I don’t agree with rigid timing and minimizing of music teacher talk time. To be fair, I have listened to some music teachers talk (yell, whine, gossip, etc.) and agree that the less they talk, the better off the class would be, and that’s a shame. On the other hand, talking is certainly a part of effective teaching, and talking is one of the ways teachers inform, encourage, inspire, and...educate. If you have a desire to talk in your music classrooms and you’re worried you may talk too much about something, then just plan it into your lesson as a part of the lesson. Your metric, as always, is how much learning occurs. You’re the teacher.