Scales are also taught in JXC but not much emphasis.

   Most importantly, the current teacher also conducts additional musicianship group classes for students like him – to continue building on skills like improvisation and aural stuff.

   My son is really fired up now lol! He plays really well but lacks a little in sight reading as it was not emphasized as much in JMC/JXC. But I must say that JMC provided a very good foundation for him and he is now moving doubly fast on the 1-1 classes. I’m glad I found this teacher and discovered ANZCA, otherwise I doubt my son will enjoy traditional classical piano lessons!