Hong Kong (3/24): Piano Lessons

The other day when I was walking around Tung Chung with my dad I happened upon a small flyer advertising piano lessons.  I had noticed that my apartment complex had piano practice rooms and was thinking about going down and getting in a bit of practice from time to time so this was rather fortuitous.  I jotted down the email address to check on the cost of lessons.

After contacting the teacher, I learned that Hong Kong (and apparently a lot of other countries) use a system of levels and grades to determine piano skill level.  Back when I took lessons my teacher would pick songs based on my level and what we thought would be nice to learn so I wasn't really used to having a level ranking system for music.

I guess it was like wushu for me.  With wushu I never understood the need for belts.  Well ... that's not totally true.  I understand why some people like having a belt system.  It gives you things to aim for, helps kids feel good about accomplishing something, etc.  But as far as a determination of how good you are, I've always thought the best way of doing that was just to watch the person do wushu.  You can tell pretty quickly what their level is.

Same with piano, I guess.  If you want to know how good someone is just listen to them play.  It will become very evident.  I suppose I am of the "proof is in the pudding" school of thought.

With music there are 8 exam levels, 8 being the highest.  After that you go on to test for a diploma.  There are three levels of dimploma with level 3 being the highest.

Anyway, since the teacher based her tuition prices on what level the student was at, and since I didn't know what level I was, she suggested that I send her a list of some of the pieces I used to play.  So I wrote down the first four that came to mind:

Etude in E-Flat Major Op. 25 No. 12 (“Ocean Etude”) – Chopin ( youtube link)

Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, 3rd Movement (K466-3) – Mozart ( youtube link)

Sonata No. 18, Op. 31, No. 3, 1st Movement – Beethoven ( youtube link)

Consolation No. 3 in E Flat Major – Liszt ( youtube link)

I also listed two songs that I started, but wasn't able to finish that I wanted to get back to; Chopin's Harp Etude ( youtube link) and Brahms Rhapsody No. 2 ( youtube link).

(By the way, I'm not quite the level as the people in those videos.  I'm certainly no Rubenstein or Ashkenazy.  I'm more like the second cousin of their shadow's former garbage man...)

These were some of the most recent pieces I worked on and were some of the more challenging songs so I thought they would be a good indication of where I was at (keeping in mind that I'm very rusty now and it would take me quite a bit of time to get back in to the swing of things).

Apparently my level is too high for her?

She said she was at level 7 so was looking for some intermediate or beginning students at level 5 and below to teach. 

Well, I never really thought my level was all that high, to be honest.  I've always considered myself a high-intermediate or low-advanced level pianist at best.  I know plenty of other pianists with more skill than myself.   I mean .. I really only studied for about 4 years in elementary school and 2 more in high school.

But she said that she wasn't able to teach me and recommended her sister who was a full-time (as opposed to her part-time) teacher and would be able to help me.

So, I talked with her sister (via e-mail again) and she said that 4 of the 6 pieces I listed were first level of the diploma system and one was in the second.  She recommended that if I wanted to take lessons that I study towards taking the diploma level exam and that she would bring in her cousin to help since she is only level 8 and he is studying for his level 2 diploma exam in November. (I guess piano is in this family's genetic make-up)

Well ... woooooooooah there!  I wasn't really looking to get all that involved in the process, y'know?  I just wanted to sit back on the bench and flex the fingers a bit.  Truth be told, I should really just work on scales and arpeggios for the next 6 months before even getting back into some music.  I'm uber-rusty. 

So, I'm still thinking things over.  The main thing is ... based on my "level", it's kinda pricey to take lessons.  I think it might be better if I just go buy some sheet music and practice on my own for a bit to see how it goes. 

Am I just shirking my potential?  Maybe.  But right now I don't really have the time to be thinking about doing piano as a full-on exam-testing, diploma-getting, cerficiation-receiving endeavor.

Maybe I'll just practice my guitar instead ....