The Fourforty (440) with Eric Branner

"What's your philosophy on teaching?" After an adult student unexpectedly asked me this question, I realized that after nearly 30 years of teaching, my answer had very little to do with any particular method. In this episode, I explore growth mindset, deliberate practice, curiosity, culture, artistry, and why ultimately I’m less interested in creating “good guitarists” than in helping people become curious, expressive, engaged human beings. 🌊 🌊 Connect with us: Join a supportive community for...

Connor Chee made his Carnegie Hall debut at 12, trained at Eastman and the University of Cincinnati's Conservatory, and was on track to be a concert pianist. Then he went home to Arizona, reconnected with his grandfather, a Navajo Hataalii (healer and medicine man) who carried hundreds of traditional chants in memory, and started arranging them for piano. This inflection point became a career: five albums, a commission honoring the Navajo Code Talkers, and a growing catalog of piano works, in...

If traditional marketing avenues don't feel wonderful to you, if daily posting feels exhausting, if asking for referrals feels awkward, this episode is for you. Eric shares a personal framework built from two decades of teaching and building MakeMusic Studio (formerly Fons): the most effective marketing strategy for most music teachers isn't a strategy at all. It's caring, rabidly and voraciously, about the people you already serve. Eric tells the stories about how single moments of care ripp...

John Kozicki quit a marketing career and a touring band to teach guitar. He then built two music schools around a single conviction: students play longer, learn more, and have more fun when they're playing with other people. John is the founder of Michigan Rock School in Oakland County, Michigan, and the host of the Rock School Proprietor Podcast. He's built two schools from the ground up, operated both, and sold one. Today he runs a year-round band program, coaches at least one band a week...

In this solo episode, Eric shares three things that have been on his mind. First, the story of Fons becoming MakeMusic Studio, from a 2016 studio management platform built for his own guitar students, through the years of growth, becoming part of the Peaksware brand family, and what the rebrand means for the community who uses it. Second, an encouragement for joining a professional organization, even if you've been on the fence. Eric shares the immense value of being together with your people...