5-Days of Giveaways | 05: MTNA Membership

March 14, 2017
by Amy
16 Comments

The final day has arrived for the one-year anniversary celebration of Piano Pantry!

Thank you to everyone who entered Monday’s (day 4) giveaway! Congratulations to Elizabeth Poore (who has been notified via email), winner of a one-year subscription (Plus) for the Sproutbeat app! Thanks to all who entered.

Unlike the rest of the 24-hour giveaways, I’ve decided to extend the deadline for today’s giveaway to three days. It will close at 12:00 am on Friday, March 17. 

Why you ask?

Today’s sponsor is the Music Teachers National Association. Thanks to their generosity, they agreed to sponsor the price of a National membership for a new member (someone who has never been a member). I want to allow plenty of time to get the word out! *(To further clarify, the award is the national-level portion, not state or local.)

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5-Days of Giveaways | 04: Sproutbeat App

March 13, 2017
by Amy
26 Comments

It’s day four of the one-year anniversary celebration of Piano Pantry!

Thank you to everyone who entered Friday’s (day 3) giveaway. Congratulations to Kathy Beemer, winner of the 1-year subscription to Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine!

I’m only giving away items that I currently use and love. Unlike the rest of the days, because of the nature of the final ($75) surprise giveaway, entries will be open for three days and will close at 12:00 am on Friday, March 17. Curious? You’ll have to come back tomorrow for the final reveal!

Today’s sponsor is Eik Siang Mar, owner and creator of the Sproutbeat App. I first met Eik at MTNA 2016 and enjoyed getting to know her more at the Ohio MTA conference this past fall. If you know or see Eik at MTNA, please join me in thanking her for sponsoring today’s giveaway!

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5-Days of Giveaways | 03: Milk Street Magazine

March 10, 2017
by Amy
14 Comments

It’s day three of the one-year anniversary celebration of Piano Pantry!

Thank you to everyone who entered yesterday’s (day 2) giveaway. The winner of Day 2: John Feierabend’s “Move It!” DVD was Christie Ventura who has been notified via email). Congratulations!

I’m only giving away items that I currently use and love. We have two more days to go. Monday and Tuesday of next week, (March 13, 14) will be high price prizes!

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5-Days of Giveaways | 02: Move It! [DVD]

March 9, 2017
by Amy
21 Comments

It’s day two of the one-year anniversary celebration of Piano Pantry. As a thank you to everyone for giving me a chance in the crowded blog world, I’m hosting 5-days of giveaways.

Thank you to everyone who entered yesterday’s giveaway sponsored by Marilyn Lowe. The winner of Day 1: Music Moves for Piano Keyboard Games Book A was Karen Lien!

I’m only giving away items that I currently use and love. After today, there will be one more prize worth $20 (a “foodie” giveaway) and two BIG prizes worth four times that much!

Today’s giveaway is sponsored by me! If you want to know a little more about me, the life I life, and what makes me tick, you can read more here. If not, that’s OK too – read on! 🙂

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5-Days of Giveaways | 01: Music Moves for Piano

March 7, 2017
by Amy
29 Comments

In celebration of the one-year anniversary of Piano Pantry, I wanted to do something big for you all as a “thank you” for giving this newbie (me!) a shot in this blogosphere world. So THANK YOU!

Here’s the kicker – I’m only giving away items that I currently use and love. Three days will be prizes worth around $20 including one “foodie” giveaway, and two days will be BIG with one worth up to $75 and the other worth $90.

Today’s Giveaway is sponsored by Marilyn Lowe, author and creator of Music Moves for Piano. I was blessed to get to know Marilyn and be trained by her during my training in Music Learning Theory and Music Moves for Piano through the Gordon Institute in August 2016 in Boston. You can read more about that here.

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Professional Development Scholarship: Gordon Institute for Music Learning

February 9, 2017
by Amy
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Are you interested in learning more about Music Learning Theory (MLT)?

Are you faculty at a college/university and teaching general music, instrumental, or choral methods courses within a music education program?

If so, you may be eligible to apply for the Carol Gordon Professional Development Scholarship of The Gordon Institute for Music Learning. 

It is generally due around early to mid-May. Download the application and read more here.

This past August, I attended a two-week training in Boston through GIML.

If you’re interested in reading about my experiences, check out my posts:

Joy and Amy on Music Learning Theory

Piano Teacher Adventure: MLT in Boston

I haven’t written much about how I use MLT in lessons yet, but I’m sure I will share more in the future. In the meantime, I plan to attend the GIML Conference this summer following NCKP.  It will be a week of learning in Chicago!

 

MTNA Elections 2017: A Personal Connection

February 8, 2017
by Amy
2 Comments

Are you a current member of MTNA (Music Teachers National Association)? If so, this month, we have the privilege of voting in the National Elections for the Board of Directors.

When I first joined MTNA, like many, I was guilty of not voting due to the feeling of not knowing any of the candidates. Making a decision based on a short printed bio is hard. Each one has solid credentials, and is a highly qualified and capable candidate, or else they wouldn’t be on the ballot of a national organization. It’s true.

My non-voting didn’t last for long though because I consider the ability to vote for anything a privilege and duty.

On this year’s ballot, Indiana is proud to have one of our own – someone I literally sat next to at our last state board meeting, and I hope I can give you a bit more personal insight into one of the candidates for President-Elect, Karen Thickstun.

In the photo below, Karen is second from the left, and I’m third from the left.  On a side note, can I just say I serve on the best state board ever?! I just love these people…

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Piano Pantry’s Best of 2016

December 26, 2016
by Amy
1 Comment

As 2016 comes to a close, I’m looking back at this past year and can’t believe what a whirlwind and blessing it has been. It’s been a year of opportunity, growth, challenges, and firsts.

Today I would like to share with you a personal reflection as well as the best posts from Piano Pantry in its first year.

 

Goal-Setting

This past year, I decided not to make any “New Years Resolutions” but to instead, sit down and set specific goals for myself. Evernote guru Michael Hyatt wrote a post How Evernote Can Help You Achieve Your Goals in 2015 that I used as inspiration.

Speaking of Evernote if you missed it, check out my post on using Evernote as an independent music teacher.

One of those goals was to start this blog and my studio website by March 1 (the latter of which I accomplished this summer). This site’s first post,  “Welcome to My Studio”, was published on March 20, 2016. Check!

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Announcing Piano Pantry’s First Big Resource!

September 23, 2016
by Amy
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Today, I’m excited to announce the blog’s first big resource!

One of the first posts I wrote on this blog in March 2016 was about my addiction to designing assignment sheets.

Since I’m a one-woman show here on Piano Pantry, it’s taken me until now to figure out the technical side of how to make this resource available to you in the best way possible. I like things to look clean, well laid out, and organized.

I spent last weekend setting up “Assignment Sheet Central” here on Piano Pantry.

There are 15 assignment sheets of all sizes, shapes, and colors (well, not exactly, but the phrase seemed to work here). 🙂

The best thing? There are MORE to come! I have at least another ten sheets ready to be added to the page on top of the 15 already there. It takes me about 20 minutes per sheet to get it onto the website, so I didn’t want to wait until I got all 25+ up to make it available to you!

Hopefully, 15 choices are enough to get you started!

Swapping up assignment sheets every 6-12 months is just one way I keep things fresh.

The resource page can be accessed from the main menu at the top or click here:

Assignment Sheet Central

Let me know what you think!

P.S. I would love to connect on social media! Follow me on Facebook @PianoPantry

Piano Teacher Adventure: MLT in Boston

August 18, 2016
by Amy
3 Comments

Where to begin…

It all started with a foggy early morning departure from my home in Indiana. I gently woke my husband to say our goodbyes, anticipating the two weeks we were about to be away from each other – the longest time ever.

John Denver’s words seem to fit the scene,

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go, I’m standing here outside your door, I hate to wake you up to say good-bye.

But the dawn is breaking, it’s early morn, the taxi’s waiting he’s blowing his horn. Already, I’m so lonesome, I could die.

So kiss me and smile for me. Tell me that you’ll wait for me. Hold me like you’ll never let me go.

Of course, I didn’t leave on a jet plane, just my trusty 2007 Ford Focus. Off I went to pick up my partner in crime.

Joy Morin of ColorInMyPiano.com

joy-amy-driving-to-boston

After a long 16-hour day on the road full of traffic jams and several hours of intense downpouring rain, we made it to our Air BnB.

Bright and early the next morning, we weaved our way through traffic and Boston’s bumpy, crooked streets to find our home for the next ten days.

Brookline Music School, our awesome host.

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We were both lucky to receive Teacher Enrichment Grants through Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) to attend a piano certification course/professional development workshop put on by the Gordon Institute for Music Learning (GIML).

Dr. Gordon’s work was not about the best ways to teach music, but how we learn, thus impacting the way we teach.

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