Hello!

I was wondering if any of you have had experience of the Yamaha Music School, or their teaching method?

I'd be interested to hear any opinions on this, either from a teacher's point of view, or a student's.

I have a good reason for asking - but I'll save that for later

Thank you so much!

Amanda xxx

Hi Amanda,

We have a Yamaha Music School at school. As far as I know (and it's actually nothing much to do with school other than using our classsrooms) it has bad and good points!!

At the start of term when pupils sign up, it can be quite lucrative - Pupils pay about £9 for a half hour group lesson (i think..!...) - the problem being that as term goes on - pupils drop out, and if pupils aren't paying, then the teacher doesn't get payed... I am sure this is the case, and might give you a starting impression, I am now hoping for someone who knows more to embellish on what i have said.

The method they use at school is called "play for keeps" - maybe you could google it!!?

I'll check back to this thread - as now i am curious too!

Ax

That's interesting (re: the pupils dropping out)

I probably should have explained my reason for asking (I'm not just trying to be mysterious!)

I went for an audition and was offered the post of Yamaha Teacher in the keyboard play for keeps class, providing I attended a training seminar etc... I knew the teaching methods used a lot of aural work etc... and thought perhaps this course and the subsequent job would help me improve my own teaching skills (as a private piano teacher)

Anyway it was getting closer to the seminar, and I thought I'd go and sit in on a class or two, to give me a feel for the classroom atmosphere.... That's when I began to have doubts about the effectiveness of teaching keyboard in a group situation I won't go into all the detail right now (as it's past my bedtime!) but after then being given a dvd explaining the Yamaha teaching techniques I would be expected to employ, (and then having a grisly vision of how unpopular I'd probably be with the lecturers) I phoned the head of the school and told him I'd changed my mind about the job (obviously very politely and apologetically).

I have read about their method being "highly acclaimed" but from what I viewed during the classes, I wasn't impressed. So that's why I'm interested to hear somebody else's opinion/experience - just in case it's only me being too fussy or "old-fashioned" about things!

Amanda xxx

well ive had numerous people drop out from yamaha school and come to me....

but from what ive been told they teach the rhythm, not on the keyboard itself but by cd!

Hello. I have taken lessons there as a child before and i think that is has it's has both pros and cons....

most students there can come out with really good aural skills.... the school trains students in fix - do system and does train young students to have good relative pitch or even perfect pitch... many students can also identify chords and inversions perfectly once they've finished the course...

the problem however.... a lot of the students there suffer in note-reading... I dentifying notes on scores becomes really difficult for them (i suffered in that category too, which is why my mum pulled me out from Yamaha....)

I do think that you could give that job a try.... It would be good experience for you teaching a group class and also to work with young children...

Hmmm yes that seems to be the case! Obviously I don't want to someone to read this and think I'm trying to "run down" the Yamaha schools - it's just interesting to find out about someone else's experience of them.

They use the listen and copy method, but also seem to learn some note names and how to play from score - although this seems to mainly in the right hand. It did strike me as a bit confusing when they were using both of these methods together to teach one piece. I couldn't make up my mind whether they were reading the music, or playing by ear, I'm I wasn't quite sure if the students knew either, if that makes sense. It seemed like a bit of mix 'n match - i.e: read notation sometimes, then play the more difficult parts by ear. They also referred to quarter notes and half notes, as opposed to crotchets and quavers. I suppose this is O.K but I did feel as if everything was "dumbed down" a bit.

Thanks for that!

Maybe then it just depends on the pupil's own musical strengths and weaknesses, as to what method of teaching would suit? Of course it's very valuable to have good aural skills, so that must be the strength in Yamaha style of teaching.

The lesson I can take from that is to make sure I'm teaching a good balance of aural work in private lessons, so they have those skills, as well as sight-reading etc...

Amanda xxx

I've just taken on a boy (13 years old or so) from a Yamaha school. I haven't looked into his aural yet, but he has come to me because he can't read music very well - especially the bass clef. He just wants to be able to pick up a piece of music and play it - poor thing! Also he has no idea how to count. His technique leaves a lot to be desired - collapsing fingers and loads of substitution! He has been learning with Yamaha for about 3 years and is not at all independent. I agree (from what I've seen and heard) that they do seem to give good aural grounding, and also a musical experience from day one, in that they sing / play together and it sounds nice. But their failure to teach children how to become independent musicians is appalling and with the big classes they have it's no wonder the teacher can't teach them good technique.

I have been exploring teaching for a local trust which gives keyboard lessons - the maximum group size is 4 so I think I could keep on top of every student and am considering it.

Barcarolle,

Yes - 4 seems a reasonable size for a class, and a bit more managable! The class I observed had 9 pupils altogether....

With regard to what you say about your pupil reading bass clef - I noticed they were using solely the chord symbols, and no left hand notation.

In the counting - the teacher counted them in using the words "ready steady go" and with no particular rhythm to it. This resulted in quite a few "false starts" to the pieces, when they didn't all come in together. Personally I would count a pupil in, using a pulse, and maybe "1, 2, 3, and..." so they have a sense of the timing before they begin.....

Maybe the rush to have the students play something which sounds "cool" or advanced means they lose out on learning the basic rudiments of music?