http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6ZJG31JnYo

Tempo is a little slow in the recording. With faster tempo (> 120), he could still play the scale passages, but not some trill parts.

Teacher asked him to play it at Golden Key festival, he still got a month to work on it. Has anyone ever been to this festival? Teacher told us this festival is just for fun, and everyone will get a prize. I hope he will enjoy it.

A really competent performance. I think dynamics need to be addressed though.

I think we know the dynamics issue. For his current skill and strength, he couldn't control it while still playing fast passages.
Another is the H2 recorder. The sound and dynamic range in the recording is just different (like the sound is muffled) than what I heard when he is playing.

How about the dynamics in this slower piece? Is it a little bit better?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ThG3LmUFA

I think it is something called "auto audio gain control" which is built into many consumer grade video cameras. Basically it automatically adjust audio gain to pick up soft sound and suppress loud sound.

How long does you son play everyday? I think his progress is amazing! I ask because my son is the same age and started roughly the same time as your son (my son started in the end of August of 2008). He plays about average 1 hours per day, and it seems no longer enough as he picks up the difficulty of his study.

I will try to play with H2's gain control to see if I can get a better recording.

His daily practice time is about the same as the lesson length. At first, my son had 30-min lesson and that's how long he practiced everyday. Now he has 45-min lesson and he usually practices between 45 min and 1 hr to cover what he learned in the last lesson. Some conservatories ask students to have 1-hr lesson twice a week, I guess you have to practice more than 1 hr everyday in that case.

I believe "practice makes persistence", I don't think he has missed many practices in the past 1.5 years.

What kind of books/pieces does your son use to learn? How do you manage more than 1 hr for practice? With school and sports, 1 hr is probably the most we can do right now.

Your son can obviously play dynamics, so I would put it down to the teaching - the Mozart had none, the Bach are wrong. Do you know what a dominant (V) chord is? As it is a dissonance it should usually be louder than its resolution (I). Funny enough both your son's pieces suffer from this lack of understanding how to handle harmony.

My son's teacher does not use any text book. However it becomes quite obvious that when a player reaches intermediate level, it takes a lot time to polish a piece. My son's teacher asks him to practice techniques for about 20 minutes a day. For the 40 minutes left from the hour, he can only roughly go through the assigned music pieces once or twice, and there is hardly any time to work with the details.

Thanks for the comment. We know V (G,B,D for C major) and I chord, but don't know V chord is louder than I chord. I am sure the teacher knows it, but probably thought my son couldn't handle it yet.

The difficulties I see now is that my son couldn't control the touch (like pp or ff) in the fast passages. Forte is hard because it would slow him down if he tries to press keys harder (especially if this passage is not just a scale run and jumps left and right for his small hand). pp is hard too because sometimes it would end up with no sound at all. Anyway, I think he is still young and hopely he will be able to do it one day.

The Sonatina Album from Alfred is one of the books we are using. Do you just get a copy of music sheet from your teacher?

Your son is awesome, C.Y.! In my amateur opinion, dynamics and phrasing will obviously get better with age.

How old is he, by the way?

PS-a left a comment on your video too.

We have the Alfred edition Sonatina Album too, and one of my son's current assignment is the Clementi OP 36 No 6 in that book. We have a large pile of scores. His teacher wants him to play more different kinds of music than just sonatinas, so she just picks from the various books the pieces my son likes, disregarding the difficulty level.

B.T.W., I think you son will get his dynamics clicking as time goes on. He is still little and has only played such a short time. He is so amazing already, for a 7 years old.

You are at a disadvantage not knowing much about piano playing. Why don't you find the very best pianist/teacher in your area and get a one off diagnostic? Spend as much as you can!

He sounds great for such a young person! If he is enjoying music, enjoying his lessons and enjoying some performance too that's great. I like the idea of a festival where everyone gets a prize as music is not always about competition. I wouldn't worry too much about understanding the dynamics of dissonance and resolution at his age. I imagine most teachers of younger kids write in the dynamics for this anyway. I describe it as "this is the exciting chord/passage, and this one... is the relaxation afterwards" that way the child can learn an listening-intuitive feel for the theory that comes later.

I enjoyed listening to your son he keeps pretty good rhythm, and very nice pedaling too.

Bravo. I really enjoyed watching your son's video. He's very talented and plays that piece much better than I've ever played it. I thought the tempo was fine. I personally dislike Mozart played too fast, in which case I find I dont have time to enjoy the notes enough, but no doubt other far better musicians than me would disagree on that one.
I wish your son well and hope he goes on to fulfill his considerable potential.

Thanks for the nice comments. My son just turned 8. You and your daughter's videos are great, I wish I can play like you do.

I wish there is a parent forum here. I hope cinstance and you will keep hanging aournd here since our kids are about the same level and age.

cinstance, Clementi Op 36-6 is a good one, my son is interested in learning it too.

Like I said to AZN, I just hope my son will enjoy music and I won't encourage him to persue music as career. I don't think I can find a better teacher unless I drive a long distance, and I am not sure I want to make that commitment. Have you heard the teacher Susan Starr? I heard she is one the famous teachers here. One of her relatives gave us her phone number and we haven't called yet. Maybe when my son is older.

I've never encouraged anyone to either. I really think it's a bad choice - all the more reason to become fantastic before other choices intrude.

Canonie and Wombat66, thanks for your comments. Since our parents are oversea and youtube is the only way for them to see my son's playing. I am glad you enjoyed the videos too.

Great performance for a 7 year old! It is a "easy" sonata, but in a few places, the long running notes, both on right and left hand can provide some challenges to little hands.

Need not worry about dynamics and any other higher level stuff. Boys are usually behind girls when it comes to finger dexterity and muscle control, those abilities will awaken at about 8 or 9, they progress in leaps and bounds.

C.Y. pat yourself on the back (or have someone do it for you) for the great job YOU do! It takes a lot from the parents to have a kid play this well!

Thanks for the support. Having a child taking piano lessons is really a long journey.

He is adorable!

Actually, the reverse is usually the problem. Kids have a tendency to play louder passages faster and then slow down as the music gets softer.

It's true for slower tempo, but I don't think a kid will play a loud 16th notes passage any faster when the tempo is above 120 already. My son's technique and strength couldn't play it loud yet.

Usually I also see kids tend to slow it down when playing 16th notes passage.