I was a student of Evelyn Lim from Sengkang. I have post my review here as it has been deleted on her google review, and I witnessed another ex-student's one star review being deleted as well. I thought it was puzzling that she had so many 5 star reviews due to my negative experience.
Contrary to the other reviews you may see on google, my experience with Evelyn was objectively less enriching and enjoyable. (Do take note, this was my experience, and not everyone would have had the same negative experience) I was her past student and was a child when this happened.
Her teaching style focuses solely on grades and did not make piano a fun experience for me. Some of the reviews would describe her as “strict”. However, that to me would be an understatement. She is far from being a flexible teacher. I recall going back home from every lesson crying, dreading going to her lessons, and the countless screams (She would scream almost every lesson and wake the whole HDB block. I’m not even joking; I think her neighbours at the time could attest to that). She would often insinuate that I had a low IQ and EQ in my face *as a child*, which I have come to believe could merely be a reflection of her own insecurities. In addition, academics seemed to be (too) important to her. For example, she would say “the girl previously was from XX JC, you know that’s not a good JC?”, “I was from XX JC, you know” and would proceed to ask you about your grades.
To make matters worse, it seemed I wasn’t the only child unfortunate enough to have these experiences. Crying was far from uncommon, and I would often witness the previous students crying as well (all of them were kids). Furthermore, she would humiliate these children by telling the subsequent students why they cried, and criticised and compared them by their abilities.
As mentioned, this was my personal experience and perhaps, my piano playing skills were unable to match her (arguably unreasonable) expectations. However, this did not warrant the traumatic experiences I had experienced in her classes as a child. Perhaps if your child is gifted or if you are able to pick up playing the piano quickly, you would be suited for her classes as she does emphasize on piano achievements.
Just like the music she teaches, I find it rather artistic how she was able to affect the mood of the lessons which fluctuated in dramatic crescendoes, and how her voice had always proven to be a superior instrument when she stretched it to its maximum capacity against her underaged students. Alas, in hindsight, I might have seen more productive results had my parents paid her to give me vocal lessons instead of piano ones.
Note; I am not comfortable with revealing my identity due to the anxiety of the traumatic experiences I faced. However, there are 2 things I can suggest to improve the credibility of my statement.
1. The neighbours living around might be able to prove the traumatic experiences that the children went through, such as the screaming.
2. I do have a certificate from ABRSM that Evelyn had taught me, with her full name on it. If she permits, I will leave my certificate up here on this forumn.
As mentioned, I have left google reviews on her website demanding accountability or at least an apology, but my reviews were constantly removed.