Welcome to all-things-piano!

Hello, and welcome!

I'd love this blog to share useful info about the piano and piano learning for the Singaporean parents. I'd like it to facilitate exchanges and sharing by the many people related to this beautiful instrument.

I'm currently setting this blog up, and would appreciate all your comments and suggestions! Just to give you an idea of what I've in mind, the upcoming topics include:

- pianos: choosing / buying / tuning / maintaining pianos

- piano lessons

- piano exams

- piano marketplace

- and if I've time, some interesting info about all things piano! ;)

Oh yes, do participate in the poll (on the left sidebar) too!

Which Instrument?

The piano and violin are by far two of the most popular instruments that young children learn when they begin music lessons. Parents often ask, why must learn the piano? What's so good about the piano versus other instruments, like the violin? This is especially so when one compares the initial 'investment' between the piano and violin - the price difference can be significant.

Well, here are some of my thoughts on this:

First things first, why piano and violin as opposed to other instruments?

Piano and violin are the two instruments that are physically suitable for young beginners. They are manageable for young fingers. Violins come in fraction of the size from the full-size violins (e.g. 1/4, 1/8), so there will be one that suits the size of the young learners.

Other instruments, esp wind instruments (e.g. trumpet, oboe, french horn), require more mature and larger lung capacity, as well as physical strength / facial muscles to hold / control the instrument.

Between the piano and violin, what are the similarities and differences in learning the two?
Realised I can't create a table on Blogspot...! ;0 So bear with me with the prose...

Piano: Anyone can produce a relatively pleasant sound by simply pushing down the key – as long as the piano is in tune! An advantage is that the child may be more motivated in the early stages of learning because he/she is able to hear a reasonably nice tune by his/her own playing – the sense of gratification is much earlier!
Violin: Requires accurate bowing and pitching from the player to ensure a decent sound! So, both child and parents may have to endure the very beginning stages where the violin could sound rather unpalatable. But, because of that, the learning curve may be real steep, so that everyone (incl. the child) gets out of the sound misery! ;p

Piano: Allows for the opportunity to play harmony and melody at the same time. The music generally sounds fuller and more pleasant as a result.
Violin: The violin usually plays one melody at one time, and thus usually needs to be accompanied. Contacts for good accompanists are a bonus for violin students! :)

Piano: Because it’s quite ‘easy’ to produce the correct pitch on the piano, sometimes, from my experience, students may stare at the notes, look out for the fingerings, and don’t really pay attention to the sounds that they are producing on the piano!
Violin: From the musical point of view, it takes effort from the child to produce the correct pitch by listening and constantly adjusting their fingers, so in terms of listening to their own playing, violin students are forced to listen more keenly to their own playing.

Piano: Piano students tend to miss out phrasing (essential to make music flow).
Violin: Another plus point for the violin is that, the child is actively phrasing the music through the bow, right from the very start.

Piano: Not moveable, so the child will have to get used to the pianos that he/she may play on.
Violin: Portable, so the child always get to play his/her own instrument

Piano: Usually a big investment for a decent piano. (As to when to buy a piano, what to look out for in a piano, will be subjects of future posts!)
Violin: Probably more comfortable on the wallet compared to the acoustic piano

To end this comparison, if one is quite serious about music study, the student will need to have some knowledge of playing the piano eventually. This is because music theory knowledge, e.g. harmony, are usually illustrated and learnt through the piano.

For future posts, I'd be sharing on the suitable age to start instrumental lessons... watch this space! :)

Why Learn Music?

I love the piano.

It is really a wonderful expressive outlet for me. I enjoy playing the songs that I hear on the radio. I enjoy playing nursery rhymes for my children, and see their eyes brighten up when they recognise the songs. And I enjoy the satisfaction gained from learning and performing music.

So, the piano, to me, is an instrument for musical expression, much like the voice, the violin and the guitar for other musicians.

I believe that it is innately human to want to make music, because no societies have ever been found to be without music!

Based on my interactions with parents, I've no doubt that many Singaporean parents believe in the benefits of a music education for their children. Many would like their children to enjoy music, sing, dance, and being immersed in musical moments.

Generally, young children need little coaxing to participate in music making - it just seems natural to them. My kids love to listen to songs, sing and dance along. Sometimes, they stand very still and listen to the songs intently.

This enjoyment is reason for a musical education - that irreplaceable feeling one gets from experiencing music! :) They enrich the quality of our children's lives.

Music and Brain Research

With advances in technology, more scientific research have also suggested relationships between music study and brain development. One of the first researches was the highly publicised 'The Mozart Effect', when F. Rauscher found a small and temporary improvement in a spatial test after her subjects listened to classical music - no guessing what her subjects listened to.

There was much hype after that, and led to the popular press to make claims that music learning improves academic achievements, makes one cleverer, etc. You can see such claims on some Baby CDs and so on.

More recently, it was reported that musically trained children performed better in memory test correlated with other skills such as literacy, verbal memory, visiospatial processing, mathematics and intelligence . The study was led by Dr Laurel Trainor, professor of psychology, neuroscience and behavior at McMaster University, Canada, and Director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind. It measured over one year, the changes in brain responses to sounds in four to six year-olds. (Sci-Tech News, 20 Sep 2006. You can read more here.)

Another study by Dartmouth music psychologist Petr Janata found that music prompts greater connectivity between the brains left and right hemisphere and between the areas responsible for emotion and memory, than does almost any other stimulus (from Science, 13 Dec 2002. You can read more here - but you need to first register free with Science Online.)

My Views

It's certainly good to know what music study can do to one's mental capacity! :)

But to say music learning causes one to excel in mathematics, etc. is like saying, hey, let's test you in Mathematics to see how good your music lessons have been.

Learning everything has its own spin-offs. So does music learning. I believe the musically trained students do well in the various areas is because of the certain qualities are also developed while learning music - that of perserverance, self-disciplined, concentration.

I've no scientific proof, but this is what I observe of children who have been learning an instrument. They tend to be more self-disciplined, perhaps from having been consistently practising on their instruments! :)

This may be a generalisation, but correct me if I'm wrong - they tend to perform better in school too, and generally have a more positive attitude towards schooling.

Your Views

Do leave your comments and let me know if you agree or disagree with this one! :) If you've found this article useful/not useful, pls leave a comment too! Thank you!

In my next post, I'll talk more about why learn the piano. Watch this space!