The Piano Sensei Way
Clinton Pratt
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Top 10 The Piano Sensei Way Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Piano Sensei Way episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Piano Sensei Way for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Piano Sensei Way episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
23 The Way to Engage Parents (w/ Barbie Wong)
The Piano Sensei Way
06/11/24 • 46 min
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 https://barbiewong.com/inspire/
Website: https://barbiewong.com/teachers/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/barbiewong
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbiewongmusic
21 The Way to Spark Motivation (w/ Amy Immerman)
The Piano Sensei Way
05/14/24 • 45 min
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 Challenge, how events keep students excited, and advice on vanquishing “energy vampires!”
Some great takeaways from the show:
- Fast practice equals slow progress, slow practice equals fast progress. No practice equals no progress.
- You don't practice until you get it right, practice until you don’t get it wrong.
- Students do not fail. Teachers fail, parents fail, and society fails.
Amy Immerman is the Founder of Cincinnati Music Academy, a school that she helped grow to over 40 teachers and 750 students. She has given over 80 presentations at local, state and national conferences in 19 states and Canada. She served on the Board of Directors for MTNA, is a past Ohio Certified Teacher of the Year, and an MTNA Foundation Fellow. She has served on local and state boards for OhioMTA and has an MM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Ohio University.
Energy Bus by Jon Gordon: https://www.theenergybus.com/
E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber: https://www.michaelegerbercompanies.com/product/the-e-myth-revisited/
Creative Teaching Conference: https://creativeteachingconference.com/
00 The Piano Sensei Way Trailer
The Piano Sensei Way
07/31/23 • 5 min
Welcome to The Piano Sensei Way! I help you master the art of running an effective piano teaching studio! In this preview, I talk about the two main focuses:
- teaching piano
- running your teaching business
02 The Way to Teach Beginning Improv - 5 Tips
The Piano Sensei Way
08/22/23 • 33 min
In this episode we talk about the benefits of improvisation and why every musician should improvise, even from the very beginning! Even if you're a teacher who doesn't really improvise, you can still teach it!
We go over the 5 tips:
- start now
- start easy
- just use black keys
- go back & forth, "my turn/your turn"
- use accompaniments
I play examples so you can hear what it's like, and if you want the accompaniment patterns I use, just click the link below!
07 The Way Flat Rate Tuition Minimizes Stress
The Piano Sensei Way
10/31/23 • 26 min
Rescheduled lessons, cancellations, and students who want to take the summer off, oh my! Don’t you want to reduce your stress so you can focus on teaching? Having a flat rate tuition with no makeups lessons makes everything easier on students, parents, and you, the teacher! In this episode, I walk you through the details on how to institute a flat rate tuition and why you will want to convert, if you haven’t already!
12 The Way to Make Scales Easier (w/ Zac Adamson)
The Piano Sensei Way
01/09/24 • 41 min
Is there only one way to finger scales? Do C, G, D, A, and E always start with left hand 54321? Zac Adamson says “no!” We discuss alternate scale fingerings and how they can help students (and you!) play with more natural ease and flow. During this episode, he demonstrates specific scales and their alternative fingerings on his piano and I try them out on my piano! Zac has created a diagram for you to use which simplifies things and allows you to see similarities and patterns. Zac is currently a Master’s student studying piano performance under Scott Holden at Brigham Young University. He teaches private and group classes to university non-music majors and also has his own studio of private piano students.
Article “Equal Rights for the Left” by Frederic Kirchberger
09 The Way to Teach Beginners with No Book (w/ Tim Topham)
The Piano Sensei Way
11/28/23 • 39 min
Tim Topham, internationally recognized leader in music education and founder of Top Music, joins the show to talk about his approach to delay method books and reading in order to focus on creativity and musicality first! Tim says, “Why don’t we leave the method books alone for a few weeks and do improvisation, creativity, musicality, and skill training first, before we introduce reading? I’m not against method books at all. They are a brilliant, structured, scaffolded way to teach students to read music. But is that the thing to do in lesson one? And my answer would be a very strong 'no!'"
Our discussion includes what do to at the first lesson, what students should do at home, how to involve parents, and when to introduce the method book. One of the main benefits of delaying method books is students gaining skills such as improvisation, playing by ear, and an understanding of basic harmony early in the process. As teachers, we can avoid the future challenges of trying to incorporate these skills later. We also discuss how students are motivated to continue lessons longer since they are more engaged in these opening lessons!
Be sure to check out Tim’s new book, No Book Beginners, which is a handbook for teachers, giving them not just the confidence to try this approach, but practical tools to guide them through the process including:
- Lesson plans
- Backing tracks
- Videos of Tim teaching the first 5 lessons
- Sheet music for teachers
- And more!
No Book Beginners: https://topmusic.co/book
Creative Teaching Conference: https://creativeteachingconference.com/
22 The Way Mnemonics Don't Work (w/ Samantha Coates)
The Piano Sensei Way
05/28/24 • 37 min
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 and presenter. In addition to running an active teaching studio, she is the creator and publisher of BlitzBooks, the music education series that has brought laughter and creativity to music theory, sight reading, and piano repertoire. Samantha’s sense of humour and ability to connect with students through her books and online resources reflect her ongoing dedication to making all areas of music accessible, enjoyable and memorable. She is well known for her entertaining presenting style, and is regularly invited to speak at conferences around the world on a wide range of pedagogical topics. Samantha has never lost touch with what students want; she has been running her piano studio in Sydney for almost four decades and is passionate about helping students achieve the goal of a lifetime association with and love of music.
Here is the blog post and bonus video we talked about, showing Samantha playing the mnemonics game with teachers. It’s a hoot!
25 The Way to Develop Intrinsic Drive (w/ Evan Mitchell)
The Piano Sensei Way
07/09/24 • 46 min
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 lessons.
Evan’s website: https://evanmitchell.net/
Evan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evan.mitchell.pianist
Resources:
The Essential Montessory by Elizabeth Hainstock
Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius by Angeline Stoll Lillard
The Marshmallow Test — Mastering Self-Control by Watler Mischel
Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook: A Short Guide to Her Ideas and Materials by Maria Montessori
03 The Way to Do Away With Makeup Lessons (w/ Tiffani Smith)
The Piano Sensei Way
09/05/23 • 42 min
In this episode, I talk with Tiffani Smith about makeup lessons and how to not have to do them! With 36 years of teaching experience and running a music school with multiple teachers and staff, Tiffani shares her insights and strategies to help piano teachers who struggle with trying to accommodate rescheduling requests. I get it. We are kind, compassionate people and want our students and clients to be satisfied! However, it can be a stressful nightmare to try to deal with rescheduling lessons, keeping track of a 24-hour notice, counting up how many lessons a student has had, and many other issues. Tiffani shares her successful tips and has a wonderfully encouraging tone. If you’ve ever considered making life easier by not having to do makeup lessons, Tiffani will surely give you the confidence to take the plunge!
Top quotes from the episode:
- “I don’t need to be everything to everybody”
- “Don’t make decisions out of fear of losing students”
- “When I changed my policy and simply stated ‘I’m no longer able to offer makeup lessons,’ amazingly, there was no pushback, and they stopped cancelling as often!”
For new teachers creating their policies, Tiffani suggests setting the policies as if you had 200 students already. In addition, her top three recommendations for must-have policies are:
- No makeup policy
- Flat rate year round tuition
- Automated billing
Clinton's online tuition calculator for flat rate, group classes, reverse calculator, and tuition increase/student loss calculator:
Tiffani's Facebook Groups:
(teaching products, curricula, sheet music, and favorite "gotta have it" tools for piano teachers)
(Policies, calendars, schedules, recitals, billing, marketing, etc., etc. There's so much to do...Let's help each other out!)
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Piano Sensei Way have?
The Piano Sensei Way currently has 32 episodes available.
What topics does The Piano Sensei Way cover?
The podcast is about Business, Education, Podcasts and Entrepreneurship.
What is the most popular episode on The Piano Sensei Way?
The episode title '01 The Way to Teach Better is to Keep Learning' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Piano Sensei Way?
The average episode length on The Piano Sensei Way is 37 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Piano Sensei Way released?
Episodes of The Piano Sensei Way are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of The Piano Sensei Way?
The first episode of The Piano Sensei Way was released on Jul 31, 2023.
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