The Piano Sensei Way

Do you want people to recognize your studio name around town? Have you thought about ways to get name recognition? Wouldn’t it be great if people searched for piano lessons in your area, and when they saw your website they immediately recognized it and said, “Oh, yea, let’s check them out!” In today’s very short episode, I share some fairly inexpensive ways to get brand rec...

I was interviewed by Rachel Ehring of the Topmusic Piano Podcast. The show is about creative resources, trends in piano pedagogy, and ways to grow your income. I share my journey from solo teaching to managing a team of instructors, detailing the challenges and rewards of expanding my studio. We discuss the innovative Benchmark Program for tracking student progress, strategies for buildi...

What do you do to encourage your students to compose or explore more creativity? Have you thought about incorporating more composition in your teaching? And what about yourself: have you tried composing, but struggled with ideas or execution?

Today’s guest is Evan Hunter, a composer and piano teacher who loves storytelling! We talk about how stories can stimul...

Do you want to include more improv in your lessons? Do you want students to be more comfortable with different keys and scales? How do you start introducing improvisation with a student so it’s not scary or intimidating? Today’s guest, Sean-David McGoran has a degree in jazz composition, plays piano, trumpet and saxophone, has performed in small groups, big orchestras, jazz...

Do your students struggle to make progress? Do you have a hard time getting them to practice and be disciplined? Is it difficult to have goals and a sense of direction for them? Do you want your students to be more well-rounded and possess comprehensive piano skills?

Piano Sensei to the rescue! I’ve created a system that provides a step-by-step gradual progres...

I was interviewed by Amit Weiner of the Rewind Podcast. His show's main focus is: How to Grow Your Music Career. He interviews musicians, composers, professors, and sound wizards, as they share their life stories and career decisions. We talk about some of my life story, how I got into music and became a piano teacher, and how I grew my studio. 

Rewind Podcast

 

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Dr. Evan Mitchell, Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Florida, joins us to share his ideas about how scientific studies and the Montessori learning model can be applied to the piano studio. We discuss extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, goals, rewards, deadlines, the power of a question, making things into a game, and teacher-centered versus student-centered ...

Amy Chaplin is a piano teaching entrepreneur — In addition to running her private studio, she is a blogger, podcaster, and presenter! Today we discuss three of her “big picture” studio evolutions: lesson formats, group class scheduling, and dabbling in other ventures. We talk about the motivation behind making changes and advice on evolving your studio. You’ll enjoy hearing...

How do you help parents motivate their children to practice? Is there such a thing as a parent who is too involved? Should parents sit in on lessons? Barbie Wong joins us to discuss how to educate and engage parents so their children will thrive in piano lessons! Lots of great tips and stories in this episode!

10 Ways to Inspire Kids to Make Music — Mini Guide...

Every Good Boy Deserves . . . ? We’re all familiar with these sayings, but maybe every good teacher should think about the usefulness of mnemonic devices for reading music. Samantha Coates is here to explain and demonstrate how these traditional teaching tools are confusing and a waste of time! 

Samantha Coates is an internationally regarded piano pedagogue an...

Amy Immerman, Founder of Cincinnati Music Academy (a school that she helped grow to 750 students), joins the show to discuss motivation! Is it our job to motivate students? How can we help spark motivation? How can parental involvement help? We both talk about our own practicing and motivation growing up. Amy describes some engaging practice games, a 100-Day Practice Challe...

Prompted by a lively discussion in the Facebook Group Piano Teacher Central, I decided to host a live debate on YouTube! This is the recording of our “debate” on counting. The teachers who joined me were Mike Langer, Brian Lotter, Jeff Millis, Val Muller, Harrison Richter, and Jordan Thomas. It was a very thought-provoking discussion where we discussed the meaning of “count...

This is the second of a two-part interview. In the last episode, Jordan interviewed me about teacher pay, asking me about fair rates, negotiating, benefits, living wage, tuition rates, and teacher raises. In this second episode, Jordan asks me about other aspects of running a studio such as: What do you look for when hiring a teacher? Do you train teachers? If so, how? How ...

To shake things up, our guest, Jordan Thomas, interviews Clinton! It all started with Jordan’s FaceBook post in Piano Teacher Central about the feasibility of a multi-teacher studio business model as opposed to a solo studio. Jordan is a solo teacher and has been considering expanding, but has questions about how to make it work. I answered some of his questions in his Face...

Jake posted in the group “Piano Teacher Central” on Facebook about setting expectations for piano students in his studio. It was quite the lively discussion as there were strong and varying views on what kind of standards we should set, and what we should do if students don’t meet those expectations. Despite Jake being fairly new to piano teaching, I tended to agree with hi...

After I posted in the Piano Teacher Central Facebook group saying “slow, slow, slow to keep the flow, flow, flow,” Pablo Martinez shared it in his Instagram to his followers because he was just thinking the same thing! We linked up in this episode to share stories and ideas on effective practicing. We learn about Pablo’s journey and how he had to rethink how to practice due...

Do your students want to take the summer off or want fewer lessons, resulting in reduced income for you? It can be frustrating, stressful, and depressing to have to struggle for income in the summer when your students drop off or take breaks. Don’t worry, The Piano Sensei Way has solved this problem! Not only can you maintain your income in the summer months, but I show you...

I was so impressed when I watched Mikey Ashmore’s students in a studio music video he posted on Facebook this past Halloween. I contacted him and he agreed to come on the show to talk about how he came up with this idea and how he pulled it off! You’ve got to see this video and listen to my interview with him, it’s so fun! He walks us through the steps of writing custom par...

Teaching theory is a must . . . and it’s even better in groups! It’s more fun, students get social activity, they gain encouragement and support from their peers, and you can increase your income! Based on the Cooperative Learning Theory, students learn faster in small groups. You can also maximize your effectiveness by teaching several students all at once! Glory St. Germa...