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Episode 257: Cheers to Considering Alternative Teaching Methods

Well hello there, studio teacher friends! Welcome to the Beyond Measure podcast, with me: Christina Whitlock. I take great pride in my role here, serving as your Anytime Piano Teacher Friend, and I’m so glad you’re joining me today. If you’re catching this episode in REAL time, consider this your reminder that my SuperFriends on Patreon are meeting for another session of Teachers Teaching Teachers this Friday, May 29^th. We are talking ALL THINGS recital this week: I’m sharing my recital program, full of supplemental repertoire worth knowing… and other members will share their favorite recital rep as well. If you’re not already a SuperFriend of the podcast, you can join us for just $9. Head to ChristinaWhitlock.com/superfriends, or click the link in today’s shownotes to join us. And now, let’s get on with the show: you are listening to Episode 257 of the Beyond Measure Podcast.

Okay, friends…today, we’re tackling a current event of sorts… with some very timeless overtones.

The catalyst for this episode is a recently-aired segment on a television program called 60 Minutes. In case you don’t know, 60 Minutes bills themselves as a television newsmagazine, and they cover a wide variety of human interest stories. The show itself has been under a lot of scrutiny lately, so – like everything related to the news – it’s messy….and we HAVE to remember, it’s all driven by FINANCES. There is ALWAYS a money trail whenever these types of controversies get stirred up.

Regardless, there has been a collective uproar in teacher groups online this past week after 60 Minutes released a teaser for an upcoming segment with the founder of an alternative teaching method called The Payam Method. In addition to concerns with the method itself, many of our colleagues – myself included – were immediately outraged at the way the story portrayed piano lessons outside of their featured story. They repeatedly referred to OTHER piano lessons as miserable, strict, stressful… you get the idea. It created a firestorm of emotions in our piano teacher communities, largely because there are SO MANY OF US out here who have already been fighting those stereotypes for a very long time.

Well, the full story aired on Sunday night, and I would like to offer some thoughts on what was presented. Spoiler alert – yes, I’m still annoyed with the story – but there are some things we HAVE to talk about here, friends. There are even some things we need to learn from it.

Truth be told, I don’t WANT this story to get any more publicity… so I wasn’t initially going to write this episode. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there are some important conversations to be had here, and I might as well strike while the iron is hot. We’ll start with the problematic elements of the story, but we’re also going to tackle what it has to teach US.

First and foremost – the BIGGEST problem I see here is the way the creator of this program is pitting himself against the rest of the profession. I’ve read a lot of the complaints online and this is something no one else seems to be saying.

From the earliest days of this podcast, I’ve been here reminding you that fellow teachers are your colleagues, NOT your competition. This is the FIRST piece of advice I give new teachers, and I speak from experience! There was a time where I mistakenly thought my success would be driven by my ability to position myself above other teachers. To prove why my teaching was better or more effective than other options. In reality, I’ve found the best way to have a successful studio is to be a really great teacher. And really great teachers stay open to new ideas. They study what works for other teachers and consider how they can improve on their own instruction. You don’t NEED to position yourself above other studios (whatever that means). We just need to be successful by our own definitions. And staying open to the learning process is essential, in my eyes.

I’ve long contended here that we ALL have something to teach one another. You’re generous enough to listen to my thoughts here each week, but I have no doubt there is something you can teach me, too.

ANY teacher, of ANY thing that claims to have everything figured out?  Nope. They are not for me.

That foundational spirit of humility and curiosity is what struck me most concerning about the coverage of the Payam Method on 60 Minutes. I don’t think you have to look very closely to recognize the WHOLE thing as a marketing stunt. There are SO MANY subtleties about that story that SCREAM marketing over value to me. The emphasis it makes on this SYSTEM – the Payam Method – and the promises it makes on this TIMELINE: those are two things I vehemently reject in music study. There is no single system or timeline that will apply to every student. The creator of this method claimed his students generally move from level 2 to level 13 of his program in about a year to a year and a half… and I just don’t believe those are claims that can be made in reality. I think they exist for marketing purposes alone.

I want NOTHING to do with a teacher who thinks they have it all figured out. In piano or in anything else.

Furthermore, I will say this:

If you cannot describe the value of YOUR work without tearing down others? I smell smoke and mirrors. Your students’ work should speak for itself. You don’t need to belittle your colleagues to stand out.

The founder of this program said POINT BLANK in this interview that he doesn’t care how his methodology is received by the profession at large. He just needed to convince the parents. That right there tells you everything you need to know. His focus is on selling the experience to parents. And – in the poorest of judgement calls – he decided to build his case on FALSE claims about our profession.

This situation is nothing new. Talk to any teacher who has a studio chain pop up in their town – whether it be School of Rock, Music and Arts, whatever. Hear me, friends: slick marketing only takes you so far. It’s why I don’t like to hear teachers getting up in arms over these establishments. The proof is in the pudding, as we say. Focus on YOUR service. YOUR skills. And pay attention to what is working in other business models. Learn everything you can.

SoL as for 60 Minutes, instead of funneling viewers into a marketing machine disguised as something new in music education, yes: it would have been great if they offered a story about how technology has allowed piano teachers to grow and learn alongside one another in unprecedented ways.  How – at the start of the pandemic lockdowns when we ALL felt like we were drowning – teachers showed up in BIG WAYS online to help one another out, and how all of our teaching has benefited from embracing one another, rather than pitting ourselves against one other.  How – in a world of corporate greed and backstabbing there is a profession that genuinely seeks to support its own. That’s a story I would much rather watch.

Sigh.

Anyway – in the move that should not surprise anyone, this story ALSO showcased how this founder is partnering with Big Tech to take the program nationwide. They’ve also pulled in big investors, including famed composer, Hans Zimmer. Impressive stuff; but all about MARKETING and MONEY, friends. And I’ll just take this moment to remind you that if YOU keep doing YOUR good work in YOUR community, this program will be nothing more than an annoyance. It’s not a threat to you.

It’s true; I absolutely hated seeing our profession represented that way. It made me fume and I initially shot off a comment on their Instagram account taking 60 minutes to task. I offered the reminder that – if piano lessons were truly so miserable, none of us would be teaching today. Ours is a profession built on love for the instrument passed from generation to generation and none of us would be here if piano lessons were are torturous as they made them sound. I wrote the comment, and then, I remembered I have a personal rule against engaging in online rage bait because it does nothing good for my mental health. So I deleted that comment and tried to move on.  You can see how well that went. Haha!

SO HERE’S THE THING:  Continuing to operate on the Christina Whitlock Premise that we ALL have something to learn from one another, let’s talk about what we have to learn from this 60 minutes story.

The foundational premise this story is built on is the idea that we want to prioritize FUN at the instrument, and when students are having FUN they are willing to work harder. And, sometimes, that work doesn’t even feel like work because they’re having so much fun playing.

Most of us can get on board with that premise, right?  We can admit there was a time when FUN wasn’t enough of an element in lessons, and lots of us have worked to change that. In fact, I suspect that’s where a lot of the blowback for the 60 Minutes segment has come from: there may be a twinge of envy bubbling up. Like, “MY piano lessons feel fun. Where’s MY 60 Minutes feature?” (maybe? Just maybe?)

I’ve spent the last year and a half of my own research digging DEEP into the science of play and learning how to capitalize on those elements to make a more satisfying experience at our instruments. I’ve presented sessions to music teacher groups on what I call The Paradox of Play: Taking Fun Seriously.  I do have a pre-recorded version of that talk available, I’ll link it in today’s shownotes, but it basically a deep-dive into our 21^st century misconceptions about Work vs. Play.

This 60 Minutes piece and all the discussion around it has come at an interesting time in my life. I am preparing a new session for teachers that I’m going to debut at the Iowa State Music Teachers Association Conference in June. That session is essentially the follow-up to the Paradox of Play and is all about Pursuing Excellence When Everyone Just Wants Piano To Be “Fun”.

The question is this: can lessons be FUN (playful, inclusive of student interests) AND still pursue the standards of excellence so many of us love and value? I believe they can. It takes intentionality, it takes customization to each student, and it takes an open mind…but I absolutely believe we can make the piano FUN while also developing proper technique and respect for a wide range of repertoire.

If you watch the 60 Minutes piece, any trained pianist is going to immediately notice shortcomings like poor physical technique and a lack of phrase shape. These – in my mind – are the foundations of satisfying music-making. I believe we CAN teach these things and still maintain lessons that are “enjoyable”.

To be fair, there ARE a lot of elements I agree with in the Payam Method. Maybe not their execution, but at least in the foundational thoughts.

Right off the bat, priority is given to PLAYING the instrument, not reading the notation. Reading notation is a skill. It’s one vehicle to playing the piano, but I wholeheartedly agree that students’ ability to play the instrument should not be exclusively limited to what they can read from the staff in front of them.

This is not new. Piano Methods have been working with pre-reading and rote systems for a long time now. The Payam Method covered on 60 Minutes hinges on an alpha-numeric system of reading before students are introduced to the staff. That is nothing new either.

I absolutely believe in starting with play and transitioning to reading as a student becomes ready for it. For me, that never follows a pre-determined timeline. Instead, I begin preparing students for the staff from their earliest lessons…but they don’t realize that’s what we’re doing. I have no predetermined timeframe. Instead, I’ve developed a series of microsteps that feed into the reading process. Once a student has proven proficiency over time in each microstep, we move onto the staff in its traditional form.  Some students breeze through each step in a matter of weeks. Others take a year or more. It’s a matter of meeting each student where they are and letting them swim around in each concept until they’re ready to move on. If you’re curious about that process, you should check out my Building Better Music Readers Resource that is linked in today’s shownotes.

That’s another reason the timing of the 60 Minutes story feels so serendipitous. I put SO MUCH EFFORT into that Building Better Music Readers resource this year… all about how to deconstruct the staff experience for students so they can learn it in a way that is not intimidating and that doesn’t strip away the musical value of everything they’re playing just because the staff has entered the picture. It’s so funny to me that the two main premises of this method: FUN and STAFF NOTATION also happen to be the two main areas of our work that have consumed MY brainspace this year.  Life is funny.

Check this out: Instructors of the Payam method start by writing numbers on select piano keys with dry erase marker… envision 1-2-3-4-5 drawn on middle C through treble G. Students are asked to play patterns like “1125” etc.

If you’ve taken my Building Better Music Readers course, you might see some parallels here. I don’t write on piano keys, but I *do* want to point something out: music doesn’t feel like music unless notes come in GROUPS. It’s a HUGE problem with how some of us introduce notation. Music is not felt or processed in single pitches… yet we often present staff reading exercises in single notes and then wonder why students aren’t getting it.

I think this is one very small example of how the Payam Method might be seen as satisfying: students aren’t plunking out single notes; music is being presented right away as groupings of notes. I think that’s something we can all learn from.

Speaking of groupings, I must point out my concern over the lack of emphasis on RHYTHM presented in the 60 Minutes piece. The Payam Method has clearly hung their hats on an alternative approach to reading notation… but remember, reading pitch is only part of the game. Without rhythm, there is no music. I wasn’t hearing much variety in meter or given any impression that rhythm gets much isolated attention in this method. That’s a red flag in my mind.

Back to good stuff? The school does seem to have built its reputation on helping students explore the piano. That’s what they are equating to “fun”. Students are supposedly given building blocks to create their own music very early on. Several students were showcased in the broadcast playing original compositions.

Again, any trained musician is going to notice some clear patterns: yes, the harmonic schemes of the compositions featured are relatively homogenous. Primary chords with heavy emphasis on minor vi? You bet.

I don’t take issue with this. I, too, want my students to be able to create and “jam” on those same four chords. Those harmonies have been supporting music for centuries so it’s important for students to learn them. That IS something many of us can continue to improve upon in our own teaching.

One of the most important ways we can help students develop autonomy at the instrument is to give them space and time to explore their own ideas at the instrument, and we DO need to stop trying to race the clock.

One more positive takeaway from the 60 Minutes story: They made the statement that “not every student wants to be a classical pianist”, and I couldn’t agree more. The Payam Method is clearly NOT built for students who want to move into serious musical careers.

Maybe your studio is, and THAT’S OKAY TOO. There is room for all of us in this work.

All things considered, many piano teachers DO have work to do in keeping music study accessible to students who just want an outlet to play. It’s incredibly difficult for those of us who studied music SERIOUSLY to separate our high-level ambitions from our students who just want a way express themselves. We *do* need to remain open to what else we can learn… even from Venture Capitalist Piano Studios featured on television.  So, yes: Payam Music would be wise to reconsider what they have to learn from their colleagues around the world, but I hope the same for ALL of us who are training up the next generations of music-makers.

I do have to jump on ONE LAST SOAPBOX for the day. There is a bonus segment to the original story available online, and it makes a claim that I am SO tired of hearing. Friends, you do NOT need to let your students call the shots when it comes to the repertoire they are playing.  There is this total misconception out there that letting students play their favorite music is going to result in FUN lessons.  Sometimes that’s true… but only if they are capable of playing that music at a certain level of satisfaction. Handing out early elementary arrangements of pop tunes can sometimes be motivating, but it can also be discouraging. YOU are the leader of this experience. YOU know the repertoire. YOU are responsible for introducing students to music they are otherwise never going to encounter. Yes, we can honor requests from time to time. YES, we should pay attention to what lights our students up and take that into account when it comes to repertoire selection. But please, please, please stop thinking you are going to save a student by ONLY assigning their favorite pop tunes or film scores. Okay? That information is valuable… but use it as a guide to understanding your student better, then assign accordingly. OKAY? Okay.

Before we wrap up today, grab the nearest beverage and let’s share a toast together, shall we?

“Studio Teacher Friends from all around the world: may we all remember that OUR success is not dependent on tearing down our colleague’s work. Quite the opposite, in fact. We stand only to GAIN knowledge from our fellow teachers. May we ALL remain humble to continue learning from one another all the days of our Teacher Lives. Hear, hear.”

That’s it for Episode 257, friends!  I hope this one gave you something to chew on for the week. Be sure to check out the shownotes for today’s episode because there are A WHOLE BUNCH of links for you to check out there. If you’re interested in my 2026 Recital Reflections and group repertoire share, those are happening this Friday during our second Teachers Teaching Teachers for the month of May. Join the SuperFriends crew on Patreon via the link in today’s shownotes for access to the live chat or the replay. That’s going to be a good one!  I’ll hope to see you there.

Thanks for being amazing, friends! I appreciate you more than I can say. Keep doing your Good Work in the world. It’s an honor to do it alongside you.  Onward and upward!