Jane - Teacher #4616

Instruments:
- Piano

Services:
- Music Theory (Beginner-Intermediate)
- RCM - Basic Harmony
- RCM - Basic Rudiments

Languages:
- Cantonese
- English
- Mandarin

Teaching Philosophy

I believe that music is for everyone, and everyone has certain musical talents to be unfolded as we are all musical creatures.

My primary goal as a piano teacher is to introduce piano playing to my students and inspire them to enjoy music and practice regularly, whether it is for leisure or for personal development.

My teaching philosophy comes from my mother who taught me piano since I was five. I was inspired by her enthusiasm on teaching and caring about her students. Therefore, I see that establishing a good rapport with students is the key for success in coaching students in addition to teaching them ample musical knowledge and piano techniques. Establishing a relationship needs time and so as learning the piano. Therefore, I believe that learning piano is a long-term project which could not be replaced by any short intensive piano courses or piano learning apps. It takes months and years of learning and practicing for an individual to acquire skills in a proper way. Hence, my job is to motivate my students to keep their passions in learning piano. To keep them motivated, I want my students to learn through discovery. This would be done by asking questions and having them to think on their own or sometimes even asking them to figure out some solutions to tackle the problem rather than giving them instructions and corrections instantly.

About my teaching focus, it would not merely be piano playing (performance). Sight-reading, aural skills and essential music theory knowledge would also be incorporated in my lessons. There are very important elements to develop one’s musicality. In my lessons, I will teach my students a good range of variety of piano pieces from the Baroque period to modern period and perhaps including pop music in order to engage them in my lessons while fingering exercises should never be ignored. Also, I would like to build my students' competency in reading music by introducing them to various brief reading exercises regularly. For young learners, I will have more activities such as body movement and four-hand playing during my lesson to make learning piano more fun. Suitable method books for different young learners will be used according to their strength and characters to motivate children to practice. For immediate level students, I would like to cover creative composition or improvisation to further unfold their musicality.

My lessons would not be exam oriented. I believe that it takes time for most young learners to acquire fundamental techniques and to develop ample musicality before they are ready to perform examination pieces. At the same time, I strike to offer customized individual lessons, hoping my students could learn something out of each lesson. Therefore, different learning styles would be accommodated since I see my role as a coach to uncover students' strength and to help them overcome their weaknesses. I look forward to becoming my students' guidance, and it would be my honor to be their companion on their music learning journey.

Musical Education

I obtained ABRSM Grade 8 in Piano and Trinity College Grade 8 in Music Theory. I also studied for a Certificate in Advanced Piano Pedagogy in Hong Kong.

I studied piano from the age of six with my mother, an experienced piano teacher who was classically trained in Hong Kong. She graduated with a music major at college and she has been teaching the piano for over half a century. Because of this, I grew up in a rich musical environment and have become very familiar with the ABRSM and Trinity examination systems. After coming to Canada, I start studying RCM examination system and I have been teaching my own son who obtained RCM Level 3 in piano this year. I studied harp with a classical harp teacher for two years. This harp learning experience has enriched my musical knowledge and my skills in playing the piano as I have learned to compare the differences between the two instruments.

Special Skills and Training

I spent my childhood watching my mother teaching piano in the living room. She is an impeccable teacher with over 50 years experience as a professional and dedicated educator. Hence, I picked up her teaching methods through observing her lessons. In addition, I have been a church pianist for over 20 years. Through this experience, I have mastered the skills on playing with chords, using various left-hand patterns, doing spontaneous improvisation and playing with musicality.

Rates

30 Minutes: $39.00
45 Minutes: $49.00
60 Minutes: $59.00

There is a one-time registration fee of 25 $ charged with the first lessons. All Taxes are included in prices, if applicable

NOTE: Your Credit card will be charged ONLY when the first lesson is set up and confirmed with the teacher

Policies


1. Cancellation Policy

Lessons not cancelled or rescheduled with at least 24 hours notice are billable to the client and payable to the teacher. This does not of course apply to travel fees unless the notice is effectively given at the door and the teacher has travelled to the location.

2. Cessation (quitting) Policy

A client must provide a 2 lesson notice period to stop lessons. So a weekly student needs to give 2 weeks of notice, a biweekly student works out to 3 weeks notice and a twice weekly student works out to a week of notice.

3. Illness Policy

Lessons cancelled due to illness or extraordinary circumstances with less than 24 hours notice remain billable to the client and payable to the teacher.

BAH teachers are encouraged to offer a make-up lesson at a future date in the interest of client relations and general goodwill. This only makes sense as teaching a student with the flu for example, will ruin the rest of your week's employment.

No more than 2 lessons may be made up due to illness within a 60 day period.

4. Rescheduling Policy

Any lesson can be cancelled or rescheduled with at least 24 hours notice.

Summer Vacation and Extended Absence Policy

Clients may schedule longer absences for trips etc. 24 hours notice is required.

It is normal and typical for students and about 20% of our teachers to schedule a break in the summer. We do not enforce a notice period (see cessation of lessons) at the end of a long summer break.

5. Evaluation Period

There are no free trial lessons with Beethoven at Home but we do offer a 2 lesson evaluation period where it is easy to try out a teacher. There are no free lessons during the evaluation period and clients may choose to discontinue the lessons at any time by providing the required 24 hours notice. After the student's 3rd lesson the required 2 lesson notice period will apply (see cessation of lessons above).

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