The Piano Pantry Podcast is available on these podcast streaming networks: 002
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, iHeart Radio, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Radio Public
Episode Summary
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.
Items Mentioned
Download a quick reference sheet of these 10 tips.
Quote: How Podcasts Can Cheer You On to New Heights of Success (The Curious Piano Teachers)
Amy’s Favorite Cookie Recipes
5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Pinch of Yum)
Milk Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (King Arthur Baking)
Spiced Pumpkin-Raisin Cookies (Giada de Laurentiis)
Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies (Cook’s Illustrated)
Sweet Potato Snickerdoodles (The Kitchn)
Related Content
Favorite Podcasts Under 20 Minutes (PianoPantry.com)
12 Podcasts for Piano Teachers in 2021 (ColorinMyPiano.com)
My Favorite Podcasts for Music Teachers (ColoufulKeys.ie)
Transcript
Welcome to episode number two of the Piano Pantry podcast! You guys, I realized I didn’t take the chance to say this in the first episode but I am just tickled to death to finally be meeting with you in this medium. My husband, Drew is probably sick of me talking about my new podcast but I’m just so excited about it.
OK. Enough of the mush.
Before we get too many episodes into this new podcast, I thought it was really important that we immediately address the elephant in the room. That is, the fact that here I am, throwing another podcast at you in piano teacher world. If you’ve been listening to piano teacher podcasts for any amount of time, you know I’m not the first cookie in the oven.
Speaking of cookies, stay tuned for the end of the episode, where I share one fun fact about me. This is a sneak-peak that this week it has to do with cookies. Yummo.
Anyway.
In this episode we’re going to talk about how to manage our own personal intake of podcasts in a healthy way that’s manageable and enjoyable without feeling overwhelmed by all the content or like it’s another task on our to-do list.
Welcome to the Piano Pantry Podcast where together we live life as independent music teachers.
Hey, everyone, I’m your host, Amy Chaplin, as a piano teacher and independent studio owner myself, I love talking about all things IMT-life related especially when it comes to organization and productivity. We’ll talk about everything from running and organizing a studio business to getting dinner on the table and all that comes between. You’ll get loads of easily-actionable tips on organizing and managing your studio while balancing life and home.
Are you ready for today’s episode? Let’s do it.
Hey, hey! Yep here I am! Another voice in your ear. Believe me when I say that I have complete self-awareness that I am likely not the first person to ever work their way onto your podcast playlist. If I happen to be the first then cool! I’m totally honored. If you’re like me though, you likely have at least a dozen others on your list if not twice that amount.
I’m honored to be in a line of other wonderful podcast creators for independent music teachers before me including, Tim Topham’s TopCast, Nicola Cantan’s Vibrant Music Teaching, Shelly Davis’s Piano Parent Podcast, Andrea Miller’s Music Studio Startup, Melissa Slocum’s Sounds of Encouragement, Leila Viss’s Key Ideas, Christina Whitlock’s Beyond Measure, Ben Kapilow’s All Keyed Up, and Ashley Danyew’s Field Notes on Music Teaching & Learning just to name a few – and I’m sure I missed someone and if I did please forgive me!
The most important thing I think for me to say in all of this is that I’m not here to replace anyone. The cool thing about everyone out there creating content is that each of us, as creatives, offers something completely unique to you, our amazing teacher community.
This makes me think of a friend of mine that I met when I was living in Australia. My husband and I were there for three years from 2006 to 2009 and my closest friend was another Expat from Germany. We were singing in the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic choir together and I remember at one point asking her about the friends she had made. Who she was connecting with the most? I don’t really remember why I would ask her such a question but I loved her response – she said that each friend connected with and brought out a different side of her. That’s exactly how I see all my other teacher friends out there creating content. We each have our own unique take and niche in the market and I hope today I can help you figure out how to find the portions you need when you need them.
I’m talking from experience here as I went through a phase a few years ago where one day I realized I had complete mental overload from podcasts. When they first came into my life I loved them so much I was just listening to them like crazy until one day I just had to stop. Luckily my podcast fast didn’t last long but I learned a few things from that experience.
Today, I have 10 ways for you to manage your podcast consumption. Before we jump into those, though, let’s briefly mention why podcasts are such a wonderful resource.
First, they’re basically free education on-demand. It’s a great way for anyone to learn. You can create your own library of any niche. I would encourage you to not just listen to piano teacher podcasts. Consider podcasts in education, business, spiritual formation, leadership, or any other interests you may have. You name it – there’s likely one for it.
Second, they treat your time with respect. Essentially, as a radio show on-demand, they’re accessible and convenient so that you don’t have to find a free slot in your day in order to listen. Case in point. What are you doing at this moment? My guess is you’re not just sitting in a chair listening to this as if you have nothing else to do. You’re likely either driving, exercising, cooking, doing dishes or cleaning.
OK so here are my 10 podcast management tips. If you find yourself wanting to write them don’t, worry about it, there’s a link in the show notes where you can grab a free download of the list. So here we go!
#1 Have awareness of your consumption and acknowledge that you need to actively manage it
This is especially important if you listen to a lot of podcasts. If you’re really choosy and only have a few, good for you. For others of us though, like me, we’re going to have to be a little more proactive. Right now I have just over 50 podcasts in my podcast app. Now, some of them are ones I no longer listen to regularly but I don’t want to forget about so they just sit there.
#2 Sample before subscribing
When you’re checking out new podcasts, think about it like samples in an ice cream shop. You don’t have to commit to one flavor and you can sample before you commit to your order. When checking out a new podcast, download the very first introductory or welcome episode as well as the very first episode. After that scroll through and download two or three episodes that look interesting to you. But don’t subscribe – yet! Make sure it’s something that you’re going to enjoy before giving it the freedom to download on autopilot.
#3 Keep a consistent listening schedule
Find a time you can listen on a regular basis. Preferably not just weekly, but daily. Unless I’m driving somewhere, the only time of day I give a large chunk of time to myself for podcasts is first thing in the morning. The reward of getting to listen to podcasts is part of what helps me maintain a regular exercise routine, giving me something to look forward to. Not only do they play while I’m doing my workout but they continue running as I do cool-down stretches and morning chores including starting a load of laundry, unloading the dishwasher, preparing breakfast, tidying up the living room, making the bed, and prepping for dinner. So, keep a consistent schedule.
#4 Grab snippets whenever you can and don’t feel like you have to listen to an episode in it’s entirety all at once.
While it helps to have a regularly scheduled time, don’t feel completely tied to that time only. I try to pop them on even if just for 5 or 10 minutes as I drive to get a grocery pickup, run errands, or put away laundry in between morning work-projects.
Don’t feel like just because you only have 5-10 minutes to listen that you can only catch a short episode. I frequently listen to longer episodes over the course of a few days off and on. Otherwise, I would never get to listen to those 30-60 minutes episodes.
#5 Don’t feel obligated to finish every episode
This has been a hard one for me but is a lesson I’ve learned in the last few years in regards to reading books as well. If you start an episode and it’s just not grabbing you, don’t feel obligated to finish it! Before you abandon it completely though, be sure and ask yourself if you’re not enjoying it because you’re not paying enough attention or because you’re simply not enjoying it.
Then, be OK with letting it go. Don’t feel like you have to finish episodes in their entirety just because you started them.
#6 Don’t treat all podcasts equally
Piggy backing off the last tip of not feeling obligated to finish episodes, consider that not every podcasts needs the same level of treatment or attention or dedication.
Podcast friends, don’t hate me but I think this one is the biggest way we can help ourselves enjoy a lot of podcast content without necessarily feeling obligated to listen to every episode of every one.
I have three different ways or levels I think about podcasts. The top-level is those that I want to catch every episode of without fail (within reason of course). I subscribe and let them automatically download then listen on the day they drop each week. Be careful to be very selective with this category. I try to keep my list to a dozen or less roughly including 2-3 news podcasts, 3-5 music teacher podcasts, and a half dozen other podcasts such as faith-based, education, story-telling and so-forth.
I’m going to skip the middle level for now and talk about the bottom level of podcasts that is, those that maybe you’ve enjoyed in the past but are not what you need at the moment. Perhaps you’re a little burnt out on it or they’ve simply run their course. If I delete them completely I tend to forget about them so I like to leave them on and then simply check in once in a while to see if there’s anything I might find of interest.
For these podcasts, at least in the podcast app I use, Overcast, unsubscribing doesn’t delete it, it just doesn’t automatically download new episodes. You have to actually select “delete podcast” to remove it completely.
This has been really freeing for me mentally. Downloaded episodes that go un-listened to can feel like a never-ending to-do list. I love having my podcast downloads empty out. It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.
The middle level of podcasts are those you enjoy but maybe don’t feel like you need to catch every episode. The nice thing about most podcasts is they’re not like TV shows. You won’t be left clueless if you miss an episode – unless it’s a story-type podcast, of course.
The reason I wanted to mention the middle-level last is that you can use either the method for the top-level podcasts where you allow them to download automatically and then just delete off the episodes you’re not interested in, or the bottom-level, where you simply go in once in awhile and manually download the episodes you’re interested in.
I’ve done it both ways and am probably partial to the latter way simply because it keeps my podcast listening “to-do-list” if you will, easier to complete.
#7 Audit frequently
While you have three tiers of podcast listening to help you manage your intake, there does come a time when it’s time to clean out all those old podcasts you never listen to. Life goes in seasons and I find myself every year listening to a completely different set of podcasts than I have the previous years, and that’s OK!
#8 Manage notifications
This is another big one for me. I hate notifications. Like a lot of other things on my phone, I turn them off. I don’t need the phone telling me when I should be listening to podcasts. When I have time, I’ll go into the app and listen. Do you really need another pop-up on your phone telling you when new episodes download? Don’t let your notifications control you – you control them. If you keep a regular listening schedule then you don’t necessarily need notification when new podcast episodes are available.
#9 Spend time learning how to use your podcast app and utilize its tools
This goes for really any technology tool we use. As a good general principle, always take time to really learn the ins and outs of programs you use. I’ve learned this the hard way sometimes discovering really important and useful key features years later simply because I was too lazy to take a bit of time to learn as much as I could about it.
Podcasts were one of them.
Most podcasting apps have customization tools you can use to your benefit including speeding up or slowing down the audio, skipping a custom amount of time at the beginning or end of each show, or creating custom playlists or queue’s. It took me years before I made an effort to actually incorporate some of these features.
Take some time to play around with these settings and know that you can do them differently for each podcast. Some podcasts have really long advertisement intros or outros I skip, some I play at normal speed if they naturally talk quick and some I set at 1.5x the speed.
#10 Write down any takeaways immediately.
The hard thing about the format of podcasts is it can be difficult when you’re doing something else to save that great bit of information you want to remember for future use. If you don’t do it right away though, I can guarantee you will forget so here are a few techniques I use:
(1) If driving and can, simply pull over and make a note. Be safe!
(2) Take a screenshot. I frequently do this when I’m on the treadmill if there’s a quote I want to write down so later I can go back and listen at that exact point and write it down
(3) Use your podcast app tool settings to mark the episode as a favorite so you can go back and listen later.
(4) Save the episode in a management program. For me, I send things into Evernote. The nice thing about this is, for example, if it’s an episode about improving social media skills, I can send it into Evernote and tag it as “social media”. The same goes for an idea for group classes, or marketing, or repertoire. Information management programs like Evernote are so easy to search using keywords, it’s a great way to simply dump favorite blog posts or podcast episodes for later retrieval.
OK, so to recap our podcast management tips, they are:
#1 Have awareness of your consumption and acknowledge that you need to actively manage it
#2 Sample before subscribing
#3 Keep a consistent listening schedule
#4 Grab snippets whenever you can and don’t feel like you have to listen to an episode in it’s entirety all at once.
#5 Don’t feel obligated to finish every episode
#6 Don’t treat all podcasts equally
#7 Audit frequently
#8 Manage notifications
#9 Spend time learning how to use your podcast app and utilize the tools
#10 Write down any takeaways immediately.
As soon as we wrap up, don’t forget to jump into the show notes and grab the link where you can sign up to get a quick reference list.
A few years ago Sharon Mark Taggart from the curious piano teachers – said in a post and I quote..
“Podcasts have become my daily ‘extra shot’ – it’s way better than caffeine.”
l have to say I agree 100% with Sharon! (I will link to that blog post in the show notes.)
Let’s put a disclaimer on that though – be careful to not over caffeinate otherwise you’ll get mental overload and burnout!
Like anything in life, it’s about finding a healthy balance of mind-body-spirit and knowing how much you need and can intake at any moment.
If you’re online, you can find me at PianoPantry.com/podcast, on Facebook @PianoPantry, or on Instagram @amychaplinpiano.
Now that we’ve had a chat about managing podcasts, I hope you’ll make me a regular by hitting that subscribe button so new episodes will download automatically. If you have a moment, jump over to Apple Podcasts to review this podcast to help others find it easily. Thanks in advance!
Before we say goodbye, here’s a little light-hearted moment for us to get to know each other more. If you missed episode one, you’re definitely going to want to hear it through as my fun fact is demonstration of how I can say the entire alphabet backwards in less than five seconds.
As I mentioned in the introduction, today’s fun fact has to do with cookies. If you know me at all, I love to cook and definitely prefer it to baking. Some of that just stems from the fact that baked goods are too had to have around especially with just two of us in the house!
My favorite baked good to make is hands down cookies. I get it from my mom. She was always a cookie queen. For her it was chocolate chip and snickerdoodles.
5 of my favorite cookie recipes are (and I’ll link to them in the show notes)
- 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Pinch of Yum
- Milk Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies from King Arthur Baking
- Spiced Pumpkin-Raisin Cookies from Giada de Laurentiis
- Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies from Cook’s Illustrated
- Sweet Potato Snickerdoodles from The Kitchn
Thanks for being here teacher friends now go bake some cookies while listening to podcasts!
