What are YOUR qualifications!?!

[ivoryplayer_amf]

I want to know Everyone's Qualifications.  Where did you graduate from, and with what degree (Specifically!!) 

What is your major area of expertise (to you).

How long have you been playing.

What are you doing with the piano now.  Teaching?  What.

Just talk about yourself.  Be Full of yourself in this thread!  (though that hasnt stopped someone of y'all in any other thread)

[pianistimo]

funny, but i just heard a sermon today about pegholing people by having them state whether male/female, race, etc.  then, he said - if you are christian - you are simply 'in christ' and have passed out of 'qualifications' for personal worth in anything. 

that said - in any job - there are qualifications that you kind of need for each pay grade.  if you ask for X amount of dollars and you can't back up your worth for that amount - some students might balk at paying the X amount if they can get better quality for the money elsewhere.

i think what we are talking about is general wisdom.  i've seen some really great teachers for the elementary grades come from all walks of life.  some just moms or people who deal really well with younger people - and they practice life skills and teaching together.  it's sort of a 'kill everything with one stone' approach.  sometimes really advanced teachers have a harder time with the younger students because there's such small steps involved and a lot of patience needed with the repetition.

i tend to think that if you come from a teaching background or have had a good teacher in the past to emulate - that you don't always have to have a phd or something to be a generally good teacher.  but, it never hurts to go on and get more education when you can.  if you can't and dont' have tim e- don't feel badly because you can increase your knowledge by seminars and things in the summer.  it's a much cheaper way to go and probably less physically draining - thus you have energy for your kids.

it's sort of catch-22 because when yu are going through an intensive program - you don't have as much time to teach (unless you are majoring in education) and get paid for it.  if i remember right - you have to do a bunch of voluntary teaching - which is really good to get experience - but if you are depending on the income - it's a lot of work to do.  some people get through schooling really easily and others stop.  i don't really judge the ones that stop - but it does limit you when you don't finish the degree sometimes with teaching at a higher grade level (highschool, community college, uni) sometimes.  private schools are sometimes less (or more) persnickity about the degree.  and, oftentimes homeschoolers are looking just for someone who has the basic knowledge of the instrument and not a phd either.

ok.  i started piano at 8.  i started teaching at 16-17 a couple of kids and went on from there.  i would copy my own piano teacher's style as much as possible.  i got a bachelor's degree in piano performance and then got married.  my husband is a baritone and we ended up doing more performance together than apart.  my piano degree was used for accompanying him and chorales and church choirs more than solo work.  needless to say (even though i greatly enjoy these things) i began to feel dissatisfied with not using it for soloing.  i have played solo at weddings/funerals/parties/restaurants - but not for major income - or in quiet recital settings -- but more where people are milling around and making a certian amount of noise.  i really don't like that atmosphere totally - but it covers mistakes if you get carried away with arranging some stuff or trying to modulate into different keys.

anyway - between not practicing solo work enough - i went on to take more piano lessons and join MTNA for a couple of years.  that was fun.  that was between my son and daughter's birth.  then, after the last child (3rd one) i decided (with encouragement from a friend) to go for a master's degree at west chester uni.  it is a really great school and even though i withdrew because of a broken leg last year - i hope that i can either finish the degree or continue with some adult education (organ lessons, some more piano lessons, and/or pedagogy techniques).  also, to connect with people in your field helps you to gain perspective to modern tehcniques which do seem to change.  and, learning attitudes of students today and how to deal with certain things that are several steps up from what you are used to teaching.

i would say that taking orchestration, conducting, theory... and things like that are really super nice to have too - because you can't help but use them later on in teaching or performing as well.  to be able to express your inner musical emotions is not as easy as it looks - and when you have help - you can express yourself quicker and more efficiently.  for instance - if you are teaching by rote - it can be effective with people who learn that way - but ineffective for people who need to read the music.  to be able to deal with music in different ways at different times gives you flexibility.  also, an educator can be really hard to follow if they don't know terms or can't deal with a wide variety of education of students.  if you are at the top end of the scale - you don't have students that are running circles around you.

i think that everyone i've had the opportunity to study with has affected me in some way.  some are innately talented in performing and teaching.  i'd say that when you have a good teacher you are not just motivated to please your own goals but to please them because they have some really high goals for you.  it's like being a coach and seeing someone's potential athletically.  we all have potential - but sometimes need someone else to see it.  prof. jean-paul billaud was one of several prof's that made me feel like 'i can do it...' with piano performance.  just the continous positive reinforcement and saying very encouraing things can help the most mediocre of pianists become more excellent.  and, a little competition (not competitions per se) from other students who are practicing a lot never hurts.  it shows you what can be accomplished.

master classes should be required every week, imo.  a chance to play what you've practiced that week (so you don't become lax) in front of others.  then, by the end of the year you are not afraid to walk up on stage and play.  it's just like walking into your practice room.  you are used to the feeling of jitters at first and work through those feelings instead of letting them overcome you.  this is one of the hardest things, imo, about majoring in performance.  to have the opportunity to play EVERY week for someone (whether all students - or addition of friends/family).

[steve jones]

I graduated with a BSc then later an MSc in Music Tech (which is considered an Engineering Degree).

No that useful in the real world, but it does enable to put a nice reverb on my horrible piano recordings 

SJ

[jas]

Just graduated with BMus honours. Now I'm looking for a job. Anyone hiring?

[pianochild]

Im not sure its really a qualification, but im planning on going for diploma (DipABRSM)

[thalbergmad]

Me az got O Level woodwork.

Thal

[Tash]

ah well here's my list: B.Music/B.Education (1st class hons) M.MusEd PhD AmusA (performance and theory) ATmusA LmusA (performance and theory) LTmusA FMus

hahaha in my dreams

realistically, hopefully in the next 4 years i will have behind my name: B.MusB.Ed (hons) LmusA, and maybe some kind of diploma thing so i can teach art as well

[ted]

In music ? None.
Now that I come to think about it, none in anything else.

[Waldszenen]

ah well here's my list: B.Music/B.Education (1st class hons) M.MusEd PhD AmusA (performance and theory) ATmusA LmusA (performance and theory) LTmusA FMus

I thought you were serious for a second... 

[Tash]

yes, i am a genius, i achieved all that by the age of 20

[Waldszenen]

yes, i am a genius, i achieved all that by the age of 20

Pssh I am a bigger genius for I am 25 and recently learned the Fur Elise! 

[Tash]

Pssh I am a bigger genius for I am 25 and recently learned the Fur Elise!

awwwwww you've outdone me there! i had just composed the most difficult piece in the world- it included 46 minutes of prestissimo octave scales, and wrote a 5 million word thesis on the use of the note 'C' in Mozart compositions, but fur elise, you've got me!

[Motrax]

Well I learned Schumann's Happy Farmer in under six years, so I believe that catapults me far beyond the so called "genius" any of you claim to have.

[quantum]

My qualifications are: Professional Ivory Tickler. 

My instrment is an elephant and my tool is a feather duster 

Tips from the pros: try not to get steped on, it might hurt a bit. 


Hey I is a genius too.  is learnez Fur Elise (ya know this zong by Bach) in C major.  I learnz it zo fazt by da time is finished I realize it is in A major.  I mean it is in A major cause there are none of those number # sign or b's before that fraction thingy.  Yay I remerz learning fractions, it was like so 2 weeks ago in english class. 

So how many of youz peeps learn dis wicked Fur Elise in AC major so fast. 

[Motrax]

I stand shamed by Quantum. 

[Tash]

all i have been working on for the past 20 years (i started my thesis when i was 6 months old) seems to be such a waste of time now

*hides in a closet*

[antonino]

No piano qualifications to speak of.... I recently found a stack of strings when I lifted the lid on the piano.  As for the black and white keys I hear everyone speak about....  well guess I'll keep looking

Nah seriously AMEB (Australian Music Examinations Board) Grade 4 is my last official qualification.  Studied up to year 12 in in highschool and did what I was "told" was a 6th grade equivalent.

Just getting back into it now that I've recently purchased a Kawai GE-20 and I'm pursuing jazz (beginner) and classical.

[jason2711]

I have an ATCL (recital) in piano and dipABRSM in bassoon performance, currently working towards the next level in both instruments (though much moreso in piano)

I'm not quite sure where I'd be now... it depends what happens with university and things, but I may get a job with a music board teaching bassoon next year.  I also am just in the process of getting my first piano student, so just starting to teach.

Performing would be my main focus, though performing in recitals and things is rare.  On a paid basis, I've done a spot of accompaniment, and am playing at a wedding in september in a piano trio, as well as doing quite a bit of solo background music work (eg restaurants, functions etc)

Though my true passion on the piano is performing, I'm not really good enough to make a career of it, so I'm just trying to be the best pianist I can be, as well as having a decent medical career.  I'll do recitals when I can get an audience and when I have enough pieces learnt to play.  Performing 'expertise' (ie, that which I'm less bad at) would be a combination of romantic and 20th century stuff.

I've kinda finished lessons with my current teacher, and though I may have more next year with her, I'm trying to find a proper piano professor.  Closest ones are down in Dublin, and I've left it too late to get lessons next year with the RIAM, so I'll maybe just have to try and get hold of a couple of the piano teachers down there off the record.

It's a good time for me though, no pressure on me, I'm just playing pieces I want to play, so it's fun.   

Debating what to play for the LTCL, as I have the romantic era covered, but not so much other eras, so I'm just having a look into them too.

[e60m5]

Working towards my MA Oxon (law). Just 2 more years and all the work will have been done...

[gorbee natcase]

Music ABRSM1-8

Vocation Joinery Carpentry

Pilots licence /small aircraft- pet hobby other than piano but lots of fun