New Studio Website

It’s finally finished – my studio has a website!

Studio88Piano.com

One of my biggest goals and projects for this summer was to develop my studio website. I am proud to say I designed and did all the work myself on WordPress.

I have a lot I want to share with you today about my site including why I waited until 5 years into my business to do it.

This post is NOT a tutorial on what your site needs because, good grief, there are already plenty of wonderful posts out there for piano teachers on what elements are needed for a good studio site. I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel!

What I am going to give you are the best resources I’ve found and used for inspiration to guide me through the planning and design of the site.

First of all, let’s take a peek!

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Article in the Piano Bench Mag

piano-bench-mag-july-2016I wrote an article for the July edition of The Piano Bench Mag called…

32 Ways to Market Your Studio.”

Below is a teaser excerpt, but to see all 32, you will have to visit The Piano Bench Mag in iTunes! The app is free to download and you can either purchase individual editions or pay for a yearly subscription.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about The Piano Bench Mag, you can catch past reviews by  fellow piano bloggers.

Natalie Weber’s Review

Melody Payne’s Review

You can also follow The Piano Bench Mag on Facebook.

 

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Webinar: Wild West of Marketing

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I’m excited to announce that I will be hosting a free webinar with Tim Topham this coming weekend!

(Don’t be confused by the date on the image, as that’s Australia time. It’s Saturday evening, June 4, here in the US. See below to find out when it is for your time zone.)

I’ve been listening to his podcast since the start, and we met for the first time at MTNA 2016. This webinar is the session I gave in San Antonio, hence the “Wild West” theme! 🙂

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what Tim has to say

I’m very pleased to give you front-row access to my free webinar next weekend with Amy Chaplin called “The Wild West of Studio Marketing“.

It’s a live 1-hour online training on Sunday 5 June at 8am AEST.

What time is that for me?

 
What’s it about?

If you’ve ever wondered about the best way to market you studio, create buzz and build student numbers, you’re going to love hearing about what Amy has achieved in 4 years of starting a studio from scratch.

Most importantly, not only does she have a great story and fantastic marketing ideas, she’s researched, analysed and graphed the outcomes of more than ten different specific marketing strategies, so that you can save time and money learning which ones work the best.

I was completely blown away by Amy’s presentation at the MTNA conference this year.

Not only is she a fantastic, genuine and knowledgeable speaker, she has the research and analytics to back up what she says.

Just wait until you see the graphs!!

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How do I register?

Just click the button:


This webinar has passed!


I hope to see you all there, yee-haw!

~Amy

San Antonio Here I Come!

I’m headed to beautiful San Antonio Friday morning for the MTNA National Conference. This will be my fourth conference with MTNA. I attended 2010 Albuquerque, 2011 Milwaukee, and 2014 Chicago. Baltimore is up next!

As always, the conference is jam-packed!

Indiana Events

The Hoosier state especially has lots of events to be excited about. Both our state President and President-Elect (me!) will be presenting.

  • My session The Wild West of Marketing: How Do You Know What Really Works, will be Sunday afternoon at 2:15pm. If you’re attending, I would love to see your face! I have lots of ideas and tons of resources to share with you on how to grow your studio. If you’re unable to come, please feel free to download the handout.
  • Our state President, Christina Whitlock, NCTM will present her session The Varsity Musician’s Playbook: Commitment-Building Strategies from Team Sports to the Studio Monday at 9:55am. I’m super excited for this session in hearing ways I can continue to build community within my studio! Her handout is available on the MTNA website.
  • Indiana student, Maya Kilburn will be competing in the Junior Strings competition. Her parents, Ray and Yoko Kilburn will be her collaborators. How special! Dr. Ray Kilburn is also a professor at Ball State University where I did my masters work and is an incredible teacher!
  • The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s first-ever and current resident ensemble, Time for Three will be giving the opening recital Saturday at 7:30pm.

Other highlights

Other events I’m especially anticipating:

  • Masterclasses with Seymore Bernstein and Bruce Berr (I absolutely love reading his “ad-lib” column in the American Music Teacher Magazine I get with my MTNA membership.
  • One of the tracks on Pedagogy Saturday is called Music Learning Theory: Exploring How We Learn Music. This track is especially important to me as I will be attending training at the Gordon Institute for Musical Learning for two weeks in August. Robert Duke will be presenting If We Learn Like That, Why Do We Teach Like This? I’m currently working on his book Intelligent Music Teaching: Essays on the Core Principles of Effective Instruction – a book I would highly recommend to ALL music educators whether you’re a band teacher or a private violin instructor.

More than any of that, though, I am simply looking forward to five days amongst colleagues and friends, many of whom I only get to spend with in person a few times a year!

If you’re going and see me please say hello!

Friday Finds #1

It’s Friday morning of Spring Break here, and because I will be attending the MTNA National Conference in San Antonio the first week of April, I’ve been teaching all week although with a much lighter schedule, which has been refreshing.

Last night I played for a Maundy Thursday service. I’m sad to say it was the first time I’ve ever attended one! Some Christian denominations observe this as an integral part of Holy Week, but growing up in the Church of Christ, we didn’t observe it as we did Good Friday and Easter.

The independent Churches of Christ don’t focus on the liturgy of the church year as do our Lutheran and Catholic brothers and sisters so when I accepted a job playing at the Lutheran Church in our town, it was quite an experience. It took me several months to get used to the layout of the service and to be comfortable with the liturgy (simply knowing when to play in the service).

 

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After exhausting much of my piano solo music, I purchased What Can I Play on Sunday the Complete Collection and just in time for Lent! What a great resource this has been and at a Late Intermediate level the repertoire is “meaty” (if you can call repertoire “meaty” that is…), but I can easily sight-read the pieces or master them with just one or two run-throughs. Alfred’s Sacred Collection is amazing. You can purchase this book in smaller volumes but why? Go for the complete set!

 

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An interesting timeline of what happened on Good Friday.

 

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I’ve already ordered and am loving many of Joy’s sheet music suggestions to use for my Spring Recital from her post My Favorite Sheet Music Solos for Piano Students.

 

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Snapchat in a music studio? Hmm…Check out Daniel Patterson’s How to Bond With Your Students Using Snapchat.

 

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Some great Easter Brunch ideas. I love brunch, but it never happens for me on Sunday as I play for one church at 9:30 and then attend our home church service with my husband at 11:00. This post stole my heart because she talks about some of my favorite breakfast foods: quiche, french toast, eggs benedict, a good cup of coffee, and of course, bacon (except use THIS recipe – Maple-Candied Bacon it’s my favorite and is to DIE for!). Just make sure you put parchment paper on the bottom of your baking sheet to bake the bacon on, or it will be a nightmare to clean up!

 

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I just discovered Doug’s Portland Piano Lab blog about six months ago and am enjoying his clear and fresh writing style. A nice short post on the theory of Why Some Chords are More Stable than Others.

 

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The 15 Best Podcasts for Entrepreneurs highlights 3 of my favorites; This is Your Life with Michael Hyatt, Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn, and The Tim Ferris Show.

 

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Like Leila, I too have toyed with using different terms for my theory lab/computer lab/music lab, whatever you want to call it. It may seem silly but picking the right term is important and so is highlighting the uniqueness of the lab time in your studio in making you stand out!

 

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I can’t wait to make Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic. Don’t be scared, garlic turns sweet and caramelizes when roasted, so it sounds bad but is oh, so good!

 

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Looking for some more Easter food ideas? Check out my Pinterest “Spring-Easter” board for lots of eye-candy and inspiration.

 

Happy weekend!

MTNA Grants – A Great Opportunity!

In January, I applied for a grant for the first time in my teaching career.

MTNA (Music Teacher’s National Association) offers a Teacher Enrichment Grant, which can be awarded for up to $1,000 for professional study, whether private study, college-level coursework, or anything that contributes to the development and enhancement of teaching and/or performing skills.

I’m thrilled to have been awarded the grant. I look forward to two weeks of intensive study in August 2016 at the Gordon Institute for Musical Learning with Marilyn Lowe (author of Music Moves for Piano), held at the Brookline Music School in the Boston area.

MTNA-grant

If you would like to apply for this grant, applications are generally due at the beginning of May. Visit the grant page for more details.

The MTNA Foundation Fund is committed to keeping America’s musical future alive for future generations through the Grants program. Various grants are available to MTNA members and non-members alike, as well as affiliate organizations.

Program Development Grant
Community Engagement Grant
Affiliate Enrichment Grant
Teacher Enrichment Grant