Fifth year of piano lessons with Iryna Vokhmyanina

In this fifth year of study, Mentari finally got introduced to an ABRSM exam. In the Netherlands, this was not common, but here everybody is doing it. Iryna thought that Mentari could do Grade 4 or Grade 5. We decided to do Grade 4 as this is the first ABRSM exam for Mentari, and a lot to catch up in term of scales, sight reading, and aural.

Learned pieces:

Debussy
Little Niger - performed in music school concert (Apr 2018)

Telemann
Le Petit Jeu (ABRSM Grade 4 exam piece)

Carroll
The Reef (No 5 in Southern Seas)

Gillock
Holiday in Paris

Czerny-Germer
Etude No 12, 14, 17


Performance video:
Little Niger by Debussy, performed in April 2019 at school concert (9 years old). This was a beautiful performance. We sent this to Elena, and she said ""Mentari makes very good progress. I would love to give her hug and kiss. Wonderful child! Please keep sending me new videos and pictures!"

Fourth year of piano lessons: Bronze at BTDA awards for Piano Duet!

Fourth year of piano lessons, with Iryna Vokhmyanina: first exam! (recap)

Mentari started learning from Iryna Vokhmyanina in September 2018, at Tanglewood Music School.

The first pieces she learned were from the Russian book 2: Haydn's Menuett and Berkowitsch's Variations on folk tunes. She also for the first time learning to play the scales.

In Nov 2018, she took part in the internal grading in house by the music school. What she had to do?
- Scales (assessed by another piano teacher during the lessons)
- Etudes: played Lemoine Op. 37 No 1 and 2 (assessed during the lessons)
- Pieces: (1) Berkowithsch's Variations on folk tunes, (2) Benda's Sonatina in A minor, and (3) Tchaikovsky's Mazurka. (performed in concert)
Nin also came to the concert, afterwards we celebrated by dinner at Nandos. When the exam results were released: she passed with Distinction!

There were two concerts, in October 2018 at the Halloween concert (in-house at music school), playing an Ehrhard's polka for duet with ibu. Then in December 2018 at the christmas concert, playing Italian Souvenir for a duet with ibu. These two pieces were recorded in January 2019 (recordings are hard!!) and submitted for Brilliant Talent Discovery Award for duet category, in which Mentari and Ibu won a Bronze! Woohoo!

Learned pieces:

Haydn 
Menuett (from Symphone N 100 G-dur) (book 2 no 21)

Berkowitsch 
Variations from Russian folksongs (book 2 no 41) - performed for Grade 2 internal exam

Benda
Sonatina in A minor - performed for Grade 2 internal exam (but this is actually a Grade 4 ABRSM piece)

Tchaikovsky 
Mazurka (from Children's book Op 39 No 10)

Lemoine 
Etudes Enfantines Op 37 no 1, 2 - performed for Grade 2 internal exam
Etudes Enfantines Op 37 no 3

Leshgorn
Etude Op 65 No 8

Heller
Etude in C

Ehrhardt
Seven Dance Rhythms The D scale polka (duet with Ibu) - performed in Halloween concert, submitted for BTDA awards

Y. Krasavin
Italian Souvenir (duet with Ibu) - performed in Christmas concert, submitted for BTDA awards


Performance video

Sonatina in A minor (Benda), performed at Pianovers meetup as a preparation for the Grade 2 internal exam (8 years old, Nov 2018)


Italian Souvenir (Y. Krasavin), performed at Pianovers meetup (8 years old, almost 9, Dec 2018), a warm up for the Tangle wood Christmas concert.


Italian Souvenir (Y. Krasavin), performed at Tanglewood Christmas concert (Dec 2018).


Practice videos 
Mazurka (8 years old, Nov 2018), practicing from Grade 2 internal exam. The playing at the exam was much more smoothly (and got high mark), unfortunately no recording was allowed. There was a camera from the school, but the operator forgot to turn on the button! '

Etude - Heller (9 years old, Feb 2019)

Third and fourth year of piano lessons, with Polina Chmil (recap)

In July 2017, Ibu found a Russian teacher in Singapore- Polina Chmil, at Madison Music School. She thought it would be good for Mentari to move to Polina because of similar Russian background as Elena. Polina appreciated Mentari's sound (she could appreciate that Mentari came from a "Russian" teaching background), and she also appreciated Mentari's musical talent. She gave Mentari challenging pieces - we moved to the Russian book 2 quite quickly. One thing, Polina was very kind and nice, but the downside was that she was not demanding as Elena, and this made Mentari relax a little bit (read: progress was a bit slow...).

However, on hindsight, after writing this blog post, it looks like Mentari did learn quite a lot in one year. Although not all pieces were polished, she had experienced many different interesting pieces, and ibu could see that she progressed quite well! She became mature. There were also some performances done (at the music school as well as the Sunday piano meetup organized by thepiano.sg). Mentari was learning with Polina until July 2018, because she stopped teaching.

The pieces learned (book 1 and 2 refer to the book of Russian school book) under Polina Chmil:

N Ljubarski 
Tschechische Lied (book 1 no 111)

Tchaikovsky 
Walzer (book 1 no 104) - duet piece with Ibu!
Altfranzosisches Liedchen (Kinderalbum op 39 no 16); (book 2 no 8)
Die neue Puppe (Kinderalbum op 39 no 9) - (book 2 no 10)

Daniel Steibelt 
Adagio (book 1 no 114)

Majkapar 
Der Hirtenjunge (book 1 no 115), Mentari liked to play this fast! :)

Alexander Goedicke 
Tanz (book 1 no 120) - this was also the last piece learned with Elena

Kabalevsky 
Lyrischer Walzer - (book 1 no 141)
Clowns (24 kleine stucke fur klavier op 39 no 20) - (book 2 no 15) - this is a G3 ABRSM piece

Anna Magdalena Bach 
Menuett (book 1 no 153)
Menuett (BWV 114) (book 2 no 29)

Schumann 
Erster Verlust (Album for the Young op 68 no 16) - (book 2 no 12)

Chatscharturjan 
Andantino (Bilder der Kindheit Band I) - (book 2 no 14)

Bach
Kleine Praludium C-dur (BWV 939) - (book 2 no 16)

Etudes
Etude C-dur - Schytte (book 2 no 56)
Etude a-moll - Curlittt (book 2 no 59)
Etude - Czerny

Some performances:
September 2017 (7 years old) at Piano Meetup, duet with Ibu.
Playing Waltz (Tchaikovsky) from Ballet "Dornroschen"op 66 - shorter version.

Playing Old Frech Song from the Children's Album (Tchaikovsky).
Madison Music School Christmas Concert (Dec 2017, 8 years old).




Playing Erster Verlust from the Album of The Young (Schumann).
Madison Music School Concert (June 2018, 8 years old)


Some practicing videos:
Nov 2017 (7 yo): Clown - Kabalevsky


Nov 2017 (7yo): Adagio - Steibelt



Mar 2018 (8 yo): The new puppy - Tchaikovsky (during lesson with Polina Chmil).


May 2018 (8 yo): Menuett from Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (BVW Anhang 114).

Third year of piano lessons, with Sylvia Ng (recap)

When we moved to Singapore in Feb 2017, because of the language barrier, Ibu found Mentari a piano teacher who can speak Indonesian. So, she started learning from Sylvia Ng from April 2017 to July 2017). It was a "group" lesson, a few students at the same time but in different piano. Ibu didn't think that it was quite effective or worked well, however, it was a good transition for Mentari to focus on sight reading more. Sylvia was continuing the Russian red book, working on the pieces that Mentari skipped before with Elena. Mentari was learning under Sylvia until July 2017, before moving to Polina Chmil.

During this time, Mentari did a few performances at the Sunday piano meetup organized by thepiano.sg.

Some performances:

July 2017 (7 years old) at Piano Meetup.
Playing traditional French Song (composer unknown, from Russian piano book 1 no 75).


July 2017 (7 years old) at Piano Meetup.
Playing Etude G dur (Ludwig Schytte Russian piano book 1 no 106).


September 2017 (7 years old) at Piano Meetup, duet with Ibu.
Playing Waltz (Tchaikovsky) from Ballet "Dornroschen"op 66 - shorter version.

Playing Old Frech Song from the Children's Album (Tchaikovsky).
Madison Music School Christmas Concert (Dec 2017, 8 years old).




Playing Erster Verlust from the Album of The Young (Schumann).
Madison Music School Concert (June 2018, 8 years old)


Some practicing videos:
Nov 2017 (7 yo): Clown - Kabalevsky


Nov 2017 (7yo): Adagio - Steibelt



Mar 2018 (8 yo): The new puppy - Tchaikovsky (during lesson with Polina Chmil).


May 2018 (8 yo): Menuett from Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (BVW Anhang 114).

Second year piano lessons, with Elena Livsjits (recap)

In the second year of her piano lessons, Mentari has learned some interesting pieces from the Russian book. Also, she started on the etude by Czerny (until no 7). Elena has always been very patient, and showing her good posture and technique. Also, musicality and the quality of sound were key points in her teaching.

Some fun pieces she learned:
Etude C-dur - Jelena Gnessina (book 1 no 70)
Rigaudon - Alexander Goedicke (book 1 no 71)
Etude C-dur - Alexander Goedicke (book 1 no 92)
Praludium - Balys Dvarionas (book 1 no 119)

Second piano concert was in December 2016 (6 years old, almost 7 years old).





Photos:

First year piano lessons, with Elena Livsjits: the very first concert! (recap)

As mentioned, Mentari started piano lessons when she turned 5. First, the lessons were with ibu, because Elena was only available in February, while Mentari wanted to start right away the moment she turned 5 in December. So, Ibu and Mentari went to the music store, and Ibu chose the first book of John Thompson, which apparently Elena's choice for the very first book for beginner!

After this book, Elena started Mentari on the Russian book "The Russian School of Piano Playing" by Nikolaev. This book is really different from other method's book - it goes to playing nice classical pieces right away!

Mentari started piano with Elena in February 2015, then her first concert was in December 2015. Only after two months of lesson, she had been asking Ibu, "When can I perform in the concert??" Mentari has been watching Ibu performing since she was 4 years old (the first one was the piano concerto in May 2014).


First concert (Dec 2015):



Then a duet with Ibu in the same concert :




Very first practice at home (2 weeks after lesson with Elena)



Photos

Piano lesson with Elena (May 2015)

First concert (Dec 2015)