Evernote for Gmail: A Review

June 24, 2019
by Amy
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In April 2019, Evernote came out with a new add-on, “Evernote for Gmail.”

If you’re not sure what an add-on (extension/plug-in) is, it’s simply an extra little program that extends the functionality of whatever program you’re using whether it’s your internet browser, WordPress site, or email client.

You are likely most familiar with add-ons in your internet browser. As you can see in this small screen-shot, in the Google Chrome browser, add-ons are viewable to the right of the URL bar.

Today I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on whether or not Evernote for Gmail is a useful tool.

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Organizing Piano Games with Evernote

July 3, 2017
by Amy
2 Comments

This is a guest post by Missouri teacher, Anita Byers. After Anita commented on one of my posts here on Piano Pantry on how she organized her music games in Evernote, I quickly asked her to share. Many thanks to Anita!

Anita Byers is the owner of Anita’s Piano Studio located in Nevada, Missouri.  She currently has a full studio of 27 students. She recently retired from Nevada High School after ten years as the choir accompanist.

 

 

As my collection of piano games has grown the past several years, I have needed to organize them in a way that I can find a game that reinforces a certain concept without physically searching through a huge stack!

My goal for this summer was to attack the game monster and make it easy to find and use games during lessons.

I use Evernote in my studio to keep track of weekly lesson plans for each student.  I am not sure why it took me so long to realize that Evernote could help organize my game inventory!

I set up a notebook in Evernote and named it “Games.”  Then for each game, I added a note.

The information I typed on the note included:

  1. Name of the game
  2. Where I found or purchased the game
  3. Objectives of the game

I took a photo or screenshot of the game board, instructions, and cards. (This was super easy to do with my iPad).

*Note that the next three photos are all a part of the same note (just taken in 3 screenshots).

 

I used tags to make categories for each game.  For example, tags I used for the Ladybug game were: grand staff, keyboard topography, music alphabet and staff notation.  This will help me as I search for games in my Evernote notebook.

For more on the benefit and power of using tags in Evernote, see Amy’s video post, Evernote: Account Features, Tagging, and More.

 

 

The image below shows a search I did for “keyboard topography.” As you can see, the list of games that I have is shown on the left.  I really like that it brings up the photos!

 

 

I also took this opportunity to set up a file cabinet to physically store my games, and I added the drawer number right after the name of the game when I entered each note.  My games are easy to look up in Evernote and easy to find in their file cabinet.

This system is working great for me so far.  Now, I just need to keep up with it as I add new games.  It feels so good to have the pile of games organized and the game monster conquered.  Thanks, Evernote!

Bonus tip from Amy: since Evernote can also house Microsoft Word, Excel, and Google Drive documents, you could even attach the digital file directly into the note or link directly to the webpage from which you found the game.

 

From AMy: Bonus for Signing Up

If I’ve convinced you that Evernote can change your productivity, then at least try the basic level for FREE!  Please know though that I use the Premium subscription and find it’s completely worth the yearly fee.

If you use this link (see affiliate disclosure below) as a new sign-up or to upgrade the subscription you already have, I will give you free access to a shared notebook in Evernote where I have compiled some note templates you may find useful as an independent music teacher including:

  1. Student Evaluation Form
  2. Student Information Forms
  3. What to Include in Your Newsletter
  4. Action Lists for Conferences and Board Meetings
  5. Grocery List and To-Do List

Please note that due to processing time, it may take up to a week to grant access to the notebook.

Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that Piano Pantry is part of the Evernote Community affiliate program which simply means I get a very small percentage from Evernote sign-ups (or upgrades) that come via my website (at no extra cost to you). Since I provide free content, this small amount means a lot. Thank you for your support!

Logo Disclosure:  The Evernote logo is used under the Evernote Community Leader license from Evernote Corporation.

Did you find this post helpful? Consider subscribing to the Piano Pantry email list where you’ll get my once-a-month “Secret Letter” which includes what’s been going on in my studio that month, books I’m reading, favorite Instagram posts, and other fun things like that. 

Sound good?! Subscribe here.

 

Evernote Community Leader

April 29, 2017
by Amy
2 Comments

By now many of you are aware that I am a huge Evernote fan. I can’t help it! Nothing else has been able to match this productivity workhorse in regards to the way I work and capture information.

I have been using it for 5 years and every year I continually improve and streamline how I use it on a daily basis not only in my professional life but in my personal life as well. The first time I shared with you how I use it as an independent teacher was in December 2016 in the post/video Evernote: An Independent Music Teacher’s Handbook.

That initial post was followed up with:

Evernote Part 2 [Web Clipper]
Evernote Part 3 [Account Features, Tagging, and More]
Using Evernote for Student Evaluations

I am super excited to announce that in January 2017, after completing a training course, I was accepted into the Evernote Community Leader (ECL) program! Continue reading

Writing Student Evaluations Using Evernote

April 28, 2017
by Amy
7 Comments

Change.

I thrive on it. I love the seasons, re-arranging my studio annually, and re-doing my student schedule each summer and fall. The latter of course takes time but for me, the idea of never changing my lesson schedule is suffocating! LOL.

Clear start and endpoints to me, give a sense of relief and rest and in a way, a mental break. When I used to be a choral director I would frequently get sick the week following school being out as my body was letting go of the stress!

The end of the school year for many independent studios is the time take a step back and celebrate the culmination of student’s work and progress through recitals. Not only that, but it’s the perfect time to turn our heads and reflect on the last 30 to 40 lessons and 4,000 plus hours of practice. Did we use our time wisely? Did the student make progress? Did they participate in studio events? Does the student feel they put in their best effort? There are so many questions that can be pondered and progress assessed, that conducting student evaluations has become a part of my annual schedule.

My recital is always the Sunday before Memorial Day. It does get a little crazy having it that time of year, but I love the feeling of having that culminating event where the whole studio comes together to celebrate and make music. The week following the recital, students and parents come to the student’s normal lesson time, but there is no formal lesson. We sit down and hash out the past and the future of the student’s piano studies together. (The last week of May my studio is closed for a semester break then we return for summer lessons the first week of June).

My part of that meeting time is giving the student a formal evaluation and the parent and student’s part is filling out questionnaires I give to them ahead of time. Today we’re focusing on the former.

Many teachers, after seeing my extensive tutorial on how Evernote can help you organize your studio, got a peek at my evaluation form, and have been asking if I would be willing to share. Not only am I going to share the form, but I’m going to explain in detail how I use Evernote to organize and track evaluations from year to year.

Seeing how far we’ve come is only possible if we remember where we started!

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Evernote: An Independent Music Teacher’s Handbook 

Part 3 – Account Features, Tagging & More! [Video]

January 22, 2017
by Amy
4 Comments

I’m back for my third and final installment on how to implement Evernote into your daily life as an independent music teacher.

While I say this is the “final” video in the series, I’m sure there will be much more on Evernote to come here on Piano Pantry as it’s a program for which I’m quite passionate. Can you tell?

This 3-part video series together is less than 40 minutes. If you’re like me, you listen to single podcasts that are longer than that! Most of us likely spend 30-40 minutes each evening watching a show or video to chill-out. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of us also spend that much time daily reading blogs or posts on Facebook piano teacher groups.

I can promise that if you give those 30-40 minutes just one day to watching the series, it could potentially change the way you handle and organize your studio forever. A strong statement, I know, but I believe it with my whole heart, and well, if you know me, you know that for the most part, I say what I feel!

Check out part ONE on using Evernote to organize your studio.

Check out part TWO a short 3-minute video here on the powerful web clipper.

 

Part 3: Account Features, Tagging & More!

The following is a breakdown of what you will see in part 3.

1:10
A brief explanation of the available desktop client, web client, and app.

1:55
How I use Evernote compared to Notepad, Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive.

2:55
Features and demonstration of the three account levels and key features I use the most including forwarding emails directly into Evernote, the powerful PDF, and office search functionality, and presentation mode.

7:55
Integrated Apps: Skitch, Scannable, Web Clipper, and Penultimate including short iPhone and iPad demonstrations.

12:05
Three reasons and a demonstration of why I believe using tags to organize Evernote is better than using individual Notebooks.

14:40
Layout options, creating shortcuts, and sequential ordering of notes using symbols, numbers, and letters.

 

Bonus for Signing Up

If I’ve convinced you that Evernote can change your productivity, then at least try the basic level for FREE!  Please know though that I use the Premium subscription and find it’s completely worth the yearly fee.

If you use this link (see affiliate disclosure below) as a new sign-up or to upgrade the subscription you already have, I will give you free access to a shared notebook in Evernote where I have compiled some note templates you may find useful as an independent music teacher including:

  1. Student Evaluation Form
  2. Student Information Forms
  3. What to Include in Your Newsletter
  4. Action Lists for Conferences and Board Meetings
  5. Grocery List and To-Do List

Please note that due to processing time, it may take up to a week to grant access to the notebook.

Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that Piano Pantry is part of the Evernote Community affiliate program which simply means I get a very small percentage from Evernote sign-ups (or upgrades) that come via my website (at no extra cost to you). Since I provide free content, this small amount means a lot. Thank you for your support!

Logo Disclosure:  The Evernote logo is used under the Evernote Community Leader license from Evernote Corporation.

 

Evernote: An Independent Music Teacher’s Handbook 

Part 2 – Web Clipper [Video]

January 4, 2017
by Amy
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Helloooooo, 2017!

There are three times each year that the seasons give me a chance to feel refreshed and invigorated.

  1. The last week of May after the school year lesson schedule comes to an end and I’m preparing for a lighter summer schedule.
  2. The middle of August gearing up for Fall lessons to resume (this is the time I feel most refreshed and in order).
  3. NOW. The turn of the year when I have a chance to reflect and re-consider goals, organization, and life in general.

Many of us, during at least one of these three points in the year, realize it’s time to refresh and reorganize our studios.

January is one of my slower months of the year. It’s cold; there are no holidays, conferences, festivals, or recitals.

It’s the perfect time to rethink how you work including organizing your studio physically and digitally.

Evernote is the perfect program to help independent music teachers in this area. Today I’m going to walk you through the perfect little tool that will be your best friend on the internet and your mobile device for capturing and organizing life – the Evernote Web-Clipper.

Affiliate Disclaimer: Please note that Piano Pantry is part of the Evernote Community affiliate program which simply means I get a very small percentage from Evernote sign-ups (or upgrades) that come via my website. Since I provide free content, this small amount means a lot. Thank you for your support!

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Evernote: An Independent Music Teacher’s Handbook 

Part 1 – Studio Organization [Video]

December 21, 2016
by Amy
20 Comments

When I first started teaching piano as an independent music teacher, I learned quickly there was more to the profession than being a pianist and pedagogue. I was managing a business and, in a way, people. Tasks like tracking student information, lesson plans, overall student progress, music to be ordered, recital participation and repertoire lists, became a big part of the job.

Before Evernote…

I would find myself unable to recall materials I needed to purchase when I happened by the music store unplanned.

Oodles of information and ideas in which I intently made notes during sessions at local, state, or national conferences found themselves in paper stacks, with never a second glance.

Valuable and detailed advice regarding iPad to midi capabilities I read in a Facebook thread were later fuzzy in my mind when I needed it most. When I tried to find it, the conversation found itself lost in a sea of never-ending social-media posts.

If you’re like me, you long for anything that will streamline the business side of what you do. While today’s digital world offers many tools and applications to help us manage and organize the tasks we juggle on a daily basis, there’s one that stands out: Evernote.

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