This post is a visual guide that follows up on a two-part podcast episode series published on The Piano Pantry Podcast in December 2023 on utilizing forScore app features.
In those episodes, I gave a lot of details and described basic features that I thought were important for users to know. As a visual person, I realized it might be helpful to follow up the verbal descriptions with some supporting visuals.
If you have never heard of ForScore, it is a digital sheet music app for iPad, iPhone, and Mac. It’s more than just a place to savedigital sheet music, though. (In fact, I recommend still keeping master copies of your digital scores in your file manager).
You can create setlists, annotate directly on the music, rearrange, delete, and duplicate pages, enable half-page turns, jump in the score with a touch of a button, and more. The features of forScore are extensive.
It is so sad to hear of Susan Paradis’s passing. Susan was a gem in the early world of online content for piano teachers.
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In early May, a new ruling by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will go into effect, putting a cap on late credit card fees.
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I’ve gone back and forth on keeping energy/snack bars in the house and haven’t had any in a while. In preparation for last month’s ‘MTNA conference, though, I grabbed some and found a couple of new favorites!
Welcome to a special edition of Friday Finds! I thought it would be fun to follow the 2024 Music Teacher National Conference in Atlanta with a list of announcements, favorite new products, and special features. (Thanks to all the teacher friends who sent me items to add to the list! You know who you are! 🙂
Let me know in the comments which item(s) you are most excited about!
Effective July 1, 2024, Brian Shepard has been named MTNA’s new CEO. Shepard began his career at MTNA in 2003 as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations. In 2008, he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer.
There will be a free webinar on Tuesday, April 23, @ 1:00 pm EDT for those who want to “get an overview of the exam requirements, explore fun ways to prepare, and learn how to get started.
“Friends at Last: Tuneful Rote Pieces for the Beginning Pianist is a collection of ten rote pieces woven into a story about what it means to be a friend. This format is perfect for a recital performance with a narrator telling the story and a group of beginning pianists performing the pieces. It is also provides supplemental repertoire for Piano Safari Friends and Repertoire Book 1.”
This a delightfully light and flavorful egg salad recipe for you to try this week. I love the swap of avocado and cottage cheese for what would traditionally be mayonnaise, and the small amount of corn and dried tomatoes gave it a nice twist!
My husband and I, though, have to eat our egg salad on some good sturdy wheat crackers. The lettuce bed doesn’t bring joy to our palette. 🙂
I’m excited to announce that registration is now open for Organize Your Life With Notion, a 2-day online workshop with Joy Morin and myself!
If you’re tired of having your life scattered across multiple websites and productivity apps and would love to see everything you manage on one beautiful dashboard, this workshop is for you!
My friend Joy Morin of ColorinMyPiano.com and I have both been using Notion (an awesome productivity and note-taking app) for several years now and aren’t exaggerating when we say it has changed our lives.
We’ve become pretty passionate about all the ways we’ve utilized Notion to make our lives easier as independent teachers and now are teaming up to offer this special live shop to pass along these methods.
In this 2-day live event, we will help you build a custom, personalized digital workspace in Notion and, in turn, revolutionize the way you work in 2024. (Replays will be available for 6-months.)
You’ll get access to a starter pack of Notion page templates built by us, including things like a prospective student inquiries tracker, student curriculum notes, a studio communication calendar, a tax preparation checklist, and more.
If you would like to hear a little more from us on how Notion has impacted the way we work, join us for a Live Chat on Instagram on Monday, February 19 @ 1:15 pm Eastern.
Over the holidays, I finally traded out my worn OXO Pop-Top Containers for these Pro-Keeper Storage Containers. I especially love that the lids are attached, and there are bonus features like a clay brown sugar keeper, flour leveler, and powdered sugar shaker.
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One of my consulting clients launched a podcast for piano parents! Musical Life Podcast.
One way Chrissy mentioned in her post was to use it for music theory – if you’re interested in utilizing it in that way, you might want to check out the large compilation of leveled music theory videos available here on PianoPantry.com.
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I’m a huge Ina fan and really enjoyed this interview:
When we traveled to see friends in the Netherlands last year, they shared with us a little about how the Dutch show their emotions a lot differently than Americans. I randomly came across this article, which nails it on the head. It’s really quite interesting!
Would you like to have another fun musical assignment you can use both in your lessons and to assign for at-home practice, especially for your littles? Expressive movement videos might be a perfect addition to your teaching mix.
Expressive movement takes from philosophies like Dalcroze and gets students moving to music in a way that reflects the patterns, form, and expressive quality of the music.
I first shared about these videos in a full blog post in 2022, which includes a compilation of 15 videos I found on YouTube.
Today, I’m expanding on that post to bring you a free downloadable resource to help you assign these videos to students during the week.
This file will be most useful for those who are using a digital practice app that will allow you to bulk-load assignments using CSV files. Don’t worry, though; even if you don’t use an online app, you could still use this spreadsheet to copy and paste text to create your own assignments.
Years ago, one of my go-to sites for games and activities was Jennifer Fink’s Pianimation. Unfortunately, the site is now closed, but I continue to use several of her resources, including a set of “Listening Race Cards.”
I’ve used these cards for years but always felt a few elements were lacking in the original set that I wanted to include – such as the terms Duple vs. Triple when talking about a meter and more generalized terms, such as loud vs. soft and separated vs. connected for my very beginners.
So, thanks to her inspiration, I decided it was finally time to make my own set.
