The Good Pianist

Category: Music Teaching

  • Student Spotlight: Regina See

    001

    All my 20+ years of teaching I’ve encountered students whom I fondly regard as “classics,” and then there’s Regina See. She’s one of my students in Digital Music here in Penang, and started learning with me about two years ago. I decided to conduct a mini-interview with her, emailing some questions to her and then asking her to append her replies. Here it is, heaven help me.

    When did you start learning piano with Mr. Yeoh? How old were you then? I started learning piano with Mr Yeoh when I was in form 1, that was in 2009. I was 13.

    What certifications have you achieved in your piano so far? Um. Passes? Distinctions and Merits; this proves how AWESOME I am!

    How do you find Mr. Yeoh’s teaching? Hmm… *thinks hard* Boring. Boring, boring. Nah, just kidding. It’s quite fun actually. He’s like a friend. I can tease him oh and I always win whenever we argue. So yeah. I feel big and awesome whenever I’m with him.

    Have you enjoyed your piano lessons so far? Yeah, I always look forward to the piano classes.

    What would you have liked Mr. Yeoh to focus more on? Less on? FOCUS MORE ON PIECES. Oh my god. Less on scales, muahaha!

    Has Mr. Yeoh made you more interested and motivated to play the piano, or less? Um. He doesn’t really affect me that much? I play whenever I feel like it. Not when Mr Yeoh starts smacking me and putting the metronome up close to my ear.

    Any other comments, complaints, etc. will be welcome here. He drags and threatens me all the time. I should call Child Services one day and then we’ll see who’ll be the last one standing. Just kidding, Mr Yeoh is an AWESOME piano teacher. As the saying goes: awesome student, awesome teacher. Trust me, it’s not the other way around.

    What other activities do you enjoy besides piano playing? I like horse riding and Mathematics.

    I could regard Regina as a classic but I won’t because she’s always moaning about how tough school life is and what a drag it is for her to practice all those countless scales and arpeggios. Well young lady, you’d better roll up your sleeves and get movin’, otherwise I’ll sm… oopsie. Don’t want her to call Child Services, do we?

    Notwithstanding that fact above, I’ll say that Regina is the only student who wants to do a high five with me, to tell me that my skin color is so fair, to complain about how mean I can be to her (you know this is totally untrue, young lady), to promise me (umpteen times) that she’ll do her scales next week, etc. etc. You get my point.

    It’s been a challenging but great experience to teach this cooperative student (a little praise there) and she does work hard, I grant her that. And oh yes, before I sign off…her favorite word (as if you can’t tell from the interview) is “awesome.” I think it’s an excellent attitude for her to have. And Regina, you will keep practicing, won’t you, wink wink?

  • Student Spotlight: Vincent Ong

    Here’s a vid of my student Vincent Ong playing his own composition, Flight of the Gargoyles at the recent Yamaha Junior Original Concert earlier this year. Vincent was the junior winner in the first Piano Idol competition held here in Penang way back in October 2008. Thanks for the vid, Sue!

    Ed Note: Due to copyright restrictions I’m afraid that the above video has been marked as private by the owner. My apologies.

     

  • Bao Xiu plays Brubeck

    Here’s my student Bao Xiu again, playing Dave Brubeck’s King for a Day. A treat for all you jazz fans.

  • Student spotlight: Adriana Chiew

    Another of my advanced students, Adriana Chiew performing on the Yamaha Clavinova.

    Adriana won the second Piano Idol competition held in 2009. Since then I have seen her progressing very well in her piano playing. Of course it helps to have a strict teacher like me, yes? Here she is, playing Chopin’s Mazurka in F Op. 68 No. 3. She’s one student that will go very far (and that’s a promise)

  • Student spotlight: Tan Bao Xiu

    One of my advanced students, Tan Bao Xiu playing on the Yamaha Clavinova.

    Bao Xiu has been learning with me for about two years now. She’s a soft-spoken student, but very obedient and follows instructions to the latter. Here she’s playing one of her Grade 8 ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, UK) examination pieces—Clara Schumann’s Fugue. I recorded this video using my Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D in high definition mode. Well done, Bao Xiu!

  • A tribute to my students

    I decided to embark on a project to photograph each and every one of my students recently. And this is one of the questions that never fails to annoy me—“How many students do you have?” I usually post a response like “Just enough to maintain my sanity and live a decent lifestyle.” Teaching is one of the most taxing professions that one can take up, especially when it’s on a one-to-one basis like what I’m doing. So here’s a photo collage of my current crop of students (at least the ones who were not camera-shy) All the pictures were shot with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D with either a Canon 50mm standard lens or a Canon 18-55mm IS zoom lens. Lighting used was bounced flash with a Canon 270EX Speedlite.

    To all my students—thank you for letting me be your teacher, and for putting up with me as we embark on our musical journeys together.

    Student Collage

    Top row (L-R): Adriana, Anthea, Bao Xiu, Cassandra, Henry. Second row (L-R): Jason, Joshua, Kelvin, Poh Lin, Regina. Third row (L-R): Robin, Sabrina, Shih Yu, Shirlynn, Terence. Bottom row (L-R): Wei Yang, Wynn, Ying Xuan, Yu Xuan.