Teaching on ANZAC Day

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I write a journal entry about my teaching sessions. Today I have 6 students on my list starting from 9am until 4pm. They come early because it's public holiday here in Australia as we are remembering ANZAC Day.

In today's entry, I would like to share a short story about my job as a piano teacher here in Melbourne:

MariA, came at 2.30pm. She is one of my adult beginner students. She has a beautiful voice & she wants to be able to play piano to accompany herself while singing. She is studying full time at Victoria University & has a part-time job as well. Although she has all other activities, she still makes an effort to learn piano.
Today, she shared a story for about 1 hour of her stressful assignments. I did not know that she was not feeling okay because she still focus well during her lesson. She alway comes 30 minute earlier to practice on the piano as she does not have her own keyboard at home. At the end, she said thank you for listening & I could see she had a smile on her face again.

Teaching piano in Melbourne definately open up a new perspective on how I see myself not only as a teacher to my students, but also as a friend to support them eventhough we only meet for 30 minutes up to 60 minutes a week.

Myra, one of my ABRSM Grade 8 students, is preparing for her exam somewhere in June. We are focussing to strengthen her fingers & technique. There are a couple of exercises that she can do with scales & Hanon. I ask her to dissect her pieces & focus on practising the difficult parts. She will be running all of her exam pieces at the next advanced group home concert.

Next, I have 2 students, Matthew & DanieL, who will be doing their theory exam in May. Daniel will also having his piano exam on Saturday 15th May. He has a busy schedule in May. He has 2 AMEB Exams both practical & theory, he will be participating on the next advanced group home concert as well to run thru his classical pieces for Mid-year Recital. He will be doing Hanon & continue A Dozen A Day book 3 after his grade 5 exam.

StefaniE, one of my AMusA students, gave a great performance today. She will be doing her AMusA in Session 4 or 5 this year. She has been playing her exam pieces really well. She definately has got her own style of playing Tchaikovsky's October & Mozart's Sonata in G & Bach's English Suite No.3 even though this piece is still on progress. Next on the list will be Debussy Passepied. EmiliA, came after Stef. She is one of my AMEB Grade 8 students. She is focussing on her Chopin Waltz Op. 70 No. 2. She too, will be participating on the next advanced group home concert.