As I was rifling through some old files of my graduate years, I came across this photo I had completely forgotten. Austrian pianist and recording artist Paul Badura-Skoda is by my side after he performed a concert in 2009 at the local arts center (called Arts Place) in my hometown here in Indiana. I also had the privilege of being the designated transport for him, to and from the Indianapolis airport.
(I’ll admit I had never heard of him previously as I’m not completely in the know-how of famous classical pianists. Still, I think it was pretty cool I had that opportunity.)
The fact that I had completely forgotten about this makes me realize how beautiful photos are at capturing moments of our lives.
Can I tell you quickly how I got to this place? (Feel free to jump down to this week’s finds below but if you have a few minutes, I promise it’s a good and short story)!
Piano Safari has been a method on my radar since the first version of the books came out. I’ve known about it since (I’m guessing) 2008. Julie Knerr, one of the authors, went to grad school with a girl I did my undergrad studies with (they may have even been roommates, but I can’t remember for sure). My friend told me about the method, and I haven’t looked back.
I was drawn to Piano Safari due to my disappointment with the technique books on the market. I hated them to be quite frank. I didn’t feel they were effective and they were…well, what they were – exercises – and boring to boot. Even though most technique books do correlate with what the students are learning in the lesson book, I never felt the transfer of learning happened.
It wasn’t until 2013 that I started using the method heavily. With the increased use came the desire to maximize the “fun” of the safari theme more with stuffed animals.
Building up my safari-themed animal collection was a bit of a chore! I remember asking the authors where they got theirs, but mostly, I was on my own finding them. Today, I hope to help YOUR search a little easier than mine.
I’ll be sharing not only where I purchased the animals but also why they’re a good investment and how I use and even store them.
My intrigue with the limited edition Pumpkin Spice Triscuit was rewarded when I found they were quite tasty! They have just the right amount of seasoning, and while they held their own all alone, they would be awesome with a cranberry cheese ball or some sharp cheddar. Well, everything goes with sharp cheddar in my opinion!
This recommendation is of my accord. Triscuits is not paying me to proclaim their goodness.
I first became aware of The Alexander Technique in my undergraduate days. Most of what I remember is laying on the floor in the practice room. While I appreciated it and understood its importance, as time went on, it got left behind in my day-to-day life. Thanks, to Joy Morin for reminding us of why it’s useful and valuable for piano teachers.
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I’ve been checking out the podcast The Entrepreneurial Musician with Andrew Hitz. While I don’t foresee listening on a regular basis, he did have a few past podcasts I enjoyed and thought you might as well including one with motivational speaker and entrepreneur Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, one with David Cutler of the Savvy Musician, and for all you entrepreneurs and bloggers 1,000 True Fans
Oprah’s favorites lists were always the first page I turned to when I used to get the magazine. Today, we’re not getting Oprah’s list, but Amy’s list!
This list includes the recipes and gadgets I arm myself with year after year for holiday cooking and the Christmas albums that create the most nostalgia in my ear during the season.
For years (until I started using Spotify Premium), I had a personal tradition of purchasing a new Christmas album each Christmas season. I love listening to the same albums each year with one new one thrown in.
Since I start listening to Christmas music on the first of November (about the same time I start Christmas pieces with my students), it’s the perfect time of year for a holiday favorites list as we’re planning our biggest holiday meal of the year (Thanksgiving), and while simultaneously setting the mood for the upcoming Christmas season through music.
A couple of tips: First, I needed six tortillas when I used a regular soft taco shell size. If you use the large burrito shells, you might be okay. Second, adding 1/2 cup of sour cream to the mixture helped make it more spreadable. Adding thin slices of ham on top of the spread is a nice variation before rolling.
Mushrooms are one of my top five foods. I could eat them on everything. Ina Garten’s Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms are delectable. My best friend and I salivate over these puppies. The recipe calls for 5 oz. of mascarpone – forget that! Throw in the whole 8 oz container!
My sister-in-law often makes Pioneer Woman’s Green Bean Casserole, which everyone loves. It’s as creamy as they come, and the pimentos are a nice touch.
The Bird
My husband and I hate nothing more than dry/overcooked meat. The best way to avoid dry turkey is to use a brine. Not only does our favorite turkey recipe use an excellent homemade brine, but it’s also grilled. Drew loves to grill and smoke meat on our Kamado-style grill, so this recipe is a match made in heaven!
After the first time my nephew ate it, he has forever declared, “Aunt Amy makes the best turkey” (sorry, Mom and grandma!) :-/
Here I am in 2010 with my first grilled turkey. He was a 25-pound beauty!
2012 – looking even better with experience!
The same 2012 turkey off the grill and on my favorite cutting board(recommended below). That’s my mom with me. Can you tell?
Dessert and Sweets
I’m not usually in charge of dessert as I prefer cooking over baking, and no one else in my family likes being in charge of the meat. Even so, I still love making a few recipes during this season.
Note: I did one loaf and a pan of mini-muffins instead of two loaves. There ended up with a bit too much batter in the loaf, so it was still wet in the middle after 50 minutes in the oven. The batter was probably 3/4 whole in the loaf pan. If you do two loaves as the recipe calls for you, will probably be fine.
Ina Garten’s Ultimate Ginger Cookies are deliciously spicy. I’m not a huge ginger fan, but I still, love these. I pull back just a bit on the amount of chopped crystallized ginger in the recipe – just a little.
Favorite Gadgets
Disclaimer: The equipment and CD links are all Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you happen to purchase using these links, I will get a tiny percentage back without it costing you anything extra.
This J.K. Adams Reversible Maple Carbing Board won America’s Test Kitchen’s carving board equipment test. One side is flat, and the other has a poultry-shaped well. The trench is nice and deep to catch juices. I’ve had plenty of messes over the years with turkey juices, so a deep
The Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer, America’s Test Kitchen’s “best-buy” choice, has worked pretty well for us so far. A thermometer like this is an absolute must for anyone interested in smoking meats.
The oblong shape of the Trudeau Gravy Separator is perfect for pouring liquids into it from a pot.
The best and most convenient way to brine a large turkey and have it still fit in your fridge is to use these fantastic heavy-duty brining bags from Williams Sonoma. They come in a set of 3 sizes. I always use the biggest one, but the small bags are excellent for things like pork loins.
One of my personal Christmas traditions is to purchase one or two new Christmas albums each year. For some reason, Christmas is one of those times when I don’t want to let Pandora randomly choose the music I listen to on the “Christmas station.” I like having specific albums I listen to each December. I think a lot of it has to do with the nostalgia of listening to the same albums each season.
I usually just Google “Best Christmas Albums of 2016” or something of the sort to research what’s out there.
This last CD has a story to it. Country music isn’t usually my first choice. I don’t hate it; I just don’t like it as much as other styles. However, in March 2016, Joey Martin Feek passed away from cervical cancer. She grew up in the same hometown as my husband, Alexandria, Indiana. She was four years ahead of him in school. With a small-town population of just over 5,000, she became a source of local pride.
In September 2016, select movie theaters played the movie To Joey With Love, which told her story. Her husband, Rory, took lots of video footage the last year she was alive, apparently, for no particular reason – he just felt for some reason like he should be filming their lives more. *insert tears!*
I cried the.whole.movie.
Share your favorite holiday grub and tunes in the comments – I can’t wait to hear what you love to eat and listen to over during this season
: My new OXO Good Grips 14.5″ x 21″ cutting boardis “amaAAAAzing” that’s me singing the word amazing. Why, oh why have I relegated myself to such small cutting boards the last 15 years?
At the first lesson of the school year, all my students – whether they’re in the 1st grade or a senior – are asked to fill out a practice schedule card and return it to me the following week.
I tell them it’s an exercise in thinking through their day and the time they’ve been given to use wisely. It’s not that it has to be set in stone or that it can’t change, it’s simply good practice to go through the act of writing out their weekly schedule.
I was inspired by a similar card we were given in college that mapped out the day in 30-minute increments. I lived by that card and found it to be very beneficial so why not try it out with my piano students?
This free download includes both a blank version as well as an example page. The first year we did this, I was getting enough “how do you want me to fill this out?” questions I figured an example was in order for the next year. While they’re told to fill it out however they want – it’s for their benefit – they still seem to need a more concrete example.
If your printer can handle it, printing on card stock works well. Print the blank page on one side and the example on the other. Once the students turn them back in, I display a copy on the studio bulletin board. Of course, there are always one or two students who never turn it in. Some bring them back colorful and others quite sparse.
I leave them up for about a month and plan to pull them back out in January to review them with students and talk through whether they need to re-think their practice time.
Hello to all the Piano Pantry readers from a local group of teachers in Terre Haute, Indiana I had the privilege of sharing with this week. What a delightful bunch!
Margy, one of my colleagues pictured above told everyone that they would make it onto my blog. Boy, does she know me or what?!
Thanks to a creative and generous teacher on the Piano Safari Facebook page, one of my students and I had a fun time learning the rote piece Rainbow Colors in a much more “colorful” way. This printable visual aid is PERFECT!It worked beautifully. This couldn’t have come at a better time as the student had forgotten her book at home the same day I was planning on teaching her this piece. Teaching rote pieces always seem to take longer to teach so the extra time this day couldn’t have been more perfect.
Sheet pan suppers are all the rage. Last night I made Sausage, Potato, and Green Bean Foil Packets, except I spread all the ingredients out over two half sheet pans. I didn’t start dinner until 7:45 when I got home from teaching and we were eating by 8:30. Fast, easy, and delicious.
*Note: This one is a tiny bit spicy but you could easily adapt by substituting the andouille sausage for any kind of sausage like a simple Eckrich smoked sausage or Kielbasa and changing out the seasoning or simply just using salt and pepper. Also, I diced the potatoes really small so they would cook faster and roasted at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
Tiny habits add up. Do you have a goal that seems impossible to accomplish? Commit yourself to just 15 minutes a day and be prepared to be amazed at where you’re at 3 months from now!
Before I opened my studio, I always knew I wanted to have a student art book in the waiting room. Where the idea came from, I’m not sure, but I know it wasn’t my original idea. Thanks to whoever the blogger inspired me!
I bought a blank canvas sketchbook similar to this one at Michaels and had an artist friend decorate the cover. It would have been fun to hold a studio-wide contest, but since I was just building my studio at the time, that wasn’t an option.
Here’s what she came up with. Isn’t it amazing?
This particular book has been full for a couple of years now. Before I show you what we’re using for our new studio art book, I wanted to share some of my favorite entries.
This Friday morning, just after this post goes up, I will be giving a presentation to one of our Indiana MTA Local Associations in Terre Haute. I’ll be giving this same session the first week of November at the Ohio MTA State Conference.
In the session, Taming the Jungle: Strategies for Pursuing Professional Development in the Information Age, I share 137 resources for professional development. More importantly, I walk through strategies for managing ourselves and the content that’s being thrown at us on a day-to-day basis.
I thought I might share some of those resources and tips with you all today.
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I’ve been experimenting with an add-on for Gmail called Inbox Pause. I don’t think it’s something I’ll use on a regular basis but there will definitely be instances where it would be nice to have no incoming email for a short period of time.
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The next big thing in our online world – membership sites. There are two that I know of in P.T. world: The Curious Piano Teachers Community which I believe is seasonal, and Tim Topham’s Top Music Pro (formerly the Inner Circle).
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Recently I came across two new blogs – both of which I heard about in Tim Topham’s Inner Circle. I’ve been enjoying following Eliza Saysand Colourful Keys.
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Three of my top YouTube channels include:
Anne Crosby Gaudet for her awesome theory videos I use during my student lab time. Irin Gorin for her excellent examples on teaching healthy technique to beginners. UIPianoPed for their plethora of quality videos of the beginning and intermediate repertoire.
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My life is made easier with two of the best tools out there for managing content: Evernote and Feedly RSS Reader
