Profile of Piano Teacher

Ms Gail

2+ Years Teaching Experience
Currently Pursuing Diploma in Piano
ABRSM Grade 8 Piano
ABRSM Grade 6 Music Theory
ABRSM Grade 6 Double
Experienced performing with NUS Symphony Orchestra & Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra (Double Bass)
Teaching Location: Bukit Timah

About

Hi! I am Miss Gail, piano teacher based in Singapore. Today, I am teaching students ranging from 4-43 years old and I believe that anyone with a positive learning attitude can learn the piano!

I teach students who are learning for leisure, as well as students who wish to take ABRSM exams. I have also helped students transition from Yamaha to ABRSM grading.

As a piano teacher, I believe in having a balanced music diet.

As the saying goes,

“You are what you eat”

Likewise, what we play will impact the kind of pianist we grow up to be.

It influences our level of interest in learning the piano, and how long we will be able to sustain it.

So what do I mean by having a balanced music diet?

Scales & Technique
I believe technique can be taught right from beginner stage. I teach simple 5-note scales to beginners to help them build finger strength and good posture.

As we advance, we will learn more interesting scale patterns to help fingers move independently and reduce tension even when playing difficult passages.

Sight Reading & Repertoire
I like to expose my students to a wide range of music to build strong sight reading skills. This way, they also get to be learn about many different composers and develop their own musical taste along the way!

Students also motivate each other by participating in our 30-Piece Challenge, where students will work towards learning 30 pieces in 6 months! This allows them to stay interested to find out what’s next, and be constantly learning new things.

And below are the prizes I prepare for my students who complete learning 30 new pieces in first half of 2020, despite the Covid-19 situations. Kudos to them!

And here’s a video compilation of the progress of one of my students, Ann, over 1 year of lessons.

Musicianship Skills
I use clapping and singing to develop musicianship skills like Aural & Rhythm. Clapping allows them to be able to have a strong sense of rhythm and be able to switch between different rhythms with ease.

Through singing, students are able to hear the shape of the music lines better, and also listen to how multiple music lines work together to create different harmonies. This also gives them a practical understanding of how theory works in music.

By building a good foundation, Piano playing gets more exciting as we progress into graded exams! With strong sight reading skills, students can learn new music easily & no longer get scared learning pieces with “a lot of tow gay”.

Growing up, I was lucky to watch live music performances and be exposed to different genres of music in MOE’S Music Elective Program. I also performed with other musicians as part of NUS Symphony Orchestra and Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra on the double bass.

This allowed me to develop a sense of camaraderie with my fellow musicians, and always inspired to improve my music making.

Performing with Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra 2008

This is why I love creating a music community for my students and parents to share and learn music together! Through Group Classes & Performance Opportunities, students are able to have positive peer support from each other, and come away feeling so excited and proud of their accomplishments.

These also develop important life skills like confidence, goal-setting and resilience, that will stay with us for the rest of our life.

With each performance, students become more confident playing for bigger audience, and grow more inspired to learn more pieces and new techniques from watching each other.

During the circuit breaker period due to Covid-19, stage recitals and gatherings are not allowed, but that does not stop performances! So instead of normal recitals, I organize a zoom recital for all the students to perform for one another, and we all enjoyed ourselves even during this difficult period.

Lih Woon

Parent of Qinn Ann

I am an adult learner and have absolutely no music background but I decided to pick it up as it has always been something I wanted to do since young. I got linked up with Gail through a piano teacher’s matching portal last year after I got myself a piano and started on this learning journey. It has been a very pleasant and fun learning experience with Gail for the past 12 months, her classes are often light-hearted largely due to her bubbly personality. Gail adopts different approaches to help me to learn. She is very patience and encouraging, often try different ways to explain and help me understand. She is also always ready to give the extra time, to provide guidance and address any questions that I have. It is easy for me to just bounce off any thoughts or discuss with her what is achievable for me to do. I am grateful to have her as my teacher as she is a key person who have help me through this piano learning journey. I always enjoy my classes with her and I look forward to continue my learning with her!

Yu Cheng

Adult Learner

I would like to express how thankful we are for having Gail as our teacher for Kaylee and Kelsea. Having kids focus on something that takes a lot of repetition is extremely difficult. Gail has made learning the piano fun for the children and keeps them very engaged.

We started off previously with a teacher that was extremely strict and would be forceful with the children. Eventually they began to dread their classes and would cry with the teacher at every lesson. We decided to make a change.

We heard about Gail through some other parent recommendations and decided to give her a try. She was instantly a hit. She was able to work with the children to make piano fun. They truly enjoy practicing on the side so that they can show her that they progressed for her before the next scheduled lesson. What more could a parent ask for.

The kids have been under her tutelage for over a year now and still enjoy learning. We are very pleased with their growth as it has helped them also expand into other instruments as well.

We highly recommend Gail for anyone who wants to learn the piano.