The AKG K52 has an automatically-adjusting head band that fits nicely to any size head whether it’s a 6-year-old or a 16-year-old. The sound is amazing, and the over-ear, closed-back design helps keep the sound of the other piano student in the room out while students do their music lab. Totally worth the money.
I’ll never forget that day. I was at the 2017 MTNA Conference in Baltimore, Maryland when I got a text from a good friend letting us know that a big announcement would be made at our church that Sunday. It sounded really, really serious.
Since I wouldn’t be there, I called him immediately and was shocked to hear that our Senior Minister, who had been with nearly 30 years, was being let go. (The nitty-gritty of the reason why, of course, is not pertinent to this story, so we’ll skip over those details.)
After hanging up the phone, my next outing at the conference was brunch with my good friend (and author of The Varsity Musician’s Playbook), Christina Whitlock, and Wendy Stevens. Bless their hearts, they were very sympathetic to my blubbering shock at the information I had just received.
That is one of my life moments I will never forget.
Fast-forward just over a year. It’s now the summer of 2018.
Our church was going through a formal “transition” process with a company called Interim Pastor Ministries. It was a long process, but the results were well worth it in the end.
During this time, a person in our congregation who had been a worship leader in a previous career had been filling in as our worship leader. After a year he was ready to step down, but our church still had not hired a new pastor and wanted to wait until the new pastor came before hiring other staff.
Thus, I was next in line as the most obvious person to ask to lead the worship team.
This is another one of those life-moments where it throws you a complete curveball.
MY plans for 2018-2019 were to vamp up my work here on Piano Pantry, open up a shop, etc. His plans were otherwise, however, and I am so glad I took the fork in the road.
The Job Situation
Since this was a temporary situation and I already had a job playing for a small Lutheran church in our town, the elders wanted to ensure I did not have to quit my job to take on this role. Thus, it was set up that I was the “coordinator” of the team, not necessarily the weekly “up-front” worship leader.
My duties included scheduling the team, choosing music, putting together all the chord charts and sound files, and rehearsing the band and vocalists every Thursday night and Sunday morning. (Plus all the other little things that get wrapped up into it that you can’t really articulate).
On Sunday mornings, I would arrive at our church at 7:00 am to prep, rehearsed the worship team from 8:00-9:15, left to play at the Lutheran Church at 9:30 (while our worship team led the 9:30 service), then came back and attended our 11:00 service with my husband.
Every 6 weeks or so, I would take a week off from the Lutheran Church (I just recorded the music for them on a Yamaha Clavinova) and would lead worship at my church. Otherwise, we had 3-5 team members we rotated as worship leaders from week to week.
It’s been a whirlwind, but the past 11 months has taught me a lot as it’s been a new and unique experience for me. The only other time I’ve been in charge of music in a church was for two summers after I graduated high school. I moved out of my parent’s house and lived with my aunt and uncle so I could lead music at my uncle’s small church. That was 20 years ago though, and things have changed quite a bit!
This week is my last week in this role and I thought it might be nice to share with you some of the things I learned not only so you might glean some tips, but as kind of a final recap for myself mentally.
It’s that whole “putting a period on the end of a sentence” thing in life where you mark the end of one venture before moving onto another.
Here are a few things I’ve learned over the past year:
1) Appreciate the person who is leading.
Just like a lot of things in life, it’s easy to nit-pick and finds fault if things aren’t exactly the way you would like them. We tend to like things catered to our exact tastes.
There is so much more that goes into the role of worship leader – I had no idea. I learned that I need to appreciate the person who is in that role more and be positive and supportive of that person, even if their “style” or the way they operate things is not exactly the way I would do things.
2) Plan with Planning Center Services
Planning Center is a website for churches focused on managing different areas of the church such as member databases, check-ins for child programs, church event management, and so much more.
One of those areas is Planning Center Services which is designed to organize all things worship-team including team schedules, weekly planning, and file-sharing. We have our own song database, can organize our songs with tags and can see a history of when and how often we’ve done each song. I don’t know what I would have done without it!
Planning Center Services also has a sheet music app called Music Stand that links to your P.C.S. account and syncs your Order of Service playlist so it will create a setlist from your service order. The best part is that if you make any updates to the files, it will automatically update in Music Stand as well.
It even has the ability to connect everyone’s iPad on the team to one “session” so one person can turn everyone’s page at the same time. (This feature never worked for us quite the way we wanted but it’s still a cool feature!)
Just as continuing education is important no matter how seasoned the teacher is, so is revisiting and refreshing areas of our studios such as websites, policies, and awards every few years.
If it’s been more than 5 years since you’ve considered whether or not you could make some improvements to your year-end awards program, now is probably a good time!
For me, it’s been eight years, and I was starting to notice a few things I wasn’t happy with, so that was my clue it was time.
Today, I’ll be sharing some of my changes, which include updating the progression of awards students receive for their years of study as part of the MTNA Music Study Award program, as well as the physical trophies. I changed trophy companies, and I am very happywith the results.
I’ll also share a few details on four new awards I started giving out, including a “Master Musician” award, a “Legacy” award, and most mastered and memory pieces.
But first, if you haven’t read the original post (Studio Awards: Policies and Procedures), you might want to do that first, as it includes more in-depth details on the types of awards I give (including more details on the MTNA Music Study Award), and how to track and keep it organized from year to year.
People Magazine is not my idea of a regular reader, but I have two stories from People to highlight this week.
First, I’m a huge fan of Ina Garten but this Ina-themed Bachelorette Party kind of freaks me out. Mostly the photo where they all dressed like her. Weird.
Second, my husband’s niece just graduated high school and for her Senior Prom, her date MADE her prom dress. The story was not only featured in the June 2 edition of People Magazine, but it made news in the Daily Mail of the UK!
Part of me loves this but part of me wants to curl up in a bawl and scream…
“Stop making us have to grow and improve every moment of our lives! Sometimes we just need to live life and do summer and not have to have a 12-step plan for getting better at everything in life!”
Rant over.
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An article to use in your upcoming newsletter to parents regarding the importance of keeping up a practice routine – especially through the Summer months! (This goes for teachers as well 🙂 )
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Do you have a certain phrase you tend to use the most right of the bat at the beginning of lessons? Mine more often than not (after greeting the student and asking how their week has been) is something along the lines of…
“What did you work on or focus on most this week?”
“What was your favorite piece?”
“Is there anything particular you would like to share with me about your time at the piano this week?”
Here are 21 more phrases gathered by the Curious Piano Teachers.
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The 2020 MTNA Collegiate Symposium is going to be held right here in my own state of Indiana and at my alma mater, Ball State University! Mark your calendar to attend!
I handle my materials fees similar to the way Spring Seals describes in this article and completely agree with the reasons she states why it works.
The only small difference in the way I do it is rather than charting a flat amount per year, I charge $60 per student when they start and then when their account falls below $5 I ask them to recharge $60 again. This could happen at any point of the year. I just keep a spreadsheet for each student so I know what books I’ve given them and how much I’ve spent per students
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Today is the last day to take advantage of the 50% Trade-in-offer from AirTurn. I mailed out my old Bluetooth pedal today in exchange for a new one. It’s a great deal!
This past weekend was my student’s Spring Recital. It always feels so good to see my students and realize how far they’ve come from the previous year!
Having a recital as the final event at the end of the school term is kind of like a period at the end of a sentence. It’s a final statement of what’s been said while also being an invitation for what’s ahead.
It’s the end of the school year and I’ve been trying to Spring Clean my studio. One purchase I made to help tidy a little more is a 32 x 31 Portfolio Case to hold my extra poster boards and the thick foam boards I use for my One Minute Club sign.
The sole is made of rubber but the upper portion is made of Yoga mat material and is really comfortable. They also have a bit of arch support in them which makes them a winner in my book.
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Still looking for a fab gift for your favorite graduate?
One of the best gift packages I’ve come up for a special graduate was a package with these three items.
If you haven’t already had the conversation with yourself yet on whether or not you will be raising your tuition for 2019-2020, check out these two articles from Wendy Steven’s as well as the cool Inflation Calculator she recommends.
They will draw a winner on June 3. The odds are looking pretty good as there are only 21 entries so far!
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“Do what you know. Finish what you started. Use what you have.”
This is an excellent statement that I want to be part of my life’s mantras. I’m pretty good at the last one, OK at first, and not always so good with the middle one. :-/
A Better Way to Freeze Bacon. Hmm, I’ve never tried this. I often will lay the individual pieces out on wax or freezer paper in layers so they will defrost quickly. Has anyone tried the rolling method they mention?
It was only a few months ago that I discovered LaCroix. I have no idea how far behind I am in that, but oh well, I know the product now and love it – mostly. Actually, only a few. I love the Pure (no flavor) and the Orange. The Berry flavor is OK but Cran-Raspberry is awful. Apparently, there’s a new Hibiscus flavor now.
“Decomposed breaks down the stories that have shaped classical music, from secrets and scandals to acts of sheer genius. Hear these stories accompanied by the symphonies, operas and other masterpieces they inspired. Hosted by Jade Simmons, a classical concert pianist and storyteller, the first season of Decomposed takes on gender expectations, Cold War propaganda and the danger of putting your personal life on the stage. Produced in partnership with Classical Minnesota Public Radio.”
Today’s featured photo is the piano teacher family tree I give to each one of my students when they join my studio. I updated it recently and am going to frame it along with a photo of me with my two most recent teachers.
Unfortunately, as you can see, I can’t remember the last name of one of my teachers! She was a college music major I studied with for a couple of years. Someday it will come back to me!
My piano teacher when I was in grad school at Ball State, Dr. Lori Rhoden gave this piano teacher heritage list to all her students. She studied with Dr. Maurice Hinson who is the one that did all the research.
How cool is that when you can tell your students they are the great, great, great, great, great grandstudent of Beethoven?
Organizing a studio recital involves many different aspects beyond student repertoire preparation. I’m sure many of us have stories we can tell about the lessons we learned in our first few years of recital planning.
One of the first lessons I learned was to put up some kind of signage, especially when the recital is not in the same location every year.
Is it a necessity? No.
Can people eventually find their way to the recital hall or auditorium? Yes.
So why use direction signs?
If you’ve ever attended a graduation party, baby shower, or conference, I’m sure you will agree that the minute you see a sign indicating you are in the correct location, you breathe a sigh of relief.
It’s comforting not to wonder if you’re in the correct location or to search for where you’re going. Relieving this slight anxiety for your audience will make a great first impression and add a professional touch with little effort. All it takes is a few signs posted around the building where the recital is being held.
Get this Freebie
This free download includes nine different signs. They are intentionally designed in a simple, no-frills format to be used for any studio and recital. Enjoy!
Consider taking your signage a step further and purchasing a yard sign you can reuse from year to year with your studio logo that says “Recital Here” or something generic that could be used for any kind of performance(s) you organize in your studio! I’ve not done it yet myself, but I love the idea!
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The headphones I wish I had purchased for my keyboards and music lab time 7 years ago.
It’s the end of the school year and I’ve been trying to Spring Clean my studio. One purchase I made to help tidy a little more is a 
Summer is upon us and my Amazon shopping cart also housed my second pair of these 
Still looking for a fab gift for your favorite graduate?
One of the best gift packages I’ve come up for a special graduate was a package with these three items.
