Piano Inspires Podcast: Tim Topham

• 
• 
• 
• 

---

---

To celebrate the latest episode of the Piano Inspires Podcast featuring Tim Topham, we are sharing an excerpted transcript of his conversation with Sara Ernst. Want to learn more about Topham? Check out the latest installment of the Piano Inspires Podcast. To learn more, visit pianoinspires.com. Listen to our latest episode with Topham on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or our website!

Sara Ernst: What is inspiring to you about the kids today? Especially if you think [about] this holistic form of education, where you’re really trying to build a musician at the piano who’s really learning skills that they can take to a wide variety of contexts. What do you see from the kids that are learning in that way that makes you go, “Ah, yes, this is it”?

Tom Topham: I just like that kids aren’t letting us do boring stuff anymore. And this goes for classrooms as well. A classroom teacher can’t just teach the same curriculum every year like they may have done in the past. Be that good or bad. I mean, obviously it’s a good thing that they can’t do that anymore. The whole move towards more inquiry-based learning and giving students autonomy in what they’re doing—which we know from Self-Determination Theory—is a really powerful aspect of self motivation in education. The more that we can get them involved and help them achieve things that they want to do, the more that they’re going to have agency and power in the decision making and want to do those things. 

I like that kids these days want something different, want something more, and aren’t content with just the status quo or just, “Okay, teacher, tell me. I’ll just go through the standards. You know, we’ll start with Burgmüller, and then we’ll go to Clementi, and then we’ll go to some Beethoven.” I know for some teachers, that will be difficult, but I also hope that a lot of teachers will look at that—I won’t call it pushback, because it’s not necessarily pushback—but look at that questioning of students and see that they maybe want something different and more. Rather than go[ing], “I can’t teach you that.” or “what do I do?”, go, “All right, let’s try. Let’s see what we can do.” 

Teachers can get so much value from trying new things. For many years, for anything that I put out, I suggest, “Hey, I’ve had a great experience with this. Here’s something you can try, and here’s the reason why I believe it’s powerful in the pedagogical sense. Why don’t you give it a shot?” I just encourage teachers to try these new things because it’s fun, and it’s going to make them better teachers, and students are going to respond to it. 

Also these days, actually, students have always wanted to see their teachers as humans, as fallible humans. Back when we were at school, the schoolmaster was up on the raised platform, blackboards, and all that kind of stuff. It’s just not what we need or what students want anymore. And I think that’s good.

If you enjoyed this excerpt from Piano Inspires Podcast’s latest episode, listen to the entire episode with Tim Topham on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or our website!

---

• 
• 
• 
•