Level It Up! Narciso Solero's Framework for Teaching Piano Repertoire

Narciso Solero spent 30 years developing a framework in his head before he finally put it on paper. The result is Level It Up!, a series that organizes composers' piano repertoire from easiest to most advanced. Level It Up! has attracted teachers from across the country. In this episode, Narciso shares how the series came to be, what it means for teachers navigating the vast piano canon, and why versatility might be the most underrated skill for any independent music educator building a long-term career.

Leare more about Level It Up! at narcisosolero.com. The videos are also available on Narciso's YouTube channel @narcisosolero8163

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello and welcome to the 440. I'm your host, Eric Brenner, and today I'm talking with Narciso Solero, a pianist, piano teacher, and pedagogy lecturer based in the Washington, DC area, who has spent over 35 years helping students of all ages fall in love with the piano. Narciso runs its own private studio in Falls Church, Virginia, and has built a reputation as a masterclass teacher, speaker, and teacher consultant. But recently his theory's leveled up, which helps pianists and teachers navigate repertoire across more than 20 composers, organized from most accessible to most advanced, taking on a life of its own, attracting teachers from across the country. We're gonna dig into how that happened and what it means for the business of running a private studio. Narcito, welcome to the show. I know we've been meaning to talk for a long time. Thank you so much for being here. I'm very excited to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Now you're you will see we might have to edit this out or we could leave it in. While you were reading about me, my cat walked right in front of Extra credit.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Oh, I saw it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Yep, exactly. Yep, exactly. She just walked right in front as she's one as she often does when I'm online.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Is she a studio cat?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Does she come into lessons with you? No, she's only up, she's very she's one of the most good-natured cats, but she does like her space. She doesn't look, she's not she hasn't, she's not usually around people, so she's usually okay. She's usually upstairs while I'm teaching, but but she definitely when I'm online, she's very present.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Yeah, I feel like there's very two distinct kinds of cats. There's the studio cat and the non-studio cat.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

It's like they're either there or they're not. Yeah, exactly. She's not a studio cat, but she's as I said when I'm online, she's always right there. Excellent. She's she's to my left right now, but anyway.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Um and you were teaching tonight it's it's evening on the East Coast, and you had a long day of lessons. So thanks for thanks for being here. It'll I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, and I'm just I'm really excited to hear about level it up. Tell us a little bit about what you're doing there, just give us kind of a rundown of what's happening.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Well, it it it basically it all it was one of my students. I have an adult student who's a teacher herself, a piano teacher. And she has in the past asked for guidance on you know repertoire choices for her own students. And so I you know, she said, What's she had she asked some questions about what's the best way to start the Bach preludes and fugues, you know, the Wild Tempered Clavier. And so I just gave her some guidance on that. And she finally told me at one point, she said, You should I think a lot of teachers would love to for you to you know to do something with this whole idea of this sort of thing where you take composers and go in, you know, order what you find to be the easiest way to, you know, to approach that composer and then you know to go smoothly up the you know the ladder, so to speak. And so that's how this you know, the idea for for the actual series started. But the whole concept's been you know, long we'll get into that in a little bit. But the basic idea then is I take a composer and start with whatever I feel is good entry level for that composer, you know, a piece of me, you know, pieces, or you know, sometimes it's a single piece, sometimes it's several, and then work my way up to the most advanced repertoire in that, you know, in that composer's um, you know, total output of piano, you know, works. So that's the whole premise behind is it's it's sort of like one of the one of the things that somebody compared it to was like a college literature class, you know, piano lit class, except piano lit classes are typical just surveys. It's like this composer we studied, this is this composer's style. These are you know the pieces that this composer wrote for piano, and you do some listening, you do some you know, uh reading through and so on. But what it makes it different, what I've done is it's the same kind of thing. It's a survey of a you know composer's output, but it's leveled from easiest, in my what what my opinion is from you know, we level it in you know in in steps from what's easier to the what's most complicated. And so it takes that kind of lit class one step further in that you know, in that way.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

And is this do you do this by piece or is it sectional? Where you're like this this passage is very advanced, or this, or do you do you look at the entire piece as you're entire piece, yeah, entire piece?

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Because of course, a piece that might be simple and has eight measures that are impossible to play, I can't say is an easy piece. That it's it's still going to be you know, it's gonna be advanced. And of course, I you know take things in consideration. Though one of the biggest considerations, for example, with choosing piano repertoire is can a student reach an octave yet? You know, that's that's a pretty obvious one. I don't, you know, I'm not giving away any trade secrets or seek, you know, anything that's that are in my, you know, the when students register or you know, teachers register for my series, but that's you know a pretty obvious example is you know, pieces we you know look for pieces without octaves if you're looking for easier, you know, at first, because that's a that's a logistical consideration for small hands.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

And then the are these then grouped into collections? You know, you have something so vacuous as the piano repertoire across periods and composers. Are you are you just are you just seeking out pieces that are perfect for this and using them and recommending them? Or is this something that's constantly evolving?

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Um it's well, it's evolving constantly because what I try to do is with with I can't, it's not possible with a lot of composers to be comprehensive. Because of course, you know, Lis, for example, wrote 400 uh pieces at least for solo piano. Bach wrote 300 pieces for keyboard, not that, and that doesn't include organ. He wrote about 300 pieces, and so it's not possible to obviously survey them all. So I did a lot of representative stuff with that sort of thing, but they're grouped, it's like a group of you know easier pieces, and then a next level up a group of you know more complicated pieces. The basic idea for this, now this is where I want to get back into how it started, you know, where it came from. Many years ago, when I'm well, when I first moved to Virginia, well, there was a teacher here, pianists, piano teachers will recognize the name, Suzanne Guy. She was a legend in the you know, in the teaching world all over the country and even in you know internationally. So she was from, she used to, well, she's from, she lived in northern Virginia for you know for a number of years, because where I live now, she was it was just down the road. But when I moved to Virginia in '97, she had already moved out of the DC area down to Norfolk, and she was living in the you know, the Tidewater area. And I met her, however, that '97. She came to Northern Virginia and did a workshop. And she just made this casual comment in this workshop that when I'm, I think I'm remembering correctly what she said. This casual comment she made was when she studied piano in college, of course, and was playing advanced repertoire. When she wanted, then when she wanted to start teaching, she realized she needed to figure out how to scale from each from like method book pieces on up to you know advanced repertoire. She had to kind of reverse and you know, mu my phrase, reverse engineer, you know, work your way down from those so that there could be a series of steps. This put this idea in my head many years ago as I was you know, a very young teacher at the time, and this put this idea in my head, you know, all way back when that this would be something really interesting to pursue. And so I've been informally doing it for you know, for almost 30 years, this whole idea, but nothing in not ever, you know, not ever come, you know, something that's codified or put on paper or you know, put into a you know presentation form, so to speak. But it was just as a teacher, I would have these ideas in my head. I just never, you know, as I said, codified it, so to speak, committed it to you know, putting it on computer and making it official. But it was how I, you know, a lot of times how I would choose music, because some composers was quite easy to you know to organize that way in my head. And so that's I did a lot of that on my own, but I kept, I was kept this idea has just been had been in my head since then. Of course, if you talk to any piano teacher, this is what we uh strive to do anyway, obviously, create logical steps up with our students from eat as they develop, you know, the music becomes more complex, more complicated. We all strive to do this. And I just wanted to find a way to be able to do offer some specifics for, you know, for example, looking at looking at Bach, you know, the the inventions, the symphonias, the French suites, and all that. There's a lot of literature out there. But one of the things that I zeroed in on with Bach to start with was what's the best first prelude and fugue to learn before approaching the others? And of all things, I had a conversation with Suzanne Guy many years ago, and you know, and we came up with the same three. So I was very happy that I was in sync with her, since she was, you know, such an uh highly esteemed pedagogue. And then what's the best first Beethoven sonata? Or how do we get to the Beethoven sonatas, the major ones? What's the best way to get there? You know, and so that's these kind of things start, you know, started this process. But I wanted to then, as I said, go from method books on up to the easiest to the most complicated. And so that's the you know, fleshing it out scale, you know, fully, that's what my what my concept was when I came up with this.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

And when you're thinking of this, is it primarily technical, or I'm assuming it's also musicality, phrasing and what you know, expression, but is yeah, and and probably understanding the music too, right? So I'm assuming there's those three things, the theory behind it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

A lot of it, primarily what drives a lot of it is the technical, the physical aspect, because for pianos, we have to spend, whether we like it or not, if we're, you know, concert pianos spend hours a day practicing. It's you know, it's work, physical work. The you know, the mechanics of it take a lot of time. So that's a lot of times the bulk. But in the consideration, um, I have things like compositional structure, you know, how's the piece composed? Because if you don't understand it, it's you it's too hard to learn. If also things like, as you said, the interpretive aspect sometimes factors in. I will say though, and a lot of times it's the physical, the technical aspect, because that's the part that takes the longest to work in. And now, on a side note, interestingly enough, years ago, there was a there's a piano, there was a piano professor who when he was a young, he had he'd gone to IU, he had studied with one of the uh with Sidney Foster, who was a in the 50s, I believe over the 50s and 60s, was a you know legendary teacher at IU. He'd studied with Sidney Foster. Well, he was invited back sometime in the 70s, I believe it was, as a semester appointment. And this is at Indiana University, and he asked his fellow you know colleagues at IU, what are you looking for in auditions? You know, at that level, what are you looking for? And fundamentally, a lot of them said, do they have the chops basically to play this literature? Because artistry, they can, you know, the maturity can be taught. I mean, it can they can grow into it kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

And so No, I didn't want to interrupt you, but I did just want to make sure that as people are listening, that you were talking about, and I'm glad you mentioned it, we're talking about the path to becoming a concert pianist, which is you know, we're we're looking at serious repertoire, and of course I love that you mentioned that story. I remember so well when I moved to Seattle after finishing my undergrad to study with a teacher at the University of Washington as a guitar player. And I remember our first lesson together so well. And I remembered it as you said it when he was like, you know, you're actually your hands are pretty good, but you know, you need to go get a life. You're ready to start playing music now. So why don't you go to art museums instead of practicing so much? And it was it was like wow, and it was this huge moment as you were telling that story. I was like, oh yeah, that is part of the journey. So yeah, I was thanks for sharing that.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Well, in fact, that reminds me too. I years when I was in when I was in college, when I was in undergrad, I was um I had a teacher who that um his that was his big observation with me. He said, You play, he said this was when I was like 18 or 19. He said, he said, your technique is really, he said you have great technique, but everything is black and white. There's you know you're not thinking in colors. And I remember for just for example, um, I was at the my junior recital, I did what it was um Franz Liszt, the Valley Valle Dobermann, which is from his first year, the years of pilgrimage, the Swiss year. And I remember he said, you really need to go to Switzerland to really understand. He said, You'll really there'll be so much added you'll uh be able to bring to the piece if you but you know it was the same idea, make you know, make sure you're experiencing life, not just sitting in a practice room. Because for pianists, it's literally black and white. If that's you know, if you're not don't have a life, anything to bring to your, you know, to your performing.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

And I literally I had written a note as you were sharing that before when you were talking about I as I was thinking of like, oh, it's that you have the technique, you have the interpretive nature, you have the understanding of what the composer was thinking. And it's also getting to know the composer. It's you know, it's going and traveling and seeing where they sat and where they wrote and where they performed. And that's something that if you're not ready for a piece, you can it it makes it more difficult to connect to that person. You know, and so so many composers have these different these different areas of their life, these different periods of what was inspiring them or what you know, what they were that way. And so it gives you these windows into knowing them. And that's one of the great joys of playing this type of music is you're creating a relationship with the composer. And it's I think that's what you're trying to do, is you're trying to ease that journey into all those elements.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

And having what you said actually ties into one of the aspects that I try to bring to each program. Of course, we sometimes a lot of us, you know, people don't have the luxury to travel all over the world. You know, they don't have the budget to do it. Oh, like you know, this would be fun to go to Italy to see where um you know Liszt was in where DevC, for example, vacationed on you know Capri. And um and he some of his pieces are inspired. One of the preludes is inspired by his you know, vacation, you know, home, his vacation spot. And of course, we people don't always have that luxury, but if you so understanding, if you can read about the composer, and we're we're of course now we're in a in most of us now, for example, if we want to explore Switzerland and we can't get there, we can look up look on our phone and look at photos. It's so easy now to even you know vicariously do it through you know videos, travel videos, and so on, if we can't afford to go there ourselves. And so we we can get a sense, but also, you know, tying it directly back to the composer, the composers, each session that I do, I try to give some background on the composer, some of the interesting things in from their life that can help you know our my participants understand where they're coming from a little more. Because again, that is an important part of being able to under to play well.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Let me go back a step because as now that I'm hearing you talk and getting to know you, and I would love to hear more about your studio and who you work with, because I I can tell you're making me feel so interested and curious and and so drawn toward this kind of because what you're really outlining is almost like a cultural journey of how you're sharing your passion in a measured way. Like I'm I'm hearing more of that. So tell me about who you teach, tell me about like a teaching day in your studio and how you might introduce some of these ideas. And what I and the question I was wondering is I was imagining studying with you and being like, oh, I want to, I'd come in, maybe I'm a precocious young player and I really want to play this piece and I'm just not ready for it all yet, right? But I'm like, I want to do this, Narcissa. Like, and what what do we do? Tell me about what this process is like in your studio.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

My the way I teach, my my goal, what I the um, well, I can best explain my goal by something that happened in 2003. I I had a got a student that year, um, a young lady, she was a I think she was a junior in high school, and she wanted to be a piano major in college. And she mentioned this to her choir director at school. Now, I have no idea who her piano teacher was up to that point in time, but she mentioned this to her choir teacher. It was a high uh private school in a private high school in Arlington. And um this choir teacher said, You really need to reach out to Mr. Solero if you want to be a piano major, because I think he would be the best teacher for you at this point. And so the parents, you know, contacted me and the young lady played for me. And there were, I mean, she could read pretty well, she had a lot of facility, but it was all not at a you know, a major, you know, even a even a I would say a B list school, you know, the repertoire was too, it was, you know, it was too easy, basically. It was like what a piano minor might do on for to pass proficiency type thing. I mean, it was decent repertoire, but it just wasn't, you know, what you typically think of college major, even at a at a you know, at a so so school, shall we say. I always hate to sound like I'm judging schools for their you know their quality, but I mean, I'm not I'm not talking about a you know a top level, you know, a Juilliard, uh uh Peabody or a you know a Jacob school, that sort of thing, or or you know, Colburn. I'm talking about even you know, typical you know, university or colleges. And so when she auditioned for me, I accepted her. And in her first lesson, I said, okay, here's how we're gonna prepare you for that. I'm going to give you some repertoire that I think would be a great audition program. And if you get it ready, you audition. If you don't, you don't, and maybe wait a year and until it feels comfortable. Now I say that because in that case, I did something that I don't normally do, which was we I pulled her out of this mid-level to way, this was a huge stretch. But what it made me realize at the time is here, this probably didn't happen by accident. She probably didn't just suddenly wake up one day in the middle of her junior year and decide she wanted to major in music in college. This had probably been at least germinating, you know, shall we say, in her mind for some time. It probably wasn't a snap decision. So it made me think I want to teach every student to have all the tools they need to become a concert pianist, a great artist. Um, but no matter what they choose, wherever, whatever they want to level out, I want them to have the tools to sound like an artist. Even if it's just simply what we would say intermediate level repertoire. I want them to sound good and you know, at it so that they feel very confident in their playing. Because I my my mom was an English teacher for many years. And from my mom, my mom told me one time um when I was a very young piano teacher, she told me, well, I was talking about motivation, and she said, You want to motivate your students, teach them to play well. She said, People enjoy doing things they're good at, that they you know that with if they do it well, they'll want to do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

It's much I've seen that as a theme across your platforms.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Say that if people people enjoy doing it, people enjoy doing things they do well. No question. And it's and that's been this cornerstone of my teaching. My mom is an English teacher. Um, actually, applied, she was an English teacher, and she was best known. She her students knew how to write in particular, um, because uh her nickname was Sergeant Solero. Um, she was quite demanding, but everybody you know, I heard many stories that when they came back visiting from college, they thanked her for how she had taught them because they were able to thrive in college and didn't weren't falling behind because they didn't know how to write. And I, you know, that same thing. I just teach my students, you know, I want my students to play well, which involves two things in my mind, two main things. One is the you know, technical prowess. You've got to have the you develop the chops, develop the you know, your the you know, the physical connection to the piano so that you understand your you know physical connection to the instrument and what you have to do to play, and teach them to sound artistic so that the sound they're producing is beautiful. And because then they're going to want, you know, the better they sound, they're going to want to practice. It's much easier to convince our students to practice when they sound good. And that's true at any level. It's not just true, although it gets easier if students reach that point where. They're playing advanced repertoire, it's much easier because at that point then they're hooked, you know, and so it's much easier to keep them going if they already have reached uh you know a very high level of accomplishment.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Do you enjoy working with beginners or young students or people that are maybe even adults that are coming? Do you does that still that you teach all levels? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Yes, absolutely. Because in fact, I teaching beginners to me is a great responsibility because then if anything, I you know, if they're doing things that I don't like, I have to question have I have I not done my job correctly, because I can't blame it on their transfer, so they came with bad habits. So I've got to make sure. Plus, I love the process, finding every step of the way how to do things. And so, yes, I love teaching beginners.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

And I I I really appreciate that because we all you play it, you've played your whole career at a very high level. And often that makes teaching difficult for the amount of patience that comes with beginners, and also wanting to reverse engineer it, because there's probably, as a concert artist, a lot of facility probably came to in a different way than may have come would have come to other learning types. And so being a pedagogue as well as a concert artist, it's so great to be able to take a student to the highest level, but also to find joy in the first depth and to and to not hear that those beginning sounds. And I think that's something that makes me a really a good teacher, is that I don't mind the sound of a beginner player, especially on the guitar and all the squeaks and the buzzing, because I can kind of envision where it might be going. And it sounds like sounds like you have that too.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Yeah, it happens on piano, obviously, because you know, kid with there's a lot that is not, of course, the problem the problem with being a pianist, I'm gonna say this is gonna sound very funny as a pianist to say this. The piano is a very difficult instrument to create beauty, to use to create beauty, because we've got 88 hammers, you know, making individual sounds happen. And so to create something that's beautiful and with line takes a lot of work on piano. And yet, and so for me as a pianist, one of the my background also includes playing violin. I played violin for many years, and I was in fact in a professional orchestra in high school because I was a member of the union my senior year in high school, uh the AF of M. But um, I what I loved about violin, of all things, was the reason I wanted to learn to play a string instrument as a kid was I loved the sound of vibrato, which is something you can't do on piano. And so I wanted to learn a string instrument. I felt, you know, my hands were always small, so I thought a violin violin would suit me better than cello. Um, although it was on cellists where I first saw vibrato and heard it happening as a little kid. But I loved that sound and I love the fact that you know, violin, you know, that strings can get that you know incredible line and all those colors. And so I wanted to experience that. And from violinists and from singers, I learned more about line than anybody else as a pianist and as a teacher. I still um will you know we'll I talk about that with my students all the time, that it's you know, listen to singers, listen to piano, listen to you know, string players for line.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Yeah, polyphony is wonderful, but when you have it on the keyboard, there's so much more to focus on, right? The same with guitar, playing just a melodic instrument or voice is so helpful.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Because for me, on on piano, the advantage pianists have is we see complete structures. You know, single-line instruments don't see that. Um and of course, I mean, I'm not denigrating or disparaging, you know, um, you know, people who play single line instruments, because I, you know, as I said, I loved playing violin. And uh my sister is a you know, is my sister is a pianist primarily, but she plays she plays saxophone as well, which is a single line instrument. And so, but on piano, we get those complete structures because we're seeing harmony, we're seeing, you know, we're seeing bass lines, we're seeing, and again, polyphony. We, you know, we can create polyphony with our you know, with two hands. And so we get a good arc, we can piano, we have an easier chance to get you know to understand the architecture of music. But as I said, what's difficult is, you know, as I said, I feel it takes more effort is to create beauty and line at the piano. It's you know, it's because we it's not the you know, mechanically, the mechanics basically make it difficult. We're we have 88 hammers, as I said, playing each individual sound. And it's not it's not anything like being able to play change notes with one bow or being able to sing, you know, a line in one breath. We've got something re-articulating every single note.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

When you have a student in your studio and you said you you were mentioning the student that auditioned for you. And I'm just trying to imagine this experience. So when you select repertoire, I imagine it's pretty fun. I always loved it when a teacher was like, I want you to play this piece. I think this is right for you. Right. I think this is what you should be working on. Just there's that moment where you you're trusting your teacher. And so when you're sitting with a student, is a lot of what you're what's going through your mind, obviously you have a lot of knowledge of the rep, but are you trying to piece together like a combination of what kind of will work for that moment? Not maybe in the case of somebody you're trying to leap up to get prepared for an audition, but to are you trying to say what is what is the right piece for the student right now on their technical and their musical journey?

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Yes, absolutely. There are two, I approach it two different ways. Number one is I well, what I do when I actually choose music for students, I have maybe I will choose like two or three pieces that could accomplish what I want at you know for them. Like, say if I want them to do a Beethoven sonata or a Haydn sonat or whatever, or a mote or a Chopin Nocturne, I will pick two or three that I feel would be good for them and I have them listen to them and they I let them make the final decision because it's all then you because as a teacher, when I would say choose specific pieces, sometimes that can it doesn't work because they just don't they just don't connect to it. You know, so I always offer them that choice.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

If you're not noticing, I'm trying to steal your secrets and I'm trying to dig them out, and uh you're just dishing them right up, which is I can tell just I can tell there's so much energy that you put into what you do. And I was looking for, I was like, I bet you give your students a moment of agency, which is because I was like, if I was taking piano lessons with you, a side of me would want to come in as not a penis, but it's like I were, I would want to talk to you about what rep you liked, why you chose it, because I I trust that you're still into it. You spent your life studying it. And I bet your students love this idea of, hey, well, first, no, I think these three pieces are appropriate. Listen to them. Yep. Which one resonates with you? They would all do the what why? Why, which, and you get you get a moment of agency in the studio, which is I think is a great, these are all growing moments for our students too, as we're taking them on our their journey to become artists. So I I I love that. And I was hoping you were going to say that. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

What I what is interesting, I'm discovering more and more is I there's can't claim, you know, I can't really claim this because I it has happened more often than not. I'll think of a particular piece for a student and say, I bet that would be perfect for them. And so that's my number one choice for them. But I offer several others that I I would be equally happy with. But more often than not, they choose my number one.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

And I don't, and I don't at all try to influence them. I say, listen to these three. It's there's not like and I like this one the best kind of thing for you. I'll just say listen to these three. But a lot of times they go with the one that I would have, you know, that it was the first one that popped into my head.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Yeah. And and I I I just think that's so cool because I know that a lot of times the teachers I've had or seen teachers, and is that there's a moment once you get out of the method series and what's recommended, rep rep becomes can become awkward. And there's nothing cooler than having a teacher just kind of just give you some direction and with with real mindfulness. Like this is something yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

Yep. Well, what I was gonna say, the one thing that I do with my students typically as well is there's always going to be some things that I recommend that are won't take too long to learn, but always some things that are stretches that will take some time to grow into. Um, and I try to balance it because of course, if we only do things that are complicated and grow into, that can be student that can get stale and frustrating for the student because then they're not seeing, they're not getting the results soon enough. That is, they're putting a lot of work and still the pieces in you know, a work in progress for months, you know, several months. Whereas I try to balance it with pieces that I can know they can learn faster. Because then, but also that's important to understand to me, I learned a long time ago, that if you easier repertoire allows you to understand the whole process, the learning process as a whole, because if you're in the thick of it for a long, long time, it's the you can't see the forest for the trees kind of thing. You know, whereas if you can see the process from beginning to end as a whole, how you approached it and how you problem solved and you know where it led, we have to be aware, students need to be aware of that as well, not just that they're learning something and you know, digging into it and eventually going to play it. They all it I think it makes it allows them in the future to understand how to work on their own better. Because I remember I think it was Nalita True who said her job as a teacher was to teach herself out of a job. You know, you have to make your students you you know, you have to you, you know, I've also heard the expression give them roots and give them wings, so that you have to give them the foundation, but they have to be able to ultimately do it on their own, especially if they're not gonna be, you know, if they're doing it for their own pleasure, you know, they're gonna be comes a time as an adult, they're working a, you know, they're working an office job or they're you know, they're a doctor, they're a they're a school teacher, whatever, and then they're going home and practicing, unless they continue to take lessons all you know, week after week, then they're gonna want to know how to solve some of these problems on their own. And so, you know, but also, I mean, as a teacher, if students understand how to, you know, to do things on their own, that is how to problem solve, they're gonna get further on along even with lessons, you know, even with weekly lessons, they're gonna make more progress if they also can understand you know what they need to do and where it needs, you know, where it needs to go, rather than just go home and do an assignment and hope for the best kind of thing. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Yeah, it does. And when you you've been in the same area for 30 years. You've moved there, you said 1997 is when you went to Northern Virginia area, which is which is a highly educated area, right? It's you know, right outside of DC. It's an affluent area. It's there's a lot of culture, obviously, in that region. Could you and a lot of people who are listening to this are maybe in a pedagogy program, maybe they're getting their performance degree and they're thinking about going out, and I'm sure they're listening and being like, wow, this is what I want to do. This sounds really great. Uh take a moment and talk about uh I'm assuming that your studio at this point, you what your niche is that you just said, oh, if you're looking to go to music school, people would recommend Mr. Solero. You've been out there, you've been the president of the I think the Virginia and the MTA. So how is that how was that when you were in a new place? And how is that running a studio for you now?

SPEAKER_02 34:10

When I first moved here, it was interesting because when I first moved here, it I was fortunate because when I introduced myself, the first meeting at NVMTA, um Northern Virginia, which has you know, I think we have 300 members, our local association. So it's a very large local association. I remember that that first meeting I attended in September of 97, because I was a newcomer, I had to introduce I had to introduce myself, and there were about 75 or 80 people because it was a packed auditorium. It was a small space, but it was full. I introduced myself, and uh then this teacher came, um, somebody came up as I was sitting there after I introduced myself. Uh, there was a teacher who came up to me and shoved a note in my hand. And I looked at this note and it said, I'd love for you to do a masterclass for my studio sometime. And she listed some repertoire that was quite advanced. And I thought, oh, this could be interesting. And I found out later she was one of our, she's one of our highly esteemed teachers. And so I felt very fortunate as a newcomer that this very highly esteemed teacher, based on what she knew about me just from my brief introduction, put that much faith in what I was doing. So I felt pretty fortunate because then I also at that time, the the Levine School of Music, which is in, you know, just a school of music, you know, in DC that's um a private school, but it's it's a community music school. Levine was just opening up a branch in Virginia. And so I auditioned and interviewed for the faculty and got in as you know, uh in the in the school. And in this area, Levine has a nice carries a lot of prestige. And so it gave me credibility as a newcomer right away to have that, you know, on my resume.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

So would you say that when you when you first landed there, there was one a willingness to go out and try to do things, you got this job, and but the other is to go out and meet people, join the MTA, get your name out. And that was how you started your studio. That's how you got yeah, and I think it's important for people to hear it. Uh, you talk to a hundred great instructors or teachers or performers, they all have really different stories, you know, and different different fabrics that they've woven together to create their journey. But it's really helpful to that. Well, how did you start? You're a concert player, you're moving to a new place, you go to the MTA, you introduce yourself, you get a master class opportunity, then the next thing you know, you get a job a job teaching at this university and I'm or at this at this community music school that's esteemed. And I'm guessing that a lot of it from there was just you doing your thing, just got the ball rolling, and then the phone starts ringing, right? That's how it generally goes for these these types of teachers.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

What what's in what's been interesting right now, since you had you had asked it earlier about my studio right now, what does it look like? Yeah, it's been interesting because I've had a shift in the demographics. For years, I had a lot of kids and a few adults. Right now, there have been a I've been most of my inquiries are from adults. And uh, you know, and I don't know, so it's been more adults, which um of course that's but still I teach adults the way I teach kids, in that I mean it's teaching adults is very different from kids, the whole the whole mindset. But I try again, the job, especially with adults, I try to teach them to create beauty in what they are doing because adults tend to a lot of adults know what it sounds good and what doesn't. Kids, young kids don't necessarily, as you you know, you said the little you know, the little ones starting guitar, you know, will make the squeaks and the squawks. And on piano, they get you know, they can they get punch, they punch, they bang. Most adults, even if they aren't that don't know that much about music, know have a sound in mind that they want to achieve. And so if they don't get it, they're very self-conscious of that. And so with adults, uh it's very important for me to give you know to give them the tools to sound artistic at all all times, you know, to create beauty.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

And you're saying in the recent in recent years, your studio demographic has shifted. You have more you get more inquiries from adults now than they do from kids.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

It's right now, yeah. That's only been in the past couple years. Yeah. So I expect it's the pendulums will swing swings both ways. It's shifting. And I've done nothing, I've done nothing to get attract more adults, but the only thing I can say is a friend of mine a year ago, a friend of mine who has a full studio, he lives just two miles from me. He has a full studio, and he said, I never get adults contacting me. He said, I only you know get inquiries from families with kids for lessons. He said, I'm you know, he said, I'm not sure. He said, because I told him, I said, I'm in I'm trying to restore the balance, you know, uh to try to get more. I said, I I was I'm careful with how I word that because I don't want my adults to think I don't want to teach them. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

But how do they how do people find you?

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Mainly, uh what I keep finding is of course, in this day and age, most people look online, they either ask Chat GPT or they do a Google search. And most commonly, because I have a question, I have a for every prospective student, I send out a questionnaire, and the most common answer for how people find me right these days has been they looked online. And in fact, in my last lesson that I just taught as a young adult, and he found me because he looked for piano teachers near me on you know on Google, and my name popped up at the top, both of on page one of the listings and on Google Maps. And so I was pretty excited to hear that, obviously, that I was popping up that much, you know, that close to the top. But um, then they go to my website, and I've had a lot of adults say that you know they well, they like what they see on my website.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

Not in my background. Do you think it's possible? And because I and this is just a great I I I've been wondering this myself because uh we there are definitely hills and valleys and pendulum shifts about students and culture. You Abbott, do you think it's possible that we there was maybe a phase where parents uh uh who were not of musical backgrounds were looking perhaps more for recreational music, uh recreational piano, uh, or maybe they didn't understand the classical approach. I'm asking this because uh I'm seeing a renewed interest in the Suzuki method in the string side, uh, right? Parent involvement, and it's it's really just seeing it I'm seeing it all over. And I'm also seeing more interest in people studying classical music, and I'm and which is really having their kids study classical music, and which I'm finding I'm really grateful for, and I think it's really interesting, but I I do wonder if there's something connected to the greater culture that that comes because parents always want what's best for their kids, right? And I'm sure if there has been moments when classical music, violin, piano, that was really in our cult. The parents were choosing that because they thought it would lead to getting into a great school. That's literally what a lot of people were thinking that were signing their kids up for music. It's unfortunate, but that's was a moment. And I'm wondering if that kind of slid down, maybe came back up. Or uh, what do you what do you have thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_02 41:38

One thing I know, for example, um a lot of schools, a lot of colleges still are interested. I do know this because my let me say this about my students. Whenever I have a student who wants to become a piano major um, you know, in college, the first thing I do is actually try to talk them out of it.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Because it's the right thing to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah. I try to talk them out of it. And I, you know, I but what I will tell them, I say, if you I will if you want to do, if you want this, I will support you 100%. But here's what you need to understand it's hard work. You will need to work hard with almost no, it's not a you know, it doesn't pay, you're not gonna make a lot of money unless you make it big. You're gonna need to be versatile, you're going to want to have to adjust your expectations. I had a student, in fact, about 20 years ago, who wanted to be a concert pianist. And that was her dream as a you know 14-year-old girl. She wanted to play concerts. And I I remember I just thought it would be a rough road for her. And so I didn't again, I tried to talk her out of it. And what I told her though, I said, let me, I said, let me, you know, I said, let me ask you, what do you, you know, you want to become a concert pianist? What is what appeals to you about that? And of course, traveling, doing, playing in these, you know, major concert halls all over the world. And I said, that's very exciting, yes, indeed. But I said, think about what's happening when you're not on stage. You're in a city by yourself, you're in a hotel room alone. You get you might get home if you're saying what you're if you if this ideal career is you know comes through for you, you might get home a few times every few months for a few days.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

And you're speaking from this from experience. Like you've you've lived this.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

And so what it was, you know, what was interesting was that did not sound appealing to her. But it's it's I said that's the reality. I remember Gina Backauer once um was talking about a time she was in England doing concerts, and it was on Christmas. She was on a train, and she said, I remember it was I read this years ago. She said she cried more that night than she has ever cried. I'm paraphrasing, but she would the train went by all in these through these towns in the English countryside, and she'd see all these homes. With lights and and you know, Christmas trees and families. And she was by herself on a train because she had concerts. And, you know, and I remember once it was a an opera singer, I remember, went all out for Christmas, decorated her home for Christmas, not thinking that she wouldn't be back until April with the with her the contract she had. And so she got home and her house still was fully decorated for Christmas. I think she had family that helped her take undecorate. But you know, the thing is, if you get that concert career, it's not all, it's not all glamorous. And of course, a lot of people, honestly, though, of course, that's rare that a student actually says that's what they want to do these days. But even as a as a a regular uh music major where you know where you're gonna be willing to be versatile, do playing, do some, you know, collaborative piano, do some teaching, that sort of thing. Yeah, it's still you know, it's not an it's you know, you don't get rich. You don't choose the career to become to make a lot of money necessarily. You can, but it the reason you have to go into it if you're gonna be good is the love for for that, in my opinion. Um, because you that's something you can't fake.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

You can't fake it as a teacher either. Yeah, that's and that's and that's what makes students drawn to you. You know, that's what made this conversation so you can tell when someone's really speaking from sense of purpose and love and you know, dedication to a cultured life.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

Yes. Now, just to tie it back in, of course, one of the things, because you had asked early on, so I'll I'll pull back into my series. Yeah. Um, as a as a teacher, of course, what was interesting when I came up with this series, and I just put out a I you know decided, okay, I'll offer the very first one off I offered J.S. Bach in one session, Beethoven in another, Chopin in another, Liszt in another. And then I did, it was difficult to put them two in one in this case, but I did it because of their contrast in idea and ideas about what a piano does, Debussy and Prokofiev. Because Debussy envisioned a piano sound, you know, being created music without hammers. And Prokofiev, of course, famously, you know, viewed piano as very percussive and you know, capitalized on exploited that aspect in his composing. So it was fun to kind of contrast these two composers. And then the sixth session, I when people registered, I asked them, vote, give me a name. Who do you want me to you know to cover in this sixth session? And whoever gets the most votes will win. It was a tie between Scarlatti and Mozart. And Scarlatti was interesting. I had to level in a completely different way since he wrote 555 sonatas, keyboard sonatas, but we still I did some you know things to help teachers choose uh you know appropriate music when they're teaching Scarlatti. But um it was this would be some small little thing, you know, we just you know do for fun. And and what and as a teacher, I've you know, uh my whole part of it for me, what I would get out of it was all these ideas that I had, as I said, in my head, I would actually have to commit to paper, explain why, codify it all so that it would be very logical and you know, organized rather than just you know swirling around in you know in my brain. What was interesting is registration started to come in. I got people from the Chicago area, I got teachers from um out west, teacher. Yeah, and Alaska, exactly. Um, it was quite fascinating. And it what took what was interesting too then is it it I it created a bunch of opportunities for um speaking to teacher groups because I got one in person from that from Montgomery County, which is you know suburban Maryland, Montgomery County Music Teachers Association invited me, and um Springfield Music Club, which is one of the National Federation organizations, uh, you know, local clubs, invited me to present. And I also Richmond Music Teachers Association invited me to do the Beethoven sonatas for them. And then I did a live program for, I mean, uh uh uh online Zoom for the Utah Music Teachers Association and then the Anchorage Keyboard Teachers Association. So it it brought a lot of very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Were the concepts evolving as you were doing these? Did you learn from doing them in front of other teachers?

SPEAKER_02 48:44

What I mainly a lot of the ideas, what what was what's interesting is of course I I was able to fine-tune better as I went, where I felt I was fine-tuning because the whole thing about leveling, it's very subjective. You know, I mean, uh there are there are a lot of people, editors and editions, where you know, this is done. This is nothing new, except a lot of leveling is done not by individual composer, or if not by individual composer on up all the way from easiest to most advanced. So a lot there, but a lot of leveling is done by style, that is, you know, Baroque, you know, where the where it's moves up in levels by you know, style period, Baroque, classical, and so on. And because I got what the feedback I got was this is really interesting because it's not a lot, this is not done very often to level by composer. And what what I learned from it as a teacher, of course, is it made me, as I said, it made me codify my ideas very clearly. And what then the evolving that has come about is as I said, leveling is very subjective because I, you know, as I was as I organized my ideas, I also look and see, and I wonder what they who what thinks about this. And I discovered, well, okay, I think this is easier than they thought this was, and they thought this one was harder, kind of thing. And so it's a very subjective thing. But but again, the emphasis that I put on it is mainly that you, you know, actually, if you get to a certain level, there's even though these pieces at this next level are very different, you know, they have different technical demands, different musical demands. But I feel that if you get to this certain level, even though there's there, you know, the pieces are there's a lot of variety in the pieces, they're gonna be approachable. They're gonna be, you know, you can manage it. I don't ever I don't feel like there has it has to be so rigid that it's this piece, then this piece, then this piece, then this piece. It's you know, collections.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

Yeah, I was gonna ask you, so what I would be really curious to where you see it going next. And I'm wondering, you know, when I think of like all the great teachers that I've known, that I've met, there's always a uniqueness to them. You know, there's this thing that, you know, they they might choose a different piece. Or I'm wondering if this, and especially when you have a composer, when you've got Scarlotti with over 500 keyboard spotlights, I'm wondering if the idea behind it might be something that teachers, because it's the opposite they're very interested in it, they're gravitating towards it. It's like, yes, they want to have suggestions for pieces that are appropriate for when in the journey of a student. But I wonder if it's also just to help turn this on their mind. That's another thing they can apply in their own in their own scope of repertoire that they appreciate and that they're diving into. That's the great thing about the depth of the piano canon, right?

SPEAKER_02 51:35

Yes, because there's literally you can't you can study it for a lifetime and you still only scratch the surface. Barely. That was you know, I I put on one, I remember I made a post about a month ago. Somebody had told me one time, and I I can honestly I can share this because it sounds like I'm bragging or that I'm you know self-promotion in the worst way, but somebody told me one, somebody told me once that they um they actually said you have an encyclopedic uh knowledge of of piano music. And I remember thinking at the time, well, not really. And um, there's because there's a lot out you know that I don't know. And then another person said the same thing to me about a year later. And I remember I was like, man, what is giving them this idea that you know that I know so much about piano? Because I I wouldn't say it's it's certainly not imposter syndrome where I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, but I thought that this was an overstatement. They were over the compliment was above where it should be, shall we say? And I remember thinking, man, if you only knew how much I don't know. And so what made me also partly want to delve into it was I thought, well, if this is the reputation, I've got to live up to it. So I need to get, you know, dig in. And so it started a lot of it. I started listening, and shall we say, encyclopedically, if that's such a word, if there is an adverb like that, but I started listening to everything that composers wrote, you know, for piano. I listened to everything Schumann wrote from opus one all the way up to the you know, one twenty, you know, whatever the opus one, whatever it is. I listened to everything Beethoven wrote, not just the sonatas, but all the sets of variations, all the bagatelles, all the pieces that are published without opus number. I listened to everything Mendelssohn wrote. I listened to everything, who else, Debusy? I mean, just a lot of composers.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

A lot of listening. There was a lot of listening.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

Yep, it was a lot of listening, a lot of, and I tried to use scores when I could.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

You know, follow along. But a lot of it too was I just needed to get it in my ear. And I would listen, and you know, I would listen for structure, I would listen for you know harmonic, you know, movement, I'd listen for stylistic things um as well. And of course, you're not, and when you do that, you're not really digging in. It's sort of a superficial knowledge, but this way I'm hearing everything, and I felt like I could better choose when I listened to everything by you know these composers. I felt like I had a much better understanding of what I could go back to. Sure. You know, it's like I was able to put a you know, like a tab on that composer on uh on on a you know, on a on a window on my computer screen, and I could just click on that tab then and I could more easily go through the student to do, if that makes sense. Sure. Because I at least I was familiar with it all. And then I could dig in and say, oh yeah, this would be great for this student to to see if they want to if they want to learn it.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

And if you if you were able to uh to give a talk tomorrow, you know, where what would uh who it right now where you are, who would you like to share about?

SPEAKER_02 54:51

Well, just this past weekend, I did, I've been trying to, what's interesting is the whole reason this has kept going is that um I kept getting suggestions from the participants who you know who I should cover next. And so that's really what's kept it going because I have not made any original choices since the first six.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 55:15

Because teachers kept telling me cover this, cover that. And I also got ideas because I did one series, what I called an extra, because um several people wanted some a program on ornaments, and somebody else, several of them wanted pedaling in different style eras.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

So it's a lot of directions you could go.

SPEAKER_02 55:33

Yeah, and I did that for it was um for just one particular one particular series, because I offer these in you know, in series of three or four. Right now I'm doing them as quartets for you know, grouping four different composers together, but just this past but as I said, it's always been what uh what has been suggested to me. Now, this past weekend, I presented Amy Beach and Cecile Shamanade, which you know, women composers still aren't getting their fair fair share of visibility. And so these two were because I've been you know requested to do them. Now, this coming weekend, for me it's a it's more interesting in one way because this coming weekend it's uh it's Americana all the way, it's Gershwin and Scott Joplin. And I don't teach a lot of ragtime, but I do I know a decent amount about Joplin, and I've taught so I've taught um, he wrote a few waltzes as well, or at least one waltz, and I've taught that. I've taught some Joplin. But um, and also leveling uh a composer like you know with that's ragtime is going to be more interesting and difficult, you know, the details as I've been hammering it out because the you have to have a lot of skill to be able to play you know, ragtime already.

SPEAKER_00 56:49

Yeah, and I it's I can it feels like this project, it's almost putting you back. There's a piece, it's like almost like you're the curious student again, too. Which is a great place to be as a creator, to be like, I'm interested and I'm listening and I'm speaking, and um, and I'm growing, and I'm you know, that's what our students don't really want to see. So I'm I'm so glad uh that you shared that. I you know, I was I know that you uh you had a radio uh radio show back in the day too. If you love listening to music, I love curating music. I was when I was doing the notes for this show. I was like, you know, I'm gonna ask Narciso given all that, to maybe uh I'll ask you for a short, maybe a playlist of some of the recommendations for some of the most amazingly awesome recordings that you've heard through this project. Because I know that you've probably just heard so much. I bet you could put a doozy together of Narciso's like top 20 piano recordings that have just blown his mind as he's been working on this.

SPEAKER_02 57:47

So it's that's now off the top of my head, that would be hard to pull to you know to pull together. But of course, with me, I have favorites among specific composers as well. I bet. Um, you know, with because with with Bach, I we I did a lot of Andres Schiff. Um I because to me, Andres Schiff is the best middle of the road Bach. I say that because Glenn Gould, I always want my students to listen to Glenn Gould. It's funny because one of my one of my students, he graduated in 2022. Um during COVID, he did Interlocken, but it meant it was virtual. He did uh you know interlocking online. And the T you know he was at the time doing one of the Bach preludes in fugues, I think from the D minor from book one, if I remember right. And I remember I had him listen to a several different artists, and I said, listen to Glenn Gould, but don't copy him, don't try to imitate him. And it's funny because then his um the teacher he worked with at Interlock and um his uh Michael Kuhnrod, he was very he's retired, but Michael was quite is was quite a legend in Michigan at Interlock. And I remember when I was a 19-year-old working, or 20-year-old working at Interlock in one summer, he was one of the piano faculty, and he was still there in 2020. He just retired, you know, so he was there for 40, 50 years at Interlock in the summers. But I remember Michael, you know, told him, he said, now when you're with Bach when you're studying, he asked him, all you know, have you listened to much Bach? And he told him. And he said the same thing. He said, Well, he said, listen to Glenn Gould, just don't try to copy him. And my student said, My teacher said the same thing. Um my teacher back home. Yep. But you know, with you know, just for example, Andres Schiff, I you know, will always gravitate toward because he's very his Bach is, I mean, you know, you listen to his um his lectures on you know on Bach, the lecture recitals that are online, they're wonderful. And you know, with with with with Beethoven, I I didn't do a well with Beethoven, I'm trying to remember because I of course uh Schnabel was uh a great Beethoven interpreter. I don't think I I did some of his recordings, I didn't choose a lot only because the um the ones that I kept finding recording quality was still not, you know, uh you know, doing it online, I wanted something that had a really high record, you know, fidelity, and I couldn't couldn't find the ones that I wanted. I know they've been remastered, but I couldn't, you know, in my as I put my list together. But I always recommend Chernobyl for Beethoven to do Scarlatti. Scarlatti Maria Tipo. Oh, my favorite interpreters of Scarlatti. She played a lot of Scarlatti. My teacher, one of my teachers, recommended her years ago. It's really clean playing, but she's my you know, my number one favorite of Scarlatti.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:47

I'm so disciplined because I really could have just gotten on at the very beginning of this push record and been like, okay, let's talk about awesome piano music for the next hour and a half and just done this forever. So I'm really proud of myself that we actually got your story and got to learn more because hang out with with uh people that are really into music like this. It's it's it's so fun to uh to get what makes them makes them tick. And we're closing out for time today. And hey, thank you so much for being here. This has been really cool. My pleasure. I want to know uh what the next what you're saying for the between the level up and your studio, what what are the next couple of years look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

One of the things I am going to try, I'm I'm looking to restore some balance with the demographics, only because it's um I with again teaching adults is very different from teaching kids. And um with kids, you know, with because with adults, there's adults come to to uh to lessons for different reasons. Now it's interesting because my studio right now, my adults are you know, I have some pretty much that are beginners, and then I have a you know a this teach pianist who's a teacher, but one and one of my but also one of my adult students has a master's in piano performance already. And you know, she has wanted to resume study um privately, and so it's really runs, you know, quite a wide range, which is a lot of fun. But um I'm the with the the whole reason with the kids because I can much more readily, it takes so much more effort in some ways to teach kids, because especially from beginners on up, because the steps have to be so carefully explained, and I feel I'm a better teacher. Uh, you know, if I when I have to actually explain everything, and I can't just say some years ago I had two students playing a masterclass, and the masterclass teacher messaged me later and said, I was, she said, I wouldn't even know how to begin doing what you know did with these kids, because she said, I can take a almost finished product and you know really work a lot of you know refinement and you know to create a really high-level performance out of that student, but I would not know how to take a young student and get them to play to the level that your your students are playing. But and I'm not saying that to brag because I you know, I it it was, but it was, it's just it's that's what I like about what I love so much about teaching beginners is that I have to make sure I know every step of the way what it takes to get from from as I called one I did a the program I did for um online for Anchorage was I called from Method Book to Mephisto Waltz. Of course, Mephisto Waltz being the big you know tour de force of you know Franz Liszt. And and I used to a couple of my students, how I taught them the repertoire I chose for them over a dozen years, from the time they were in kindergarten or first grade on up to when they graduated. Because um, you know, and so I was able to, I had some you know, case studies, so to speak, you know, where I'd actually done that, being able to achieve that with these particular students. And to me, that's what it's so fascinating. And I can't do that if I'm not teaching beginners.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:06

Yeah, it's funny. I I'm actually in a very similar situation where I'm gravitating towards younger students right now in my studio. Same thing, wanting to bring them in. Well, you know what, Arcy? So if you are looking to make that shift in the balance and you're wanting to update some of your maybe your language or how you're reaching out, I love nerding out on that together. We could jump on a call if it I'm doing the same thing with my studio.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

So uh maybe we could share some ideas and bring up I've I've made some notes to myself because I took a look at my website and realized some things that I can do because I it occurred to me with my website that there's a lot that with my younger, even my students, you know, it the I give out the signal a lot of times that I'm interested in concert trying to teach students to become concert pianists only. Or the only the nice thing is my adults when they find it, that's the thing though, the adults you know, I'm the approach is uh seems to be a little more open with them, and so they like that. Yeah, and so with the kids, what I want to do is actually one of the things I want to do is make sure I have more photos of my student, my younger students on my website. Yeah. So that the impression also is that.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:16

And you know what I feel and what I'm working toward in my language, because you know I really aspire to the kind of work that you're doing. And and if I were marketing a studio like yours, right now I would push really heavily on creating cultured humans, like people that are freaking interesting and that like want to listen to a bunch of music and want to play well. Like parents are needing human development opportunities with interesting people because everything else doesn't really matter anymore. It's all easy to automate. These things are increasingly valuable. And so this whole time I've been talking, I would love to market your studio because I know exactly what parents are looking for.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:58

I will be talking to you then. Because one of the things one of the things that I it an interesting thing that some years ago a friend of mine who's a a teacher was uh posed the idea that because you know everything's becoming electronic that we'd become obsolete. And I remember actually at the first VMTA state conference, because when I was president-elect, I had to run the conference. And I remember I believe it was at our winners' recital for the MTNA, you know, the state level MTNA, our winners' recital. I said, I'm looking around the room here, and I said, I have a friend who thinks has you know, thinks that we're going to we're gonna lose this, that people are gonna be so involved just in their little you know, devices um and you know instant gratification that they're gonna we're going to lose this. And I said, I think the opposite. I think people are going to crave that the humanity, as opposed, you know, and the that connection with other people, the connection with you know, their you know, their their well, their humanities, their emotions, their their thoughts, their feelings. I said, I don't think we're ever gonna lose that. You know, I said we yes, we've become um wired and now wireless, but in the process, people still need human interaction.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:17

And more than ever, and so many other things. And that is uh, yeah, that's just beautifully said. So Narciso, thank you so much for sharing your time with us at the end of a long day of teaching and then coming in home. I really appreciate you being here.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:31

This was a great well, I will I will say one thing is uh somebody said one time, and I actually do this is one thing I do agree with, with you know, that because as I as you know, because I've said to you before, I don't like, I feel very uncomfortable about telling you what I'm good at doing because that I always feel like we're setting ourselves up to you know for vulnerability because then we develop a blind spot or a weakness if we are too self-confident. But one of the things that was said to me one time, which I feel very confident in saying, one of my you know, one of my adults said to me one time, when you talk about music, you get so animated. And she said, I feel that's part of your you know, that's gives you life. And so I can say that this conversation with you has given me, you know, has animated me. Even though it's a long day.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:20

It has me too. It makes my I want to go put on some headphones and listen.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:25

Even though it's been a long day of teaching, this has given me life. So I appreciate the you know the chance to talk to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

Narcisa, thank you so much. I hope to do this again soon. Thanks for being here. This is welcome. All right, have a great evening. Thanks so much. You too. You've been listening to the 440 podcast. If you found this helpful, subscribe at Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Leave a quick rating, it makes a big difference. To learn more about how to run your teaching studio with less stress and more joy, visit fonts.com. I'm Eric Brenner. Thanks for being here.