Catherine Shum's Piano Studio

✨🎉 Big congrats to everyone that participated in exams this spring. You did amazing!

Big congrats to another student for getting 92%, and PERFECT SCORE for List A and List C! 🎉🙌🏻🎹

Super proud of Davit for getting 92% in his exam, and a PERFECT SCORE in his List A 🎹💫👏🏼🎉

🌟 Big congrats to C.N., N.G., S.L., and O.T. for your outstanding performances at the competition, and your provincial recommendations 🎉

Your dedication and hard work paid off! Congrats to S.L. for getting 1st place and 2nd place in Level 3 Classical piano 👏🏼🎉

Congrats to MT and PT for your achievements at the CCC Toronto International Music Festival, and your OMFA Provincial Finals nomination 🎉

I asked ChatGPT how to prepare our children in the age of AI, here is the response:

This is a very thoughtful—and very parent-level—question. The honest answer is a bit uncomfortable but also hopeful:

No specific job is truly “secure.”
But certain capacities will remain valuable no matter what AI does.

So the best preparation isn’t picking a job title—it’s shaping how children think, adapt, and relate.

⸻

1. What AI is very good at (and will keep replacing)

AI excels at:
• Repetitive cognitive work
• Pattern recognition at scale
• Rule-based decision making
• Generating “first drafts” (code, text, designs, diagnoses, lesson plans)

So jobs that are narrow, procedural, and replaceable are the most vulnerable:
• Basic data entry / bookkeeping
• Routine coding without system-level thinking
• Pure memorization-based roles
• Some middle-layer white-collar tasks

This doesn’t mean these jobs disappear—but they will require far fewer humans.

⸻

2. What remains hard for AI (and likely to stay valuable)

A. Human judgment in messy situations

AI struggles when:
• Goals are unclear
• Values conflict
• Context is emotional, cultural, or moral

Examples
• Teachers who adapt to individual children
• Therapists, counselors, coaches
• Leaders, managers, negotiators
• Pastors, social workers, caregivers

These roles involve wisdom, not just intelligence.

⸻

B. Deep human connection & trust

People still want:
• Someone who understands them
• Someone accountable
• Someone who can hold vulnerability

Examples
• Healthcare professionals (especially hands-on)
• Skilled caregivers (elder care, special needs)
• Sales, fundraising, community leadership
• Arts that connect emotionally (music, storytelling)

As a musician/piano educator yourself, this matters: AI can generate music, but it cannot replace shared human meaning.

⸻

C. Creative synthesis (not just creativity)

AI can generate ideas. Humans are better at:
• Choosing what matters
• Combining ideas across domains
• Making taste-based or ethical decisions

Examples
• Product designers
• Creative directors
• Architects
• Entrepreneurs
• Researchers asking new questions

⸻

D. Working with AI, not against it

The most secure people will be those who can:
• Use AI as a tool
• Evaluate its output
• Know when it’s wrong
• Frame the right questions

This applies across fields: medicine, law, engineering, education, music.

How should we actually prepare children?

This is the most important part.

A. Teach them how to learn, not what to memorize

AI makes memorization cheap.

Children need:
• Curiosity
• Self-directed learning
• Comfort with not knowing

Ask:
• “How would you figure that out?”
• “What do you think matters here?”
• “What questions would you ask?”

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B. Build human skills early

These will compound for life:
• Communication (speaking & writing clearly)
• Listening and empathy
• Collaboration and leadership
• Emotional regulation
• Ethical reasoning

Ironically, these are often under-taught because they’re hard to test.

⸻

C. Encourage making things

Not just consuming:
• Music
• Coding small tools
• Building, tinkering
• Writing, composing, designing

The habit of creating builds confidence and adaptability.

⸻

D. Normalize change and reinvention

Many children today will have:
• 5–7 careers
• Jobs that don’t exist yet

What matters is not stability, but resilience.

⸻

5. One grounding truth (especially for parents)

Children don’t need to “outsmart AI.”
They need to outgrow fear of change.

If they learn:
• to think clearly
• to care about people
• to adapt and keep learning
• to use tools wisely

They will not be obsolete.

So proud of you A, for winning first place in your pre-provincial class 🌟

Big congrats to Ethan for getting 100% on his level 7 theory exam ❤️‍🔥