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You're listening to the PianoPod, where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry

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about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.

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Last time we spoke to Ben Laudy of ToneBass.com about the origins of this great new resource

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for high-level piano education.

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And now, the conclusion.

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How do you recommend as a piano teacher to use ToneBass for students?

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That's a very good question.

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And it's something we're always working on and improving because the platform was not

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originally intended immediately for some obvious practical use for students.

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Its original intention was more for the kind of capable amateur.

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These are the atomized amateurs who live all among us, but we don't know them yet.

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Maybe they end up being our adult students.

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I had many in New York.

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But they're the ones who really often didn't get a taste of this education, or it's been

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decades since they got to be in those environments.

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So that was the original target, and that helped shape the original framing of the platform.

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But as we started building it, it became clear that there's many different audiences that

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would be attracted to this product.

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And so we sort of internally refer to them as personas.

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And so there's beginner personas, casual and serious amateurs, there's conservatory students.

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Really I see that as a kind of high school, college age, sort of potentially pre-professional

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track or at least very serious about practicing.

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And then there's professionals of different stripes, including teachers.

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And teachers are often performers too, and performers are often teachers too.

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So it was hard to distinguish those.

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But there is a community of pedagogues, as we know, and you are among them.

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And New York has a very strong community with the Congress, with the open forums that you

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guys have created, courses, MTNA.

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And these teachers are also often not directly connected, especially if they're in Topeka,

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Kansas, to what's going on in Colburn or Curtis.

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So we realized there is an intrigue there.

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And frankly, I have to say, we learn a lot from them too.

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We're in communication with teachers all the time who are interested in Tomebase.

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They want to...

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Could we always have a teacher discount, by the way?

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I should just advertise that.

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I don't know exactly what it's at right now, but I think it's...

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That's great.

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I don't want to cite the wrong figure, but in the past it's been 30%.

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If you're a teacher and you want to subscribe to Tomebase, email our support team if you

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don't find the teacher discount online and we'll get it to you.

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But we're in dialogue with them all the time.

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In fact, many are actually giving us feedback and telling us their experiences and sharing

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them.

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So I don't see it as just like teachers are our audience and we're creating a product

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for them.

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I see it hopefully as a kind of continual collaboration and community building where

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we can learn from them too.

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Because guess who doesn't know how to teach kids?

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Concert pianists.

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Guess who doesn't know how to teach kids?

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Juilliard and Curtis professors.

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They have no idea.

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They're the worst at it.

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I mean, maybe there's an exception.

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Okay.

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I didn't say that.

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Maybe they say that.

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It's the hardest thing.

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It's the hardest thing.

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And it's often the most thankless thing because you wouldn't get these great virtuosi who

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who many of these professors I think would be the first to admit that they get the spoils

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of what many nameless teachers around the world have produced.

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And yes, there's a lot of bad teaching out there.

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It's true.

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And that's partially because these there's not enough structures of training in pedagogy

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and sharing of knowledge.

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They're there.

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They're not always utilized successfully.

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And there's just a lot of teachers who are sort of stray from this and do their best.

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But piano teaching is damn hard.

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And teach being around kids is just as hard, whatever you're teaching them.

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So put those two together, especially with I don't need to tell you guys this, especially

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with like short attention spans.

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And it's one of the most remarkable achievements if you can take a child and turn them into

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a great musician who actually wants to do it and doesn't hate doing it.

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On top of it all, even if you train them well, they might hate their lives.

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It's so hard.

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And so those who have done that should be getting like presidential medals of honor

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or something and they're not.

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And work over candy.

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Three of us are so great with children.

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I'm still waiting for my presidential medal.

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I know.

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I mean, I commend you.

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I've done it.

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I don't think I did it as well as I could have.

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I could have dedicated myself more to it.

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I would have had to dedicate my life to it because it deserves that.

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It's not a freelance thing.

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And so I really appreciate you guys.

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And so, okay, so back to the question.

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What can what can tone bass do for teachers?

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We are developing more and more structured materials that I think actually fill in a

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lot of gaps that typical piano lessons might not cover.

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So when I had lessons and I had some good teachers as a kid, I had some ones that were

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probably watching TV at the same time that they were like, you know, teaching me hot

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cross buns.

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But in any case, there was this sense that like you need to learn this next piece.

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You need to learn this next piece.

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And oh, yeah, something about theory and something about just general musicianship maybe.

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But you need to learn this next piece and you need to program it into your fingers.

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And then you need to regurgitate it on stage.

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Okay, well, I'm not saying this is everybody.

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I do think it's common.

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And I understand why it's common because there's an expectation from parents that they're

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little kid has to play a recital at the end of each season.

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And so then teachers are pressured into this kind of like repertoire driven track.

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Right.

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I'm assuming you guys have been there.

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I felt that pressure, too.

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And parents can be demanding sometimes they put their pain for lessons.

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They put them in there for a reason.

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Yeah, they want to see results.

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Why are you sitting there clapping all day or teaching them solfège or helping their

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ears out or getting them to improvise things?

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What is that all about?

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Right.

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And I think that matters and I think every great musician who's ever made it to a high

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level had some element, whether it was nurtured in them or whether they were just born with

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it of what I would call general musicianship that isn't specific to the piano that you

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develop in your ear and your mind and your heart and your soul, whether it's rhythmic,

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pitch, phrase, a sense of line and expression, a sense of collaboration, whether you're playing

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with others or yourself the way different parts combine.

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For me, that's the most important thing.

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And then piano is just one tool we can use to express that core musicianship.

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I don't think that's taught enough, even if teachers know it.

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And I don't want to say like, oh, I know it and we're doing it.

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It's just as hard for us.

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But we do have the advantage of not having to respond to the demands of teach this child

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a piece so that they can impress their grandparents and their friends.

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So I hope one of the tools I think we can help teachers with is have these wonderful

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– we just released 24 ear training labs on Bach subjects taught by a Juilliard music

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theory professor, Benjamin Grow.

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And it's wonderful.

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But at one at the same time, you're learning all of these fugue subjects, just how they

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sound and you're reverse engineering them and you're sort of dissecting their anatomy

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and putting it in your voice and putting it in your fingers.

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And suddenly it's both sight reading and ear training and music history and culture

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all at the same time.

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And it's not just for pianists.

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It's about being a better musician.

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Okay, well then you watch those.

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You could show a kid some of those and now they're singing Bach subjects in solfège

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or in scale degrees.

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Now they want to learn – then you show them the rest of the piece.

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Now they want to learn a few.

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All right, so I think that can help teachers.

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We have Penelope Roscoe has a whole series of Pillars of Piano Technique.

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She has a giant book published by Peters called The Complete Pianist.

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So we have a kind of I'd say a bridged video version of that.

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And there's labs that go with it.

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So you can actually practice with her.

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And she teaches just fundamental touches.

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And she's somebody who sort of like doesn't belong to any particular school.

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It's not – she's not Taliban.

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She's not – not that she hasn't been informed by them, but she doesn't like belong to any

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particular lineage or tradition, which I think is an advantage.

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She sort of reworked a lot of these same ideas herself.

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And she teaches them very clearly and in a British accent.

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So it must be true.

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Oh yeah.

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So that's great.

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And then there's improvisation materials.

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Noam Savan I have to shout out to.

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He used to be a –

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I saw it.

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At Juilliard.

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And now he actually has his own – he invented his own degree.

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I think it's the only one of its kind in Stuttgart at the music school there.

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If you want to get a master's in piano improvisation, historic improvisation, go study with Noam

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Savan in Stuttgart.

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He taught these classes that were insanely popular at Juilliard and Curtis.

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I remember all my friends taking them.

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I was an idiot and didn't for some reason.

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And they're coming out after semester and they're improvising like Baroque tocatas.

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And so we have a six-part series called Intro to Improvisation.

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Why would that be useful to teachers?

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Well, you can't learn improvisation from six lessons, but you can learn – first of

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all, you can be inspired to want to.

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And you actually learn a lot.

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And we have deluxe workbooks and all kinds of interactive tools and resources during

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the video.

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And then you get to watch Noam do it.

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And so you're seeing somebody who's like one of the best historical improvisers in

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the world.

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And then from the overhead cam, from the side cam, from the teaching cam.

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And he's showing you, breaking down his process when he actually approaches something that

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you might have thought unteachable.

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If you see somebody improvise, you're like, either you know that language or you don't.

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But he actually is able to sort of introduce you to the process that one could take oneself

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from like me, a kind of bad non-improviser.

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I play music from a score, classically trained.

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But watching Noam's videos enough has inspired me to start attempting this.

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And we actually have a few different historical improvisation series of these kinds.

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So I think these are actually some of the most useful resources for teachers, because

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it's not directly about learning your next piece.

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It's about becoming a better musician at the keyboard.

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And so I would promote ToneBase for teachers, especially because of that, not to mention

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it's nice to share long form videos of Garrick Olson and Simone de'Nercy and another great

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artist John O'Connor teaching Beethoven and Chopin and Bach.

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Whether it's the piece you're learning or not, watch this great artist do this and you're

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going to be fascinated and you're going to want to play more.

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So there's an inspiration element too.

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And also just as teachers, teachers want to learn from other teachers.

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That's who teaches them.

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They don't get...

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Sure, of course.

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There's no teacher of teachers who's not a teacher themselves.

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It's a contradiction.

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So teachers have to learn from each other.

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They're both always in the process of teaching and learning at the same time.

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It's one in the same process.

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So just the library of videos of repertoire and technique from all the great artists we've

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worked with, those are invaluable, I think, to teachers just to watch.

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But in terms of just direct structured resources, we're still building them.

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So I wouldn't say tone-based is like, you could just send your students there and be

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like, all right, my work here is done.

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And it shouldn't be that because we don't want to replace teachers.

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We're not in the business of that.

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Thank you.

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I was going to ask you that.

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Don't steal...

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Well, we've had comments on...

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We've got some Facebook comments.

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I think they just miss...

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I don't blame people for seeing it this way.

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They just see the product as some kind of video surrogate for the irreducible experience

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of in-person teaching.

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We're not trying...

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Not only are we not trying to take that away, we're trying to promote that because, first

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of all, a lot of teachers are having to do grunt work, teaching technique and things

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that actually tone-based might be able to take care of.

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Hey, go watch some of this so that in your lessons, I can work with just you and me personally.

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The student and the teacher on your specific problems because tone-based can't do that.

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So there's a lot of general knowledge about playing the piano that I think teachers spend

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a lot of time on at the expense of the really specific personalized needs of their student.

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So actually tone-based can fill that kind of general knowledge void and then teachers

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can be left to focus on the student in front of them.

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So I hope it's a resource for teachers too to allow their lessons to be more enjoyable.

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You can watch lessons with students.

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You can send them home.

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They can come back and be like, you can discuss what they watched.

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They could practice along with these things.

245
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And the people using tone-based, they're not going to quit their lessons.

246
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More likely, they're going to sign up for lessons.

247
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Now they need to take the next step.

248
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So I hope that...

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It seems to me like it's true that teachers see this as promoting what they do and is

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valuing what they do and contributing to it.

251
00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,080
Thank you for clarifying that.

252
00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:05,920
That's very helpful and thank you.

253
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:11,720
So my last question would be, I want to know the future of tone-based.

254
00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,760
There's so much possibility here, as you mentioned.

255
00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:20,720
So I specifically want to know who are you thinking to interview?

256
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:26,000
And right now, currently you have piano and guitar, but are you going to increase more

257
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,200
instruments?

258
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Maybe a famous duo or trio, quartet.

259
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There's so much potentials.

260
00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,960
And which pianists are the tone-based wishlist?

261
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,880
Well, name your favorite pianist and they're on my wishlist.

262
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,720
And I have them in a spreadsheet somewhere.

263
00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:48,760
I'm stalking them.

264
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:55,040
I know weird statistics, like number of Google hits of different pianists.

265
00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:58,040
It's creepy.

266
00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,880
I'll tell you who...

267
00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:03,600
I was lucky enough to work with Manny.

268
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By the way, he's Manny the moment you meet him.

269
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He's kind of like Seymour.

270
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It's immediate friends.

271
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And so everyone can look forward to those releases in July.

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He basically learned a lot of late Chopin that he'd never played during the pandemic.

273
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,280
Did you know that Manny Axe never played the Chopin Bach role?

274
00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,160
Wouldn't you have assumed that was part of his repertoire?

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He just added it.

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00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:32,200
And so we have him talking about it among many other Chopin works.

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And then he performed the two Opus 55 Nocturnes for us.

278
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So he's no longer on the wishlist.

279
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He's real.

280
00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,920
We're working with Anne-Marie McDermott in August.

281
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A wonderful artist.

282
00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:47,880
She'll be just finishing up at Bravo Veil and then headed to LA and teaching the Bach

283
00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,360
A minor English Suite.

284
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So that's going to be awesome.

285
00:15:52,460 --> 00:16:00,200
I will say that I don't know when it happens, and I want to say when and not if, but I'm

286
00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:07,480
in touch with Marie Joelle Perez, who's one of the just great phenomenal pianists of the

287
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:08,480
last generation.

288
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Chopin, her Schubert Opus 90 impromptus are the best I've ever heard.

289
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:14,840
So go listen to Perez playing those.

290
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:16,420
I've been in touch with her.

291
00:16:16,420 --> 00:16:18,280
She has this festival in Portugal.

292
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:19,880
She is developing a lot of her own media.

293
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,760
I don't know if she's going to work with Tomei's immediately, but it feels like it's on the

294
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:24,760
horizon.

295
00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:31,400
And she's pals with people who are seemingly just out of reach like Martha Argrich.

296
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,360
And so I've made these kind of connections.

297
00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:42,560
Also Ricardo Castro, who won Leeds in 93, has been a wonderful contact for me and has

298
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:43,560
been very supportive.

299
00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:46,920
He was a Tomei user, and we had these user interviews to try to improve the product.

300
00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,640
And I'm sitting there talking to Ricardo Castro, and I didn't know who he was at first.

301
00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:52,440
He's like, oh, yes.

302
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:59,200
I was in a duo with Maria Joelle Perez, and I just visited Martha yesterday.

303
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:00,640
She's friends with my...

304
00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:01,640
She loves my son and this.

305
00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:06,720
And I'm like, okay, well, maybe one day not only Ricardo, but Martha Argrich is top on

306
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:07,720
the list.

307
00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:08,720
Look, I want to get Zimmermann.

308
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:09,800
He's off limits practically.

309
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:10,920
I want to get Sokolov.

310
00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:11,920
He's off limits.

311
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:13,880
Kissen is going to cost a fortune.

312
00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:15,640
So they're there.

313
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:20,160
And I think in terms of just next great pianists, we're close to them.

314
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,680
Now there's a lot that are at that caliber, but more accessible.

315
00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:28,320
And I do think you're going to be seeing more and more of them in the next year.

316
00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:32,320
I could go through names, but honestly, I don't want to sort of tease any of these out

317
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,320
because there's not immediate prospects, but there's a lot on the horizon.

318
00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,560
I'm in touch with managers.

319
00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,920
I'm in touch with some of these pianists directly, and it's a timing thing.

320
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,080
They're busy people.

321
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:48,960
But a lot of them, they seem to all know about tone-based now, and they've seen the great

322
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,840
artists we have, and there's more and more of an interest from them.

323
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:57,800
And we're starting to get emails from conservatory professors at CIM and other places saying,

324
00:17:57,800 --> 00:17:58,800
can I teach for you?

325
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:02,880
So we're starting to get calls from Curtis, like, can we collaborate?

326
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,640
So there's a growing interest in what we're doing.

327
00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:06,740
I think that's really great.

328
00:18:06,740 --> 00:18:08,480
I hope that keeps up.

329
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:16,160
For business, so there's all kinds of pedantic business things going on internally that we're

330
00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:22,520
trying to make the best decisions for how to sustain the company, stick to our mission,

331
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:26,560
not betray the mission in favor of some get-rich-quick scheme.

332
00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,280
That wouldn't work anyway for our product, but we are a startup.

333
00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:30,280
You know what startups do?

334
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:36,360
They usually create some bad product, and they fail after a couple of days.

335
00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:41,680
And it's just not the kind of enterprise that you usually see this kind of classical music

336
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:43,480
education thriving in.

337
00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:51,240
So it's a challenge to figure out how do we grow at this kind of rapid pace while also

338
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:58,560
staying true to our commitments as teachers, educators, artists, and so on.

339
00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,680
In terms of expanding and growing, I'd say tone-based is next step.

340
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:08,000
Of course, since the beginning, after piano was meant to be, okay, let's finish the other

341
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:12,360
instruments, it's been a timing thing because now we're thinking maybe strategy-wise, we

342
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:15,640
want to broaden the instruments we have.

343
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,880
I don't see classical piano and jazz piano as being separate platforms.

344
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,240
I see them as part of one history of the piano.

345
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:27,440
And we already have had some great jazz artists on live streams, and I want more and more

346
00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:28,440
of that content.

347
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,760
So that might be where we invest our energies.

348
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:40,400
There's some thought of maybe strings as a whole being next, or violin and then cello,

349
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,960
or maybe high strings and low strings.

350
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,120
The issue there is, well, guess what the two major amateur instruments around the world

351
00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:49,000
are piano and guitar.

352
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:54,320
Yes, there's Suzuki violin and cello lessons, but as you get to the other orchestra instruments,

353
00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,280
you see fewer and fewer just ordinary people who might subscribe.

354
00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:00,720
So this becomes a business challenge.

355
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:06,360
Maybe the next platform for orchestra instruments is about excerpts, and we try to sell it to

356
00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:09,360
conservatories and we get all the great principles to teach those excerpts.

357
00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:12,120
That's just an idea that's floating around.

358
00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:15,760
And maybe we go beyond music.

359
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:23,280
I mean, one of the founders, you can't be a startup founder and not have ambitions.

360
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:29,420
So part of their ambitions is to not only expand beyond classical genres, but to expand

361
00:20:29,420 --> 00:20:39,520
beyond music and potentially teach you cooking or chess or arts and crafts of different kinds.

362
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,800
Now these tone-based versions of these things exist.

363
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:49,520
So once we get there, then it's going to be a lot of competition and maybe partnerships,

364
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:51,280
or who knows what it will be like.

365
00:20:51,280 --> 00:21:01,040
But this kind of space of a creative online education, high level, was already happening,

366
00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,800
and then COVID happened, and now it's about to just thrive.

367
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:08,280
I mean, masterclass was already there, now they're doing Outlier, and Rasmussen is starting

368
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:09,520
Outlier if you haven't seen it.

369
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:14,920
So you can go take calculus and psychology courses and get credit.

370
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:19,140
So we're not accredited yet, but maybe we move to a model where we're actually able

371
00:21:19,140 --> 00:21:21,800
to contribute to online education.

372
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:28,560
And that opens a whole sequel episode that we'll have to do together where we talk about

373
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:34,000
the complexities of brick and mortar educational institutions versus online education, because

374
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,680
there's a lot of potential problems there.

375
00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,480
There's a lot of potential achievements there.

376
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,760
And so I think that's the new frontier.

377
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:49,560
And COVID rapidly accelerated our journey there, and I think the 2020s are going to

378
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,760
just see a flourishing of this kind of thing.

379
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:58,520
And I'm just happy that ToneBase might be able to contribute in some small way to that.

380
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,200
Wonderful.

381
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:06,800
What is your advice for young and upcoming musicians in this current technology-based

382
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,280
and musical environment?

383
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:15,960
I probably don't need to be the one to tell them because they're already doing it, but

384
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:17,720
you have to know technology.

385
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:25,640
You have to not just use it, but I would say learn how to produce with it.

386
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,120
I could have done that more, honestly.

387
00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:31,360
I mean, you might look at me and say, oh, look at this tech musician guy.

388
00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:37,320
I still feel like a dinosaur around what the 23-year-olds and the 18-year-olds know and

389
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:38,520
are doing.

390
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:45,160
So I don't think I need to impart that advice, but besides consuming your technologies and

391
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:49,320
your media, learn how it's made and start making it yourself.

392
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:57,440
So get Garage Band or Ableton or whatever, if you're a teenager, and get a MIDI keyboard

393
00:22:57,440 --> 00:22:59,340
and start making your own jams.

394
00:22:59,340 --> 00:23:05,880
Hook up your piano to it and learn classical music, learn how to improvise and create new

395
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,500
kinds of music with it.

396
00:23:07,500 --> 00:23:13,040
Create music we've never heard, compose stuff, be creative.

397
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:14,560
And then I used to say this.

398
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,180
I used to say, say yes to every opportunity.

399
00:23:18,180 --> 00:23:19,640
That's always a fun thing to say.

400
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,400
I would refine that a bit.

401
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,880
I still believe in that up to a certain age, and then you have to start saying no.

402
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,960
But of course, you need to be picky.

403
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:29,640
So don't say yes to everything.

404
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:35,820
But don't think that because you're comfortable in one narrow sphere and you're good at that

405
00:23:35,820 --> 00:23:39,700
one thing, that that's going to take you where you think it's going to take you because it

406
00:23:39,700 --> 00:23:41,300
never will.

407
00:23:41,300 --> 00:23:46,760
It's going to be something unpredictable out of your control that will define your life.

408
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,760
And the more experiences you have, the more skills you pick up, the more things you try,

409
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:56,720
the more people you meet in music and in life, the more that's going to set you up for happiness

410
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,300
and success in the future.

411
00:23:59,300 --> 00:24:04,240
So that would be my advice to kids is not just practice.

412
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:09,300
You should practice, but if you don't like practicing, tell your teacher and have an

413
00:24:09,300 --> 00:24:16,320
honest conversation about why you don't and stop this passive aggression where it's awkward

414
00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:20,680
because I don't like doing it and then you make me because piano lessons should be the

415
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,440
most amazing thing that every kid has.

416
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,080
It should be a gift and a treasure.

417
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:32,000
So if that's not working out for you exactly how you like, probe that a bit, explore a

418
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,160
bit and try some things out and also cut your teachers some slack because they're trying

419
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,860
hard and they've got a tough job.

420
00:24:38,860 --> 00:24:44,400
So yeah, those are just a little coda to my advice for kids.

421
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:49,080
Maybe for those students that doesn't want to practice, they can come to watch some tone

422
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:55,840
based videos and listen to some piano podcast.

423
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,800
That's why I wanted to practice ultimately, even though I never liked practicing and I

424
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:01,000
never did it very well.

425
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,800
It was because not anybody forced me to.

426
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:05,300
That never worked very well.

427
00:25:05,300 --> 00:25:10,100
It just made me mad and upset and it made my technique like, I have to do this.

428
00:25:10,100 --> 00:25:15,080
It was because of discovering the music.

429
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,440
Really the music did it.

430
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:18,920
Listen to it.

431
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:19,920
Compare recordings.

432
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:27,200
Listen to these dusty old men and women of yesteryear who've just imparted to us some

433
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:34,400
of the great recordings in music history of any genre and try to follow in the score.

434
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:35,400
Scores are free.

435
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:36,400
I'm SLP.

436
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:37,400
Go right now.

437
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,400
Find a piece you're playing or find a better piece or maybe a more interesting difficult

438
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,900
piece by the same composer.

439
00:25:43,900 --> 00:25:48,960
Go on YouTube at the same time, find a rare recording by Corteau or Horowitz and follow

440
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:50,060
in the score while you're listening.

441
00:25:50,060 --> 00:25:56,960
I didn't get to have any of that access in 1999 or 2002 or whenever when I was, I had

442
00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:01,640
to order a VHS of Horowitz playing and wait for three weeks before maybe I can watch a

443
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:08,640
grainy copy of it and I'd had to go buy scores at the store and it's just, it's all right

444
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:09,640
there.

445
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,640
Don't miss this opportunity.

446
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:12,640
All right.

447
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:17,040
Let's move on to rapid fire.

448
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:22,900
I feel like we've had a very long in-depth productive conversation.

449
00:26:22,900 --> 00:26:24,520
Time to be totally silly.

450
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:29,200
So let me ask you, Ben, what is your favorite comfort food?

451
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:30,200
Biscuits and gravy.

452
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:31,200
Oh, nice.

453
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,160
You're from Texas, right?

454
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:38,880
With sausage gravy, I should add, but I'm from Texas and it's the most caloric thing

455
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:40,560
you can possibly eat.

456
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,120
I've studied the IHOP menu.

457
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:43,120
Okay, sorry.

458
00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:44,120
Lightning round.

459
00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:45,120
Let's go.

460
00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:46,120
All right.

461
00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:47,120
Number two, cats or dogs?

462
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:48,120
Cats.

463
00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:49,120
Okay.

464
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:52,760
What is your word or words to live by?

465
00:26:52,760 --> 00:27:02,480
Open authority, but also think about what you're questioning and think about how you

466
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,920
might be an authority yourself and not know it.

467
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:05,920
All right.

468
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,080
That'll keep us busy.

469
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:14,280
What is the most important quality you look for in people?

470
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:23,400
Kind of openness and not just open-mindedness, but I like people who like people and who

471
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,240
give people the benefit of the doubt.

472
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:27,600
Wonderful.

473
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:34,120
And what is the worst quality in people that you want to stay away from?

474
00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:38,560
I've tried to be a Christian and befriend all my enemies, so I don't know if I have

475
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:39,560
an answer for that.

476
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:44,120
But don't be boring.

477
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:49,080
I don't think anybody's boring.

478
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:54,960
It doesn't matter if you have a monotone voice and maybe you're not charismatic.

479
00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,720
Those are some of the funniest, most interesting people.

480
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,200
There's no excuse for being boring.

481
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,480
I don't care what your genes are.

482
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,400
There's something interesting about your life that you can share with us.

483
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:12,480
So if you're being boring, I just ask you to practice harder.

484
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:14,760
Okay, wonderful.

485
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:15,760
Thank you.

486
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:20,520
Name three people who inspire you, living or dead.

487
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,040
Well, my mom.

488
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:23,400
It's her birthday tomorrow.

489
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,920
Just speaking of gracious people.

490
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,400
Happy birthday.

491
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,080
And I guess I should be very basic about this.

492
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:34,840
My father, I wouldn't be a pianist without him.

493
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:35,840
Not that he is one.

494
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:41,560
He's a chemist, but it was his Chopin first nocturne that he was attempting as a child.

495
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:43,720
Yeah, I told Seymour this.

496
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:49,320
That was partially why I was fascinated by the piano and got into it.

497
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,520
And just as a human being, I admire him endlessly.

498
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,560
Oh, third.

499
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:56,560
Okay.

500
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:03,800
Well, I should say that my partner, Sasha, I could say the same things about her.

501
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,560
And I look up to her as well.

502
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,040
She's a fantastic pianist.

503
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:10,680
Sasha Cosman.

504
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,760
And she keeps me whole.

505
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:15,720
Okay.

506
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:21,080
Which historical figure or composer do you want to learn, take lessons from, if she or

507
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,960
he were alive?

508
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:25,880
Of course Bach.

509
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:31,860
But I would say that if I could modify the question to give a more interesting answer,

510
00:29:31,860 --> 00:29:38,340
I want Bach to be my sort of musicianship composition teacher.

511
00:29:38,340 --> 00:29:41,220
Maybe he can tell me how to tune and stuff.

512
00:29:41,220 --> 00:29:43,560
And then I want Gould on my other shoulder.

513
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:44,560
Oh my gosh.

514
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,280
And Glenn Gould can sort of, first of all, he'll be talking with Bach.

515
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:54,240
And I think they'll actually be friends, not enemies like a lot of people say.

516
00:29:54,240 --> 00:30:00,160
And Gould will just be there to sort of show me things that I don't think he would ever

517
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:01,160
teach.

518
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:02,160
He wasn't a teacher.

519
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,260
But if he were alive, first of all, he would be younger.

520
00:30:05,260 --> 00:30:11,920
If he was alive, he would be younger than Seymour Bernstein, Jerome Lowenthal, Leon

521
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,640
Fleischer, Gary Grafman.

522
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:15,980
He was born in 1932.

523
00:30:15,980 --> 00:30:18,520
He passed away at the age of 50.

524
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:21,880
If Gould were here, he would have already started tone-based of some kind.

525
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:23,520
He was really into media.

526
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:28,080
And it wouldn't be because he taught you lesson, but we would film him and Bach together in

527
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:34,000
the same room, just being in their presence and sharing in their magic.

528
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,760
And so I don't even remember your question, but those are the ones that I would want to

529
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:39,080
hang out with.

530
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:43,320
Name one piece in your current playlist.

531
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:50,520
Well, my girlfriend is Russian-American, so I've been listening to a lot of Russian, like

532
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,780
old sort of Soviet film soundtracks.

533
00:30:54,780 --> 00:30:57,960
And so there's some wonderful music.

534
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:03,520
There's a film that you have to go see, or you have to, I don't know how you'd see it.

535
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,160
It's called The Ordinary Miracle.

536
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:07,960
And there's just a wonderful soundtrack to that.

537
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,600
And I have it stuck in my head all the time.

538
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,240
It's in some playlists because I hear it in the car.

539
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,080
But guess what's really good?

540
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:17,780
Soviet film music.

541
00:31:17,780 --> 00:31:18,780
Because guess why?

542
00:31:18,780 --> 00:31:24,320
Those composers were really well-trained and they were compensated for their work.

543
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,280
And it's incredible.

544
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:31,320
If you like Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny, you know how good orchestral music can be with

545
00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:32,320
film.

546
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,200
It's everywhere in Russian film.

547
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:40,560
I mean, just the soundtracks by themselves are worthy of stage performance.

548
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:45,260
But I'm actually thinking more sort of pop, sorts of Russian soundtracks.

549
00:31:45,260 --> 00:31:47,680
But anyway, that's kind of random.

550
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,880
Well, we come to the very last question.

551
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:55,260
You get only one song or piece to listen to for the rest of your life.

552
00:31:55,260 --> 00:31:56,260
What is it?

553
00:31:56,260 --> 00:32:04,840
I mean, I just out of duty and obligation and consistency, I have to say the 1981 Goldberg

554
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:06,840
Variations recording by Graham Gould.

555
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:07,840
I just knew it.

556
00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:10,680
I mean, it was the only thing I listened to.

557
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:11,680
I'm not exaggerating.

558
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,120
It was the only thing I listened to for two years.

559
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,440
I went to Planet Fitness and just bounced along to the canons.

560
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,120
And it made me want to learn the piece.

561
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,960
And after that, I actually didn't listen to anything for a while.

562
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:28,160
So I would probably just take that with me to the desert island or wherever.

563
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:32,560
Well, so you just answer one of the questions that we were going to ask.

564
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,960
Okay, no, no, you can still ask.

565
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:35,960
Yeah, no, no.

566
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:37,880
I mean, it's perfect.

567
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:39,320
And I can understand you.

568
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:46,440
I even did an MRI or something with the Gould's edition of Goldberg.

569
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,160
So well, very, very last one.

570
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:50,920
Music is blank.

571
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:51,920
What is your music?

572
00:32:51,920 --> 00:33:00,120
Music is the interior of humanity.

573
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,400
Out loud, made external.

574
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:07,080
Thank you so much.

575
00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:08,080
Dream that.

576
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:09,080
That is so beautiful.

577
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:10,080
I'll leave you with that.

578
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:11,080
How about that?

579
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,080
A little bit of profundity.

580
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,200
Ben, thank you so much.

581
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:21,880
So I think that concludes this episode and this season of the Piano Pod.

582
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:26,880
Thank you so much, Ben Lottie, for joining our show today and sharing your wisdom, expertise

583
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:27,880
and humor.

584
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:32,120
And as always, thank you so much to the audience for tuning in.

585
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:37,680
If you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review on whatever podcasting platform

586
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:38,680
you use.

587
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:43,400
If you're watching it from YouTube, please hit the thumbs up button and be sure to subscribe

588
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:44,720
to our channel.

589
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,520
And you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

590
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:52,340
The links are in the description below.

591
00:33:52,340 --> 00:33:57,920
If you have feedback for us, please leave it in the comments or DM us via social media.

592
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:04,440
Or you can also email us at the pianopodnyc at gmail.com.

593
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:10,160
All right, everybody, we hope to see you next fall for season two of the Piano Pod.

594
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:11,160
Until then, take care.

595
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:12,160
Bye bye.

596
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:13,160
Thank you so much, Ben.

597
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,160
Thank you, Ben.

598
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:15,160
Hi, everyone.

599
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:16,160
Clara, Yukimi, Eric.

600
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,760
It was a lot of fun.

601
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,600
I hope to be back some other season, maybe.

602
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:22,600
For sure.

603
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:23,600
Definitely.

604
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:46,400
There's a little ride coming to an end.