Today on Adeptus On-Air, host Mike Hoffman chats with Kurt Ellenberger, a pianist, composer, author, and longtime music educator whose career spans performance, teaching, and writing. Kurt reflects on growing up in a musical household and how early exposure to both classical and jazz traditions shaped his curiosity about how music works beneath the surface. He shares how his career evolved from professional performance into academia, where teaching music theory and composition became a way to help students understand music as a system rather than just sound. He talks about stepping away from performance due to physical limitations and how that transition opened a new chapter through writing and cultural analysis. He explains how questions from students inspired his essays on why music sounds the way it does and how technical ideas can be translated for general audiences. Tune in to hear more about Kurt’s shift from stage to classroom, his approach to writing about music for non musicians, and why listening closely matters as much as playing well.