Book of Student Compositions

July 3, 2018
by Amy
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Recently, when visiting my friend Joy Morin’s studio during her piano teacher retreat, I noticed a book of piano student compositions she had sitting in her waiting area and thought it was a fun idea!

Today I’m giving you a free printable of the binder cover I created for my own book so you can create your own as well!

Why a Book of Compositions?

A few students in my studio absolutely love composing. Luckily, our state MTA hosts a yearly composition festival called “Opus,” where students can submit a composition and receive feedback from a judge. The winner in each age category then gets their composition submitted to the MTNA Composition Competition for free and gets to perform their composition at the next state conference in the winners’ recital.

Students put so much time and effort into their pieces that displaying them keeps their work present and valued. It’s also a great way to help generate awareness of the Opus program and composing in general. Students could sit down at one of the studio keyboards and play through each other’s music!

Keeping it simple, I used a 1″ 3-ring binder. Each composition was printed and placed in plastic sleeve covers. Compositions that were winners got an award seal sticker on them and I wrote the year it was the winning composition.

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2017-2018 Speaking Schedule Reflections

June 28, 2018
by Amy
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This past year, I was blessed to have the chance to present to several local associations and state and national conferences. Until about three years ago, I found presenting terrifying, intimidating, and completely out of my reach.

Luckily, my inner drive, curiosity, and motivation didn’t let those feelings of fear and inadequacy stop me from giving it a shot. In return, speaking to other teachers is more rewarding than intimidating, energizing than terrifying, and more within reach to those who persevere (and continually polish those proposals, LOL).

Psst…If you’re interested in what I’ve learned along my presenting journey, check out the post Tips for Presenting: Tools, Resources, and a Pep Talk.

Let’s take a quick peek at those of you I was able to be with this past year!

First Applications of Music Learning Theory

My friend Joy Morin and I have been excited to get our first duo session out there. It’s exciting not only because it’s a session we put together and can present together but also because we’re able to share what we’ve been learning about applying Music Learning Theory in piano lessons.

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Facebook Live Studio Tour Wrap-Up

June 28, 2018
by Amy
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Earlier this week, I hosted a Facebook Live series that toured various areas of my piano studio.

If you missed it, you can still catch the videos on the Piano Pantry Facebook page. There were several blog posts and items I mentioned in the videos I’ve also linked for you below.

Many thanks for all the encouraging comments and feedback! Now that I’ve finally taken the plunge, I look forward to doing more Facebook Live videos!

Day 1

Studio layout/overview, workspace, student files, and how I organize my music. Click here to view the video.

Posts mentioned / related:

Other resources mentioned:

Day 2

A look into my teaching space and student music lab. Click here to view the video.

Posts mentioned / related:

Other resources mentioned:

Day 3

A look into my student space including incentive program, prize boxes, game drawer, practice charts and more. Click here to view the video.

Posts mentioned/related:

Other resources mentioned:

Article on Alfred Music Blog: Tips on Fostering Music for Life

June 26, 2018
by Amy
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My June article submission, Learning Music in a Quick-Fix Society: 7 Tips to Foster Music for Life for the Alfred Music Blog, is now live. Here’s a sneak peek:

The quick fix. Today’s society thrives on doing things bigger, better, faster. Timers are placed in fast-food drive-throughs, crash diets are a dime a dozen, and recipe videos are on fast-forward.

Music teachers may find themselves continually reminding families that learning an instrument is not just a summer or semester-long activity but an ongoing process that requires dedication, determination, and grit. Gentle conversations may occasionally be had regarding realistic expectations such as “no, playing Beethoven’s Für Elise is perhaps not an appropriate piece for a first-year student to be learning quite yet.”

Having information available at our fingertips in an instant has made it hard to not expect everything in life to function in the same way. Today I’m going to share with you seven ways we as music educators can create an environment for our students and families that fosters a sense of “music for life” in a society that values quick learning and information gathering.

1.  Assign rich and rewarding repertoire.

Beginning repertoire doesn’t have to be boring. It doesn’t even need to be just in major or minor or in a fixed position such as Middle C or C major. Keep your music library stocked with quality pieces that introduce students to all kinds of interesting sounds, tonalities, and meters. For piano students in particular, find music that explores the entire keyboard from the first lesson. Rote pieces are a wonderful way to allow students to experience exciting music beyond what they can read.

Continue reading this article on the Alfred Music Blog.

If you’re interested in checking out other articles I have written on Alfred Music Blog, they are:

Here are some other posts you might enjoy:

A Fountain of Joy

Personal Teaching Tweaks

Friday Finds #100 and Giveaway Winner

June 15, 2018
by Amy
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The day has arrived. Piano Pantry has officially posted 100 weeks of Friday Finds since first launching in March of 2016!

In celebration of this milestone, I posted a giveaway last week featuring an item that was a part of the Friday Find series. Thanks to all who entered to win Note Speed!

The winner (randomly selected by Rafflecopter’s generator) is Lynelle Vogel, who commented:

My older kids love to play NinGenius on iPads to work on note names.

Congratulations! I will be contacting to get your shipping details.

 

Friday Finds Breather

Before we proceed with this top 100 list, I just want to thank you for your excitement and energy over these weekly finds over the past 2+ years. You have been so enthusiastic and encouraging with so many stating it’s the one post/email they’re sure to catch every week.

That being said, I’m going to take a brief hiatus from this weekly post. I promise it will be brief and the series will return as I love writing it as much as you seem to love reading them.

There’s a lot going on in life right now – one of which many of you are aware. My husband and I are in the final stages of building a house (literally). We are (well, mostly he is) doing the majority of it on our own. We’re in the home stretch and I really need to let something go for the time being.

Promise me you’ll jump back in when I pick back up?

Awesome, thanks!

 

Friday Finds Top 100

 

I have gone back through every single F.F. post I’ve written to pull the best of the best for you here. With approximately eight finds per week, that’s 800 finds I’ve scoured.

How did I choose? First, anything that was specifically commented on by a reader was included. From there, I simply focused on posts that have affected me the most, have stuck in my memory, made an impact, or that I still use or find fascinating even today.

I’ve broken them down into 11 categories so if you prefer to check out a specific category of items you can jump around.  Enjoy!

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Friday Finds #99 (There’s a Giveaway!)

June 8, 2018
by Amy
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The clock is ticking as we inch closer and closer to Friday Finds #100!

Last week I gave you a heads up that this week’s post would include a giveaway with the winner being announced next week.

What’s up for grabs? You’ll have to read this week’s finds to find out at the bottom of this post!

1 – Wiki Updates

A new entry on collaborative piano has hit Wikipedia. This is great news!

2 – Blitz

Australian teacher Samantha Coates is releasing an interesting new series. Check out her introductory videos for BlitzBooks Rote Repertoire.

3 – Looking Good

I’m a little late in this, but congratulations to Susan Paradis on her newly-designed website! It looks fantastic!

4 – Swallowing Vitamins No More

My daily dose of goodness:

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Friday Finds #98

June 1, 2018
by Amy
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Last week, I let you know that we’re on a countdown to Friday Finds #100 here on Piano Pantry and that #100 would be a special (and big) one as it would feature my favorites finds from the past 100 weeks.

The big surprise I saved for you this week is that there will be a giveaway as part of our Friday Finds 100th birthday celebration!

Watch out – the giveaway will be posted next week on Friday Finds #99 and the winner announced on Friday Finds #100.

Stay-tuned!

 

1 – Sandal Heaven

I’m in love. Never, ever in my life have I bought a really good pair of sandals. Dress shoes for daily teaching, yes, but summer sandals, no.

This was the year though. I was tired of not being able to go a whole day in sandals without my feet hurting. I bit the bullet (seriously) and I am in heaven.

The America-made SAS sandal has just enough arch and heel support that my feet feel like they’re walking on air all day. This sapphire color caught my eye immediately. These babies are going to last me awhile (luckily I got them at a local shoe store for 15% off!).

 

2 – Food Associations

If only piano teaching were as easy as sliced apples.

 

3 – Tonic Games

After first hearing about this tonic game on Color in My Piano, it’s been on my purchase list. I’ve been trying to only purchase one new studio game item per season – an unspoken policy for myself that has been a great way to utilize what I have and focus on one new item at a time. This past year the new resource I utilized a lot was the TCW Rockin’ Rhythm:

Cover tiny file
look inside		 Rockin’ Rhythms
Composed by Laura Zisette, Charlene Shelzi & Kathleen Lloyd. Published by TCW Resources (KJ.TW617).

 

This summer, I can’t wait to utilize the new games I purchased from Scott at tonicmusic.com. Tonic: The Card & Dice Game for Musicians and Tonic: Theory Edition.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

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Friday Finds #97

May 25, 2018
by Amy
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You may have noticed that last week and this week’s Friday Finds posts have been titled by a number. What could that possibly mean?

As you may have suspected, the countdown is on until we reach Friday  Find #100 here on Piano Pantry. Keep an eye out because that week will be a special week which will feature my favorite finds from the past 100 weeks – it’ll be a big one!

Something else special is going to happen as well but I’ll save that announcement for next week just to keep you in suspense. 😉

Thanks for being here week after week. Knowing how much ya’ll love these makes me so happy! (P.S. I’m not from Texas or Oklahoma so “Y’all” is not part of my natural vocabulary in real life but sometimes it just seems feels fitting to use so why not?!)

 

1 – Sweet

Heading to Ethiopia anytime soon? This otherworldy restaurant would be incredible to check out.

 

2 – Elderflower, Amalfi, Lemon Curd

If you’ve followed any kind of news this past week then you likely know all about the Royal wedding. It seemed appropriate to share their GORGEOUS cake. It was a sponge cake made with lemon drizzled with elderflower syrup and then topped with Amalfi lemon curd. Say whaaattttt….nice.

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Spring Recital 2018: Songs We Know

May 24, 2018
by Amy
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This past Sunday was my studio’s 7th spring recital. Every year I try to do something different to keep things interesting. Last year we did a studio-wide collaborative project (a narrative suite). In 2016 we did collaborative pieces (duets, trios, 2-pianos 4-hands).

Sometimes in the fall, I hold a themed recital. This past fall, we did a church music recital, and three years ago, we did a color recital (this recital was prior to Piano Pantry, so I don’t have a post on it).

This year the theme was “Songs We Know.” Usually, I reserve the majority of pop-tune playing and such for our summer picnic performance. I decided to forego the summer performance with our house project and all that’s going on this year. Thus, the popular-themed music for the spring recital.

In this post, I’ll share some highlights from this recital, including a list of repertoire.

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