I’m going to be completely upfront with you – sports are not my thing – not even a little.
In high school, I enjoyed going to basketball and football games because I was a band kid and had school spirit.
The Colts have my fan-hood simply because I’m a Hoosier and have good friends that had season tickets for a while and took us once a year for several years.
Beyond that, I only pretend on Super Bowl Sunday because it’s one of my few opportunities to make game-day food. 🙂
Whether you’re having a small handful of friends over to view the game or watching with just your family, take the opportunity for a finger-food kind of day – they can be the best kind!
Since my 9-year-old nephew loves the Kansas City Chiefs, I’ll be rooting for them.
The roll-ups above in a dip form! Be sure and really chop up the beef and pickles really well – maybe even pulse in the food processor so it’s in smaller bits.
This post is part of a series called Your Questions Answered that highlights questions from readers just like you. If you have a question you would like to submit, you can do so here.
Hi.
I have searched the internet for decades, always looking for sacred piano arrangements that are very very advanced level. I play all of Rudy Atwood’s and Harold DeCou’s piano arrangement solos, and have wanted new material.
The problem is that no matter what piano book or piano sheet music I look at on the internet, all of them are too easy, and bore me, since they are not a challenge to me at all. I am looking for titles of piano arrangement books of sacred music, whether classical or jazz style.
Do you know the names of some advanced enough music books, or the names of some Christian piano arrangers who still have this kind of music in print to where I could order it?
I hold concerts at times, and find that it’s hard to find new music that is advanced as I am looking for. It almost seems to me so far, that it was more in the 50’s-70’s when this type of music was published.
Nowdays the big name seems to be for instance, “Hal Leonard”, etc, and their music is way too easy for me. I love the hard stuff, where it takes me time to work it out, instead of material that I can play right on the spot with no challenge to it.
If you have any ideas of where I could find (for sure) material this advanced, would you please let me know? Please don’t send me to all these many many sites I have looked under for hours and hours, never to find.
Also, I am the type where I need to be able to view a sample of the music, so I know what I’m ordering, to make sure it’s not too easy, and a lot of them do not show samples.
If you have any ideas, would you please email me back? Thank you. I know I’m asking a lot.
-Sincerely Yours, M
Hi, M,
I do have some suggestions and am happy to help!
The first group is books that I have played over the years and enjoyed. Phillip Keveren and Mark Hayes have always been my go-to but I would say Mark Hayes verges on having more advanced arrangments that you are likely looking for.
I agree with you that it can be really frustrating to be looking for music and not be able to preview it – especially when we’re in 2020! To help you out, I did a little searching for each book I’ll list here and I will link to it ONLY if the location has a preview available. 🙂
I find JW Pepper and Alfred both do pretty good in some instances with offering previews. Sheet Music Plus sometimes as well, but not always.
Worship with a Touch of Jazz by Phillip Keveren (jazzy arrangements of more contemporary – but still older – worship songs)
The three books linked above are to JW Pepper’s website, but the last two books by Mark Hayes are also available for preview on Alfred’s website. It appears there is another book he has as well called “Gospel Classics” that also has a preview available on Alfred’s website.
This next group of books are ones that I’m familiar with but have not played from a lot myself. I think you may find these even closer to what you’re looking for here as they’re quite virtuosic!
I’m not much of an iced cookie baker, but if I were, I would definitely make these cute piano valentine cookies for my students!
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AValentine’s Playlist on Spotify full of all kinds of good love songs for you to enjoy for the next few weeks.
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I just purchased some fun little Valentine Fortune Tellers from Lauren Lewandowski to give to my students the week of Valentine’s along with their Valentine card/treat. (She has two sets: Set 1 & Set 2).
My husband made this photo for me when we were first married (some 18 years ago!) when he was big into photography. He’s still a bit of a pyro but always with safety first.
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Although I love to cook, Valentine’s Day is a holiday I declare a break and a night out at a delicious restaurant. If I WERE to cook for that night though, here are some things I might put on my menu (notice the heavyweight on desserts! Ha!):
Early next week, our friends in Australia will be celebrating Australia Day which, like the 4th of July in America, is their official “national day” observing the founding of their nation.
Today, I thought it would be fun to feature all the amazing teachers and resources we have available to us from some friends “Down Under” along with a few other finds from afar.
I can’t help myself but also reminisce a little about the three years my husband and I lived in Melbourne back when we were young tykes. 🙂
The one Australia Day I remember is from 2009 when we picnicked by the Yarra River with ex-pat friends from Germany.
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Elissa Milne is one of those teachers that when she writes an article (ElissaMilne.com)- I don’t miss it. Composer of the Little Peppers and Pepperbox Jazz books as well as much more, she is a conveyor of fun, unique, and introspective sound and thought. Elissa is also one of the administrators of The Art of Piano Pedagogy group on Facebook.
Some of my favorite articles from her over the years include:
One of my favorite discoveries from our days living in Oz was the Electric Water Kettle! I honestly don’t think I even knew something like this existed at the time as they are not a staple kitchen appliance in most American homes (especially those that don’t drink tea). They are SO handy though!
Samantha Coates has been a rising rockstar in piano-teacher-world over the last few years. Her brainchild, BlitzBooks, is repertoire that works to combine the worlds of rote teaching and notation-reading by creating pieces that are written in multi-levels.
To give you a quick description of how it works: a student would begin with level 1. Once they master that, they continue learning the same piece but level 2 (of that piece) adds a few more seemingly “harder” things in. Once they master level two, they take it a little further in level 3.
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When we lived there, one of my husband’s customers was gracious enough to invite us to their farm for a weekend.
We got to see the countryside, a working farm including a sheep-shearing shed, and he got to go crawfishing.
His wife made Anzac Biscuits (cookies) just especially for us. Here’s her recipe:
1 c. rolled oats
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. brown sugar (lightly packed)
¾ c. coconut
½ c. butter
2 T. golden syrup (light Caro or maple syrup)
1 t. baking soda
3 T. boiling water
Preheat oven to 300. Blend oats, flour, sugar & coconut. Melt butter and syrup over low heat and remove. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water then add to the melted butter mixture. Stir this into the oats mixture. Drop rounded spoons of dough onto a tray lined with parchment paper. Bake 15-17 min. Cool for 5 min.
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When you think of Australia, I would suffice to say Tim Topham is likely one of the first people to pop into your mind.
Tim’s website, TopMusic.co, is home to all kinds of resources for teachers including his TopMusicPro membership site. He also recently launched TopMusicMarketplace.com
Description from Prime: “Anzac Girls is a moving series based on the unique, and rarely told true stories of Australian and New Zealand nurses serving at Gallipoli and the Western Front.”
Description from his website: “Combined with backing tracks and additional teaching resources, my original piano method, books, and digital sheet music will motivate students at every age and level – and keep them coming back for more.”
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Some Australians might laugh at me, but my favorite Australian TV show was McLeod’s Daughters.
Description from Amazon Prime: “When Jack McLeod passes away, his two daughters inherit Drovers Run, a vast cattle ranch in the Australian outback. Ultimately, Tess and Claire decide to run the ranch together, with their housekeeper, Meg, her teenage daughter, Jodi, and a local girl, Becky.”
In this post, I’ll share a little about the new courses and introduce you to the updated music lab tracking sheet in the Piano Pantry shop designed to accompany the app.
The beginning of a new semester always seems to bring with it a little extra work. This is the time many teachers sit down and consider what’s coming up in the weeks and months ahead for each individual student.
There may be students who are preparing for a competition or non-competitive festival, students preparing a senior recital, or students getting started playing in their church’s worship band or accompanying congregational singing.
I tell myself ahead of time to not worry about getting much else done that first week of the semester as most of my time outside of lessons will be dedicated to student planning.
Here are some resources to help you with your planning plus a few other end-of-week goodies.
I’ve been trying to think of ways to keep this series fresh in the new year. As one who has definitely been feeling information overload these past 9 months more than ever, I want to make sure that what you’re getting here is useful and succinct without feeling like too much.
Here’s what I’m going to experiment with:
Things will continue as normal, but I’m going to try and focus each weekly post a little more.
Rather than 8-12 random items, I’m going to try and have the majority of them focused on one topic and sprinkle in a few randoms – such as recommended products and recipes as usual.
While this is the main idea I’m shooting for, let’s be real – it probably won’t be cut and dry that way every time. It’s just a new way for me to think about what I’m sharing with you.
We’re going to kick off the year with a little fun… TAXES.
OK, maybe not so fun, but we have to think about it sooner or later so we might as well just get it over with. 🙂
In this list are some of the products I use on a daily basis throughout the year to keep myself organized so when tax time does hit, I’m not scrambling.
I’ve been totally getting into Instagram Stories (finally!) and would love to see you there! Follow me on Instagram.
*Disclaimer: Any statements in this post should not be considered legal or tax advice. Please consult with a tax professional about your specific situation.
This post is part of a series called Your Questions Answered that highlights questions from readers just like you. If you have a question you would like to submit, you can do so here.
Sports-Themed Japanese Erasers (Amazon)
When we lived there, one of my husband’s customers was gracious enough to invite us to their farm for a weekend.
