Jan. 19, 2026

The Sound of Gold with guest Piano professional Jovian Martinez

The Sound of Gold with guest Piano professional Jovian Martinez
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Season 1

Meet Jovian Martinez. He's not only a professional piano player, he is a piano teacher in south florida. He has a great impact on all teachers in south florida. He has created his own online directory to make it possible to reach out in your community.To find a piano teacher and more.

The Sound of Gold is broadcast live Mondays at 4PM ET / 1PM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). The Sound of Gold TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

The Sound of Gold Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

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This program is designed to provide general information with regards

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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with

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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station

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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,

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legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek

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the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any

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suggested ideas.

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Hi, welcome to the Sound of Gold. I'm so glad

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you're here, and I'm so glad I'm here, and we

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are here another week. The Sound of Goals is about music, musicians,

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music venues, music teachers, and music schools. My whole purpose

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for doing this is to keep music alive. Music is

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all around us all the time, and no matter what

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the sounds are, it's a form of music. There's a

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vibration and getting a little bit deeper into vibration. You know,

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if you hear a song, whether it's happy or sad,

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you kind of groove with it because it groves with

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your emotions, and emotions vibrate on depending on how you

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feel and how you think, and but mostly how you feel.

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With that being said, I'd like to kind of focus

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on the instrument of the piano today and I personally

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am a piano teacher. I also perform and play, and

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it's I play other instruments, but this is my favorite instrument.

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It's my go to instrument. And as I'm here in

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my home studio at my piano, I want you to

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think about maybe if you were to play an instrument,

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if you don't already, what instrument would you play? And

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where in your community would you go for lessons? And

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if you don't already know some venues out there that

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you can go and meet music people, music friends, like

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at open mics and at restaurants that have live music.

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They are out there. So depending on where you're tuning

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in from where you're listening from, no matter what level

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skill you are at when it comes to playing a

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music instrument, sorry like thinking before I speak here, it

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doesn't matter what level you're at. We all, even myself,

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like to be around music, be around musicians and music

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especially and have the opportunity to get better at what

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we know or even if we're just beginning learning an instrument.

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It's good to have connections that are in your community

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and they're not far. It's usually just on the web

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or a friend can recommend it, recommend someone in your community.

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So I'm excited especially for today's show because I have

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a special guest on and as I mentioned, we're focusing

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on the piano. So my special guest lives in South Florida,

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lives in I believe lives in or has their facility

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in Boca Raton, Florida. And Jovi and are you backstage?

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Would you join us?

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If you are, yes, I'm here. Can you hear me?

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Yes? Yes? How are you good?

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Yourself?

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Good?

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I'm good. Thank you so much for joining us.

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Thank you for the invitation, pleasure to be here.

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Yes, and here we are in South Florida, and Florida

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is usually the sunny state, but we woke up with

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a chill this morning. It's about forty nine.

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Degrees beautiful weather, which it was like this all yearround.

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It is beautiful weather for me for a day or two.

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I'm good with it. But then yeah, but it is

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a nice change. Absolutely. You know, Drivin, we've we've met

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over the years. We're involved in piano. We're involved in

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inspiring students. We are the teachers. We we give a

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gift that we get to share because we're so passionate,

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and not just me and you, but all teachers out there.

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We do it out of passion. It's not like, oh,

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like this is like doctor salary or lawyer salary. You know.

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I think as a teacher you kind of overlook that

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because it's not about the salary. It's about what we

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can give to the community, what we can give our students,

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what we can provide from our heart and our passion

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and what. And I don't I want to make it

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about earning a living, but I want to. I want

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to focus on like your purpose. You you are a

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piano teacher and what I learned also just now is

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a piano tuner as well. But I want to go

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to the I would love for you to share with

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our audience what inspired you from a very early age

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to have you grow into this profession, this career. What

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inspired you? What where did you all begin with it?

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Well? Oh, thank you. I think a lot of us

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we always have a background. Me personally, I started when

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I was younger. But if you want to go back

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to the very beginning, I think I remember when I

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first wanted to take music lessons. I mentioned it to

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my mom, but I didn't want to start with piano. Actually,

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I wanted to start with drums. Okay, movie at the

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time that was all about drums, and I started playing

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drums when I was I was a kid like around

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the house beating and everything. So my mom looked into

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music lessons. She's like, you know what, No, you're not

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going to play drums. It's too noisy. You're gonna play piano.

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I started with piano lessons at that time when I

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was around I want to say, twelve years old or so,

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so I started a little bit later than a lot

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of other students. But yeah, I started to pick up

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piano rather quickly through the years. I found out when

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I was a freshman in high school about the Dreyfist program,

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the Arts for piano, so I worked along working on

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some pieces. I auditioned, I got accepted, and I have

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to say Dreyfus is actually where I really started to

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change as far as music goes. The level of education

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there for music's on a whole different level. I had

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different piano teachers before, but the teachers there are the

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ones who truly inspired me. You know, we had amazing

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teachers at the time, doctor Lawton, Stephanie Katz, But I

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have to say, there was one teacher in particular where

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he actually was the one who inspired me to get

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into teaching, and he was our theory teacher, the phenomenal

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piano teacher as well, but Pedro Hernandez. He would make

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everything so fun and so enjoyable and actually would explain

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music in a way that made sense. So when I

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was younger, when I was doing all these years of piano,

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I had a very good year and I would pick

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it by year. Not perfect pitch, but relative. I can

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figure out most of the notes. So I never truly

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learned how to read. I never truly understood a theory

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until I started working in Dreyfuss, and that one teacher,

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mister Hernandez, changed everything for me. I actually had a

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joy now learning understanding how simple music was was. I

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was like, wow, I wish teachers can explain music this way.

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And so that definitely inspired me and I started, you know,

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in high school. I started with a few other family friends.

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I started teaching their kids, and little by little it

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just built up. They enjoyed the way I would teach too,

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and yeah, funny enough, I have one of my very

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first students, she's now a piano teacher as well, and

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she already graduated from FA.

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Oh how great is that? That's awesome? And I had

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gone I think last year I went to through MT

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and a in Music Teachers Association or a national association

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here in Pond Beach County. There was a thing at

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Dreyfus and we got to take a tour and it

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was my first time there. And I don't know whoever's

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tuning in, whether you're live in Florida or not. I'm

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sure there's a music school in your community you can

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look into. But Dreyfuss, particularly in Palm Beach County. I

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was blown away. I thought to myself, how can I

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rewind my life so I can be a student here

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in this school. They are so focused and so structured,

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and in a sense they're very hardcore because they're so

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in alignment with their purpose for teaching music. But at

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the same time, I mean that's what keeps us on track.

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I mean, look at yourself.

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Yeah, it's a phenomenal school. So for any any parents

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who are thinking about it, definitely I could recommend it

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more than any of this other school I've gone to.

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It's definitely one of the schools that really inspired me.

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It changed me, and it helps you learn skills on

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a completely different level. So I can speak at least

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for the piano program there. I know all the programs

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are great, but the piano program is at such a

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high caliber. It's really what changed me from just being

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an okay musician to really leveling up my skills so

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much and then taking more steps and to get into

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the profession.

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And what's beautiful about this as well is that it's

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not like your regular elementary school or everybody's there with

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different ideas and different focuses and kind of not really

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knowing you know, what's going to become of them in

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the years to come. And I mean that in respect

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for like, you know, what's my career going to be.

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I don't know. I'm just going to school. Like Dreyfus,

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is all about, like I said, focus, and everybody's like minded.

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Whether you play the piano or the drums, or guitar,

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or violin or flute, it's still all about music. So

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if you're in the cafeteria with you know, one hundred

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different kids, you're all not so different because you're all

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you know, calibrating musically.

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Oh yeah, And especially even aside from the academic and

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educational aspect. Just the fact that I remember I got

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in my junior year, so I was at a different

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high school before, so years at Palm Beat CenTra, at

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a different school, you know, comparing other public schools to

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this one. Just as a young person, if you're out,

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you know, having lunch, as you were saying the subjects

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of what other kids are talking about. Half the time

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they don't care about school, so they're either talking about

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parties or a bunch of other things. But at trips

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it would be interesting because all of your peers they're

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focused on their music or their art, or they have

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a new play that's coming and they're focused on those things.

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So just as far as you know, an educational standpoint

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and at the same time a safe environment, I felt

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it was so much, so much better of an environment

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for young ones to not have so much problems like

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other public schools have because everybody's there is focused and

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if you're not, you know, if there's consequences, if you're

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not an exemplary student, they will kick you out. So

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definitely it's a great place to have a wholesome associateation

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and a great education for for young ones who are

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going to high school and.

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I know, I don't even know the half of it,

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and you've you've been there. I just I was so

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inspired just by my first visit there. And yes, I

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definitely I admitter of the fact you got to go

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there as a student, and uh yeah, it's just phenomenal.

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I have to apologize for my my guests out there

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and you as well. If you hear some static in

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the background. I have cats, and I have a kitten

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that's growing and she's in a tunnel right now and

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she just thinks it's fun and funny that she's in

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this tunnel. So if you hear that that static, that's

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what it is. So but she's she's trying to behave

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I think that's really normal.

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Catory is curious. We were talking before too, and how

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you know, even our students. You know, I travel with

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different students and almost everybody has a pet nowadays, especially

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after the pandemic. I think everybody got a pet. So

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we always have you know, the students will have their dogs.

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Sometimes their cat will just stay by the piano and

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just hang out while we're having our lessons. So it's okay,

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We're used to it.

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Thanks, So tell us a little bit more about where

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you're located. What you do you teach in Boca.

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M Yeah, so I'm in Boca Ratone and I focus

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more on piano lessons itself, just working with younger kids.

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I had it for a moment I was trying lessons

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at a studio where you know, students could come to

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the to the location here. But you know, throughout throughout

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the past few years, there's just so much more demand

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that I would get parents where they want a teacher

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to come to their house, and you see how things are,

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you know, going along with that too, not too many

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people like to go to the stores anymore. They buy

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everything on Amazon. Everything's online, anything to make it more convenient.

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So likewise, I had a lot more demand of parents

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asking for lessons in home, so I transitioned just to

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only in home lessons now, which is what I do. So, yeah,

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I travel in the Boca Ratone area. All my students

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are around like ninety five to like the ocean on

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the east side of Boca Ratone, And it's a lovely,

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lovely work to do. You know, you never work a

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day of in your life if you're doing what you enjoy.

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So I definitely enjoy it.

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That's true. Now, what is the age range for your students?

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Yeah, for me personally, most of my students are anywhere

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between like seven to fourteen when they begin. I've had

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some adult students in the past. Just right now, I

240
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happen not to have any adult students, most adults. It's great.

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I think it's great if you can have adult lessons,

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they pick up so quickly. The only problem is as adults,

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we know, we have so many other priorities in our

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lives and we get busy. So working with young ones

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as a teacher, it's a little bit more reliable that

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we have study lessons every week.

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So I do focus on young ones, okay, And then

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when you start with a student, we each have our

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own technique, our own way of teaching. Do you go

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with like the John Thompson books, do you do the

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favorite books? Do you have a preference or do you

252
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just kind of have your own style?

253
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Oh well, I mean I can kind of show you

254
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have my iPad with me. I do this with all

255
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the parents. I wasn't expecting we're going to go over this,

256
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but that's fine. So I literally have everything organized digitally

257
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and just a quick backstory like before of coour, I

258
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switched to everything being digital. It happened right before the pandemic.

259
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I was looking at, you know, my shelves. I had

260
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a bunch of shelves in the back just stop the

261
00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:23.480
thousands of pages of sheet music, and I was thinking

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about turning it digital since I traveled to my students.

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So I sent all my music to a company. They

264
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scanned it all, they made it digital. Then I had

265
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all of my music digital on my iPad. And then

266
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the pandemic hit and I was like, oh perfect, I

267
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have all my music already. I can share it online.

268
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So that's what I have here. So for the first lesson,

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I actually have like a little photo on dropbox and

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I always send us to the parents that can print

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out a copy too. So the first points I like

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to go over is I have like a little interview

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where I'll ask a student different questions, get to know everybody,

274
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oh nice, figure out what their goals are, and really

275
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just try to get the students to open up first.

276
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That's what I like to try first, because it go

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straight to music. They tend to be a little shy

278
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about it. You know, you want to approach them, they

279
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can open up and then at the same time you

280
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get to talk to the parents figure out their goals.

281
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I like the parents to sit on the first lesson,

282
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look so they can see how lessons are like. But yeah,

283
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usually the first things I start off with, I just

284
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have a few points that I keep it really easy,

285
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starting off with finger numbers. Learn your finger numbers first,

286
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you know, that's very simple. We'll go into some basics,

287
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what your letters are on the piano, and then from there, Oh,

288
00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:29.360
either just show them one or two songs and have

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them playing songs right away, something simple. Mary had a

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little lamb. We have our finger numbers. Help you find

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your place, so we can try something harder, maybe even

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two hands if you can try finger numbers with like

293
00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:41.080
Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star. But I just try to show

294
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them things like that for the first time, make it fun,

295
00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.919
show them a little bit of my skills too, what

296
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kind of songs. I know, what kind of songs they

297
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might want to learn. And I always try to leave

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them with the first lesson as having goals, like what

299
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are your goals that you want to accomplish? You want

300
00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:57.960
to play certain songs, maybe classical pieces, maybe it's pop

301
00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.200
songs or Disney songs, but make a list. They have

302
00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:01.759
a list of goals where they want to go. It

303
00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:03.679
just it helps them to be a little bit more

304
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:06.399
inspired of knowing where they want to go rather than, oh,

305
00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:08.440
this is just going to be a weekly Chane lesson,

306
00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:10.200
So just gives them a little bit more direction. So

307
00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:14.279
that's personally how I do it. As far as method books,

308
00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:16.480
there's a few different approaches. It depends on the student

309
00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:21.240
what the parents are looking for. But there's usually Alfred

310
00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:24.679
Premier piano course. That's one that I like with younger students,

311
00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:27.519
you know, it has pictures to help them have it

312
00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.720
a little bit more fun. It starts with the left

313
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hand first, so I like some of those principles, but

314
00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:35.799
sometimes I'll have it maybe teenage students. They don't need

315
00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:38.320
something that's as childish, so I'll use a different maybe

316
00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:41.519
an adult course of an express panel book, or sometimes

317
00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.960
the piano favor. So it really just depends on the student,

318
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:47.600
their goals that they're looking for. For me, any method

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00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.440
book works, it's what you add to it. What other

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techniques are you working on. How are you going to

321
00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:55.360
approach your your strength, your skills with skills, maybe working

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on hand and exercises and then just incorporating different classical

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pieces by level, and then other fun songs that they

324
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want to learn and just have a well rounded way

325
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of weekly practice rather than just one song in a

326
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book of one or two songs. It's a little bit

327
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more than to work on.

328
00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:13.400
That's great. That's great. And then with your kids. For

329
00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:17.519
our listeners out there, do you do a half hour

330
00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.000
lesson or an hour lessoneror it depends on the age.

331
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So for me, it's a little bit different because I

332
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only travel to my students. I just have a flat rate,

333
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standard package that I give everybody and forty five minute lessons.

334
00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:33.799
So if there's let's say two kids in the family

335
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and they both want to share the forty five minute

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lesson take turns, that's fine, however they want to do it,

337
00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:40.720
But forty five minute lessons is usually what I recommend.

338
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You know, it gives you enough time to maybe break

339
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it into sections, maybe fifteen minutes of warm ups and scales.

340
00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:48.400
Maybe then we can do thirty minutes of your main

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lesson and then fifteen minutes of maybe something that we're

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working on, of a classical piece or anything else. So

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I try to break it up into those leaving the

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main area for the main lesson. But yeah, if there's

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families that want to share the lesson, I'm always fine

346
00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:03.119
with that too. But the reason I kind of organize

347
00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:05.480
it that way is just with my schedule, because I

348
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have to drive to every student. I'll do let's say

349
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my first class at three o'clock, we'll have a forty

350
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five minute lesson, and the ones that lessons over at

351
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three forty five. Now I have fifteen minutes to get

352
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to my next class at four, so every hour I

353
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have a different class. So that's just how I Yeah,

354
00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:21.960
that's smart.

355
00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:25.160
Now for our listeners that are local and for our

356
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:28.000
listeners that are not local, do you do zoom lessons

357
00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:28.559
as well?

358
00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.400
I was doing it during the pandemic, and I'll do

359
00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:35.240
it maybe I I had surgery in September, so we

360
00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.279
had to connect on zoom, But for the most part, no,

361
00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:39.839
I don't do zoom lessons. Again, I've had a lot

362
00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.680
more more demand of just in person lessons and home.

363
00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:46.319
If there's somebody who really needs it, maybe we could

364
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do something at night time after I get back from

365
00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:51.000
my other classes. But I focus more on in personally.

366
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And for those who would like to get in touch

367
00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:55.119
with you and schedule a lesson or find out more

368
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about how you teach. What would be the easiest way

369
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for them to connect with you.

370
00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:02.440
My cell phone number always works, but I also have

371
00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:05.039
a website that a lot of people use. On the

372
00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:07.839
website right there, you can just check availability, request a

373
00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:11.279
trial lesson, and select what theays times work best for you.

374
00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:13.759
And if I'm not available, I always have other teachers

375
00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:14.720
I'm glad to recommend to.

376
00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:18.119
So we have being that we're live and we're on

377
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the television platform per se. We also have radio that

378
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.680
we're being streamed into. So for those of us that

379
00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:31.200
cannot see us, please share with us the name that

380
00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:33.599
you use to log in to find you.

381
00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:37.759
Oh you mean the website? Yes, yes, yes, So my

382
00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:40.759
website is just the initials of my name, So Jovian Martinez.

383
00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:45.920
My website's named JM. Piano and yeah. On that website,

384
00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:47.960
it's just we tried to make it very modern and

385
00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:50.680
easy to use. So all my information is on there

386
00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:53.599
for available for booking for events or if it's you know,

387
00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.599
requesting as a teacher. But the goal that I have

388
00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:59.839
and I talked to you about it before I get

389
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.559
so much different information. If it's people who are calling

390
00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:04.279
me to either sell a piano, which is not something

391
00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:07.359
that I do, or sometimes you know, hiring musicians they

392
00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.720
want to have a quartet of musicians to play at

393
00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:11.920
a wedding with strings. I play strings. It's not what

394
00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:13.920
I do. But a lot of people still contact me

395
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.960
through the website. So I think the goal that I'm

396
00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:19.279
trying to have over time is I'm trying to make

397
00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:21.799
it more of like a one stop shop for everything

398
00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:24.759
piano related. So if you come to this site locally, hey,

399
00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:27.200
you can find all the different piano teachers, the top

400
00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:30.000
piano teachers in our area locally, or Hey, you can

401
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.720
find a list of different musicians that are available for weddings.

402
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.720
Or you can find piano tuners, or hey, these are

403
00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:36.920
all the different piano stores in our area. These are

404
00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:38.799
different books you can buy. Oh, you want a keyboard

405
00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:41.640
instead of an acoustic piano, Well, here's Amazon links to

406
00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:43.960
all the different keyboards I would recommend for beginners or

407
00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:46.079
for advance. So I'm just trying to make it a

408
00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:50.359
one place for everybody that you know, any piano related questions,

409
00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:51.799
they can find what they're looking for.

410
00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:53.880
That's great and I want to talk more about that,

411
00:20:54.359 --> 00:20:56.720
but I want to detour a little bit. Do you

412
00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.759
being at your piano teacher, do you also perform or

413
00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:02.200
is that not in your schedule?

414
00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:06.759
No, I do performances, not as often. I got contacted

415
00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:09.680
the other day to play in Meisner Park. I really

416
00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:12.880
prioritize my student schedules, so they were contacting me to

417
00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:16.279
perform like on a Tuesday at like six o'clock, But

418
00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:17.960
that's right when I have I still have a few

419
00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:20.599
other lessons until like nine o'clock at night. So of

420
00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:22.680
course I'm going to put a priority to my students,

421
00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:26.160
especially because what I have the arrangement with the parents

422
00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:29.039
is that they lock and they prepay for a whole semester.

423
00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:32.200
So there's nineteen lessons in a semester, and I try

424
00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.599
to do my best to not cancel any of those.

425
00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:37.160
So sometimes, you know, a lot of opportunities I do

426
00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:39.039
have to turn them down, but I'll pass them forward

427
00:21:39.079 --> 00:21:41.440
to other musicians that I know I'm not able to.

428
00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:44.319
But I did have a nice privilege to work in

429
00:21:44.359 --> 00:21:47.759
the summertime. I got to assist a choir director with

430
00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:51.279
teaching the choir how to play notes or sing their notes.

431
00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:53.559
And just double checking everything on the piano. So that

432
00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:55.559
that was a really fun project that we did in

433
00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:57.480
the summer. But every once in a while, I'll try

434
00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.480
to perform if I can, but I probably need to

435
00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:02.039
perform now more more often. I haven't been doing it

436
00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:03.400
as often as as i'd like to.

437
00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:06.839
But like you said, you have your priority, and as

438
00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:09.920
a teacher myself too that you know that is my

439
00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:14.640
priority because being a teacher. For those that are not teachers,

440
00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:19.200
you know, it's a wonderful exchange because we not only

441
00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:22.680
are as a speak for myself, not only am I

442
00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.119
working with my student, but we're building a relationship where

443
00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:29.839
we can understand each other and so that when you

444
00:22:29.880 --> 00:22:33.319
know we're I'm teaching again, I'm speaking for myself. When

445
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:36.480
I'm teaching them piano, I'm understanding them where they're at.

446
00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:39.920
So I'm helping. I'm kind of growing with them because

447
00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:43.920
I'm kind of connect with them where they're at, and

448
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:49.359
so building that relationship and not having outside influences break

449
00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:52.440
that because we it's a commitment that you know, it's

450
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.839
it's our passion, but it's a commitment we make because

451
00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:55.400
it's what we.

452
00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:58.559
Do exactly, and that's the difference too, of being a

453
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.359
full time teacher is your focus. I mean, your your

454
00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:03.440
main job is working with your students. It's what you

455
00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:06.559
love to do. But that is your your main priority,

456
00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:09.599
rather than having other people who they have their nine

457
00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:11.960
to five jobs, or maybe they do other things and

458
00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:14.359
then they teach on the side. It's different. So when

459
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.799
you're a teacher full time that should always take priority.

460
00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:20.440
Yes, or even if you perform out which I get

461
00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:23.039
to do sometimes and you do as well, it's still

462
00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:26.240
the children. Whether it's children, I have adults students also,

463
00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:29.960
So whether no matter who it is, my students come first,

464
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.640
that's the priority because they are you know, they my

465
00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.720
students are with me for a long time. I'm sure

466
00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:40.319
yours are too, and so it's it's a gift that

467
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.200
keeps giving itself both ways. We're teaching, we're influencing where

468
00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:48.359
and then we learn from the students too. Again speaking

469
00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:52.519
for myself, so it's yeah, I think it's a wonderful

470
00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:55.680
a wonderful I'm not gonna say job. It's not a job,

471
00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:58.119
but it's a wonderful profession to be in and it's

472
00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:01.960
a wonderful space to have this opportunity to be that

473
00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:06.519
person to inspire and you are as well. And with

474
00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:10.960
that being said, I know for so many years, Jovian

475
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.480
you have had me on your website. We met once

476
00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:18.000
or I saw an email or something from you, and

477
00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:20.759
you said, yes, I'm going to put you on my website.

478
00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:24.599
You have done so much for our community, not only

479
00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:26.920
in Boca but all of South Florida. There are so

480
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:32.000
many teachers in so many different areas that you help

481
00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:36.759
promote just because and that's such a gift that you

482
00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:39.039
share with us, and it's so kind of you. And

483
00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.720
I can't say enough about the generosity that you've given

484
00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:47.640
to our community and offering this. Can you kind of

485
00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:49.599
touched on it a little bit, but can you go

486
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.640
a little bit more in debt As far as this

487
00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:55.440
website that you have that all of the teachers get to.

488
00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:58.000
Be on, Yeah, of course you're welcome to see the

489
00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:02.119
website yourself. It's called ja dash or hyphen dam hyphen

490
00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:05.519
piano dot com. And if you go to teachers, we

491
00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:07.880
just have a list of all the different teachers that

492
00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:11.240
we could find that are actively teaching in the area.

493
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.480
I can tell you, to make a long story short,

494
00:25:14.279 --> 00:25:18.680
I made it more out of laziness because every time

495
00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:21.039
I would get other parents who were to call me

496
00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:23.039
that are outside of my area, I only teach Invoca.

497
00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:26.039
I'm getting calls in Palm Beach and Jupiter. We're down

498
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:28.240
in Coral Springs and I don't teach in those areas.

499
00:25:28.440 --> 00:25:30.279
So rather than oh, let me help you find a

500
00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:33.400
teacher and contact somebody directly who's in that area, I

501
00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:34.839
just found out a lot of easier. Well, hey, you

502
00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:37.680
know what, here's a directory of all the teachers from

503
00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:39.759
the city. Call these. So it was more to save

504
00:25:39.799 --> 00:25:44.079
my time ultimately, that was the main reason. But at

505
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:46.319
the same time, if there's possible leads that can go

506
00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:48.599
to other teachers, a lot of teachers don't even have

507
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:51.319
a website, they don't have anyway that they would get

508
00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:53.799
that lead. So if you can share that, you know,

509
00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:56.799
with somebody else, then then definitely would be a good

510
00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:57.960
help for them too.

511
00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:01.519
Yes, and then this morning when I posted for our show,

512
00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:07.680
it was hashtag hashtag jmpiano dot com. And so if

513
00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:09.880
you're tuning in and not watching, because it is posted

514
00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:13.440
on our shows today on the on the viewer side,

515
00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:17.240
but on the audio side, again it's hashtag jmpiano dot

516
00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:21.920
com and as as you mentioned earlier, it's it's a

517
00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:25.960
huge gift to help advertise. It's a huge you know it,

518
00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:30.319
even though it was kind of something that you did

519
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:34.960
on the fly, by just making your life easier, you

520
00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:37.200
you helped so many other people by doing that. That's

521
00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:42.839
such an inspiration to share. And it's well, I don't

522
00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:45.240
know if inspiration is the right word, but it's not.

523
00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:49.640
Everybody does that, so you know, it's just so nice

524
00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:52.240
that you've done that. It's it's very kind.

525
00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:55.359
Very very I'm glad to do so. And there's there's

526
00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:57.759
other places, you know. You you search on Google you're

527
00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:00.440
looking for piano teachers, you might find a thing like

528
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:03.920
the MTNA, for example, has to find a teacher that

529
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:06.200
you can search to their directory by zip code. We

530
00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:09.759
also have the Broward can County Music Teachers Association has

531
00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:13.160
a great directory as well as Palm Beach. There are

532
00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:15.440
some things that I find, for example, if you're looking

533
00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.799
for a teacher for the Palm Beach directory, it only

534
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:19.160
works if you're on a computer, but if you go

535
00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:22.000
to a cell phone it won't work. So I also

536
00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:23.559
check so all the teachers that we have on there.

537
00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:27.440
I've called everybody individually. A lot of numbers, unfortunately, are

538
00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:31.559
teachers who are retired, yes any war, or they've moved away,

539
00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:34.559
or the numbers are disconnected. So even though there's a

540
00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:36.920
lot of other, you know, information you can find from

541
00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:39.119
other places, I've made sure that all the teachers on

542
00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:40.880
there are like the top forty teachers that we have

543
00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:43.960
in South Florida that are actively teaching, they're accepting students,

544
00:27:43.960 --> 00:27:45.920
and their phone numbers are working. So it's taking a

545
00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:47.640
little bit of time to build everything. It's not something

546
00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:49.319
I did so much on the flight. It takes some

547
00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:50.279
time to organize it.

548
00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:54.400
Oh sure, it's yeah, it's a big website. It's not

549
00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:59.000
just you know line. I mean, you really went in debt,

550
00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:06.640
not in debt in depth, in depth, in depth. When

551
00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:08.599
you go to the website, you can see that you

552
00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:11.880
put the time into it, is what I mean. So

553
00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:16.599
for listeners out there that may not be in Florida,

554
00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.039
would you well, I would have to think that there's

555
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:22.720
websites in other states and other communities. What would you

556
00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:26.039
suggest for our listeners? If you know they're listening in

557
00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:29.759
Wisconsin or they're listening in North Dakota, what would be

558
00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:32.480
the best way to maybe find a piano teacher in their.

559
00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:34.759
Neighbor you know. For me, what I've found that I've

560
00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:37.119
had multiple students where they either moved to another state

561
00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:41.480
like New York. I always recommend the Music Teachers National Association.

562
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:44.960
So on their website, you know itself, you could type

563
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:47.200
into your zip code or what state or city you're in,

564
00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:50.000
and you can see a list of all the different teachers.

565
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.279
Not just piano. You can look up any instrument and

566
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:56.319
they'll show you all the teachers by area. Again, a

567
00:28:56.319 --> 00:28:58.359
lot of teachers might be retired, but at least you'll

568
00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:00.720
have a few numbers that you can contact, or if

569
00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:03.400
you're a teacher yourself trying to help another family, you

570
00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:05.240
can you can take the initiative to help make a

571
00:29:05.240 --> 00:29:08.039
few calls and see who's who's available. But yeah, definitely

572
00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:11.319
I would recommend the Music Teachers National Association. It works

573
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:14.759
across the whole country. There's a few other places. I

574
00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:17.759
know World Conservatory of Music has a directory too, but

575
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:20.079
it's a very limited amount of teachers. I think they're

576
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:23.960
more based in Canada. What else do we have have

577
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:26.720
another one I was thinking of. Yeah, I would say

578
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:29.160
mainly mainly those two oh, there's there's also places you

579
00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:33.240
can do things like thumbtack lessons dot Com. There's still

580
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:36.440
some teachers that are on there. I do find the majority, though,

581
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:39.440
are teachers who teach online on those platforms. So you

582
00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:42.039
might search for let's say you're looking for lessons in

583
00:29:42.279 --> 00:29:45.200
Florida here, and even though you use thumbtack, the top

584
00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:47.440
teachers that will come up it says Florida. But then

585
00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:49.559
when you try to book them, they're actually in New York,

586
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:51.480
but they'll teach you in Florida online. So it's a

587
00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:53.799
little misleading on those aspects. So that's why I always

588
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:56.319
recommend things like the Music Teachers National Association.

589
00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:59.359
Great great, and you mentioned earlier to you and I

590
00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:03.759
agree with you. There's sometimes when I have students that

591
00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:08.200
are not well, maybe they're home not feeling great, but

592
00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.960
they still want to take a lesson. It'll be a

593
00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:14.759
zoom lesson instead of a one on one. However, there's

594
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:19.440
no there there's how would I say it, There's nothing

595
00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:23.759
like that one on one lesson. There's no, it's not

596
00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:28.400
the same when it's online. It's just a beautiful opportunity

597
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:30.039
to get to work one on one with a teacher

598
00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:33.960
because it just it's so much more easier because you

599
00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:38.799
really get to know again building relationships, and I have

600
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:42.720
the recommend one on one. Although I will say I

601
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:45.640
too take lessons online also, but I get to connect

602
00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:50.039
with the teacher sometimes because I still take lessons. But

603
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:52.680
what are your thoughts on? Of course you do more

604
00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:56.279
live lessons than online, and when we were going through

605
00:30:56.279 --> 00:30:59.920
the COVID, we all had to make exceptions.

606
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:03.359
I can be upfront, I'm not a fan of online.

607
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:05.880
It will never compare it to being in person, especially

608
00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:09.119
with beginner students. You know, when you need to help

609
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:11.240
a student, oh, fix their hand placement because they're not

610
00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:13.119
sure if they're on the wrong letter. They think they're

611
00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:15.279
in seat position but they're not. It's much easier to

612
00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:19.039
help correct those little details in person. Their posture, a

613
00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:21.400
lot of different details come into effect. You can see

614
00:31:21.799 --> 00:31:24.480
and note if their fingers patterns are being used or

615
00:31:24.519 --> 00:31:26.920
crossing with the right technique. A lot of things that

616
00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:30.920
might be overlooked online with you know, maybe glitches or

617
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:34.039
a lot of moments where things are freezing online. But

618
00:31:34.119 --> 00:31:36.720
again online is still great too. When I was teaching

619
00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:39.960
during the pandemic, I tried to make it as fun

620
00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:42.640
as possible for the kids. So I would have one

621
00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:45.119
camera where I could speak to them, but then i'd

622
00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:49.039
have another camera facing downwards, something like something like this.

623
00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:52.759
I had another other so they can see the fingers

624
00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:55.759
of what you're playing, and then i'd have another camera

625
00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:58.880
which would just be my whiteboard. So on my iPad,

626
00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:00.759
I would write down, you know, if we're taking any

627
00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:03.640
notes a theory lesson, if we're working on sheet music,

628
00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:06.160
I'd already have the sheet music there digitally write any

629
00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:09.240
additional notes and I can send them after a PDF

630
00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:11.640
copy of what we learned on with the annotations. So

631
00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:14.000
I tried my best to make it as you know,

632
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:16.880
interesting as possible for the students, so they have, you know,

633
00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:19.799
multiple angles they could learn from. And of course there's

634
00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:24.279
also games. I find games is such a necessity for

635
00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:27.880
young ones to keep their focus and keep practicing. I

636
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:30.720
love using music Theory dot net and if you download

637
00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:33.440
the aptors one that's called Tanudo, you can customize different

638
00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:36.359
music theory games of something simple like site reading one

639
00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:38.720
note at a time, and I could do that through zoom.

640
00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:40.319
I could pop up on the screen and they can

641
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:42.599
go ahead and tell me the answers, and we can

642
00:32:42.839 --> 00:32:45.400
you know, work on our notes. So all using all

643
00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:47.920
of those features definitely helped me a lot to teach

644
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:51.079
on Zoom, but one thousand percent, I still definitely prefer

645
00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:51.920
teaching in person.

646
00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:56.039
Now I know what my answer is. I want the

647
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:59.839
audience to hear your answer. If you have a news

648
00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:01.720
you didn't think signing up And I get this all

649
00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:04.759
the time. They either start they don't have a keyboard,

650
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:08.920
they don't have a piano, and then your student comes,

651
00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:11.000
student says, oh, you know, should we get a piano?

652
00:33:11.559 --> 00:33:13.559
What is usually your response?

653
00:33:14.680 --> 00:33:17.559
So I think a level of dedication that the parents

654
00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:20.039
show from the beginning of having an instrument. It also

655
00:33:20.039 --> 00:33:22.559
shows how serious they are, because you know, a child

656
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:25.039
might not be too serious about something. They're young, they

657
00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:27.200
might not even know what they want yet. But you

658
00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:29.720
don't have to invest in buying a grand piano from

659
00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:31.640
the first lesson. That's not the point. If you're able

660
00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:33.640
to hey, then by all means and see if that's better,

661
00:33:33.799 --> 00:33:36.359
that's great. But yeah, some parents decide they want to

662
00:33:36.359 --> 00:33:38.200
start off with a simple keyboard. You know, you can

663
00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:42.160
find either a used keyboard online or sometimes like on

664
00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:44.920
Facebook marketplaces, you might even find an acoustic piano, maybe

665
00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:47.680
for a cheap price. But yeah, starting with something simple,

666
00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:50.119
even if it's not eighty eight keys, I'm okay with

667
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:53.160
that as long as it's just as you're starting out.

668
00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:56.400
But once students reach around level two, you start working

669
00:33:56.559 --> 00:33:58.519
on a lot more notes that are on the really

670
00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:00.519
high end and the low end of the piano, and

671
00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:03.079
you need all full eighty eight keys. So I always

672
00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:06.160
give parents to options. If you want to buy a keyboard,

673
00:34:06.519 --> 00:34:09.079
just make sure it's eighty eight keys and that it's weighted,

674
00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:11.159
because a lot of keyboards are very flimsy. They don't

675
00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:13.960
have any and you know, I'm sure you've seen it before.

676
00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.440
If kids are working on a keyboard where there's no

677
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:18.480
weight to it and they try to transition to a

678
00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:20.920
real acoustic piano, they're not able to play their pieces

679
00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:22.960
most of the time. It's too heavy. They can't can't

680
00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:25.280
handle it. So you always need weight behind the keys

681
00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:28.400
if you're going to get a keyboard or getting an

682
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:31.280
acoustic piano, if it's upright. An upright piano is going

683
00:34:31.320 --> 00:34:32.880
to save you a lot. They tend to go for

684
00:34:32.920 --> 00:34:36.719
maybe two thousand on average, so you can always find something.

685
00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:38.719
Sometimes even one hundred bucks. I see them on Facebook

686
00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:40.760
times is a parent getting rid of them. So you

687
00:34:40.760 --> 00:34:43.519
can definitely get a good deal on something. Just you know,

688
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:46.000
make sure it's an okay condition. Sometimes they're not in

689
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:48.440
the best condition. But yeah, eighty eight keys and weighted,

690
00:34:48.920 --> 00:34:50.320
that's that's my only recommendation.

691
00:34:50.599 --> 00:34:54.719
Yeah, I've had a lot of students ask, and I

692
00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:59.039
usually say, we'll start off with the keyboard, something that's affordable,

693
00:34:59.079 --> 00:35:03.519
le's than one hundred dollars, and then as the child grows,

694
00:35:03.800 --> 00:35:06.199
I'm thinking young you know, if it's something that they

695
00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:10.119
continue to go grow with, then definitely make the investment.

696
00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:13.840
And like you said, marketplace is a fabulous place to

697
00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:17.159
find a piano. A lot of times people are retired

698
00:35:17.159 --> 00:35:19.920
and they don't want it. They just don't want piano anymore,

699
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:22.559
or families have grown up and they just it's sitting

700
00:35:22.599 --> 00:35:25.679
in the house cloth and collecting dusts and just pick

701
00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:27.960
it up and then you have a mover come and

702
00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:29.440
you just pay for it to be moved.

703
00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:32.840
Exactly. Again, a lot of piano dealer stores are not

704
00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:35.119
going to like that. They're not going to recommend it,

705
00:35:35.159 --> 00:35:37.119
you know, because they have a business to run too.

706
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:38.719
Of course, if you are ever going to buy a

707
00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:40.639
pianol that way, I think, at least like I tell

708
00:35:40.679 --> 00:35:44.199
my students, so always consult me, send me some pictures, videos.

709
00:35:44.519 --> 00:35:46.719
Sometimes you have people that aren't taking care of it.

710
00:35:46.760 --> 00:35:48.639
Maybe they just left it in their garage and it's

711
00:35:49.079 --> 00:35:52.000
gotten so much humidity, or maybe the soundboard is cracked,

712
00:35:52.280 --> 00:35:53.960
so maybe you know, as soon as you look at

713
00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:56.840
it in front, it might look fine, but you have

714
00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:58.920
to make sure a few other things to get a

715
00:35:58.920 --> 00:36:01.639
good quality panel that you're Again that's why a lot

716
00:36:01.639 --> 00:36:03.480
of people go with an actual pianel dealership of a

717
00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:05.920
place that sells pianos. They make sure it's some good conditions.

718
00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:08.159
So you have to kind of weigh the pros and

719
00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:10.039
cons when you make a decision. But if you have

720
00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:12.039
somebody that you can consult with, you know, a teacher,

721
00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:13.639
you know, like yourself, and they want to send you

722
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:16.159
some videos just making sure this kind of looks okay,

723
00:36:16.360 --> 00:36:19.320
I think that's usually a pretty safe choice as well,

724
00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:20.880
if you're trying to find something cheap.

725
00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:23.400
And it's so true. I'll take myself as an example.

726
00:36:23.800 --> 00:36:26.400
Years ago, I went or I looked on marketplace, and

727
00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:29.119
I fell in love with the piano and it was

728
00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:32.760
left in a church and the church was more of

729
00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:36.039
a home style, and they said they just wanted to

730
00:36:36.039 --> 00:36:37.800
get rid of it, and I go, oh, yeah, I'll

731
00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:41.239
take it. And even for myself as a music teacher,

732
00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:43.400
I didn't even think. I go, oh, well, you know,

733
00:36:43.480 --> 00:36:46.519
I can have it tuned and fixed and brought it home.

734
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:50.480
The piano was over seventy years old and it was

735
00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:52.840
not in the best of shape, and I was I

736
00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:54.800
was like, shame on me, I should know better. So

737
00:36:55.320 --> 00:36:58.480
when I got another piano, I did a little bit

738
00:36:58.519 --> 00:37:01.639
more investigating and went and tried it out myself and

739
00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:05.119
contacting my piano tuner had them on video, and so

740
00:37:05.400 --> 00:37:09.199
did a little bit more in depth look at or

741
00:37:09.239 --> 00:37:12.599
look into the keyboard and the inside of the piano,

742
00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:15.679
because it's so important. Even me as a piano teacher

743
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:18.679
for over playing over twenty or playing over forty five

744
00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:22.599
years and teaching over twenty you know it. Unless you

745
00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:24.920
go through the experience of it, you really don't think

746
00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:29.920
about the interesting inancy, the word, all the details that

747
00:37:29.960 --> 00:37:34.480
are involved in what makes a piano work. And I

748
00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:37.679
know there are because I know this from Tobias Hamilton

749
00:37:37.679 --> 00:37:41.800
from Hamilton Pianos there are over ten thousand pieces, even

750
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:44.400
the littlest of pieces that in a piano. You're a

751
00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:48.400
piano tuner, you know more than I know, So you know,

752
00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:51.000
we when you go to buy a piano, it's not

753
00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:53.880
just okay, yeah, don't do what I did. You know,

754
00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:58.719
really look into what you're buying and yeah, Hamilton Pianos,

755
00:37:58.800 --> 00:38:02.320
Bob's Organs, and then I don't know, there's more. There's

756
00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:04.880
Yamaha store up in Jupiter. I don't know what you

757
00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:05.880
have down in Boca.

758
00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:09.679
I'm sure you only have the Steinway Gallery, which I

759
00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:11.920
believe they just changed their name to the Pianet like

760
00:38:11.960 --> 00:38:15.599
the Piano Gallery they have now since Steinway. Actually they're moving.

761
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:19.840
They're moving corporate to sit downtown Palm Beach. Okay, we're

762
00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:21.599
gonna have a new Steinway and Palm Beach, which should

763
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:21.920
be nice.

764
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:22.199
Yeah.

765
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:24.599
Yeah, those are most of the main stores. I mean,

766
00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:27.920
there's Showcase in Pompino as well. I was talking to

767
00:38:27.960 --> 00:38:29.599
the owner. Unfortunately, it seems like they're going to be

768
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:32.559
closing soon. There is a lot of decline that people

769
00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:35.920
aren't buying acoustic pianos anymore, and a lot of panel

770
00:38:35.960 --> 00:38:37.880
stores have been closing. So you do see a lot

771
00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:40.719
of things that are moving towards more digital, and with reason,

772
00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:44.400
you get it. But I hope, I hope we still

773
00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:47.639
have people keep people acoustic pianos alive in the area

774
00:38:47.679 --> 00:38:51.960
because it never compares to something digital. You're going to

775
00:38:51.960 --> 00:38:53.639
get a piano, there's a few things you want to check,

776
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:55.599
and I can tell you a piano tuner. I've seen

777
00:38:55.639 --> 00:38:59.639
some pianos that are pretty disgusting, but we found termites

778
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:02.320
inside it. Pianos and yeah, if you don't want to

779
00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:04.119
move something like that into your house. So that's why

780
00:39:04.159 --> 00:39:06.280
you always have to make sure that it's being maintained,

781
00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:08.920
it's being taken care of. And rather than just open

782
00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:11.280
up and seeing that the keys look okay, always open

783
00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:13.400
up inside of the piano, make sure that the strings

784
00:39:13.400 --> 00:39:16.679
are fine. You can easily see if it's in good

785
00:39:16.679 --> 00:39:18.840
conditions if you see a lot of cobwebs and a

786
00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:21.960
lot of problems and especially rust. I have one of

787
00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:24.880
my friends they bought they bought the piano for like

788
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:26.840
four hundred bucks. They thought they got a good deal.

789
00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:28.800
When I looked at it to tune it for them,

790
00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:31.920
it was missing so many strings. It was covered and rust.

791
00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:34.440
All the strings oh wow. And I talked to another

792
00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:36.679
you know, piano tuner that I know in the area

793
00:39:36.760 --> 00:39:39.440
to see I always get advice from him, Andy Lustig,

794
00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:42.119
And he saw it and he's like, this is just trash.

795
00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:44.679
This needs to go in the barbage. Yeah, the cost

796
00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:47.639
to fix all of those strings would cost thousands, So

797
00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:49.679
sometimes it's not even worth it, and it's just because

798
00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:52.599
some people keep it in poor conditions. So again, always

799
00:39:52.599 --> 00:39:54.480
double check what you're gonna buy.

800
00:39:54.880 --> 00:39:58.039
Now, if somebody wants to contact you to tune their piano,

801
00:39:58.719 --> 00:40:01.079
do you have do you just in Boca? Do you

802
00:40:01.239 --> 00:40:02.599
travel a little bit for that?

803
00:40:03.039 --> 00:40:05.880
I'll travel a little more for piano tuning, So I

804
00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:09.000
just stay in a softword area. Again, because I only

805
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:10.480
tune in the mornings, I have a little bit more

806
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:14.360
liberty with time. But yeah, usually by I try to

807
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:17.119
have my last tuning appointment, maybe by like eleven o'clock

808
00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:19.960
in the afternoon, because after that I'll just be focusing

809
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:21.400
on teaching the rest of the day. So yeah, no,

810
00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:25.199
anywhere between. I guess like Jupiter to your field is

811
00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:26.960
usually the area that I'll tune in.

812
00:40:27.800 --> 00:40:31.320
And again, for our audience, what is a good way

813
00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:33.679
to contact you? If they want their piano tuned.

814
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:36.440
I mean, you can use my phone number on my website.

815
00:40:36.440 --> 00:40:38.519
I have a button also that you can request a tuning.

816
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:41.119
And again, if I'm not available, I'm always glad to

817
00:40:41.199 --> 00:40:42.519
recommend a few other tuners too.

818
00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:44.719
And would you be so kind just to share your

819
00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:46.800
number because we don't have that posted. We have your

820
00:40:46.800 --> 00:40:47.719
website posted.

821
00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:52.119
Yeah, my phone number is five six one nine zero

822
00:40:52.199 --> 00:40:54.159
seven seven three one zero.

823
00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:59.039
Okay, great, And so you teach piano, you tune pianos,

824
00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:04.239
and you're in. You went a little bit into sharing

825
00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:07.960
with us. He started very young. Did you have inspirations

826
00:41:08.280 --> 00:41:11.280
when it came to your growth as.

827
00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:17.039
A musician, inspiration of maybe other musicians? Right? Sure, yeah,

828
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.480
I can tell you so. I can tell you off

829
00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:22.320
the bat. My favorite musician as far as a pianist goes,

830
00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:25.199
not a classical musician. Actually, well, he played some classical

831
00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:28.559
but maybe you've heard of John Schmidt. He's an amazing performer.

832
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:31.800
When I was in tenth grade, I want to say,

833
00:41:32.199 --> 00:41:33.679
is when I first saw his video. I think he

834
00:41:33.840 --> 00:41:36.199
just came out on the They have a page on YouTube.

835
00:41:36.199 --> 00:41:39.079
The piano guys. I'm sure you recognize us, Yes, the

836
00:41:39.079 --> 00:41:43.320
piano guy John Schmidt. He did a cover with the

837
00:41:43.360 --> 00:41:47.159
cellist of Taylor Swift love story Yesh cold Play song,

838
00:41:47.679 --> 00:41:50.320
and when I saw him perform, I've never seen anybody

839
00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:53.639
play piano like him because he enjoys music so much.

840
00:41:53.639 --> 00:41:56.599
You'll see him dance. He is dancing any song you see.

841
00:41:56.599 --> 00:41:58.480
If you watch him, he's always dancing when he plays

842
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:01.480
the piano. He gives it so much life, so inspirations

843
00:42:01.480 --> 00:42:04.440
to perform. Definitely. I got so motivated. I tried to

844
00:42:04.440 --> 00:42:06.400
find the sheet music for that song and I was

845
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:08.000
like ooh, and I couldn't find it, so I had

846
00:42:08.039 --> 00:42:09.840
to learn everything by ear and I picked it up

847
00:42:09.880 --> 00:42:13.559
with another colleague of mine, Barry full saw me. Now

848
00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:16.599
he's actually he's in the Canada Orchestra where he's performing

849
00:42:16.840 --> 00:42:19.800
Symphonic And yes we did. We did an awesome cover

850
00:42:19.880 --> 00:42:22.119
when when we're back in school about that. But yeah,

851
00:42:22.159 --> 00:42:24.360
John Schmidt has always been one of the musicians has

852
00:42:24.360 --> 00:42:26.480
always inspired me. I wish I could play like him.

853
00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:29.039
Maybe maybe one day I can, I can get close.

854
00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:30.840
But but definitely he's an amazing performer.

855
00:42:31.119 --> 00:42:36.000
Oh great, great, Yeah, you know, there there are inspirations

856
00:42:36.039 --> 00:42:39.320
out there. And as a teacher, you know you can

857
00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:42.519
you can be assured that you're an inspiration to someone

858
00:42:42.559 --> 00:42:45.960
else also with what you're doing and how you play.

859
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:48.559
And yeah, I think that's one of the parts as

860
00:42:48.920 --> 00:42:52.239
being a teacher and why you do it because somebody

861
00:42:52.320 --> 00:42:56.679
inspired you. Yes, you want to pass on that that knowledge.

862
00:42:56.880 --> 00:42:59.719
I mean the art. If not the way things are

863
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:02.559
going right now, AI would just take over or you know,

864
00:43:02.840 --> 00:43:05.360
maybe the arts continue dying down and we got to

865
00:43:05.360 --> 00:43:07.719
do what we can. It's something that we're passionate about

866
00:43:07.719 --> 00:43:10.280
and when you share that passion with others, it only grows.

867
00:43:10.760 --> 00:43:14.119
Yeah, and I agree with that. And AI cannot replicate

868
00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:19.840
the human the human spirit, or the spirit isn't even human,

869
00:43:19.880 --> 00:43:23.800
but the spirit of the human body. Not to get

870
00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:26.920
you into it, but you can't replicate that. That's just

871
00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:31.159
it's so original and so authentic, is what I want

872
00:43:31.159 --> 00:43:37.639
to say. So but anyway, we have a couple more minutes. Jovin,

873
00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:40.239
thank you so much for being available today and being

874
00:43:40.280 --> 00:43:43.519
on the show. Is there any last few words that

875
00:43:43.599 --> 00:43:45.960
you'd like to share with us with our audiences that

876
00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:46.679
are listening.

877
00:43:48.800 --> 00:43:51.039
I mean, unless there's a certain question that the audience has,

878
00:43:51.079 --> 00:43:54.000
I'm not sure you know. One thing I've always been

879
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:57.800
encouraging local piano teachers about is to get into teaching.

880
00:43:57.840 --> 00:44:01.000
I was talking to a few different teachers in the

881
00:44:01.079 --> 00:44:04.199
area recently, and you know, I had one who was

882
00:44:04.199 --> 00:44:06.840
talking about how they lost their job and you know,

883
00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:09.039
they're they're thinking about getting back into teaching because they

884
00:44:09.039 --> 00:44:13.679
took out a conservatory for over a day past. And

885
00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:16.039
if you know another teacher as well that he's working

886
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:18.280
as a teacher. But a lot of times when you're

887
00:44:18.280 --> 00:44:20.639
starting out as a as a teacher, you're getting into it,

888
00:44:20.920 --> 00:44:22.599
there's a lot of questions as far as like how

889
00:44:22.639 --> 00:44:24.760
to organize your business strategy. And even though you love

890
00:44:24.840 --> 00:44:26.960
music as a passion, you still have to make sure

891
00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:29.159
you have you know, good studio policies. You have to

892
00:44:29.159 --> 00:44:32.039
figure out, well, what are your cancelation policies, you know,

893
00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:34.519
if a student needs to have a makeup lesson, or

894
00:44:34.639 --> 00:44:37.039
you know, what should my prices even be. So there's

895
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:38.800
a lot of things on the business aspect that I

896
00:44:38.840 --> 00:44:41.920
think a lot of times teachers don't know what to

897
00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:44.320
do on that regard. So I always like to just

898
00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:48.440
kind of like share a few recommendations, you know, especially

899
00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:50.639
something as simple as prices. You know, we have a

900
00:44:50.639 --> 00:44:53.679
lot of teachers that the standard rate is anywhere between

901
00:44:53.719 --> 00:44:56.119
maybe seventy to one hundred an hour that you go

902
00:44:56.159 --> 00:44:58.920
in the area right now. But sometimes you'll either have

903
00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:01.800
somebody who's if you retire and they don't need that much,

904
00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:04.280
so they'll just maybe post for like fifteen hours what

905
00:45:04.320 --> 00:45:06.440
they do. And then you have other parents who start,

906
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:08.519
you know, saying, oh, this teacher charges fifty, why don't

907
00:45:08.519 --> 00:45:10.199
you do that, And then teachers start to kind of

908
00:45:10.239 --> 00:45:11.519
compete with each other and oh, I'm going to do

909
00:45:11.559 --> 00:45:13.119
it for thirty it will be less. And that's at

910
00:45:13.119 --> 00:45:14.320
the end of the day, we still have to make

911
00:45:14.320 --> 00:45:18.599
a living. So rather than competing with your prices, I

912
00:45:18.639 --> 00:45:21.119
always try to recommend if your prices can be, you know,

913
00:45:21.159 --> 00:45:23.920
around the standard rate. I was talking, for example, to

914
00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:25.840
Miss Balco the other day. She charges ninety an hour

915
00:45:25.840 --> 00:45:28.679
in her studio. That's pretty standard over in Boca. Most

916
00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:31.039
studios charge about one hundred an hour. So if you're

917
00:45:31.280 --> 00:45:33.400
at least staying around the standard rate, it's going to

918
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:36.000
help yourself out so much rather than trying to compete

919
00:45:36.039 --> 00:45:38.639
and lower your prices. And I think that's just you know,

920
00:45:39.079 --> 00:45:42.000
that's my one advice i'd give to teachers, don't try

921
00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:44.239
to low ball yourself. You know, set your value where

922
00:45:44.239 --> 00:45:48.760
it's at, and in the long run, having twenty students

923
00:45:48.960 --> 00:45:52.119
at a higher rate is going to give you so

924
00:45:52.239 --> 00:45:55.280
much more than having forty students at half the cost.

925
00:45:55.519 --> 00:45:57.079
You know, you're going to have price as much time

926
00:45:57.119 --> 00:45:59.679
for yourself and you're still getting paid about the same

927
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:01.119
at the end of the day, you know, cost of

928
00:46:01.119 --> 00:46:04.519
living has gone up. So yeah, that's always my recommendation

929
00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:07.559
because sometimes I've heard of teachers where they're charging twenty

930
00:46:07.559 --> 00:46:09.719
an hour and they think, oh, well, you know, the

931
00:46:09.719 --> 00:46:12.119
post office charges twenty something an hour for me, twenty

932
00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:14.440
an hour, that's not bad. And I'm talking to somebody

933
00:46:14.440 --> 00:46:17.000
who has a bachelor's degree in music, and you know,

934
00:46:17.039 --> 00:46:19.440
so sometimes there's just that aspect of not knowing what

935
00:46:19.480 --> 00:46:21.679
it truly costs, because you know, you might think twenty

936
00:46:21.719 --> 00:46:23.880
an hour sounds great, but we're not teaching eight hours

937
00:46:23.880 --> 00:46:26.760
a day. There's usually maybe four to five hours that

938
00:46:26.800 --> 00:46:29.480
we can teach because you know, kids get out of

939
00:46:29.480 --> 00:46:32.079
scoro at around three o'clock. So you have to make sure

940
00:46:32.119 --> 00:46:35.159
you're charging enough that you can make ends meet and

941
00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:37.480
be able to pay your bills. But there's nothing wrong

942
00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:40.800
with staying around the standard rate. So that's one of

943
00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:42.320
my points I always like to share with teachers.

944
00:46:42.679 --> 00:46:45.960
Thank you, thank you well, thank you Jovian again for

945
00:46:46.039 --> 00:46:47.880
making the time for today. Thank you for being such

946
00:46:47.920 --> 00:46:51.119
an inspiration in the community and to all the South

947
00:46:51.159 --> 00:46:55.039
Florida teachers being included. I so appreciate the time and

948
00:46:55.039 --> 00:46:58.480
the effort that you put into especially your recent just

949
00:46:58.639 --> 00:47:02.119
your comments that you made is so helpful and so supportive.

950
00:47:02.280 --> 00:47:06.360
And the community is a better place because you're in it.

951
00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:09.079
So thank you, oh, thank you. Always a pleasure.

952
00:47:09.360 --> 00:47:13.519
Yes, all right, well, thank you Jovian. We will be

953
00:47:13.599 --> 00:47:17.840
in touch soon and we have a couple of minutes

954
00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:22.079
left and I look forward to finishing off our show

955
00:47:22.159 --> 00:47:25.079
today by saying thank you for being a part of

956
00:47:25.400 --> 00:47:28.119
the Sound of Gold. And as you know, my whole

957
00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:32.000
purpose for doing this is to keep music alive, to

958
00:47:32.079 --> 00:47:37.519
keep the business of having real instruments and people, real

959
00:47:37.639 --> 00:47:40.159
people playing them. I mean, that's what it's all about.

960
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:46.760
That's where that's where there're no for me as a musician,

961
00:47:46.760 --> 00:47:55.519
that's where my heart is. So stay we all, stay healthy,

962
00:47:55.639 --> 00:47:59.480
stay happy, and join me next week to find out

963
00:47:59.519 --> 00:48:25.159
who my yes will be