Each Friday on this blog, I will share some of my favorite finds from the past week. I absorb a lot of content in Feedly so I’m looking forward to helping you as busy teachers see what’s worth checking out! You will find anything from teaching articles, podcasts, music news, recipes, favorite pieces, and more. I promise to try to keep it at 10 items or less!
I read about Julie Knerr’s idea of a mini-recital a few years ago and started doing a variation where I have 4-5 students play 4-6 pieces each. I ask only 4-6 family members attend due to space (I hold them in my studio) and make homemade cookies. Two to three recitals are held back-to-back on a Sunday afternoon, and it’s always worked beautifully. Julie does them when a student completes a book, but since I do several students at a time, I hold one per semester, and they play pieces they’ve recently mastered.
Enter Joy’s giveaway to win a free download of the new app Note Rush – hope I win!
6
Apparently, Tuesday was “Make-Music Day”. Who decides these things anyway? I never know until the day is here or passed. Find out how make music day got started.
A great article to include as a resource for parents.
9
I don’t drink a lot of pop, juice, or anything of the sorts. I’m a little bit of a purist and pretty much drink water and a single cup of coffee as my regular daily drink intake. I don’t like most flavored waters but have always enjoyed sparkling water as my extra “somethin’-somethin’.” I like the Italian San Pellegrino better than the French Perrier as far as plain sparkling water goes. Recently, however I discovered Perrier has a line of flavored (non-sweetened) sparkling waters in perfectly portioned 8-ounce cans. My favorite is the orange followed by the grapefruit. The lemon-lime one tasted too much like cleaning product for my palate. (F.Y.I. My Walmart only carried the grapefruit but I found the orange and lemon-lime at Meijer).
10
Dutch-Russian pianist Daria van den Bercken often shares her beautiful Baroque performances on the road…and in the air, literally. The streets of Amsterdam never had it so good! (Note: I’m sharing a series of Daria’s videos culminating in her Ted Talk. You can watch all the videos below in under 20 minutes. Indulge your time and absorb yourself in the whole perspective of her entrepreneurial way of sharing music with the world!)
I saw this video a few years ago on social media – Handel hits the road! I love the final words in the video of a bystander “You have just made my day.”
Here she is flying high while serenading the people of Sao Paul Brazil with Handel. Not sure if I would want to be in the crowd directly below a flying grand piano! Yikes!
An unpretentious house concert. Can we please start doing more of these? Hey, now that I think about it, it’s kind of like the mini-recitals I told you about above!
And the final culmination, her 9-minute Ted Talk “Why I Take the Piano on the Road…and In the Air.”
Happy weekend!
We’re celebrating my mom’s 60th birthday tomorrow. We held a 60th birthday card shower – she is the card Queen and LOVES sending cards, so we did a campaign to get 60 birthday cards send to her. She’s been like a giddy school girl running to the mailbox every day!
I love the quote we used at the bottom of the invitation:
“Never stop doing little things for others. Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts.” – Ritu Ghatourey
~Amy
1 Comment
I love the Hanon potato variations. What a creative idea!
I love the Hanon potato variations. What a creative idea!