All Keyed Up

Artina McCain discusses the overlap of being a concert pianist and a piano teacher. Topics discussed include demonstrating for students, selecting repertoire as a means of self-expression, Artina's African American Folk Songs Collection, physical wellness and muscle activation techniques, working with college students, and how to build a performance career while working as a teacher.

Erin Parkes, Founder and Executive Director of the Lotus Centre for Special Music Education and the Lotus Centre Institute, speaks about teaching piano to students with ADHD. Topics discussed include defining ADHD, executive functions, movement activities, floor pianos, putty, metronomes, multi-sensory learning, empathetic versus punitive reactions to disruptive behaviors, lesson planning, encouraging productive practicing, undiagnosed students, and adults with ADHD.

Takenya Battle discusses studio management. In the first 10 minutes of the interview, we spoke about Takenya's amazing life story! The remainder of the interview is focused on Takenya's recommendations for using digital smart tools to make their studio management and teaching more efficient. Topics discussed include alternatives to Zoom such as muzie.live, musico.io, digital library programs such as OnSong and Symphony Pro, streamlining payment collection with programs such as MyMusicStaff and Fons, the drawbacks of makeup lessons, website/social media optimization tips, and her group coaching program Key of Easy.

Daniel McFarlane discusses some of the core features of his method book series, Supersonics: melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements that help make songs catchy, pop music influences, composition activities, and the upcoming Primer series. Daniel also offers advice for anyone interested in creating their own method book.

Tony Parlapiano, creator of popMATICS, offers his thoughts on a successful approach to teaching pop music in piano lessons. Topics discussed include sequences leading up to teaching chords, identifying chords by numbers as opposed to letters, chord diagrams, how to adapt to student requests, methods of teaching pop songs by ear, and pencil and paper writing vs. digital notation programs.

Yukimi Song, Eric Hunter, and Clara Zhang, members of The Piano Pod Podcast, discuss the future of piano teaching, a topic heavily addressed on their podcast. Topics discussed include Twitch, Youtube, social media networking, multi-style and interdisciplinary teaching approaches, learning by rote, and neurodiversity.

Niloufar Nourbakhsh discusses her multifaceted career, which spans the gamut from being an internationally renowned composer, pianist, and teacher to wide-ranging advocacy for social change. Topics discussed include the connections between politics and music, the Zohra Orchestra (Afghanistan's first all-female orchestra), teaching composition vs. teaching piano, the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers Program, music education in Iran, and the Iranian Female Composers Association. In the interview, Niloufar recommends several Iranian women composers who write fantastic piano music: Aftab Darvishi, Negin Zomorodi, Nina Barzegar, Homa Samiei, and Anoush Moazzeni.

Christopher Norton, internationally renowned composer, reflects on his compositional style. He discusses composing melodies, rhythmic groove, writing across styles while still maintaining a compositional identify, and approaches to articulation. He also offers advice for teachers who use his pieces in their studios and gives us some sneak peaks of currently unpublished works. Sheet music excerpts and publication information for the music presented on this episode can be found here.

Katie Wardrobe, Melbourne-based music technology trainer and founder of Midnight Music, discusses some of her recommendations of great tech programs for piano piano teachers. Many of the resources discussed are included in her 2021/2022 Free Music Tech Resource Guide. Some specific resources mentioned in the interview include Groovepizza, forScore, Ecamm, Canva for Education, Google Slides, and the Arkon mount/tripod.

Brenden Lowe, Founder of Jazz Piano School and host of the Jazz Piano School podcast, discusses jazz piano pedagogy and theory. Topics discussed include teaching chord voicings, approaches to soloing, chord extensions, chord-scale theory, rhythmic feel and groove, and Brenden's current business consultation offerings.

Melissa Martiros, Dean of Music at Anna Maria College and Founding Director of OpporTUNEity, discusses her community outreach work. She speaks about her organization, which strengthens the ties between post-secondary music programs and their local communities while promoting the use of music as a means to engage undergraduate students in educational programs that emphasize social change. She also speaks more broadly about the topic of community outreach.

Dennis Alexander, one of North America's most prolific and popular composers of educational piano music for students at all levels, discusses composing pedagogical piano music. He discusses his own compositions and offers some thoughts on the field of pedagogical piano music in general, as well as advice for aspiring composers.

Nicola Cantan, creator of Vibrant Music Teaching, speaks about teaching composition to piano students. She addresses the topic generally while also highlighting some specific composition resources offered by Vibrant Music Teaching. Topics discussed include the pedagogical benefits of composition, creative vs. non-creative approaches, integrating composition and improvisation with other elements of piano teaching, micro-compositions, long-term sequencing of composition curriculums, and teaching lyric-writing to students of all skill levels.

Leila Viss, author of The iPad Piano Studio, editor for the American Music Teacher Magazine, and host of the Key Ideas podcast, discusses some of the characteristic features of dynamic piano studios. Topics discussed include apps, backing tracks, varied repertoire, playing piano in bands, improvisation, the Effective Practice Tracker, and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation.

Christina Whitlock, independent studio owner, professor, pianist, adjudicator, and host of the Beyond Measure Podcast, comes on to join in a pep talk for piano teachers. The goal of this episode is to help make piano teachers feel great about the work that they do! Christina discusses some optimistic ways of reframing our thinking around some elements of piano teaching that may pose challenges, and she also discusses some positive elements of piano teaching that may go unnoticed that could perhaps become more of a focus.

Dr. Mario Ajero, internationally recognized authority in incorporating technology in piano pedagogy, speaks about some ways that piano teachers can broaden the focus of their lessons to teach without an over-reliance on note-reading. He also addresses some ways that technology can help to that effect. Topics discussed include learning by video, rote teaching, playing by ear, Piano Maestro, pop music pedagogy, and Home Concert Xtreme.

Dr. Scott Price, internationally renowned expert on music and autism, offers some advice for piano teachers on how to most productively and successfully work with students with autism. Topics discussed include person vs. identity first language, defining autism, avoiding abstractions, lesson planning strategies, technique, and visual learning.

Dr. Leah Claiborne discusses her scholarship on pedagogical piano music by black composers and more broadly speaks about the process of how piano teachers can diversify their repertoire and students. If listeners are interested in learning more about Leah, she has many webinars and articles at Clavier Companion.

In this episode, she discusses many resources that piano teachers might consider investigating in their attempts to diversity their studios:

- Teaching Pieces by Florence Price
- Portraits in Jazz by Valerie Capers
- Anthologies of Black Women Composers by Hildegard Publishing
- Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora by William Chapman Nyaho

Julie Knerr Hague and Katherine Fisher, the authors of Piano Safari, discuss the pedagogical thinking behind this very popular method book series. Topics discussed include sequencing, mapping real world experiences onto musical concepts, the value of learning pieces that de-emphasize note reading in favor of other skills, landmark note reading, building strong fingertips, and general advice for teachers to maximize the use of Piano Safari in their studios.

Geraldine Anello, Broadway music director and pianist, speaks about her transition from a formal classical training to playing shows in a variety of styles. She compares her current teaching philosophy with the one in which she was brought up, and she talks about some stylistic differences between classical and Broadway piano playing that she picked up over the years. Topics discussed include groove and rhythmic emphasis across different styles, effectively playing bass lines, the importance of practicing with recordings, phrasing, and technology. She is also a published poet, having recently released a poetry collection called Naked (Truth).

Barbara Fast, Director of Piano Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma and co-author of iPractice: Technology in the 21st Century Music Practice Room, offers guidance to teachers in working with their students on developing an efficient practice routine. Topics discussed include finding motivation to practice, practice journals, combatting a negativity bias, interleaved vs. blocked practice, and Hardest First Practice.

Tim Topham, internationally renowned music educator, piano teacher, writer, podcast host, and founder of TopMusic, discusses effective communication, both as a podcast host and as a piano teacher. Topics discussed include bringing out the best in others, being prepared while also staying present, building a brand, saying “um,” and vulnerability.

Clinton Pratt, owner of Piano Sensei, speaks about stress-free studio management. Topics discussed include the benefits of flat fee billing, invoices, group lessons, advertising, student acquisition, and student retention. Clinton offers many resources to help teachers manage their studios, available here.

Marvin Blickenstaff, world-renowned piano teacher, discusses his thoughts on some of the central aspects of piano pedagogy. Topics discussed include lesson planning, technical exercises, teaching rhythms, identifying notes through landmark reading and interval recognition, score study, emotional expression, and the lifelong project of continually improving as a piano teacher.

Shelly Davis, host of the Piano Parent Podcast, speaks about effective communication with piano parents. Topics mentioned include in-person versus written correspondence, parents sitting in on lessons, using parents as allies to encourage a productive practice schedule, and the show Supernanny! Shelly has created a page dedicated to "All Keyed Up" which outlines some of the episodes and resources discussed in the interview.

Selena Pistoresi, founder of Notable Music Teaching, discusses her work in helping piano teachers work with students with special needs. Topics mentioned include the DSM-V, creating a sensory friendly environment, stimming, the limitations of overuse of aural teaching, teaching technique to students with motor difficulties, and presuming competence.

Marcantonio Barone speaks about the importance of Bach’s music in his studio. Topics discussed include preparatory work leading up to the first Bach piece, developing hand independence, working with students on articulation choices and motivic analysis, teaching music history, and playing Bach with musicality.

Eleonor Bindman speaks about Bach's output and her easy piano arrangements and transcriptions of his works.

Ashley Frith speaks about her work as a composer and Director of Racial Equity and Belonging at Community MusicWorks. Topics mentioned include the connection between her compositions and her social justice activism, color blindness, stereotyping, approaches to scholarship and outreach, selecting repertoire, and the challenge of true self-reflection.

In this episode, Darryl Harper, jazz musician and Associate Professor of Music at Amherst College, speaks about his scholarship on improvisation. He discusses improvisation through many lenses, including history, culture, education, and neuroscience.

Dorla Aparicio speaks about the nuts and bolts of running a thriving group lesson program in a piano studio. She speaks about determining appropriate rates, marketing strategies, piano camps, finding repertoire, and the benefits students receive from group instruction. She offers a variety of resources to help piano teachers with structuring their group lessons, from freebies to teacher training workshops to sheet music, all of which are available at her website.

Jerald Simon speaks about motivating students to feel passionate about music theory concepts. In this interview, Jerald speaks about many of the resources he offers to help to this effect. These resources are available at his website and at Amazon.

Courtney Crappell speaks about some of the specific topics associated with teaching students of today's generation, sometimes referred to as Generation Z. He discusses student vs. teacher-centered learning, goal-oriented versus process-oriented approaches, how the presence of free Youtube piano tutorials affects piano teaching, and, paradoxically, some of the risks of overgeneralizing based on age and ignoring other aspects of identity and individual variation among students.

Becki Laurent speaks about her work at JoyTunes and the educational value of the Piano Maestro app. She also offers tips for teachers to maximize their use of Piano Maestro in their studios.

Flo Arnold, owner and co-author of Pianimals, speaks about the story and pedagogical philosophy behind the popular method book.

Misha Stefanuk speaks about teaching students to play convincingly in a variety of styles, his jazz piano exercise books, and his bestselling easy piano arrangements. In the episode, Misha takes us through some of the exercises from his book “Jazz Piano Lessons.” You can access sheet music for the exercises he discusses here. You can see more of his publications on his Sheet Music Plus and Mel Bay pages.

Chrissy Ricker speaks about her teaching resources, easy piano arrangements of classical and popular pieces, and her compositions.

Ariel Weiss discusses some of the major concepts from Alexander Technique that help pianists play with less tension and more fluidity, power and expressivity. She offers a weekly Zoom masterclass for musicians on Fridays at 12PM EST (Zoom link here), and she hosts a Facebook group called Move Free, Play Free.

Orli Shaham speaks about her Bach Yard series, as well as her experiences teaching at the Juilliard School.

Doreen Hall speaks about her book “The Ultimate Preschool Piano Activities Book: Complete Guide to Hands-On Preschool Piano Teaching.”

Deborah How speaks about the ins and outs of running a music business and a private studio, touching on topics such as student retention and student acquisition.

Jennifer Eklund speaks about the world of music publishing and her thoughts on the sequencing and pedagogy of her Piano Pronto Series.

Brenda Earle Stokes speaks about her Piano Improvisation for Everyone course, as well as teaching piano to vocalists.