My Perfect Homemade Student Christmas Gift: Hot Cocoa

November 15, 2021
by Amy
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If there’s one type of gift you will likely never see me give students, it’s a hand-made craft. Don’t get me wrong; there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those types of gifts – I think they’re fabulous. I am just a TERRIBLE crafter!

Luckily, we have Joy Morin at ColorinMyPiano.com for those types of student gifts. 🙂 She has many great homemade ideas on her site, including paper ornaments, glass ornaments, and mittens.

What my students WILL get from me is some kind of baked good or food item. My favorite is a homemade hot chocolate mix because what kid doesn’t love hot chocolate?!

Let’s pause for an important question.

Do you call it “Hot Cocoa” or “Hot Chocolate”?

I usually say, “Hot Chocolate.” I only used “Cocoa” in the title because it was shorter. Ha! LOL

Tell me what you call it in the comments! 🙂

This post will show you how to put together this fun homemade gift!

Recipe Considerations

Since I’m not exactly a recipe website, I’m not sharing the recipe directly but have recommended ones online you can use (like I do!)

My favorite recipe is from Cook’s Country, but since it’s a paid recipe service, here are some other versions you could try from Pioneer Woman and AllRecipes. 

Consider recipes made with powdered milk, so students only have to add hot water.  Along those same lines, I would advise you to not do the layered-type cocoa mix where you have to dump the whole container into a pot to mix.

What all these recipe mixes have in common:

  • Dry milk powder
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Confectioner’s sugar (dissolves better than white sugar)

(P.S. The only addition to this Cook’s Country is white chocolate chips and a bit of salt.)

Since the Cook’s Country recipe uses white chocolate chips, they have you mix the recipe in a food processor to get the chips into smaller pieces so they will dissolve better/quicker.

Unfortunately, this happens when you process dry powder stuff in a food processor. It’s a blustery mess! LOL

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Music-Themed Bookmarks for Student Christmas Gifts

November 15, 2021
by Amy
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What are some of the most typical Christmas gifts for students you can think of?

Ornaments, candy, and hand-crafted goodies likely came to mind, am I right?

In this post, Christmas Gift Ideas for Music Students: Who Couldn’t Use Another Idea even, I shared many ideas in these same gift categories (well, except hand-crafted because that is not me!).

In this post, I want to share an idea that I had never considered giving as a student Christmas gift until I learned magnetic bookmarks were a thing!

Magnetic Bookmarks

I don’t know how long magnetic bookmarks existed before I discovered them, but whoever invented them must be the most brilliant person ever. Ha! OK, I exaggerate, but how smart is that?!

When I saw these music-themed magnetic bookmarks on Amazon, I thought they could make the perfect gift!

At $3.95 per pack, they are admittedly on the pricier side of a student gift, but if time is a highly valued commodity as opposed to cost or if you have a smaller studio, these would be fun to give out.

They might even be something different you could do for your adult students vs. your younger kiddos.

Another option would be to not necessarily give each student a whole pack but simply lay them out and let each student choose one.

You could put together a little goody bag and include 1-4 of these, a music-themed pencil, and some candy. Done!

Bookmark/Ornament?

Three years ago, I gave my students a metal treble clef bookmark, but I thought they were ornaments at the time of purchase. Oops! Ha!

The tassel means they actually could function in this manner, though. At $13.00 for a pack of 10, you can’t go wrong with such a cute, economical gift!

These bookmarks on Amazon are listed as wedding favors, packaged in a cute little box. Here’s another set I found but haven’t given out myself (yet!).

Don’t forget Etsy is always a great play to look for students’ gifts, including music bookmarks!

If you want more ideas, check out this Christmas Gift Round-Up post.

 

Have you ever given your students musical bookmarks? If so, share links in the comments!

 

Friday Finds #234: Thanksgiving-Style

November 12, 2021
by Amy
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1

Even though we’re approaching Thanksgiving, as music teacher’s we’ve already started on Christmas music. Here’s a great post from Janna Williamson: How to Teach Holiday Music.

P.S. She recommends my new Christmas By Ear book as part of her first tip!

 

2

It’s time to cue up our Thanksgiving listening playlist! Mine is Thanksgiving playlist is public on Spotify which means you can enjoy it as well! Here’s a sneak peek:

 

3

Thanksgiving piano music:

Now Thank We All Our God arranged by Leila Viss.

A Thanksgiving Prayer (elementary solo) by Wendy Stevens

 

4

As you know, the minute Thanksgiving is over, the world moves onto the Christmas/giving season. As you consider where you might be able to give even amidst rising prices in our own lives, consider these 10 Music-Based Organizations on #givingtuesday.

 

5

Our book club selection of the month is Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist.

I’m only a few chapters in, but I can say without a doubt, it is a great book to be reading this season!

I can’t believe it was published in 2013 and I am just now reading it.

This book speaks to my soul so much! Highly recommended!

 

6

Eight Thanksgiving-themed games activities from Susan Paradis.

My two favorites from her I pull out every year at this time are Chasing the Turkey and Save the Turkey

 

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From my kitchen to yours, here are some of my favorite holiday recipes, music, kitchen gadgets, and more. 

 

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For your group performance classes: Pumpkin pie listening thermometers

 

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Two songs I love to sing this time of year:

Come Thou Fount (I Will Sing) by Chris Tomlin. It beautifully combines the best of the timeless hymn with a contemporary bridge (I Will Sing).

This next song, written by Keith and Kristy Getty, focuses on spiritual blessings.

My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

 

 

Music Teacher Eats: A Week of Easy, Healthy Meals (Fall Edition)

November 10, 2021
by Amy
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Are you a piano teacher (or independent music teacher of any instrument?) 

Does the schedule of your occupation create obstacles in food planning/meals making you feel like you’re in a rut or frequently in “survival” mode?

Then, this post is for you!

Thanks to my good friend, Christina Whitlock, creator of the Beyond Measure Podcast, I’ve found a fun way to pull food fun into the mix a little more here!

Here’s a snippet into a text between the two of us several months ago (shared with permission 🙂 ).

Can you relate to her sentiments? 🙂

Thanks to her, I’m launching this new blog post series called “Music Teacher Eats: A Week of Easy, Healthy Meals”. You can look forward to a new edition of this series coming out at least once a season (fall, winter, spring, summer) and possibly even some holiday versions.

Before we continue, a few disclaimers:

First, I will do my best to meet Christina’s request of easy, healthy, and can be done in 30 minutes or less after teaching (assuming a little prep work has been done 🙂 – see the post: Food Prep and the Studio Schedule for more on that!)

Second, as we all know, the words “easy” and “healthy” can mean completely different things to different people. I vow to do my best to take an overall general approach to both of these words and will also keep in mind that some of you (unlike me) may be serving families with kids.

Third, all of the recipes I suggest here are ones that I have tried and love. I may not be a recipe website, but I cook A LOT and am really picky about quality recipes. Rest easy that everything I share today is a recipe worth keeping. 

Fourth, while I cook a LOT from the subscription sites America’s Test Kitchen and Milk Street, I avoided including recipes from them. (It was hard though because their recipes are soooo good!) All recipes included can be found for free online.

I hope you find something in this suggested weekly meal plan that’s new, exciting, and most importantly, useful in easing the burden of meal planning as a studio music teacher!

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Food Prep and the Studio Schedule

November 4, 2021
by Amy
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Are you wondering why in the world you’re seeing a food post on a piano teacher blog? 

Well, first of all, if you don’t know me already, besides piano teaching, one of my life passions is cooking.

Second, we eat, right?

Third, as we can all attest, the schedule of the independent music teacher can make mealtime a struggle – especially if you have a family. After school and early evening is prime time for both music lessons AND asking the universal question, “what’s for supper?” If you’re the person in your family who’s generally in charge of mealtime, this can make for a real struggle!

Today, I want to share with you my three biggest food prep tips for keeping your meal-time work efficient and organized. Then, when you walk out the door of your studio late in the evening, you can breathe easy knowing dinner will be ready in a jiffy.

Also, stay tuned for a new post series coming up called Music Teacher Eats for meal plan ideas that are easy, healthy, and quick to prepare!

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Friday Finds #233: Best of October

October 29, 2021
by Amy
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1

A Holiday Season Survival Guide for Piano Teachers (Mallory Byers | Alfred Music Blog)

 

2

If you’re an MTNA member with an established studio and teaching professionally for no more than three years, consider applying for the MarySue Harris Studio Teacher Fellowship. It’s a wonderful opportunity for new teachers and one I wish I knew about when I first started my studio.

 

3

You guys, I have developed a serious hobby of creating playlists on Spotify. My husband gets the biggest kick out of it. Over Fall break last week we traveled to Virginia Beach for a speaking session on digital management strategies I gave to a local group there. On the way home I created two: Indiana, My State, and Halloween.

 

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An Indiana town is wooing new residents with on-demand grandparents. (NPR) Is this absolutely beautiful or what?

 

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No time for Theory in piano lessons? Copy J.S. Bach’s time-saving approach! (Rebekah Maxner) Not the first time I’ve heard this idea but for some reason, Rebekah really made it come alive and really inspired me to start doing this.

 

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Contributor to MTNA’s *NEW* Quarterly Business Digest

October 25, 2021
by Amy
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Are you a member of MTNA (Music Teacher’s National Association)? If so, you may or may not have caught their most recent venture – a quarterly Business Digest!

 

The growth of MTNA’s business resources has been an important focus and implementation for current president Karen Thickstun.

One of the first projects (that I know of) was developing the Business Resources section of the MTNA website.

 

After Karen started her MTNA Presidency this past March, she passed the reigns on the new Email Business Digest to Beth Klingenstein.

You all likely know me well enough that piano teacher resources are the name of my game as I’ve been writing the weekly Friday Finds series since the blog started!

Thus, I have joined a team of several other teachers led by Beth to bring you this quarterly digest! 

I’m working on two sections: “Resource Gems” (along with fellow teacher Jennifer Walschap), and  “Technology Tips and Tools” (along with fellow teacher Jennifer Stadler)

I hope you will find these resources to be invaluable for running your own independent music studio!

If you’re not a member of MTNA, consider joining today!

Friday Finds #232: Music Staff Magnet Boards

October 22, 2021
by Amy
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1

On a recent “Your Questions Answered” post on what method and theory books I use, a reader shared in a comment about a resource she was using and loving called Easy Notes by Rebecca Wilson.

One of the tools in this series is a pretty cool magnet board which, after having a look myself on her recommendation, inspired this week’s finds. First of all, I thought it might be nice to hear directly from this reader on why she loves Easy Notes.

I have recently found and love Easy Notes by Rebecca Wilson (find it at wilbecks.com). There are two workbooks, as well as charming character magnet manipulatives. I have used mnemonics, not because I thought it was the way to go, but because I didn’t know there was a better way (yes, I use intervals some too).

Easy Notes teaches note names (four octaves) through stories. It’s simple and whimsical, and the students really like it. Most importantly, it is making a difference in their note reading.

I only happened upon her and her new creation when I watched a webinar. I think she’s from New Zealand. The workbooks used to be $10 each but are now $18 each, but I recommend the Easy Notes Teachers Kit (with Large Magnetic Stave) for $109.99. The Easy Note Student Kit (with Small Magnetic Stave) is $99.99, is fine, too, but I just like having more space between the treble and bass staff.

-Ginny G.

 

2

E-Z Notes

This was the first magnet board I purchased. I love that it’s compact, double-sided, and has multi-colored magnets that come along with it. I did find the space above and below the staff a bit cramped for teaching ledger line notes though.

Lots of other great resources available on this site as well.

 

3

After E-Z Notes, my next find for a magnet board was from Musical Escapades. Similar to E-Z notes, I like the compact size of the board and multi-colored magnets that accompany it. It’s not doubled-sided like E-Z notes but there is more space for ledger line notes.

I find both the E-Z Notes and Musical Escapades staff board magnets to be a bit small to manipulate but with the more compact size, that’s to be expected.

 

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MusicToolsLady.com, besides a staff magnet board she also has a great music note slider tool as well.

 

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Here are some really cool roll-up magnetic-backed boards!

 

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Many of these listed above as well as others are (of course!) available on Amazon.

 

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Want a cost-effective option? Check out Susan Paradis’s “do-it-yourself” version!

 

What am I missing? 

Do you have any other great music staff magnet board resources to add to the mix? Share in the comments!

Christmas Tunes to Harmonize: A Free Reference Sheet

October 18, 2021
by Amy
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One of the most downloaded free resources here on Piano Pantry is 147 Tunes to Harmonize: Traditional, Popular, and Christmas.

Due to the popularity of this download as well as the recent release of my new book Christmas by Ear: 8 Tunes to Harmonize, I thought now was a perfect time to share with you a FREE handy quick reference guide of Christmas tunes to harmonize!

Each of the 20 tunes included are well-known traditional ones that are in the public domain.

Often, students are happy to play only a portion of a favorite tune. While many Christmas tunes have a little more complicated harmonizations, sometimes the opening portion or the chords are more simplified. For this reason, a few are listed twice.

For example, you can harmonize the open two phrases of Deck the Halls using only tonic and dominant. Many’s students might get a kick out of being able to play even a few phrases of favorite tunes by ear without having to learn the whole thing!

Here are a couple of quick ideas on how you could use it:

  1. Pull it out when students forget their materials or haven’t practiced enough on their pieces.
  2. Practice harmonizing these tunes on your own to develop your own ear!
  3. Have students choose one piece off the list that they’re not learning as part of their Christmas repertoire and have them work on playing chords while they sing! One of my favorite first steps with students is to play root position chords in the RH and either chord roots or root octaves in the LH.

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Friday Finds #231: Playing By Ear

October 15, 2021
by Amy
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With this week’s launch of my new Christmas by Ear: 8 Tunes to Harmonize book, I thought it would be fitting for this week’s finds to continue on the theme of harmonizing and playing by ear. 🙂

P.S. There’s a 15% off launch celebration discount going on that will end on Oct. 26 so don’t delay in getting your copy!

 

1

Is Learning to Play by Ear Worth it? What the Best Piano Education Experts Really Think (Piano Picnic)

I, along with a lot of other wonderful online content creators, chimed in on this post a few years ago.

 

2

How Do You Play a Song By Ear? (Musical You)

 

3

I know playing by ear can be a hard topic – it’s something I struggle with every day myself. If we do anything with our students on playing by hearing though as piano teachers, let it be about them playing “Happy Birthday“.

Just this week I had one of my 6th-grade students excitedly tell me about how she gets to be part of the middle school show choir now. In their first practice, the teacher asked if anyone could play the piano. After stating she did, the class (of course!) asked her to play something. What did she play? Happy Birthday! She was SO PROUD she could sit down and do that!

Happy Birthday By Ear: The Ultimate Teaching Resource.

 

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3 First Pop and Rock Songs to Teach by Ear (Chrissy Ricker)

 

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How to Play Pop Tunes by Ear (Bradley Sowash)

 

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How to Simplify and Teach a Pop Song By Ear (Creative Piano Teaching Podcast #107)

 

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While I’ve had a small handful of students over the years that have incredibly strong ears for playing music by ear, this little guy is probably one of the best. He amazes me at every lesson! Hear him play “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in 12 keys.