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Episode Summary
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.
Items Mentioned
All Keyed Up Podcast Episode with Nicola Cantan: Teaching Composition
focusmate.com/ (Productivity accountability website)
Transcript
[00:00:00] Amy: Have you ever been to a state or national teacher conference? If so, when anyone asks what your favorite part is, what’s one of the first things that comes to mind? For me, and many teachers I’ve come in contact with, the answer is quite frequently this. Spending time with our piano teacher friends. Was that by chance yours?
[00:00:19] Whether it’s meeting for coffee, gathering a group for lunch, or hanging out in the foyer between sessions, we love our time together. If you know me at all, you’ll know that I thrive on change. In life, it means I like to rearrange my living room every few months, make new recipes half the time, and never return to the same location for vacations.
[00:00:39] In my studio, it means I may not always offer the exact same lesson setup from year to year, including experimenting with different ways of running group classes. If you’re interested in hearing more on that, check out episode three of this podcast. For this podcast, it means that while it will primarily be a solo podcast with me, your host, Amy Chaplin.[00:01:00]
[00:01:00] Every five episodes or so, I plan on shaking things up with some casual chats with my music teacher friends, just like you. In fact, maybe someday one will be you. Inspired by the fact that our time together at conferences is one of my absolute favorite things about attending, I wanted to bring that right here to you.
[00:01:21] So friends, Why don’t you grab a beverage of some kind and eavesdrop in with me and today’s piano teacher friend, Ben Kapilow, host of the podcast, All Keyed Up.
[00:01:38] Welcome to the Piano Pantry Podcast, where together we live life as independent music teachers. I’m your host, Amy Chaplin. In this space, we talk about all things private music teacher life related, from organizing our studios 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 [00:02:00] life and home.
[00:02:01] I hope you enjoy my chat today with Ben.
[00:02:03] Welcome Ben. I’m so glad to have you here on the podcast as my very first interview guest.
[00:02:08] Ben: This is exciting. Thanks for having me. Congratulations on starting your new podcast.
[00:02:12] Amy: Thank you very much. Yep. It’s been a long time coming. So before we get started, I wanted to set the overall mood of this episode.
[00:02:18] And I want you to picture this and our listeners as well, rather than imagining us like looking at each other right now through our zoom screen, as we are, I want to picture us sitting out in a big foyer area. Like we’re talking about being in conferences and getting together with our teacher friends and maybe sitting in a big cozy chair with a table next to us and all of our students and teachers.
[00:02:37] Bags and books that we’ve just purchased and we plop down and we’re like sighing a big sigh of relief because we need a little breather and we’re just going to like, hang out and chat. Does that sound good to you?
[00:02:45] Ben: That sounds great.
[00:02:46] Amy: So there’s always a few standard questions. I feel like as teachers, we ask each other when we first meet or when we’re just talking at conferences and get togethers.
[00:02:53] So I want to start with some of those basic little questions. So where are you from and what’s your current teaching situation look [00:03:00] like?
[00:03:00] Ben: Sure. I grew up in New Jersey. Northern part of New Jersey. Then I went to college in Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia, then grad school in Baltimore for two years.
[00:03:12] And then ended up back in the Pennsylvania area, which is where I’ve been for the last five years. My current teaching situation is different than I think what a lot of other people have. So my main job is I’m the resident music director for the media theater, which is a professional theater that’s near the suburbs of Philadelphia.
[00:03:29] Where it’s in the suburbs of Philadelphia. And I teach through them. So there’s a room that has a piano in it and that’s where I do all my lessons, but it’s all wrapped up into the educational program of the theater.
[00:03:43] Amy: Yeah, that’s really cool. I was actually looking at your website a little bit and like you do a lot of like little things and that’s just like really awesome. I’ve never talked to anybody that’s a music director like that. A lot of teachers in my realm, we’re all, we’re just music teachers. Not that just is what it is, like we just have an independent studio and work from home or whatever, so that’s really [00:04:00] cool what you get to do.
[00:04:00] Ben: Yeah, I find it interesting because I’m part of kind of the music director world through my job, and I’m in a lot of these social media groups for music directors, but then I also get to know the piano teaching world through the podcast and through interviews like this one, and it’s interesting to compare different musical communities.
[00:04:18] Amy: I know there’s a lot of people in the piano teaching world who are involved in other musical communities as well. Maybe they perform, maybe they teach at a public school, and I think It’s exciting that nowadays musicians dabble everywhere and they get to be part of all these different communities.
[00:04:31] Yes, and it keeps it more interesting, like you’re not just doing one thing, you can have your hand in a lot of different things and that’s why I love doing, the podcast now and Piano Pantry stuff and, you just have a little bit more of different outlets for creativity and musicianship.
[00:04:43] Ben: And the two kind of inform each other and it helps you find your own unique style due to these different experiences, like my music directing background definitely My teaching and I’m sure for you doing this podcast Maybe already has or certainly will affect how you do your teaching and will, you know carve out your own niche So I [00:05:00] think it’s always exciting to be a part of a lot of different things So you said you went to grad school.
[00:05:04] Amy: Do you have a doctoral degree, do you mind me asking, or a master’s, or what? A master’s in composition from Peabody Institute. Since I was setting the stage of oh, we’re at a conference, I wanted to ask, have you ever attended any kind of a professional conference before?
[00:05:17] Ben: Yeah, I actually haven’t. So I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences about that. Part of my motivation for starting my own podcast was because I had no background. At least when I started in piano pedagogy, anything, it was always on the side kind of in the background when my main work was being a music director and then the pandemic came.
[00:05:37] And then all I had was piano teaching. So I wanted to plunge into piano teaching and then that motivated me to start the podcast. But I had, I have not done any of the things that most teachers have. I’m so inexperienced. Although I’ve become a little bit, more well versed now. I haven’t been to any kind of conference.
[00:05:53] I really would like to. And I’ve interviewed so many people who are, who’ve done a lot at conferences. And I’m sure you’ve [00:06:00] done stuff at conferences too. So I’m very interested in learning more. It’s really fun to just get plugged in and just get to know the community. And like you start going back to them and you see the same people and you just start developing friendships and networking is great.
[00:06:12] Amy: So my first experience with conferencing, yeah, it was my background is as a choral director. Initially my first degree is music ed. Cool. So I would go to the Indiana Music Education Conferences, and just always loved that, and then that eventually evolved into, once I got my master’s in piano pedagogy and was more focused on piano, into doing, locking into Music Teachers National Association and then the Indiana State Board of Directors and everything, and it’s just great fun.
[00:06:35] Here in Indiana, we have a great board. We’re just, like, all pals. And it’s not always just too formal, and it’s just great to have piano teacher friends. Yeah, I would definitely encourage it. Yeah, so do you go every year? Pretty much. Yeah, as much as I can. Yeah. And can afford, but I think I’ve only missed a few national conferences since I started my piano teaching, studio full time. Yeah, it’s great. Okay you’re motivating me even more. And you have a friend now that you already know who to hang out with. [00:07:00] If I feel awkward sitting alone at the table, there’s at least a guest.
[00:07:04] That’s right. We’ll sit in a cozy chair and chat. Amazing. And then I’ll get a lot of street cred. Okay, so I’m curious. This is an informal question. The name Kapilow, I thought, oh, that’s a cool name. Do you have any kind of a family background with that? I just find it interesting. Yeah, it’s a little bit harder to pronounce than Chaplin.
[00:07:21] Ben: It’s was originally K-A-P-I-L-O-W-I-T-Z, but then. From when my dad’s father immigrated from Russia at Ellis Island. At that time, they made you change a lot of kind of, I don’t want to say ethnic sounding names, but non American sounding names to names that sounded more American.
[00:07:40] So that’s where Kaplow came out of. But I think it was originally Kaplowitz. Okay. That’s awesome. So mine, mine is an easy one, of course, to say, but I always have to follow Is there a story for Chaplin?
[00:07:50] Amy: Not really. Not that I know of. I married into that name. It’s cute. Oh, okay. But but I always have to spell it.
[00:07:56] I always say, okay, it’s Chaplin, like Charlie Chaplin, C H A P L [00:08:00] I N, not like a, like army, minister chaplain.
[00:08:02] Ben: Oh, I see. You could spell it that way. You’re right. I see that. So that’s our issue. I see. But at least if someone is reading the name, they would pronounce it correctly, like a solicitor or any situation like that.
[00:08:13] Whereas mine, everyone says Kapilow. That’s what I was going to ask, if anybody ever mispronounces it. Always. Yeah. And what about your students? What do they call you? I have them just call me Ben. I know there’s different schools of thought on that. Some people like to do Mr. followed by the first name.
[00:08:28] And then some people do Mr. followed by the last name. I’m very open to hearing different perspectives on that. Maybe that could be an interesting subject for a podcast interview. How do I address the teacher? What do you do? I just let them call me whatever they want. Hey no I’m kidding.
[00:08:45] Amy: No, I’m sometimes like, a lot of kids will call me Miss Amy. I don’t think anybody’s ever called me Mrs. Chaplin except for when I was, a school teacher. So usually it’s just Amy and sometimes it’s oh, I forget your name. Yeah. Or they’ll call me by the name of one of their other teachers at school.
[00:08:58] Oh, I’ve never had [00:09:00] that one happen. That’s no good. That’s only ever happened with I have some school teachers. Kids that go to a really small Like school like 20 kids private kind of private school Okay, and they like one of their teachers there. She the little girl accidentally calls me by her name sometimes.
[00:09:14] Ben: Whoops It’s funny. I do sometimes get that at my theater. There’s another Person who works there who’s a similar demographic as me and looks similar and we often get confused. Yeah Another so I do get that but I’m okay with bad I think I do try to keep my lessons like this interview like more relatable and yeah I guess a little bit on the more informal side and I think that’s true across all areas of my teaching I let the students request songs that they want to learn.
[00:09:41] I really like games I try to be vibrant and energetic and I do see that as In some way tied to having them call me Ben. Yeah. But I’m perfectly open minded to other teachers who go by Mr. then the first name or Mr. and then the last name.
[00:09:56] Amy: I think that actually takes us next into our next question, which was, like, give us a [00:10:00] brief snapshot into your musical background.
[00:10:02] What were your lessons like? How did you come out of childhood feeling about your musical experiences? And then, like, how does, your experiences inform your teaching and how you are with your students today?
[00:10:11] Ben: Yeah, I, they were very pivotal. So I had two different experiences.
[00:10:14] There was elementary school, when I took lessons with just The local teacher or I don’t want to say just the local teacher But I took lessons with a local teacher and I didn’t really like them at all. It was very cookie cutter traditional I didn’t really practice that much. I quit after just a few years and was not interested in it but then I tried again in eighth grade several years later with a completely different type of teacher who was very untraditional And who was a jazz pianist and a composer and this teacher gave me lessons that were basically safe I would say 50 50 split up between composition and piano.
[00:10:49] And that got me much, much more interested. And yeah, we spent half the lesson looking at my pieces, and then half of the lesson playing other pieces. But even when we were playing other pieces, We [00:11:00] worked on them with the knowledge that my interest was composition. And so we looked at them with a compositional bent.
[00:11:06] And so we’d say, why do you think the composer did this? And I would write pieces that were motivated by things in the repertoire that I was playing. And that got me so much more interested in not just piano, but in music in general. And that’s where it really all took off from was this one teacher.
[00:11:21] Her name is Chris Davis. I always bring her up because I really thought she was a wonderful teacher. And then I, after That when I realized composition was more of my main thing at about 10th grade, I switched over to just purely composition lessons. And then did that into college. I did still take piano lessons in college, but really because of her, my focus was in composition and that’s vastly informed my career and my teaching approach.
[00:11:46] And that I’m very interested in having my students write their own music. So we just did a recital. And I think half of the kids played something they wrote. So I really, bring composition as a huge part of what [00:12:00] I teach, and I always encourage students to write something, even if it’s the simplest, most basic piece ever.
[00:12:06] Amy: I have an idea for you for your podcast, then, because I know piano teachers would love to hear more inspiration on how to teach composition.
[00:12:14] Ben: Yeah, I did one episode on that with Nicola Canton of Vibrant Music Teaching that was about teaching composition, but it was just that one episode. I could do more with that.
[00:12:23] Amy: Yeah, you could do a solo episode.
[00:12:25] Ben: I, yeah, I know. I know that’s what you, what your style is, and I know there’s a lot of people who are really good at that Christina Whitlock, and I’m sure you, I know you know all the other people who are really good at the solo stuff. I have not tried that yet, but maybe, I don’t know.
[00:12:37] That, that’s really cool to hear, though, about, you teaching your students composition because I know some, teachers struggle with that, and that’s really unique to hear how your, experience played down from your childhood into how you, and I think we’re all a little bit like that, yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:48] Amy: Okay. So the next question I have for you is maybe a little bit strange. I always find myself intrigued by people’s schedules, so give us a little peek into the life of [00:13:00] Ben. So you can either give us maybe like a one day rundown, like hour by hour, or if you want to give us like a broad overview of like your entire week and how that plays out, with all the hat, the hats that you hold, it’s cool to hear what people do with their days.
[00:13:12] Ben: So share. Sure. Do you want me to talk about Just the career parts of my day or really like the whole daily routine?
[00:13:21] Amy: Hey, the whole thing! Oh my goodness. I like to hear it all.
[00:13:24] Ben: Okay. Let’s go in detail. You can edit this out if this gets boring. I wake up on a normal day around 8 a. m.
[00:13:30] Always a cup and a half of coffee in the morning. Depending on the day. Sometimes I do an exercise class in the morning. And then usually the morning is when I do my work. So I do scheduling. I work on the podcast. If I have anything to do in terms of bills or just general logistical work.
[00:13:49] Unless we’re in a rehearsal for a show at my theater. We have two and a half weeks to rehearse each show and we do three to five shows a year. So if I’m in rehearsal, then that’s my morning, and then I just go straight to rehearsal. But if it’s [00:14:00] a normal day, the morning is all about logistical work, and then the afternoon is teaching.
[00:14:06] I usually go from, again, so much of it depends on what’s happening at the theater. So if we’re in rehearsals, then I have the whole night to teach if I want to. But if we’re in performances, there’s an evening show that usually starts at seven. So my teaching window is. From when the kids get off of school until about seven, so maybe three to seven, teaching and then Doing a show that evening.
[00:14:29] But if it’s not the show I can teach on it. So it really depends, and if it’s the weekend, then I don’t have to worry about school. So I have more teaching, but then we might have more shows. So Saturday is when we have two shows, and then the summer is completely different too, so I enjoy not having a Rigid daily schedule, and that every day is a completely different thing. It is so life-giving to me to have it be different not only during each day of the week but also through the seasons.
[00:14:55] So then I come back home, and then one thing that I’m very [00:15:00] obsessed with, that I, to me, is a game changer, is I have a different reward set up for every night that I come home. So I have something to look forward to throughout the day, and I’m like, maybe a little bit overly obsessive about it compared to what I could be, but I have each day; one day might be a dessert day, one day might be like a pizza day, one day might be wine night, one day might be ice, I make a point that I’m not going to do any work when I get home, but there’s some rewards set up every evening before I go to sleep.
[00:15:29] Amy: That is so cool. I’ve never heard anybody tell me, say that before. So so you, have you been doing that for a long time or is it something you’ve been doing just recently to just, I don’t know, motivate yourself or what inspired you to start doing something like that? It was mostly inspired by once the pandemic hit and I was teaching all day.
[00:15:46] Ben: I’m not doing that anymore, but like during the lockdown part of the pandemic, I would teach just endlessly. And I know I’m not the only person who did that, but I did struggle when the lockdown part of the pandemic first happened, teaching for [00:16:00] that many hours back to back, especially all Zoom teaching.
[00:16:03] Amy: Yeah, I don’t know if you’ve had the experience of going six hours on Zoom. Oh, yeah. It’s really draining. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna have a breakdown at one point during that pandemic and all those Zoom lessons. Yeah, I’m sure we all had to do that. I don’t know if you are still doing much of that anymore.
[00:16:19] Ben: But yeah, so much. Yeah, me neither. I would say about maybe 80 percent in person 20 percent zoom. But when it was 100 percent Zoom and All day seven days a week, where my whole life was, at least career-wise, was just Zoom teaching. I had struggled with keeping up my energy for the whole day.
[00:16:36] And so I did feel like having even just the slightest bit, even if it’s just, you have ice cream planned at the end of the day, that would be one thing that if I just, quickly think about the fact that ice cream is coming. I can get motivated a lot more for the next lesson. I have to say, I know what you mean, though, because, like my husband and I, we have some things seasonally that we super enjoy, like in the evening, and okay, I have my whole day.
[00:16:57] Amy: I’m like excited to do this. And right [00:17:00] now in the wintertime, it’s to sit in front of the fire. As we burn, we love our fire. We have a big wood-burning fireplace. That’s great. And it’s just so relaxing and the popping and the crackling and, and it gets me through the day, like looking forward to sitting in front of that fire every night.
[00:17:14] Ben: Right, after you’re done teaching you do the fireplace?
[00:17:17] Amy: Yes. Okay. Yep. Yeah, so after I’m making dinner, he will get the fire going and and read a book in front of the fireplace or whatever. I love that. Practicing my French,
[00:17:25] Ben: oh, French, okay.
[00:17:26] Amy: And then in the summertime, we have a back porch. It’s just a great area, it’s shaded, and it’s a nice place to read, and it’s just little things like that are nice to do through the day.
[00:17:34] It’s the smallest thing just being able to read outside, like what you said, or sit in front of the fire, just having something you could think about while you’re in your tenth lesson of the day or whatever, really, I don’t know, I find it very motivating. I’m gonna have to try that regular thing, though; I like the wine thing especially.
[00:17:49] Yeah, it’s really something. All right. So let’s go on to our next topic: how about your podcast? Let’s talk about that. Sure. [00:18:00] You’ve been doing this a little over a year now, or about at one year. Actually, it is a little under a year, a tiny bit under a year. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So I have to, first of all, give you some kudos up front before I let you talk about it.
[00:18:11] But I have to say you just totally took me by surprise. And I don’t know why, there’s a lot of podcasts in Piano Teacher World, and you’re like, it’s I’m not another one again, I get it, but Wowzer, like you have been killing it.
[00:18:21] Ben: I appreciate that.
[00:18:22] Amy: You’re the people that you’re getting on your podcasts are like huge names. And not only that, I have to say I personally think you have excellent interview skills, which is one of the reasons that I asked you first.
[00:18:33] Ben: I really appreciate that. That’s very sweet.
[00:18:34] Amy: Yeah, you’re just very poignant. Is that a word?
[00:18:37] Ben: Yes!
[00:18:38] Amy: You’re very articulate. You think things through ahead of time, direct the conversation, and keep it moving without interrupting people. Yeah, I just really enjoy listening to it, and I really appreciate you saying that.
[00:18:50] Ben: Yeah, so my podcast has been around for a little under a year, so it’s, I think, in the grand scheme of things, new were ones, obviously not new like yours is new, [00:19:00] but newer than some of the more I guess, I don’t know what to say, the more veteran ones, and what it came out of was, as I mentioned earlier, the fact that I was really thinking. For a long time, thinking of piano as completely on the side, it was something I almost neglected, I would say, in retrospect, because I was so fixated on music directing and I only had a small number of students.
[00:19:25] And it was, again, just a side, almost pet project that I didn’t think about a lot. And then, when the pandemic started, I suddenly, what was it? Originally, maybe 20 percent of my life became 100 percent of my life in terms of professional stuff. Then I was thinking about what to do about that.
[00:19:43] And I wanted to get a lot better at piano teaching, which I had been neglecting. And so I was thinking of different ways that I could really up my piano teaching game. And I thought I could read books about it, which I did, but That’s not quite as fun as talking to the experts in the field. And so [00:20:00] I wanted to
[00:20:00] Amy: You went right to the sources.
[00:20:02] Ben: Yeah. So I think that was, in some ways, what differentiates me, not in a good or bad way, but for many of the other podcasts, I have no piano background. I have no credentials. I’m just a random person. And I think that’s what’s exciting about podcasts anyone can do it. And so I’m like, I think many, I think I’m the same thing as many of my listeners, just teaching piano.
[00:20:25] no degree in piano pedagogy, no published papers in, Piano Magazine. I’m really just a regular person trying to learn more about teaching piano. And so that’s what inspired me was to talk to these people. People and soak them all up. And so I’ve done 52 interviews so far. I really enjoy doing them.
[00:20:47] I try to talk to a really wide range of people and do a balance of, on the one hand, having some interviews that are really specifically about piano teaching, like down to how do you teach thumb crossing and [00:21:00] then some that are. It’s a really big picture, and where the connection between that and piano teaching is a little bit looser.
[00:21:07] Like I had one episode about the history of improvisation, which is tied to piano teaching, but not in the same way that talking about how to teach thumb crossing is. And so I really like having a big variety of guests, talking to people who know more than me, learning from them, and hopefully taking the audience.
[00:21:24] Amy: Along for the ride. Taking education into your own hands.
[00:21:27] Ben: Yeah! And I think it’s a lot more motivating. I felt again that this goes back to motivation, like when I was trying to get better at piano teaching just by reading piano pedagogy books, I would do it, but it wasn’t as motivating as knowing that I was about to have a real conversation with an expert.
[00:21:44] It really puts the pressure on you to do your research in a way that I wouldn’t if it was a purely self directed project. What inspired you to do your podcast, if I’m allowed to turn the question back on you? Yep, you sure can. You said this is like a business, a conference conversation, so I’m curious what inspired you.
[00:21:59] Amy: Yes, no, I love [00:22:00] that. So I’ve had my piano pantry website since 2016 and I, I started that. I just had lots of ideas and wanted to share it with teachers and it’s slowly grown. I have a shop. I started adding products to that and I’ve just, I’ve been listening to podcasts forever, and it just has just felt like the next right thing, I guess you could say.
[00:22:18] I had been thinking about doing a podcast for several years, but my husband and I like built a house and it was like a five year process because we did a lot of the work ourselves and it’s just I’ve been wanting to do it forever and it just finally felt like life led up enough that I could, do it now.
[00:22:31] And it’s been a really fun new adventure, trying something different. It’s a little bit different than writing blog posts necessarily, but yeah. So that’s pretty much it. Basically where I’m at.
[00:22:40] Ben: Yeah, that’s great. I think another great thing about doing it is When you get better at piano teaching, it becomes more enjoyable, which sounds like such a cliche thing to say, but it’s so true.
[00:22:53] Like I, before I did this podcast, I found piano teaching to be, I guess it was a little bit fun, but it was not something that I [00:23:00] necessarily looked forward to. It was just a way to supplement the income I made music directing. But now doing this podcast, I teach so much more than I used to, but I also like it more.
[00:23:09] Like I, I’ve grown my studio size. And I think that’s because I’m getting better as a result of talking to all these amazing people. And I’m sure you’ll find that doing the podcast will affect your teaching if it hasn’t already. And I think it’s important that people have ways of kind of not stagnating.
[00:23:24] It doesn’t have to be through starting a podcast. It could be listening to other people’s podcasts, but having some way where you don’t just get in a rut and find a system that’s good enough and then just endlessly cycle. And at this point, I’m teaching I think I teach 60 students a week and it’s fun.
[00:23:39] Oh my goodness. And, but it’s like fun to do that. Everyone says Oh my gosh, how do you deal with that? You must be so wiped out. And I was more wiped out teaching 15 students a week, but having no idea what I was doing. I really think that the podcast world is an excellent way for people to get more motivated by teaching. And I loved the episode of your podcast [00:24:00] that was about, I think you said let’s address the big elephant in the room, the fact that I’m not the first piano podcast, but my fantasy is everyone should start a piano podcast. The more, the merrier cause it’s such a fantastic resource.
[00:24:12] Amy: You mentioned working with your students and everything, so I wondered if maybe you could give us a peek into one of your students besides being intrigued by people’s schedules, I think a lot of times as teachers we talk about teaching philosophies or, particular methods that we implement, but rarely do we get super specific here’s this student, here’s how they came to me or their background, or maybe, struggles they’re having or strengths that they have.
[00:24:34] And here’s what I’m doing with this student and why. Could you maybe give us a little peek into one of your students?
[00:24:40] Ben: Yeah. So I’ll talk about one student who I’ve known for a really long time and who I find very rewarding to teach. Her pseudonym, I guess I’ll call her Vanessa. So she came to me.
[00:24:50] I think it was. Four, five years ago with really just a singer songwriter background very minimal piano experience aside from being able to [00:25:00] play a few basic chords lots of skills with guitar and felt like the way she described it. She was like, when I write for guitar, I feel free. And I don’t feel that way when writing for piano.
[00:25:10] And so I’ve really enjoyed kind of creating a custom curriculum for her that is not entirely indifferent from what my piano teacher did for me growing up, although I was more into composition than necessarily songwriting. But we spent about half the lesson on her original pieces and then half of the lesson on piano work.
[00:25:30] But I, do the piano work with the idea that she likes songwriting in mind. So we’re always talking about What are some tools that this piece used that you could do in your own piece or? What are the chords used here could let’s have you improvise a song now using that same chord pattern that this piece used and so I find it really rewarding to create this kind of curriculum for her because again, it reminds me of What I had growing up and it’s been fun because it’s such a contrast with many of my other students in that I really work with her on her songs in depth [00:26:00] and we talk about lyric writing, we talk about rhyme schemes and what I really like about it is that I feel like now she has a much more rigorous background in music and theory than a lot of people.
[00:26:11] Other people who do coffeehouse singer songwriter team things in that she can write pieces in different modes. She uses extended harmonies. And these are tools that I think she’s gained from having a more rigorous background in piano. And so she isn’t just defaulting to improvising the same sort of chord figurations that she did when she came to me.
[00:26:31] Amy: I like what you mentioned. I think it’s really I think it’s good to take what they know, like you said, like taking a piece that they’re already working on and then pulling elements out of that and encouraging them okay, can you use this and then create your own composition using these tools that you’re seeing happen in this piece that’s already, composed by somebody else. So it’s a great starting point.
[00:26:50] Ben: Yeah, I think the other thing that I really like about this student, and I’m sure you have probably a student like this as well and many of your listeners do, is like having a student where I feel like, [00:27:00] It actually I don’t want to say it matters that I’m her teacher, but I’m doing something that I don’t think most teachers would be doing.
[00:27:06] I feel like I’m really putting my own stamp on the lesson, like the fact that we’re freely going back and forth between her sort of pop songs with piano and then classical rap, but then we’re connecting the two, and I’m working with her on lyric writing and rhyme schemes and the structure of a pop song, just as much as I would talk with her about sonata form.
[00:27:26] What’s rewarding about that is I feel like that is something that I uniquely can provide. I’m not saying I’m the only person on the planet who can do that, obviously, but it is at least taking my skill set and applying it. And I think that’s the most rewarding types of situations, is where you feel like you do something that’s uniquely you, and where you feel like you found your teaching style.
[00:27:44] Amy: Absolutely.
[00:27:45] Ben: It’s what I felt in composition a lot earlier on when I wrote my first piece where I really felt like I wasn’t imitating anyone and I was really writing something that sounded like me. I feel like that’s how I feel when teaching her. This is the type of teaching that I like.
[00:27:57] Amy: That’s exciting. I love hearing you talk about that. [00:28:00] Like I love the energy and hearing, hearing you talk about just that one student. So thank you for sharing all those details. That’s really inspiring. Okay, we’re going to get close to wrapping up our episode here. A couple of like quick life balance questions for you, because that’s what I want this podcast to be about.
[00:28:15] Everything that, that happens in our lives is independent music teachers. I’m big on like organization and productivity. Do you have any tips for us in regards to any of those things, organization, productivity, or just like work life balance, even in general?
[00:28:30] Ben: Yeah, I would say as far as productivity, there are three things I do that I’ve found to be pretty helpful.
[00:28:35] The first, which I don’t always do, but I’ve definitely gotten better, is something that I took from Nicola Canton, which she said, I believe, on her podcast is where she made this suggestion, or maybe one of her YouTube videos, which is, only check emails if you’re in a position where you actually can respond to the emails, don’t check emails while you’re on the go, because then you create this cognitive burden and it goes into the back of your [00:29:00] head and just gets added to a to do list.
[00:29:02] It makes everything frantic.
[00:29:03] Amy: Yeah.
[00:29:04] Ben: Only respond to an email, like only check your emails if actually you can respond then and there, even if it’s an issue that if it’s an email that requires you to look at your calendar unless you can respond to it, don’t look at your email. That’s a big one.
[00:29:16] Amy: And the thing is, sometimes it takes longer to go back and re read an email and process it mentally than it takes to just, Do it in the moment and save it for time.
[00:29:23] Ben: It adds stress to have another thing in the back of your head on the to do list the second thing is what I mentioned earlier I do feel like at least for me having some kind of reward to look forward to at the end of a long day Is very helpful.
[00:29:35] And then the third thing I learned from Barbara fast who was on one of my episodes about practicing and she brought up this thing called Focusmate. Now, this is not for everyone. This is acquired taste, but I like it. The idea is that you get paired with a stranger in a kind of anonymous video chat format.
[00:29:54] And the whole point of it is that you and the stranger are responsible for holding each other [00:30:00] accountable for whatever you would like to accomplish in the next 25 or 50 minutes, depending on which one you pick.
[00:30:05] Amy: What? I’ve never heard of this before.
[00:30:07] Ben: Yeah, I know obviously you have to be comfortable being in a video chat with a stranger. So if that isn’t your cup of tea, that’s fine.
[00:30:13] Amy: What is it called again?
[00:30:14] Ben: Focusmate. I think it costs 5 a month, although there’s a free trial that you can try before deciding if you want to commit to it. But having someone else there who like messages you periodically to say how are you doing and then having to report back to them at the end how you did on the task.
[00:30:31] Like to me, I find it’s not actually that different from how I’m more motivated to look up piano pedagogy when I have an interview coming up because if you have another person who you’re accountable for, and it’s not just pure self motivation, I find it a lot easier to be productive.
[00:30:46] So I do feel like Focusmate for me is not that different than it. The motivation that I received from doing these podcast interviews.
[00:30:52] Amy: Interesting. And we’ll we’ll put a, maybe a link to the show notes in that one. People want to check that out. So very cool. Okay. So tell us really quick about the [00:31:00] non teaching side of Ben.
[00:31:01] Any particular hobbies outside of music?
[00:31:03] Ben: Honestly, I could get a lot better at this. I need suggestions of hobbies. If you have any suggestions I feel like I don’t have any hobbies. I, i, this isn’t a hobby. I try to stay informed about the news and what’s going on. I exercise. I take about three exercise classes a week.
[00:31:20] I have shows on Netflix that I try to watch when I can. But what I don’t have is really just like a single hobby that I can devote myself to and that I come home every night and do that’s what music is for many people. And that’s what music was for me growing up because I had school during the day and then music was the hobby.
[00:31:39] But now that the hobby has become the main thing I really don’t have. A hobby. What do you do?
[00:31:45] Amy: Oh, for fun? I like to read a lot. I finally joined a book club this past year.
[00:31:49] Ben: Oh, that’s great.
[00:31:50] Amy: It’s a local one, and it’s just been great just to get out. One morning a week and meet with other people.
[00:31:55] And one of them is even my piano mom. She actually is the one that invited me. And it keeps me [00:32:00] accountable. So a variety and that’s the thing I like about it is I always felt like I was stuck in what I was reading and I had, just certain things that I was one after the other.
[00:32:08] And so it’s opened my eyes up a little bit, we do anything from fiction to I probably more fiction, I would say than anything. But a lot of different genres like, for example I’ve discovered that I like psychological thrillers.
[00:32:20] Ben: Who doesn’t?
[00:32:21] Amy: Which isn’t something, yeah, right. So anyway, yeah, so that’s been good.
[00:32:25] I don’t know, that’s a great question. Cooking, of course, I should say, is a hobby, is why I love to cook.
[00:32:29] Ben: Because that would inspire the name of your podcast.
[00:32:31] Amy: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, but my website back when I, in the day, I didn’t know what I was going to do with it. So it was like, okay, I could take it any direction that I wanted to by doing Piano Pantry. So yeah.
[00:32:42] Ben: Yeah. Piano Pantry is a catchy title. I like it. I like the alliteration.
[00:32:45] Amy: Okay. So I like to finish all of my episodes Off with a fun fact about me, but since this podcast is more about you, can you share one little fun, silly fact about yourself?
[00:32:56] Ben: My fun fact is that I [00:33:00] have I’m double jointed in a lot of ways.
[00:33:03] I’m bringing this up because whenever I bring this up to my students, it completely blows their minds. And so whenever students ask for a fun fact, this is what I always say. So I have two that I can do. This is a audio podcast, so I can’t demonstrate. Plus I wouldn’t want to gross out your listeners, but I can have my shoulder blades pop out and look like wings.
[00:33:20] And then the other one is I can completely cover my nostrils with my upper lip.
[00:33:25] Amy: What?
[00:33:26] Ben: Yes. Whenever I show that to my students, it completely, they’re like a new person. There’s my fun fact. Okay.
[00:33:34] Amy: All right, Ben thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It’s been a lot of fun. My endorphins are going and I’m going to have a happy day because we’ve had a wonderful chat and thank you for taking the time to be here.
[00:33:43] Ben: Thank you. It was so fun and congratulations again on your wonderful podcast.
[00:33:47] Amy: Thanks so much.
[00:33:48] Our first teacher talk chat is a wrap. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Ben as much as I did. You can find Ben along with his podcast, All Keyed Up, at bencapillow. com. I’ll [00:34:00] post a link to that in the show notes along with the productivity accountability site he shared with us. If you’re online, you can find me at pianopantry.
[00:34:07] com slash podcast on Facebook at piano pantry or on Instagram, where I especially love being at Amy Chaplin piano. Now don’t forget, as I mentioned in this episode, that’s spelled Chaplin C H A P L I N one a one I. If you’re enjoying this podcast, consider hitting the subscribe button and then jump over to Apple podcasts to share a review.
[00:34:30] Talk to you soon.
