HÀ NỘI — Finnish Professor Jarmo Anttila from the South Ostrobothnia Music Institute provided a trainning course to improve the pedagogical knowledge of piano teachers at the Hà Nội College of Arts (HCA). 

The month-long course included 16 trainnees, exposing them to various international methods and materials in order to update their knowledge of international piano teaching schools and practicing methods.

"The Vietnamese teachers were very interested," said piano teacher and Doctor of Musicology, Professor Anttila. "The new methods were well received by the teachers. It seems that they want to use the methods in their own teaching. Particularly they were interested in the Finnish Piano School, Lang Lang Piano School and Chord accompaniment."

Other piano school techniques includes the Colour Keys Method, the Russian School of Piano Playing, Suzuki Piano School and Thomson Piano School which Professor Anttila introduces to the trainnees. 

"In Việt Nam, more attention is paid to technical issues. Pupils here are very skilled in technique. In Finland, more attention is paid to the singing sound and to the structure of music. The pedal is used in Finland more," said the professor. 

The trainnees were introduced to various approaches, analysing and practicing international piano teaching and methods. They also discussed musical talent; how to find a musically gifted child; what is the best age to start; how to awaken interest in music and how to encourage and improve students, including beginners and not gifted children.

"Lecturing and practicing the methods of different piano schools is very useful for Vietnamese teachers in their works at the HCA," said Dương Minh Ánh, principal of the HCA.

"Our teachers learned a lot from Prof Anttila who is a veteran with about 40 years of experience. He helps the HCA teachers to access different piano schools in the world with a view to finding their own personal way of teaching."

The training course was held as one of many exchnge activities under a co-operation agreement between Hà Nội and South Ostrobothnia in a various fields of culture and tourism since 2008.

Prof Anttila came to Việt Nam in 2015 to attend a workshop and perform under the Finnish-Vietnamese Traditional Music Dialogue project. — VNS