When Krista Jadro and I started the Keys to Music Learning podcast, I was not thinking about 10,000 downloads. I had no idea how many people would listen. We estimate that we’ve reached around 250-300 listeners, but even that is a bit of a mystery.

What’s our goal with this podcast? We want to provide a place teachers can come to help make sense of the audiation-based approach to piano teaching. Like myself, so many teachers were brought up the notation-based way and it simply wasn’t working for us as we became piano teachers. We learned to decode music notes, but we never learned to audiate. Once I learned of audiation and jumped all the way in, I found plenty of holes in my musicianship that I’m now plugging with the audiation skills that I am teaching (and learning alongside) my students.

Being completely honest, learning how to teach this way is a big challenge. Dr. Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory is highly complex and challenges mainstream music educational practices. Navigating MLT and Music Moves for Piano is worth every effort, but that doesn’t mean it is always easy. The Keys to Music Learning Podcast is meant to make audiation-based piano teaching more accessible to more piano teachers.

Season One was a lot of the basics. What is audiation? Why is sequence so important? What’s the difference between informal guidance and formal instruction? What’s in a Music Moves for Piano lesson? Season Two features conversations with teachers using an audition-based approach in their piano lessons.

As long as I am able, I will be working towards changing the world one piano one piano teacher at a time.