ABRSM Grade 7 Violin: aural section, Teacher required in or near Islington Options

[suzukimum]

My son will be taking his grade 7 violin exam in the summer and I need to find at teacher to coach him for the aural section. Can you please advise me on how to go about finding someone? Are there people who specialise in this work? I'm thinking that regular piano teachers, for instance, are unlikely to have a slot available for one term only.

I'm sure many of you believe his violin teacher should be including this preparation in his violin lessons but the fact of the matter is, she doesn't and she hasn't linked up with a teacher to do this with her pupils either, so I wondered if there was a register or something you could direct me to?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

[lorraineliyanage]

I will PM you some details of an excellent teacher in St. Pancras Chambers (Kings Cross)

[suzukimum]

Thank you so much for that instant and very helpful response! I shall certainly give this person a try.

[jm-hamilton]

My son will be taking his grade 7 violin exam in the summer and I need to find at teacher to coach him for the aural section. Can you please advise me on how to go about finding someone? Are there people who specialise in this work? I'm thinking that regular piano teachers, for instance, are unlikely to have a slot available for one term only.

I'm sure many of you believe his violin teacher should be including this preparation in his violin lessons but the fact of the matter is, she doesn't and she hasn't linked up with a teacher to do this with her pupils either, so I wondered if there was a register or something you could direct me to?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

There are some teachers who will do a term's worth of aural only. I've done it for both Grade 7 and 8 for a couple of people - they come to me for about 5 sessions before the exam, and I just slot them in where I can. If I lived near you I'd offer to do it. Hope lorraineliyanage has got you sorted.

[porilo]

Have you asked the teacher why she is not including aural training during your son's lessons? Surely that is part of the responsibility of the teacher to prepare students fully for their exams.

[violincjj]

Have you asked the teacher why she is not including aural training during your son's lessons? Surely that is part of the responsibility of the teacher to prepare students fully for their exams.

Well it's quite responsible of the teacher to say they won't do it if they don't feel able.

[jm-hamilton]

My Grade 8 pupil goes to someone for Grade 8 singing, and she said from the start that she doesn't do aural, so he does it with me

[Bagpuss]

I do quite a bit of aural-bashing for colleagues' pupes and really enjoy it. It works both ways because those colleagues are happy to take my lot for theory (which I loathe!).

To the OP - I hope you can sort something out soon and wish your son every success in his exam next term.

Bag x

[suzukimum]

Have you asked the teacher why she is not including aural training during your son's lessons? Surely that is part of the responsibility of the teacher to prepare students fully for their exams.

I knew someone would come back with this comment and, you know what, I'm glad she doesn't "waste" part of my son's lesson doing aural. She teaches by the Suzuki method so grade exams are not part of that but she sees the value of taking the odd one nevertheless. Her greatest strength is teaching her students to play exquisitely and I would rather she spent her hour-a-week with my son focusing on that than prepping him for exams. She is vey clear that he should be doing some aural practice elsewhere, in the same way as she expected me to find a way of getting him through grade 5 theory independently of her.

[porilo]

Interesting thought. Maybe I've got it wrong all the years that I've been teaching but I personally have never thought of aural as a "waste". I think learning to listen is just as important, and in a sense even more important, that playing.

[Scooby Doo]

The OP addressed this point in their original post, so why keep banging on about it? I don't think there is anything wrong with this teacher's approach - she has been very clear what she will and won't include, and the parent is happy to go along with this and simply wants to know how to go about finding the extra help that is needed.

Unless I am much mistaken, I think the Suzuki method involves a very great deal of listening and aural skills, just not the specific set of things that are tested by this particular exam board. If the teacher specialises in other areas, then perhaps expecting her to teach something that is not relevant to her overall teaching method is indeed a waste of time.

I have come across teachers who don't teach aural or sight-reading or whatever and don't tell the parents that this is the case - far worse in my opinion, and really rather dishonest when they are still entering candidates for exams.

[ansatz496]

Interesting thought. Maybe I've got it wrong all the years that I've been teaching but I personally have never thought of aural as a "waste". I think learning to listen is just as important, and in a sense even more important, that playing.

I don't see that it's any different from not teaching improvisation or composition, both of which are important skills for developing musicianship but which many (or even most, in my experience) "classical" music teachers don't cover.

[suzukimum]

Thanks for your good wishes, Bag.

Scooby Doo, you are right, fundamental to the Suzuki method is listening. Perhaps I chose the wrong word when I said my son's teacher covering aural with him would be a "waste" of time; what I meant was, the lessons aren't cheap and I would rather she used that time doing what others can't do for him, helping him to play his pieces to the best of his ability.

As part of his Suzuki education, my son plays in an orchestra, a quartet, an ensemble and a group as well as doing aural/theory and singing/kodaly. It is not that he is not being taught to listen, but that I would like him to have some specific help in preparing for the aural section of his exam - despite all the listening he has been doing since the age of three-and-a-half, and the fact that he pretty much learns to play pieces by ear to this day, he still finds singing and clapping back quite hard, for instance.

Thanks once again to those who have made constructive suggestions as to how we might proceed.

[linda.ff]

Interesting thought. Maybe I've got it wrong all the years that I've been teaching but I personally have never thought of aural as a "waste". I think learning to listen is just as important, and in a sense even more important, that playing.

With the best "natural" ear in the world you still wouldn't pass the aural tests, probably, if you hadn't been prepared for them, in other weords to practise the very specific skills that arre being asked for. Singing the lowest of three parts, naming the cadences and the modulations

These tests are a bit like the theory. Most teachers probably can teach them, but they're time-consuming. There's a choice between the teacher adding extra lessons to this pupil or the pupil going to someone else to leave the teacher free to use their teaching time for other players. It's as broad as it's long, IMO.

Also, these tests probably need to be administered by a very competent and confident piano player at that level. Unless you are going to take the line that all string, wind and singing teachers ought to be able to do their own accompanying to the required level, isn't it best to hand them over to someone who does a lot of this sort of thing?

[ma non troppo]

I enjoy teaching theory and aural, but sometimes my pupils are not aware that that is what I am doing, if that makes sense. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)