See you at MTNA 2018?

February 11, 2018
by Amy
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The 2018 MTNA National Conference in Orlando, Florida is just around the corner!

Attending the national conferences is always something to look forward to (besides the expense of course! :-). There’s always so much going on and new and exciting things to check out. More than anything I look forward to meeting all of you face to face who I only get to see online otherwise!

My roomie, Joy Morin and I are planning on arriving on Friday the 16th. Even though it was a great time, I’m not planning a Piano Pantry dinner like I did in Baltimore (2017). Disney is just too crazy of a place to organize a formal meet-up!

We wanted a chance to hang out with ya’ll though, so we are planning on being at the Laguna Bar at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort (the Conference Hotel) on Friday evening around 8:00 pm.

If you haven’t already scoped it out online, the outdoor area at Coronado Springs looks pretty cool. I hope we have good weather!

No need to RSVP, just plan on coming by if you can. If you’d like to drop me a message, feel free to contact me here or comment on this post.

Hope to see you there!

Don’t Leave too Early!

I’m also looking forward to presenting a session at the conference! It will be my second time ever at a National Conference. Yea! The first time was at 2016 MTNA in San Antonio.

If you’re still around Wednesday morning, catch me bright and early at the very first session at 8 am.

My session is called Taming the Jungle: Digital Management Strategies for the Independent Music Teacher.

It was a privilege to get the chance to present the same session to all the wonderful teachers of Louisville MTA in Louisville, Kentucky this past weekend.

If you’re not too tired by then or already heading to the airport, I hope to see you there!

Piano Pantry’s Top Posts of 2017: Your Favorite Topics All in One Place

December 26, 2017
by Amy
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The older we get it seems life tends to move more quickly every year. When you’re young it feels like life will go on forever. The next thing you know, you realize your high school graduation was 20 years ago (or 30-40 for that matter).

As I understand more and more how fast life passes by, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of reflection. We’re always working to do more, learn more, and be better. The result though is that it’s easy to forget where we’ve come from, hard to see all we’ve accomplished, and not realize all life has given us.

This yearly re-cap post is about putting all of your favorite topics from the past year (and from all-time) in one place. It’s also a chance for me to reflect on all that’s happened in my own life as a piano teacher at Studio 88 and blogger at Piano Pantry.

Before I wrote this post, I loved reading the recap post from last year. Here is Piano Pantry’s Best of 2016 recap.

In this post you will find:

  • A Month-by-Month Recap of 2017
  • The All-Time Top 5 Posts/Pages
  • The Top 5 Posts/Pages from 2017
  • The Top Friday Finds Post from 2017
  • My Personal Favorite Posts from 2017

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Catch Me If You Can: 2017-2018 Presenting Schedule

August 22, 2017
by Amy
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This year is going to be chock-full of opportunities for me to share with teachers at both the local, state, and national levels.

Let me know if you’ll be attending any of these and we can be sure and meet up. Feel free to contact me if you need details. I’m excited to connect with more of you in person and learn together!

I’ve also created a permanent page here on Piano Pantry listing all these upcoming events as well as my previous events and topics. Find it here.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Teaching the Way We Learn: Applications of Gordon’s Music Learning Theory for Piano Teachers (with co-presenter Joy Morin)

Location: Wood-Ottawa Counties MTA (Bowling Green, OH)

Friday, September 29, 2017

Teaching the Way We Learn: First Applications of Gordon’s Music Learning Theory (with co-presenter Joy Morin)

Evernote for the Independent Music Teacher (Lightning Talk)

Location: Indiana MTA state conference (Marion, IN)

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An NCKP Goody: From My Pantry to Yours

July 25, 2017
by Amy
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The National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy starts tomorrow in Chicago. I’ll be making the 4-hour trek from my Northeast Indiana home with my friend, Joy Morin from Color in My Piano blog.

I look forward to meeting some of you and wanted to let you know I have a special treat to hand out at NCKP, but you have to ask me personally for one!

The only requirement is that you use the word “Pantry” when you ask.

Something along the lines of:

What’s in your Pantry?

or

Can I have something from your Pantry?

I have limited stock, but I’ll give you a clue that it’s something yummy and healthy. See you soon!

Featured on The Unfinished Lesson

July 3, 2017
by Amy
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Piano Pantry’s guest post series, The Varsity Musician’s Playbook, by my friend Christina Archer Whitlock, was recently highlighted on The Unfinished Lesson blog’s Top 8 Music Education Resources list.

If you’ve not had a chance to read this series, now is the time, with the start of the new year around the corner. It was the one conference session that made the biggest impact on my studio in the 2015-2016 school year.

The Varsity Musician’s Playbook, Part 1 – Studio Interdependence

The Varsity Musician’s Playbook, Part 2 – Studio “Locker Room”

The Varsity Musician’s Playbook, Part 3 – Community Presence

NCKP Meet-Up with Amy and Tim

June 17, 2017
by Amy
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The National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy is just around the corner. This biennial conference, which was put on by The Francis Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, is always held in Lombard, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

The 2015 event was my first NCKP experience, and I was hooked. Since I’m only a 3-4 hour drive away, I plan on attending every one from now on!

After my first Piano Pantry reader’s dinner at MTNA in Baltimore, I was excited to get the chance to offer something again at NCKP. This time, I’m honored to team up with Tim Topham, who’s making the trek all the way from Australia for this great conference.

Let me share how I first came to meet Tim.

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An Exciting Announcement

May 29, 2017
by Amy
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Almost one month ago exactly, I mentioned in my post on conducting year-end student evaluations meetings with students, that I had a BIG announcement I was making to my studio families during our one-on-one meetings this year.

Of course, many families wanted to take a guess. Most came up with: I was either pregnant, moving, or hiring an assistant.

Do you want to take a guess too before I let you in on the secret?

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Retreat at Piano Manor

May 11, 2017
by Amy
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My friend, Joy Morin, over at Color in My Piano, has been wanting to do a retreat at her home for piano teachers for a long time, and this is the year!

I’m excited to be a part of this 3-day retreat at her home in Northwestern Ohio this coming August as the official “food planner.” Yea!

This is the time of year when everyone is making plans for the summer months. Add this to your list!

For details, visit Joy’s website.