The story behind "Penguin In A Floaty" (featuring Bradley Paul Clark) and the creation of Kids Learn Piano Live: Who is that Penguin In A Floaty and where did he come from?
First of all, a huge thanks to Bradley Paul Clark of BradleyClarkBand.com and all the kids at KidsLearnPianoLive.com for making Klopol come to life! You guys are so awesome!
Life Before Penguin
My name is Jamin and the last thing I thought the world needed was another music teacher, but I finally started Milestones Music reluctantly after seeing so many students turned off to music by old, frustrated, over-serious, teachers who demand that the destination for their students be 'concert pianist'. Hey, old man - not everyone wants to study the classics or cares to spend hours memorizing your acronyms and not every student cares to master every song in order in the 1 book you always sell them. Most people just want to play their favorite music and recreate the soundtrack of their life, and those people aren't any less entitled to enjoy the piano! Music teachers need to get over themselves and focus on student goals, but music lessons is one of the only industries where the seller gets to tell the customer what they want and then charge them for a product they can't use. Perhaps it's because most piano students are kids and the parents will keep paying as long as the 'professional' tells them that what their kid is getting is good for them.
So I hosted recitals like rock concerts and let the students pick their music. I edited and promoted student videos on the website and made unique play-along tracks for every single song. When a student was tired of a song, we moved on to something they'd be more likely to practice. Whatever it took to get the kids excited about music, I did it! And because I believe that student learning is more connected to admiration for a teacher than the information they teach, I genuinely cared about each student, their other activities, and supported them everywhere I could. I attended their sports games and school events and made myself available for questions and follow-up lessons throughout the week.
Birth of a Penguin
It was during a Milestones Music children's choir workshop where we were learning about song writing that, in normal let-the-students-lead fashion, I told the kids we could write a song about anything they wanted. One kid shouted out "A baby penguin!" followed by another, "Yeah - in a floaty!" Okay. Sure. Whatever will get the kids excited about the topic, I guess. Within the day, we had written Penguin In A Floaty and the kids loved it! Several of them went on to write other songs and share them with me. For all I knew, that was the end of the nameless penguin in a floaty.
Evolution of the Penguin
Within a year of opening Milestones Music, I was maxed out at 60 students and, in an effort to keep spreading the joy of music, I unsuccessfully attempted to franchise the company. As it turns out, it's really hard to find musicians who are also good teachers who also care about their students who will also take an interest in helping the student find their own path rather than mimic the teacher's. I wished my teachers well and let them go. I had to find a new way to spread the gospel of piano. That's when an old friend Mike Johnston told me about his site MikesLessons.com, where he was broadcasting interactive drum lessons to what seems to be thousands of drummers worldwide, and he genuinely cares about each of them who are brave enough to reach out to him. No one was doing that for piano.
I especially liked the model because of the price! In-person or Skype students pay hundreds or thousands of dollars each year on a weekly half-hour lesson, but Mike was able to provide hours of lessons each week for $20/month and still feed his family! So stealing (with permission) every idea that I could from Mike, I started LearnPianoLive.com for adults. After a ridiculous amount of adapting the program (note: pianos are not drums after all) the program was going great, but many students wanted a similar program for their kids too. Thus KidsLearnPianoLive.com was born. And when I asked the kids what should be our mascot, you know what they picked...a penguin...named "Klopol"! How do you even pronounce that? We held a contest to pick a better name, but it was almost unanimous: Klopol ("Claw-pull") would be the Kids Learn Piano Live front man.
Education of the Penguin
Old, crotchety piano teachers hate KidsLearnPianoLive.com. Probably in part because it happens on the internets and uses bright colors and prizes. Those kinds of teachers don't think it's a real music lesson unless it happens in an old lady's dusty living room and includes at least one exclamation of "No! You're doing it all wrong!" But I listened to each of the complaints...mostly ignorant. One did trouble me. Joe Gilman (a very un-boring teacher and world-class pianist) challenged me: "What if a student was going to become a concert pianist? Could they become that or know how to get there from your program?" Nope. Not yet. Students just show up to the lessons and learn their songs. There's no way for them to evaluate themselves or compare to other high-aspiring students the way they could in piano competitions with a traditional classical teacher.
Just a few months later I had purchased all the world's top classical piano programs and synthesized the skills and evaluations into a 12-level program that would become the world's first standards-based online piano school where students of all ages could track their progress and use an objective standard to evaluate their skill level. What else could we call this piano school other than "Klopol Academy"?! Of course, Klopol is the mascot and in the spirit of piano for everyone, he guides students through the levels of the piano dojo, awarding prizes all along the way until students complete level 12, earning their piano black belt and officially being named a "Super Piano Ninja" who is prepared for success as a freshman piano major at any music university.
Future of the Penguin
I have no idea what's in store for Klopol in the future. It's already been a better ride than I could have asked for! We'll see what the students want to do next. All I know is: if it's going to allow more people to get into music at a lower price and with more excitement, I'm going to find a way to make it happen! I just want to see people encouraged that they can learn piano and have fun doing it, and I want to challenge teachers to really up their game and lower their egos. I hope you enjoy Klopol's theme song:
Here's the original:
Here's the Sing-Along:
Here's just the Karaoke track: