Advertise on podcast: All Keyed Up

Heidi Begay, Jaime Slutzky, and Ben Kapilow discuss how and why to start a music teaching podcast. Topics discussed include the advantages of starting your own podcast, from what equipment you need, how to create an RSS feed, coming up with a concept, finding your niche, marketing, and monetization.

Noa Kageyama, performance psychologist and faculty at the Juilliard School, offers thoughts on stage fright and performance anxiety. Topics discussed include the relationship between stage fright and performance quality, the advantages children receive from working through stage fright, how to prepare to combat stage fright in the weeks leading up to a performance, what to do at the moment of the performance, and the relationship between anxiety and excitement and how teachers can use this relationship to their advantage."

Jonny May, pianist and educator with over 250,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 10,000 students currently taking his online piano classes, discusses strategies for teaching improvisation to piano students. He also talks about the entrepreneurial thinking behind his digital content and offers advice for other teachers who want to reach larger audiences with their resources.

Jeremy Siskind, two-time laureate of the American Pianists Association and the winner of the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition, offers guidance to piano teachers and students who are interested in adding jazz music to their arsenal. Topics discussed include the relationship between classical and jazz music, how studying jazz music can benefit classical musicians, listening assignments, sequences for learning jazz improvisation, and common mistakes when playing pieces written in a jazz style. Jeremy has self-published two instructional books about jazz piano: Playing Solo Jazz Piano and Jazz Piano Fundamentals.

In a solo episode, Ben Kapilow discusses 10 creative and engaging ways to introduce pieces to piano students. Many of these teaching strategies have been discussed by guests on All Keyed Up, and those interviews are brought up throughout the solo episode. These 10 ways are contrasted with 2 ways of introducing pieces that, while common, are perhaps not so engaging.

Chenoa Murphy discusses black representation in classical music. Topics discussed include colorblindness, scarcity versus abundance mindsets, diversifying private studios, an inside-out approach to DEI, the anxiety that many white teachers face on teaching issues surrounding race, historical and present-day black involvement in classical music. In the interview, Chenoa offered many recommendations of piano pieces by black composers, which piano instructors can consider both for their own playing and/or their students: Sonata in E Minor by Florence Price, Piano Concerto in One Movement by Florence Price, 24 Negro Melodies by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Adoration by Florence Price (adapted for piano). She also recommended the following resources: Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, Piano Music by African American Composers, and Music by Black Composers.

Tessa Grigg, Anne Katherine Davis, and Jason Sifford discuss teaching rhythm and pulse. Topics discussed include rhythmic development in infancy, Gordon's Music Learning Theory, movement activities, Dalcroze, rhythmic literacy and sequencing, backing tracks and other supplemental aids, the difference between groove and pulse, repertoire selection, and We Don't Talk About Bruno.

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.