All Keyed Up

In a solo episode, Ben Kapilow lists 15 piano teaching mistakes he made earlier in his teaching career, which he was inspired to correct as a result of interviewing various piano teaching experts for “All Keyed Up.” He explains which guest sparked each change in his teaching.

Josh Wright, Billboard #1 Artist and digital course creator, talks about entrepreneurialism and how it overlaps with teaching piano. Topics discussed include Josh's online courses, the influences he's had from listening to business podcasts and reading business books, branding, marketing, ways to think about target audiences, and the value of being innovative and finding a niche. Listeners of All Keyed Up can receive 20% off of Josh's digital courses by entering promo code "podcast".

Rami Bar-Niv discusses phrasing and melodic shaping. He outlines the guidelines of interpretation used in his memoir Blood Sweat and Tours, illustrating these guidelines with numerous musical examples.

Janna Williamson offers advice and guidance for teaching intermediate students. In the first part of the interview, she discusses big-picture topics such as defining intermediate, why intermediate students are sometimes ignored, and what makes a great teacher of intermediate students. In the second part, she addresses several specific topics as they apply to intermediate students, such as encouraging creativity, repertoire, theory and musical analysis, technique, practice stamina, and creating performance opportunities. Many of the resources mentioned in the interview can be found here.

Edna Golandsky, founder of the Golandsky Institute, gives a deep dive into piano technique through the lens of the Taubman approach. Topics discussed include the use of the forearm, playing quietly, rotation, in and out motion, the problem with telling students to relax, and tone production.

Emile Pandolfi, one of America's most popular piano artists with over 750 million streams across all platforms, discusses his new book, Play It Like You Mean It!: Supercharge Your Playing and Let Your Piano Work For You. Topics discussed include incorporating emotional expression into technical exercises, the technique involved in playing forte, practice strategies, how to create your own piano arrangements, combating stage fright, and building a performance career while still maintaining a private studio.

Jane Magrath, internationally renowned author, clinician, pianist and Professor Emeritus of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma, speaks about repertoire selection. Topics discussed include her books The Pianist's Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature and the upcoming Piano Literature for Teaching and Performance, helping students appreciate the sequential nature of learning, technical challenges, method books versus standard classical repertoire, and how teachers can make repertoire come alive in their studios.

John Patrick Murphy, Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma, discusses the four stages of the Orff Schulwerk process of teaching music and their application in the context of piano lessons: imitation, exploration, labeling, and creation. Topics addressed include play, movement and vocal activities, experiencing concepts before labeling, the pedagogical value of incorporating percussion instruments into piano lessons, games, rote teaching, and group lessons.

Benjamin Steinhardt discusses ways that piano teachers can incorporate off-the-piano movement activities into their lessons. Topics discussed include the pedagogical benefit of incorporating, Edwin Gordon and audiation, the limitations of rhythm clapping, Rudolf Laban, idiosyncratic ways to use a metronome, and using movement activities and games to show weight, the space between notes, phrasing, and meter.

Christopher Oill discusses teaching songwriting in the context of piano lessons. Topics discussed include the benefits of teaching songwriting, teaching students about pop song form, writing music vs. lyrics first, creating accompaniment patterns, composing singable melodies, and writing effective lyrics.