While practice is one of the biggest lines we tow with students, the truth is that we aren’t always practicing what we preach as teachers. In today’s episode, we’ll look at reasons we may not practice ourselves enough and find ways we can enable a routine because practice...it’s not just for students! 

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.

A casual teacher chat with Karen Thickstun, President of Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA), 2021-2023.

Karen Thickstun, NCTM, teaches piano pedagogy at Butler University, operates an independent studio, and recently retired as founding director of the Butler Community Arts School. She holds degrees in music, economics and business administration. Thickstun is currently serving as national president of Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).

Contact Karen: [email protected]

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.

A few ways we can give small offerings in our lives and studios when we feel a world away but hold current events in our hearts. We’ll wrap up the episode with a moment of silence as a collective community to offer thoughts and prayers for all those in Russia and Ukraine but even more specifically for our colleagues affected there and elsewhere.

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.

No matter how long we’ve been teaching or what level of education we have, giving written feedback and ratings to an unknown student in a one-off event is a completely different setting and format than working directly with a student you know in person on a weekly basis. In this episode, we’re going to look at four ways we can conscientiously prepare ourselves as adjudicators leading up to a festival or competition.

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.

Track tasks with your photo app. Shockingly simple? Yes, but there’s an important kicker you won’t want to miss. After taking a brief look back at the evolution of photo management in our lives, I’ll share how my photo app has become both a way of tracking tasks as well as a daily recurring task in and of itself.

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.

Is your task list stressing you out? Does it feel like your task list is never-ending? In this episode, we’ll talk about how we can identify three different types of tasks and separate them out in a useful, practical, and sustainable way because it’s true - they’re not all created equal!

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Ben Kapilow is the Resident Music Director at the Media Theatre for the Performing Arts in Media, PA, where he teaches a private studio of 60 students and music directs musicals for the Broadway and Children's Series. He is the host of "All Keyed Up," an interview podcast aimed at piano teachers.

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.

The conflict between prime teaching hours and the evening meal can make getting dinner on the table tricky. In this episode, we’ll look at 6 different ways or tools, if you will, that you can keep in your back pocket to help make dinner happen despite our schedules. My hope is that you might consider there’s more than one way to juggle a teacher’s dinner struggle.

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.

How to incorporate group classes into your studio offerings. After experimenting with various formats over the years, I’ll share my experiences with each. We’ll also touch on how fees come into play, as well as times of year that seem to be the sweet spot for holding these enrichment classes. For the cherry on top, stay tuned to hear about the big group class revelation that took me 10 years to figure out.

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned HERE.

Before this new podcast gets too far in, we’ll address the elephant in the room: I’m not the first piano teacher podcast vying for your attention!

In this episode, we’ll talk about how to manage our intake of podcasts in a healthy, manageable, enjoyable way without feeling overwhelmed by all the content or like it’s another task on our to-do list.

View the rest of the show notes, including any links mentioned, HERE.