TULANMEN - 4 UGAYMEN, WE R VERY TULAN

Since the day i announced “Bottom 3″ also gonna make the headlines soon, many students have asked on the format of ranking and marks calculations. Actually, every student was briefed on the rankings on their first few lessons, but guess not many paid attention to as it was not a big thing since there were no “Bottom 3″ exist then. But now, story is different.

Piano and Guitar students have different points calculations.

Piano:

Since piano emphasizes both on practical and theory, equal marks are allocated to both sections, else, all same as Guitar.

Attendance ~ 5 marks
Practical ~ 6 marks
Theory ~ 6 marks
Other ~ 3 marks
Total: 20 marks

Attendance: Easy 5 marks, you come, you gained 5 marks already. But, you come on time, not late or last minute postponement. If lesson is postponed to another date (which you have informed at least 24 hours earlier, then you will still gain marks but not all 5 marks). This is to encourage regular lessons attendance and DISCOURAGE lesson postponements, no matter what the reason is.

Practical: The songs / techniques / exercises / home work, you do every week will contribute to this section

Theory: Theory does not mean the theory book you do as your home work, it comprises applications, memory, general music knowledge, which you have gathered from pass to present lessons.

Other: Simply x factors, your mood, your attitude, your passion towards music, your manners, your commitment to your lessons, and respect to your teacher. I cant blame some students where they were in bad mood, busy mood, no mood, sad mood, or what ever mood. Normally, we can talked on your problems, discussed it, as i am a good listener, but towards the end of the lesson, i sympathize on your bad hair day, but marks still have to be deducted for “not the correct mood” for lesson.

Guitar:

Attendance ~ 5 marks
Practical ~ 8 marks
Theory ~ 4 marks
Other ~ 3 marks
Total: 20 marks

Attendance: Same as Piano, 5 marks tell you to attend class on time and get it for free

Practical: Guitar students are more passionate with practical, esp those in bands, some students just love to play and jam with tracks provided. In this section, the marks are higher than Piano.

Theory: Lower theory marks does not mean less important. Fact is, learning guitar in order to play well requires less theory knowledge than Piano at the lower to intermediate stage. Guitar is to play well and nice, while Piano at the early stage, the lessons are already emphasizing on improvisations, chords usage, ad-libs, which theory will play a far imporatant part than in Guitar.

Other: Same as Piano
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At the end of the lesson, i will calculate the marks on the spot and key in to my PDA, all students notice this and some thought i am always playing with my hand phone in class. But that’s not the end of my job. At the end of the month, i have to synth the PDA with my laptop, and use Excel to calculate and get the total marks, then again, write a report in uglymen.net and update michael-one.com “Hall of Fame”. But, before that, there is always a tie. like a few students sharing the same total of marks.

One month 4 lessons, which means maximum is 80 marks. Every month, there must be a few getting the same marks. So, there is extra job for me to consider in depth who should get the higher ranking. Then, there are times that i seriously need to consider some exceptions for certain students who fared badly with highly acceptable reasons. Then, only the final list comes out.

Now you see, how tedious and legthly it is to just calculate this “Hall of Fame” thing.

Marks are always very close, so top 5 dont be too happy, “Bottom 3″ dont be too sad, but try to get out from there.

For example: May 2007

Piano
1 Reena (58)
2 Zoey Wong (58)
3 Chan Qi Sheng (52)
4 Goe Rui Ting (46)
5 Chia Kok Chew (45)

Guitar
1 Khaw Joo Meng (64)
2 Seow Lim Seng (57)
3 Tan Chin Sing (54)
4 Chan Qi Sheng (51)
5 Tan Wen Hen (21)

Ok, things might get a little bit more complicated here, as you can see above on the Guitar group, how the hell did Tan Wen Hen get into the top 5 with such a low 21 marks compared to the 4th place 51 marks. The total marks do not represent superiority in ranking. Total marks must be divided by the total lessons attended for that month to get the final average marks. For example:

Guitar 1 Khaw Joo Meng (64), he attended 4 classes in May, thus, 64 / 4 = final marks ~ 16
Guitar 5 Tan Wen Hen (21), he attended 2 classes in May, thus 21 / 2 = 10.5

Wen Hen did informe much early on his intention to skip classes due to certain logical reason. So he gets to be divided by the total number of lessons he attended. Ah, i just remember, he is starting his drum class soon.

Take another example:

Guitar 21 Ooi Eng Tat (37)
How come Ooi Eng Tat got 37 marks is in 21st position but is not in the Top 5 while Wen Hen sits comfortably at 5th with only 21 marks?
Eng Tat attended 3 lessons, absented for 1, thus, 37 / 4 = final marks 9.25

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Hall of Fame facts:

- i started to calculate and rank all students in 1997 after realising it made good students work harder, and lazy students improved gradually

-Hall of Fame was first published online on www.alsictry.com back in June 2003

- i have fine-tuned the format since 1997 to the current format.

Clock wise from top: Tan Seok Kheng, Koay Eng Yeow, Bong Sze Rin, Cheng Heng Lih, Muhd Taufik, Chan Tap Fatt, Takizo Paul, Koh Teik Yan, Ric Tan Chow Loong.

-off all the 300+ students i have taught, all time best for Guitar were Ric Tan Chow Loong (1996-99), followed very closely by Takizo Paul Ooi Cong Jen (1995-97) and closely by Tan Seok Kheng (2005-06). Ric has become a business man in Serdang, Takizo is uglymen.net sponsor and having a successful career in IT, and Seok Kheng is doing her Bio Medical degree at present. Some other worth-mentioning students are Cheng Heng Lih(2003-05), Woon Wooi Min (2002-06), Koh Teik Yan (1995-1998) ~ Signature band guitarist, won numerous awards including Best Guitarist in Yamaha Asianbeat Northern Region Finals, Tan Chin Sing (2004-??), Zuriyati (2004-06), Chan Qi Sheng (2005-??), Lam Hooi Chin(1996-1999), Khor Teng Chuan (2006-??), Chan Tap Fatt (2003-04) did not really get to the top but had the initiative to move forward and now is a guitar teacher himself…

-and for Piano, all time best were Lim Bee Tim (1999-2005), followed closely by Koay Eng Yeow (2003-06), Soon Jan Jan (2006-07), Bong Sze Rin (2003-2005). Bee Tim has performed in many hotels, clubs, and now is in Singapore. Eng Yeow was once learning drums, guitar, piano at the same time, he is now in Penang. Jan Jan has just flew to New Zealand last month, while Sze Rin is currently in Penang. Other out-standing students are Chan Qi Sheng (2005-??), Chuah Sheh Hwa (2006-??), Muhd Taufik aka Muhd Taufan (2004-??).

-a top student does not necessary is the student with highest capability or level. A well-mannered, hard working, good attitude student playing “London Bridge Is Falling Down” is much better than an always late, no show, bad attitude, no commitment student playing “Sweet Child O Mine”

-Last year’s award winner (presented at Sentosa Hotel Feb 2007) ~ Best Guitar Student Tham Ren Haw was not the most out standing player but his attitude and approach towards lessons won him the award, there were far better players like Tan Chin Sing, Khor Teng Chuan at that moment; Best Piano Student for that period was certainly Soon Jan Jan though.

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So, hope every student understands now, how hard for me to instill correct mindset, attitude in every student by doing this Hall of Fame thing, including writing this super lengthly post, i bet NOT many teacher doing this extra NO money work.

Now, get back to your guitar / piano!