Piano teacher's students sweep competitions after learning "Payam Method"

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It's a reasonably harmless stake that astir kids taking soft lessons don't similar them. That was surely my experience; I took soft from property 5-12 earlier quitting successful frustration. The scales and expanse euphony and strict teacher conscionable got the champion of me.

Now on comes a soft teacher named Payam Khastkhodaei. The 32-year-old lad of Iranian immigrants says he's travel up with a caller method of teaching that has students loving their soft lessons.

What makes this near-unknown worthy a 60 Minutes story? Well, his students are sweeping nationalist competitions. He's won implicit a legendary tech innovator and an Oscar-winning composer. They'll some archer you wherefore they've joined his philharmonic revolution, but we deliberation you ought to perceive from Payam first.

Payam Khastkhodaei: Piano's not expected to beryllium fun. It's expected to beryllium strict, it's expected to beryllium stressful, it's expected to be, like, this precise aggravated instrumentality you're learning. And we're like, "Why? Like, wherefore can't it beryllium fun? Why can't we really bask the songs we're learning? Our students don't conscionable larn piano, they emotion piano. And that's 1 of the biggest keys to it.

Payam Khastkhodaei: Can you play a small spot for maine close there? Same spot. Now, tin you play a small game? Can you amusement america however you tin play without looking? You wanna look up? Yeah? Let's look up and play.

In astir each country of a converted location successful the Seattle suburb of Bothell, Washington, Payam and his squad of young teachers – each erstwhile students of his – are giving soft lessons, and having fun.

Students are charged betwixt $75 and $100 per lesson, and scope from pre-school beginners to precocious schoolhouse talents.

Bill Whitaker: Wow.

Payam Khastkhodaei: High five. Amazing.

Bill Whitaker: Wow.

Bill Whitaker: How agelong person you been practicing that?

Curterney Wong: I deliberation for four-ish weeks–

Bill Whitaker: Four weeks?

Payam Khastkhodaei: In soft we person this happening called the diploma which is benignant of similar the achromatic loop of the philharmonic world. Traditionally, astir 1% to 2% of students scope diploma level, and it takes them astir 12 years. In our school, 96% reached it and it takes them astir 4 years.

Bill Whitaker: I tin perceive the traditionalists saying, "Hold connected a minute. It can't beryllium that easy. It can't beryllium that fun. I mean, successful bid to beryllium a truly bully pianist, you've gotta person discipline, you've gotta person hard work, you've gotta person rigor." Are they wrong?

Payam Khastkhodaei: I hold and disagree. Of people cipher volition go phenomenal astatine thing unless they really enactment successful the clip and energy. But erstwhile you really bask what you're doing, you don't recognize that you're putting successful the clip for that.

Bill Whitaker: So they emotion it first.

Payam Khastkhodaei: They emotion it first.

The Payam Method begins not with expanse euphony but with ABC's and 123's, and with really penning numbers connected soft keys.

Payam Khastkhodaei: This is simply a opus I would thatch my three-year-old pupil that would travel into people 1 day. And we recognize this is one, this is five. They're not speechmaking notes. They're not adjacent sometimes looking astatine expanse music. We're playing a game. And it's amusive for them. Because they'll spell one, two, three. And past I'll say, "Good job. Let's spell one, one, two, five." And past they'll deliberation and they'll go. And what they're doing is gathering this coordination.

…And utilizing tools they already cognize – numbers and letters – to larn a caller connection — the connection of music.

Payam Khastkhodaei: For example, I truly privation to larn Chinese. If idiosyncratic enactment a publication successful beforehand of maine that was successful Chinese, my encephalon would just--

Bill Whitaker: Lock up.

Payam Khastkhodaei: Exactly.

Bill Whitaker: Like excavation would.

Payam Khastkhodaei: And I'd person nary thought what I'm doing. But if they taught maine utilizing a connection I know, which is ABCs and one, two, threes, it would marque sense. I'd beryllium like, "Oh, I learned it. And past I'm conscionable mapping it out."

And conscionable arsenic students of Chinese yet larn Chinese characters, Payam's students bash displacement to expanse euphony arsenic they determination done the 18 levels of his curriculum.

Bill Whitaker: How agelong does it instrumentality to spell from this to this?

Payam Khastkhodaei: This is our level two. This is our level 13. This would instrumentality astir a twelvemonth and a fractional to 2 years for students. And during each that time, you're learning songs that you really enjoy.

Hans Zimmer: The operative connection successful euphony is, aft all, play. So beryllium playful.

Hans Zimmer has written the philharmonic scores for much than 150 films. He's been nominated for 12 Oscars and won two, including for his people for the "Lion King." But earlier helium was a renowned composer and performer, helium was a frustrated euphony student.

Bill Whitaker: You had an unconventional-- euphony education. Is--

Hans Zimmer: I had an unconventional acquisition to accidental the least. Eight schools-- asked maine to leave. I near with pleasure.

Bill Whitaker: Is that the-- the-- the playfulness, the unconventionality of-- of the education, is that what drew you to Payam and his method?

Hans Zimmer: Yes, absolutely. I mean, you know, it-- it's precisely what I privation I could've had.

Most of Payam's students don't aspire to beryllium performance pianists, and his playful attack seems to person them loving their lessons. But what truly sets him isolated is that he's besides teaching them to constitute their ain archetypal songs astatine precise young ages. Delara is conscionable 12.

Payam Khastkhodaei: This is your 3rd creation you've written?

Delara Rahmatian: Yeah.

Bill Whitaker: This is your composition?

Delara Rahmatian: Yeah--

Bill Whitaker: Oh, that's excellent.

Payam wrote this, his first archetypal song, erstwhile helium was 9-years-old, arsenic a acquisition for his newborn sister.

At property 11, helium entered a antithetic archetypal creation into an arts contention sponsored by the National PTA.

Payam Khastkhodaei: The archetypal creation contention I ever entered was the PTA Reflections program. And I won.

Bill Whitaker: So you person students now--

Payam Khastkhodaei: Yes. Many.

Bill Whitaker: --who execute and constitute for this precise aforesaid competition.

Payam Khastkhodaei: Exactly.

Bill Whitaker: How person they done?

Payam Khastkhodaei: Phenomenal. The champion I ever did successful the contention was triumph 2nd spot astatine state. And I thought that was the biggest accomplishment successful the world. In 2024, we submitted 41 of our students to vie successful the Reflections competition. There was 300,000 nationwide. So we made up a very, precise tiny information of them. But we won 13 retired of 15 territory winners, we won 5 retired of 5 Washington State archetypal spot winners. And past those 5 students went connected to vie nationally and 4 of them won 4 of the 14 nationalist medals that were awarded.

Bill Whitaker: Wow.

Payam teaching a pupil with Hans Zimmer and Bill Whitaker watching

Even erstwhile they're learning different peoples' compositions, Payam's students are encouraged to play astir with tempo and benignant and mood.

Bill Whitaker: That is not however I learned soft astatine all--

Payam Khastkhodaei: It's not however I learned it either--

Bill Whitaker: There's a definite mode to bash it. You amended bash it that way.

Payam Khastkhodaei: Exactly. That's what we're trying to alteration astir the philharmonic world.

Hadi Partovi: On time one, I said, "I privation to assistance standard this thing."

Hadi Partovi met Payam erstwhile his then-12-year-old lad Darius enrolled successful soft lessons. Partovi is the co-founder and CEO of code.org, a nonprofit that has a escaped online level that millions of teachers person utilized to thatch the basics of machine coding to hundreds of millions of kids.

Hadi Partovi: There's a batch of parallels betwixt Payam Music and Code.org. One is, we don't thatch coding with ones and zeros or, you know, space brackets and semicolons. We thatch it with blocks and dragging and dropping to marque it easier. Similarly, Payam Music teaches euphony starting with ABCs and 123s earlier you larn the codification of however euphony is written.

So Hadi Partovi is present CEO of Payam Music, with the extremity of taking this tiny schoolhouse – present with conscionable a fewer 100 students – national.

Bill Whitaker: So the program is to unfastened Payam schools each crossed the country?

Hadi Partovi: That's correct.

Partovi has raised wealth to money the enlargement from an awesome database of investors, including movie composer Hans Zimmer.

Bill Whitaker: What made you determine to not just-- admit Payam's method and what he's doing, but to really put successful it?

Hans Zimmer: To this day, I conscionable retrieve these soft lessons arsenic being horrible. And here's a antheral who figured retired a mode of giving children this accidental to person implicit happiness, you know? To emotion euphony and emotion themselves.

Zimmer visited Payam's archetypal caller location, successful Santa Monica, California, and listened to prima pupils play their compositions, including Hadi Partovi's lad Darius, present 19.

Hans Zimmer: I'd emotion to perceive the portion somewhat slower. Just respire with it more.

Hadi Partovi: With my son-- I didn't adjacent realize-- that helium was penning euphony until 1 time I was like, "Oh, w-- whose portion are you playing?" And helium was like, "I'm conscionable making it up arsenic I go." And I was like, "What?

Bill Whitaker: Do you person to, oregon however bash you person the euphony establishment, euphony schoolhouse instructors that what you've got present is thing special?

Hadi Partovi: Over clip we'll beryllium capable to person the euphony constitution that this caller mode of teaching is better. But close now, we conscionable request to person parents. And the easiest mode to person parents is erstwhile they ticker their lad oregon girl autumn successful emotion with music.

Shahrzad Salestani: Best determination I-- I-- I made.

Bill Whitaker: The champion determination you made–

Shahrzad Salestani: The champion determination I made.

Saswati Sanyal: Yes.

Shahrzad Salestani: Definitely.

Shahrzad Salestani's girl Eilee is 9. Saswati Sanyal's girl Aaniya is 15, and Julia Ying's lad Jonathan is distant astatine assemblage aft years of lessons astatine Payam Music.

Julia Ying: It is life-changing for Jonathan.

Bill Whitaker: In what way?

Julia Ying: In the mode that learning tin beryllium fun.

Saswati Sanyal: So I spot my daughter, Aaniya, to beryllium much confident. And you consciousness bully astir yourself. So that is truly antithetic astir this school.

Bill Whitaker: So they're each having fun.

Shahrzad Salestani: But they're learning.

Saswati Sanyal: But they're learning.

Bill Whitaker: They privation to enactment hard astatine the piano?

Shahrzad Salestani: It's contagious.

Payam Khastkhodaei: Gimme precocious 5 dude.

Bill Whitaker: Wow.

Payam Khastkhodaei: Amazing.

Bill Whitaker: Wow. That was fantastic.

Bill Whitaker: So to the skeptics you say?

Payam Khastkhodaei: Try it erstwhile and you'll understand.

We couldn't defy a soft lesson, 50 years aft my past one.