As a piano and a graphic designer, music appreciation and musical imagination play big parts in my life. I believe music is a universal language to express yourself and communicate with your soul to others. People can enjoy and appreciate music since they were born (even in their mommy’s tummy). Babies kick when they hear an exciting tune. I love to inspire and motivate students -- engaging them to further their passion for music, as well as building their confidence, discipline, and curiosity by providing a fun learning environment. Through my teaching, students would be able to enjoy and appreciate music in different forms - listening, playing, improvising, singing or even dancing. Whether it's a motet piece from the 15th century or a jazz tune from Oscar Peterson, the student would have an awe moment discovering these great compositions. In my class, I nurture them from reading the notes right to playing the piece expressively with constant practice of ear-training, sight reading, techniques,theory, artistry and performance training. Ensuring students can find their best sounds, they would be learning how to coordinate every part of their bodies to play good quality sound, phrasing and tonality. I handpick the best technical drills to develop a strong technical artistry to each one of them. Besides techniques, creativity plays an important role in music. I want to help students express (or to ‘speak out’) their emotions and thoughts via playing music. The richer the musical knowledge they have, the more they can fluently speak this universal language. The passion for improvising, composing and jamming will be a life-long enjoyment. Students pick their favourite piece, whether it's a pop song, praise hymn, video game background music, they learn how to play accompaniment, chord progressions, voicing with the fake sheet or chord sheet provided. Every child is unique, a cookie-cutter teaching method won’t work. Hence, as a teacher, I would love to assist my students finding their own interests, strengths & weaknesses to excel them into becoming a confident, competent musician. It is my job to continuously find their best learning style. If the student is an auditory learner, Suzuki method (learning a piece by listening) would be introduced. If the student is a kinesthetic learner, I would provide him with a lot of off-the-bench exercises and games. I would also let students appreciate music through storytelling. Every piece has a story behind. Getting to know more about the piece's background would help musicians connect to the piece more. I love to learn through visualization and exploration too. For example, let them gazing on a Monet painting while listening to a Debussy piece or asking them to go for a walk after class listening to Antonio Vilvaldi’s “Spring”. Through the progress of preparation, presentation, practice suggestion and polishing; I assist students learning a piece from scratch and turn it into a thoroughly well-known performance. There’s a famous african proverb that says “It takes a village to raise a child!” The people who know the students best are their parents. It is a teamwork that requires teacher and parents to ensure the student is striving towards the goals on a daily basis. I encourage parents to tell me how the students have been practicing and what struggles or concerns they may be facing. Parents are welcome to participate in the classroom too so they would know what exactly their children are learning. Students will be motivated through incentives or awards given by the teacher and parents. Nothing feels better than succeeding at something that you have put lots of effort in. Besides rewards, performance also is a key to build confidence, revive endurance, and maintain motivation in practicing. I organize recitals once or twice a year so my students will have an opportunity to bring their hard work out to the audience. Practicing for recitals is a great opportunity for students to experience the progress of turning months of hard work into a round of applause from the audience, plus a sense of accomplishment. Pluto once said, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” It would be my honour to guide my students to explore such a wonderful creation and be able to use it as their life-long enjoyment. “Without music, life would be blank to me” - Jane Austen.
