The timing was important not only because I had been dreaming for several years about starting my own blog for piano teachers but because that was the conference where I first got to present at the national level. I wanted to be able to direct people to my own website!
As a thank you to all who follow Piano Pantry, you can get 20% off anything in the shop using the code 7YEARS at checkout, including Happy Birthday By Ear, Christmas By Ear, and more. The discount expires on March 24.
“When a Midwest dancer and a street-wise British musician meet in New York, they immediately clash, but there’s also an undeniable attraction. The two must navigate their differences for a competition that will change their lives forever.” (Amazon Prime description)
I like to change out my front door mats with the seasons. I tried buying a couple of different ones online, but they shipped rolled up and wouldn’t lay flat. I was on my last straw until I found this Gorilla Doormat. I love it! It lays perfectly flat and is nice and heavy-duty. This green color was a nice choice for winter.
We got a set of stainless steel colanders for our wedding 20 years ago. They never drained well as the holes were more spread apart. I finally decided it was time to let go and get a better one. This RSVP Colander (5 qt) has been amazing!
I’m excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2nd season of the Piano Pantry Retreat!
You might be surprised to hear this is the “2nd season” because I never announced the 1st season here on the blog!
The reason is that the first year was a bit of an experiment. 🙂
Not only was hosting an in-home retreat something that’s not seen much (thanks to Joy Morin for being the first I know of!), but I was doing it alongside a personal productivity topic, not a piano pedagogy topic.
Would people be interested?
I was also intentionally keeping space very limited since I was (1) cooking meals for everyone as well as doing the coaching, (2) letting people stay in our home, and (3) I wanted to ensure I could give undivided attention and support to attendees during our work sessions.
So, I tested the waters by emailing a small group of teachers I knew well to see if there was any interest. There was – (yea!).
Here’s what attendees from the 2022 retreats had to say:
What a treat it was to receive Amy’s hospitality while also having the luxury of uninterrupted time to spend organizing and developing strategies for my digital tools! Amy’s guidance in organizing files, etc. were just what I needed, and I feel that I have clarity for these projects now on a weekly basis, as well as access to my organized digital resources. If you want to see your desktop again, come to this retreat! -Abby Maser
The Piano Pantry Retreat was such food for my soul. I enjoyed organizing my digital workspace, networking with other teachers and being pampered with Amy’s delicious dishes! I highly recommend this retreat! -Laura Harding
I am guilty of holding on to way too many files and emails, and I knew I needed to really get to the heart of what’s working and what’s not. The fact that we were in a relaxing place while thinking through systems and making decisions about digital management made it a lot less overwhelming. -Nicole Douglas
Dates, Details, and More Information
If you want to learn more about this getaway for piano teachers, including dates for the summer of 2023, cost, location, and more, visit the retreat page.
Amy’s retreat was one of the most engaging and fun piano events I’ve ever attended… It was a perfect balance of work and fun!
-Emily Susko
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
By the way, I have to give credit where credit is due in three places for this event getting started.
The first, I already mentioned. Joy Morin first had the idea to host an in-home teacher retreat in 2018 (which I cater). The two biggest differences between our retreats are that she can host many more teachers and focuses on pedagogical topics – choosing a different theme each time.
The second person I need to give credit to is one of the attendees, Laurie Bender. A teacher from Chicago, Laurie, reached out to me and mentioned how she would love to see me host a retreat like Joy’s but to do it focused on getting help cleaning up and learning how to utilize her digital workspace better (see…not my idea! Ha!)
Third is my three piano teacher friends who hunkered down with me at my house for the 2021 MTNA conference online. The fact that I loved hosting and cooking for my friends so much, combined with Laurie’s comment above, was all I needed to give it a shot.
Check out all the details here. I would love to have you there!
I would highly recommend this retreat to any piano teacher who wants to grow professionally and re-energize/relax personally. It is exactly what my soul, mind, and body needed. It exceeded my expectations and was worth every penny. I would love to become a regular attendee at future retreats. It was a delightful escape from my regular routine & an absolute joy on all levels!
-Laurie Bender
Join The Email List
As I mentioned earlier in this post, due to the very small group nature of this retreat, you can sign up to be part of the first group of teachers to be notified and given the opportunity to sign up before it is open to the public. If you would like to be part of that list for future retreats, you can sign up here
Unfortunately with the major website overhaul SheetMusicPlus just went through these lists are not shareable at this time.
I am leaving this blog post up in case that changes in the future with more site improvements and I can update this blog post.
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Since the closure of Primo Music in recent years, Sheet Music Plus has become my go-to site for purchasing music online. I’ve always had success finding music on the site and experienced good customer service.
While their discount (5% for two or more copies) is not as good as some sheet music sites like Primo have offered in the past, I can usually still get a discount either through MTNA or by using my Capital One Shopping Extension on Chrome.
That being said, I don’t worry about that too much because sheet music is a tax write-off for the business, and purchasing music is how we keep our composers paid!
Sheet Music Plus has a feature I didn’t know about in the early days (or at least didn’t start utilizing fully) until recently. That is, you can create your own “music lists.”
To save a book to a music list or create a new one, hover over ” Save to Music List” below the “Add to Cart” button.
(Be careful – clicking “Save to Music List” will just save the item to your “Default List.” You have to HOVER and then click on the list you want to save it to. Otherwise, you can select “Create New Music List.”)
To find your list on Sheet Music Plus, go to “My Account > Music Lists”
There are three scenarios in which I think using this feature would be useful.
(1) You want to have an easy way to save your favorite books without keeping a repertoire database of some kind.
(2) If you opt to have your studio families purchase books, you could keep a list of all your studio’s frequently used books so you can quickly reference and send links (the same could be done on Amazon as well!)
(3) You want an easy way to share repertoire lists with others (like me!). I honestly keep the lists mostly for my own record, but it’s a nice bonus that sharing the list with you is so easy!
My lists aren’t exhaustive, and I try to update them when possible, but they have a good start.
My husband and I went crazy over this recipe! It’s healthy and full of flavor! We ate it with a bit of brown rice and… oh my!
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I have had a razor-sharp sore throat for almost two weeks. I’m not sick otherwise, so it’s been really strange. Besides sore throat Chloraseptic lozenges, this Spiced Hot Toddy from Williams Sonoma has been the best for soothing the pain.
Registration for the Digital Organization Series is OPEN! Meet with Amy and a small handful of other teachers via Zoom over eight consecutive Fridays (12:00-1:00 pm ET) to gain control of your digital workspace.
Amy will walk you through how to clean up, reorganize, and maintain key areas, including devices, documents, media storage, email, & more.
“Effective January 1, 2023, the FJH catalog will be exclusively distributed by Alfred Music in both print and digital forms. In addition, FJH’s educational catalogs will be exclusively available for interactive practice on MakeMusic Cloud, formerly SmartMusic, the reference online platform for music practice from MakeMusic.”
This is a wonderful winter meal. You’ll want a little bread on the side to mop up the delicious braising liquid though – believe me! (P. S. I actually do not like Thyme so I much prefer the dish without!)
I tend to avoid making recipes where I have to do the whole breading thing because it’s a lot of steps, messy, and I just don’t like it. This recipe was the perfect substitute for parmesan chicken because it had no breading and was easy to make when having my family over. I made spaghetti on the side and tossed in just a bit of butter. Everyone loved it!
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While there have been years I’ve read mostly “knowledge-building” books, fiction is my favorite, and I’ve been trying to be much more intentional about allowing myself enjoyment.
I couldn’t resist squeezing in one more goodies post before the end of 2022! I mean, who could let it sit at #254? LOL. Plus, I had a lot of Christmas fun to share with you, including a list of items I’m in charge of making for our various holiday gatherings. Let’s start there!
We always provide a tray of venison summer sausage and crackers for both family gatherings. This soft cheese spread will make a nice addition to the mix. I prefer about half the amount of green onion. You could even substitute with a 1/2 t. or so of dry onion powder.
When my brother texted my mom and me with who should bring what for our Christmas Day meal, my list included dessert and “Adam’s favorite salad.” I knew exactly what he meant!
I have to admit; I almost didn’t listen to this one because I feel past the whole “navigating a post-pandemic world” topic. That said, I really wanted to hear from Vanessa Cornett, and I am glad I did. It was 100% worth listening to both long episodes. She has beautiful insight and a special way with words. I might even go back and listen again!
As 2022 comes to a close, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of you for being here. It’s a joy and a privilege to share with you all through this blog, podcast, and social media.
This time of year, it’s always fun to peek back at what the year brought us before being present for the holidays and looking forward to the year ahead.
While the Piano Pantry Blog was a little quieter this year due to the launch of the weekly podcast, I still managed to share with you through the written word in 22 posts (now 23) and 13 Friday Finds. Included in that mix, we hit #250 in the Friday series, where many of you chimed in with YOUR favorites. Launching at the start of January 2022, the podcast hit a nice round #50 (which makes this Enneagram 3 very happy! LOL).
This post will highlight the top five blog posts and top five podcast episodes from this past year. Honestly, it’s hard to say how 100% accurate the stats are because posts that occurred earlier in the year have had more time to get more views, etc., and with podcasts, it can be hard to get clear and accurate stats between all the platforms.
Over the years, I’ve shared several ideas for Christmas gifts for students, including all that I’ve done up until 2020. If you would like to check out some of those, visit these posts:
As 2022 quickly closes, I wanted to squeeze one final blog post in! This one, in particular, because it is the last of four things I wanted to share with all my teacher friends from our 28-day journey through Europe in the fall of 2022.
The final thing I thought it would be fun to share in this post is a list of nine food items we discovered in our travels you could easily make in your own home!
While we had lots of excellent food, I tried to choose simple, delicious, and unique items you might easily enjoy.
