The Fourforty (440) with Eric Branner

Roberto Hermosillo on Building a Modern Music Career

What does a contemporary, thriving music career actually look like? Roberto Hermosillo has built it. He's a GRAMMY-nominated guitarist, studio musician, songwriter, TV actor, and the owner of Roberto's Music Studio, a boutique lessons agency in Santa Monica. In this conversation, Roberto and Eric talk honestly about the multi-hyphenate life: balancing artistry with entrepreneurship, ditching the old music school playbook, and building something that makes you genuinely happy. In This Episode * How Roberto went from independent teacher to running a multi-teacher lessons agency... nine iterations in * The intentional geographic move to Santa Monica and why location strategy matters for music educators * What he learned writing curriculum for a major guitar brand and why he calls it "a free degree in music education" * The GRAMMY-nominated Solid Rock Revival project with Alice Cooper, Slash, and Rob Halford * The difference between followers and fans, and what a real music career looks like today * Why the old music school playbook feels dated in today's world * Turning down an arena tour with one of the biggest Spanish-language artists in the world, and why he has no regrets * The no-physical-location agency model and paying teachers well as a competitive advantage * J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis as the original multi-hyphenates * Building a career you actually want... health insurance, a retirement plan, families who love you Learn more about Roberto's work here. www.robertosmusicstudio.com Instagram, FB @soyrobertohermosillo 🌊 Connect with us: * Join a supportive community for teachers & creatives at the Fons Family Facebook Group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/fonsfamily] a supportive community for teachers & creatives * Follow on Instagram: @getfons [https://www.instagram.com/getfons] * Learn more about Fons [https://www.fons.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=440_launch] * TikTok: @getfons [https://www.tiktok.com/@getfons]

Jaclyn Mrozek of the Scrappy Piano Teacher

Jaci Mrozek just took the entire month of May off, and she's still getting paid. In this conversation, she walks us through exactly how she built a system to support her "radical sabbatical." Jaci is a piano teacher, presenter, and host of The Scrappy Piano Teacher Podcast. She's been teaching for 28 years and has spent the last several helping independent music teachers build studios. We talked about year-round billing, the summer schedule that keeps retention up, how she handles parents who count lessons, the "Policy Triangle" she uses in her cohorts, asynchronous lessons for snow days, and the idea that building a great studio experience is the best business move you can make. This one's full of practical ideas you can borrow. And Jaci delivers them with the kind of energy that will inspire you to reorganize your studio.  Topics covered: - The radical sabbatical: how to take a month off and still get paid - Year-round flat-rate billing and how to communicate it to families - Summer scheduling that increases retention (and respects everyone's chaos) - Setting goals in April for the fall, before the year even ends - The "Piano Gymnastics" evaluation program students actually love - Recitals as your biggest marketing moment - The Policy Triangle: philosophy, time, and money - Asynchronous lessons and the "what now?" weeks - Running cohorts that create lasting community - Why raising your rates attracts better families Connect with Jaci: Website: scrappypianoteacher.com Instagram: @jaclynmrozek_piano YouTube: @ScrappyPianoTeacher Facebook: ScrappyPianoTeacher 🌊 Connect with us: * Join a supportive community for teachers & creatives at the Fons Family Facebook Group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/fonsfamily] a supportive community for teachers & creatives * Follow on Instagram: @getfons [https://www.instagram.com/getfons] * Learn more about Fons [https://www.fons.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=440_launch] * TikTok: @getfons [https://www.tiktok.com/@getfons]

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

Narciso Solero spent 30 years developing a framework in his head before he finally put it on paper. The result is Level It Up!, a series that organizes composers' piano repertoire from easiest to most advanced. Level It Up! has attracted teachers from across the country. In this episode, Narciso shares how the series came to be, what it means for teachers navigating the vast piano canon, and why versatility might be the most underrated skill for any independent music educator building a long-term career. Leare more about Level It Up! at narcisosolero.com. The videos are also available on Narciso's YouTube channel @narcisosolero8163 🌊 Connect with us: * Join a supportive community for teachers & creatives at the Fons Family Facebook Group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/fonsfamily] a supportive community for teachers & creatives * Follow on Instagram: @getfons [https://www.instagram.com/getfons] * Learn more about Fons [https://www.fons.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=440_launch] * TikTok: @getfons [https://www.tiktok.com/@getfons]

Composer Elizabeth Swift on Creativity, Saga Land, and the Art of Saying Yes

Elizabeth Swift didn't start composing until well into her teaching career. She wasn't trained to improvise. And the first time someone handed her a lead sheet and said "just noodle for a few minutes," she broke into a cold sweat. Today she is a composer published by Alfred Music, the creator of the Saga Land series,(video game-inspired piano music now used in studios nationwide) and the 2025 Ohio Certified Teacher of the Year. She teaches students from age six to sixty-three, runs a studio where families often stay for over a decade, and just launched Saga Land 2 at the MTNA National Conference. In this conversation, Elizabeth traces the winding path from classical performance training to composing: a church worship team that needed a keyboard player, a kindergartner who loved Super Mario Galaxy, and a willingness to say yes to things that felt far too big. She shares her composing process, her approach to teaching students to improvise through video game character archetypes, and why she believes that doing the small thing in front of you is almost always the right move. If you've been sitting on a creative idea and wondering if it's too late, this episode is for you. Topics covered: * The origin story of Saga Land and Saga Land 2 * How a church worship team unlocked Elizabeth's composing career * Her process for writing pedagogically grounded, emotionally alive music * Teaching students to improvise using video game character archetypes * The Pixels to Piano camp curriculum * What it's like to work with a publisher after years of self-publishing * Community, professional leadership, and the value of local teacher networks * Advice for teachers just starting out: any small start is still a start Links & Resources elizabethswiftpiano.com | Alfred Music: alfred.com | Facebook: elizabethswiftcomposer | Instagram: @elizabethswiftpiano 🌊 Connect with us: * Join a supportive community for teachers & creatives at the Fons Family Facebook Group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/fonsfamily] a supportive community for teachers & creatives * Follow on Instagram: @getfons [https://www.instagram.com/getfons] * Learn more about Fons [https://www.fons.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=440_launch] * TikTok: @getfons [https://www.tiktok.com/@getfons]

Anne Katherine Davis on MLT, Audiation, and the Science of Musical Thought

Anne Katherine Davis teaches piano from Mexico to students and teachers across the world.  Her approach is unlike what you’ll find in standard method books. Grounded in Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory, Anne is passionate about audiation: the idea that real musicianship is thinking in music, not about it. In this episode, she and Eric unpack why the 'eyes before ears' approach has dominated piano pedagogy for decades, what the science says about musical aptitude and its development window, and how movement, immersion, and variety are the real building blocks of musical fluency. Whether you're a curious piano teacher or a lifelong learner, this conversation is for you. Learn more about Anne's work here. Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/groups/theroterepertoireproject/] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/akdpiano] 🌊 Connect with us: * Join a supportive community for teachers & creatives at the Fons Family Facebook Group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/fonsfamily] a supportive community for teachers & creatives * Follow on Instagram: @getfons [https://www.instagram.com/getfons] * Learn more about Fons [https://www.fons.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=440_launch] * TikTok: @getfons [https://www.tiktok.com/@getfons]