This is the first of three posts highlighting some of my favorite sheet music piano solos for students.
These favorites lists are the result of a year-long focus in my studio, exploring the wide range of sheet music solos in publication. If you would like to read about the 9 things I learned from that project, check out this post.
Since I have quite a few to mention, I decided to divide the list into three posts. Today I’ll be sharing favorite Halloween-themed sheet music piano solos including the reason I love it and a link where you can purchase. I’m doing it first because Halloween will be here before we know it!
(Stay tuned for two more posts. The first will include favorite pieces at the Early Elementary, Elementary, and Late Elementary levels and the second post on Early Intermediate, Intermediate, and Later Intermediatepieces.)
Please note I am an affiliate in the Sheet Music Plus Easy Rebates program which simply means if you purchase any of these pieces using the links I provide, I will get a small percentage back without it costing you any extra.
P.S. I just saw that if you’re a member of MTNA, you can get an additional 10% off your order at Sheet Music Plus on top of their 8% Easy Rebates program!
Early Elementary
Halloween Costumes by Tom Gerou
Why I love it: The piece includes both the leading tone and subtonic in Am (G and G#) giving it a little more interesting flair.
Why I love it: Its fast-moving tempo is a nice challenge for students. The piece also gives them a chance to experience the fermata, pedal, octave leaps.
For our first week of finds in September, I’m going to change it up a bit and bring you a list of “a few of my favorite things!”
*Please note that I am an affiliate for many of these products which simply means if you sign up using the link I give, I will get a small percentage back at no extra cost to you.
1 – Online Lesson Assignments
Are you considering getting on the TONARA bandwagon? If you decide to subscribe beyond the free trial, use this code to get 20% off your first year: PIANOPANTRY.
2 –Â Monthly Automatic Payments
Save time and money using COINHOP. With a minimalist interface and ease of use, you can turn the work over to them and collect monthly payments for only a 1% fee. So much cheaper than PayPal, Stripe, or many other options out there!
LASTPASS will be your last stop for password management. You can use it on your mobile phone, tablet devices, and desktop. It’s easy to use, will help you generate secure passwords, and will remember them, so you don’t have to!
4 – RECIPE MANAGEMENT
PAPRIKA. I love this app for managing all my recipes for many reasons. First, it has a built-in browser so you can easily import recipes from any site. Second, there is a desktop version so I can manage recipes from my desktop and not just the app, which I find to be much more efficient.
5 – email scheduling
Write an email but schedule it to be sent at a later date. Even cooler yet, tell it to “boomerang” an email you sent back into your inbox if someone doesn’t respond to it by a certain date! A great email tool for any working professional – BOOMERANG FOR GMAIL.
6 – SPELL-CHECK
Using GRAMMARLY is like having a personal proofreader in your back pocket.
You can literally organize your entire life in EVERNOTE. Imagine a digital filing cabinet where you can save basic text notes, PDF files, screenshots, text selections off a web page, clip images from the web, and more. Pull up all saved information easily with simple keyboard searches.
FEEDLY. Using an RSS Reader is, in my opinion, the only way to properly manage content in today’s world. An RSS Reader is like a personalized digital newspaper. You tell it the website you want to follow, and it will stream all the newsfeeds into one location so you can keep up on new content in one place.
I hate shopping for hair and face products. With BIRCHBOX, every month, you get a small box of samples. You can even opt for some months to trade in your box for points you can spend to buy full-size products in their shop!
This year marks the start of my 10th year of full-time piano teaching. While I’ve been teaching for 20 years, the first 10 were part-time (alongside other careers) with generally no more than 6-10 students at a time.
Ever since I started teaching full time, I’ve found myself focusing on one or two major things each year (not always intentionally, but quite recognizably in hind-sight).
Examples include learning to use a new program, improving my teaching in a particular way or area, trying a new method with as many students as possible at once, and so forth.
Last year I suddenly felt inspired to explore and become better acquainted with the gamut of sheet music solos.
Clueless and Curious
If you ever attend an MTNA National Conference or NCKP (The Piano Conference, you know that these single sheets (priced at $2-$3) are often handed out in exchange for submitting “coupons” with contact information in the exhibit halls.
Like many teachers, I’ve never used them continuously with students. Not only are they more expensive than a book, but their intent is more to supplement than supply a student’s repertoire.
Even though I’ve been teaching for 20 years, infrequent use of sheet music solos meant I was feeling a little clueless as to what was really out there and what my favorites were.
So, last year I vowed to use them more frequently. Basically, (almost) every student had one sheet music solo in progress at all times (almost). 🙂
In future posts, I’ll be highlighting some of my favorites but first, I want to share with you 9 things I learned from this project along the way.
A friend recently told me about a book of short pieces she’s going to use this year called “Doodles” by Alison Mathews. I immediately checked them out and have already purchased the digital download myself!
While researching it, I came across a really excellent review that will give you a close look at the product. Read the review at Pianodao.com.
It was actually a bit of a struggle to find where to purchase the digital download so I’m going make your life a whole lot easier:
Ever since my studio moved into our new home last year, I started asking students to remove their shoes. It’s not always a pleasant thing, so I decided to buy shoe covers and small “announcement” holder to place in my entryway. That way, students can choose which they prefer – shoes or no shoes (and I will just hope the stinky feet ones chose the former ha! 🙂 )
P.S. A shout-out to Jennifer Foxx who I saw mention this somewhere online!
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Baring my soul with a ginormous list of my favorite all-around technology tools, studio marketing and social media tools and programs, software and apps, recording equipment, website hosting, and more. Check out this page on Piano Pantry: Recommended Resources.
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Guaranteed successful recipes for your September menu – tried, tested, and loved by me 🙂 :
As the years go on, the number of items I purchase on Amazon has slowly increased. With the current times, for many, it has increased exponentially.
If you’ve never done so, it’s kind of fun to go back through your Amazon order history and see how it grows and evolves from year to year and even decade to decade!
My first Amazon purchase was one item in December 2003. I find it interesting to see how quickly that changed – especially in the last five years.
2005 – 2012: 8-10 orders per year 2013 – 2014: 20-25 orders per year 2015 – 2018: 30-40 orders per year 2019: 60 orders 2020: 41 orders (thus far = by August)
Amazon is really good about not only letting you know how often you’ve purchased a product…
…they also make it really easy to “Buy It Again” directly from your order history page.
Today I want to share with you six items I’ve found myself buying for my piano studio again and again on Amazon.
Perhaps not surprisingly, they are all consumable office supplies!
Like Tim, I also met them for the first time in 2016 at the San Antonio conference. We actually all hung out one evening and went and checked out a cool historical light show on a cathedral. Unfortunately, I didn’t capture a group photo!
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Covid-19 Resources for Music Teacher (Deborah Rambo Sinn)
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My cast iron pans are due for a good cleaning. Try this method. (The Kitchn)
Don’t get too excited, I’m not about to give you all kinds of financial advice on saving money or doing taxes as an independent music teacher. (I figure we have our dear Wendy Stevens at Compose Create who has shared a lot of great stuff like that over the years. 🙂 )
I’m going to stick with my strength and talk to you today about organizing and managing your incoming bills, expenses, and receipts. Yea!
Let me introduce you to the best thing that has happened to me in our daily financial management process and that’s my file folder system.
It’s not complicated and it makes ALL. THE. DIFFERENCE.
Isn’t she beautiful? 🙂
First, a little back history on the straw that broke the camel’s back and made me come up with this system.
Quicken
My husband and I have used Quicken for years and love it. If you’re not familiar with the program, it’s like a check register for all your finances in one place including loans, 401k’s, credit card bills, checking, and savings accounts. We manage both our personal and my business finances through this.
Budgeting has been important to us through our entire marriage and Quicken has a lot of tools to help you track expenses and manage a budget properly. If you keep up with it on a regular basis, keeping expenses categorized makes life a whole lot easier when it comes time to do taxes as well.
You may or may not have noticed I’ve been taking the “lighter” side on Friday Finds posts this Summer.
Rather than weekly, two per month has been my goal – just for a bit of a breather. We’ve all got enough going on what with enjoying Summer break and figuring out how to live life.
So, since it’s been a while…hello! It’s so nice to see you today!
Since I’m been playing hooky, I have quite a few good things in store for you!
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Since it’s part of our daily life, I splurged on a good mask. I haven’t had a chance to wear it a lot, but like it so far!
It’s really comfortable, (the large fit me just fine), has a nose-pincher to help keep fog off my glasses, and is a lovely color. The only downside I’m seeing so far is it’s hotter than any of the homemade cotton ones I’ve had.
My studio had our end-of-summer recital yesterday evening via Zoom. If you’ve not had yours yet, check out the 9 Lessons I Learned from My First Zoom Recital. (P.S. It includes an email template invitation for students to forward to friends and family!)
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Do you use the Celebration Series books from the Royal Conservatory? Here’s a website that has some really great study guides to go along with the pieces!
The 4th of July weekend sure is a special one, don’t you agree? Not only do we get to celebrate the official birth of our nation, but being only two weeks into Summer, it’s the long holiday weekend that officially kicks off the season.
Let’s be mindful of taking precious time for rest and fun with our families while also meditating on the world around us – both remembering our history and finding our future through what happens in the present – the good, bad, and the ugly.
If you’re interested in the Enneagram at all and like the singer Audrey Assad, then you’ll enjoy this podcast interview with her onThe Enneagram Journey, Episode 47.
A digital tool I use EVERY-SINGLE-DAY? Grammarly. Have you ever heard of it? It’s like having your English teacher by your side (but not in an annoying way, Ha!)
Summer lessons are optional in my studio, and I am lucky to have the freedom to take a lighter load. While reserved most importantly for a bit of R&R, the extra time is also an open window for us to give a little attention to bigger projects like this!
Our websites will often be the first opportunity to make a good impression on prospective students. Also, if you’re anything like me, your studio is continually evolving. Our studio websites should reflect these changes and always feel fresh.
Today, I want to share with you three ways to look at your website froma fresh perspective and, in turn, make a positive impression on your studio.
First, I have a confession and a little back history and evolution of my own studio website.
Since it’s part of our daily life, I splurged on a good mask. I haven’t had a chance to wear it a lot, but like it so far!
