The biggest thing I have learned from being at Oclef is their approach to problem-solving…to be methodical, strategize, plan, think things out and put it into action.”
Christopher Fong-Chew is a Sophomore majoring in music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He’s previously studied with Master Teacher, Julian Toha for four years before being accepted into the Berklee Study Abroad Program in Valencia, Spain.
Chris was taken on as a summer intern at Oclef this Summer and has started on a media project alongside his daily teaching at the school. We asked Chris a few questions in an interview:
1. What work are you doing at Oclef?
“I am working to create videos for the various practice tools taught at Oclef, while also helping teach in classes.”
2. What have you learned from being at Oclef?
“The biggest thing I have learned from being at Oclef is their approach to problem-solving. Whether it’s teaching kids to use various tools to practice a piece, or how to change age-old problems of piano education. Learning to be methodical, strategize, plan, think things out and put it into action.”
All of our interns at Oclef have regular training on how to assist and run classes. Several of the younger interns have had over 30 hours (over 1 year) of training on how to teach piano using our methodology. Oclef teacher training is specifically designed to help them build an awareness of common pitfalls of bad teachers. We emphasize intervallic reading instead of note reading, monitoring of eye position of the student, prevention of mimicking, and much more.
Chris will be with us all summer. Feel free to introduce yourself to him or other interns (Piano Coaches) at Oclef.
With care,
The Oclef Team