Music is a gift, and finding a suitable piano teacher to aid the discovery and appreciation of this magical gift is no easy task. Whether the piano student is a beginner or already doing advanced studies, having a responsible, qualified piano teacher is very important. At the beginner level, a piano student’s musical and technical foundations are imprinted. At the intermediate level, a piano student’s musical and technical foundations are further developed and strengthened. At the advanced level, a piano student is guided towards developing into an independent musician and thinker/interpreter. Therefore, at all stages of a developing piano student, having a good piano teacher is of utmost importance. Some basic factors that constitute a good piano teacher are qualifications, personality, and teaching experience. These three basic factors will be explored below, in this article.

Common Qualifications of Piano Teachers in Singapore

First, I would like to address the issue of the different array of common musical qualifications for piano teachers in Singapore, which is usually taken into consideration when choosing a piano teacher. In Singapore, there are two main external musical examinations boards, where piano teachers may obtain their diploma qualifications beyond Grade 8: Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and Trinity Guildhall (Trinity). In the ABRSM syllabus, the three levels of diploma study commonly taken by piano teachers, in order of ascending qualification, are:

1. DipABRSM Performance

2. LRSM Performance

3. FRSM Performance

Similarly, in the Trinity syllabus, the three levels of diploma study commonly taken by piano teachers, in order of ascending qualification, are:

1. ATCL Performance, or ATCL Recital

2. LTCL Recital

3. FTCL Performance

Besides the performance category for each syllabus, there is also the teaching category, whereby the candidate focuses mainly on piano pedagogy. The expected standard of piano playing for each level of qualification is naturally higher in the performance category, as compared to the teaching category. In general, as a piano teacher, one must thoroughly understand the music or the material being taught first, before exploring the techniques of teaching. Therefore, some piano teachers choose to obtain additional teaching diplomas of the same level after obtaining the performance diplomas.

Aside from these ABRSM and Trinity diplomas, piano teachers may instead have degrees such as Bachelor of Music, and Master of Music, and Doctor of Music. A frequent question asked is: How do these degrees compare to the diplomas?

According to the examination boards, the DipABRSM Performance, ATCL Performance and ATCL Recital diplomas are approximately equivalent in standard to the “performance component of the first year in a full-time undergraduate course at a conservatoire or other higher education establishment.” The LRSM Performance and LTCL Recital are diplomas in which the “standard of performance is at a level comparable with the performance component on completion of a full-time undergraduate course at music conservatoire or other higher education establishment”, i.e. Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance. The FRSM Performance and FTCL Performance are diplomas in which the “standard of performance is equivalent to the performance component on completion of a full-time postgraduate course at a conservatoire or other higher education establishment”, i.e. Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance.

However, the diplomas and degrees are only approximate equivalencies because in a degree program, unlike in a diploma, the student has multiple recitals and performances, devotes entire years of education not just to practicing and memorizing a variety of music, but also taking a variety of supporting courses in history, theory, accompaniment, pedagogy, et cetera. A Bachelor, Masters, Doctorate in Music is equivalent in depth of study to a Bachelor, Masters, Doctorate in, for example, Chemistry.

Besides these common qualifications that a piano teacher in Singapore may have, there are also the pure musical geniuses and amazing masters out there, with plenty of international performing and teaching experience, defying categorizations!

Personality and Teaching Experience

In selecting a piano teacher, other important factors to consider are personality and teaching experience. Patience is an important characteristic for those in the teaching profession, including piano teachers. It is good to have a dedicated piano teacher who is strict in musical expectations and requirements, but warm in personality, so that the student will progress musically, and yet is able to communicate with, and feels comfortable expressing his/her own ideas/opinions to the teacher. Hitting of the student as a vent by a frustrated piano teacher is absolutely unacceptable! However, it is important for the student’s parents to work hand-in-hand with the piano teacher to cultivate discipline and attentiveness in a child. Discipline and attentiveness are characteristics important for progress in any subject of learning, including piano. A piano teacher should function as a friend, as well as a mentor, working on a long-term goal of developing the piano student ultimately into an independent musician and thinker.

Needless to say, teaching experience for a piano teacher is also important. However, the quality of teaching is as important or in some ways more important than the amount of teaching experience a teacher has.

In Conclusion

To conclude this article, having found a qualified and good piano teacher, dedicated to developing the student’s musical abilities, it is best to trust the piano teacher, and stick to one piano teacher for some time as oppose to adopting the “teacher-hopping” philosophy, which seems to be a trendy phenomenon in the Singapore tuition world, whereby a tuition student has different teachers every few months. By entrusting the student’s piano education to one piano teacher for some time, there will be a sense of continuity and purpose in the piano student’s journey towards achieving a long-term musical goal and dream.