Category - Friday Finds

Happy Friday! I’m writing this as many of you are amidst your travels to the 2025 MTNA Conference in Minneapolis. While I’m going to miss it, I’m feeling good about my decision to stay home this year and am looking forward to having a two-week Spring Break “staycation” at home (although we’ll get our camper out for a couple nights to break it in. 🙂

You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been switching up the featured images for Friday Finds posts recently. I love the idea of keeping these a little more personal with photos rather than just generic images with posts names. In fact, I went through this phase several years ago but had a hard time keeping up with the practice because I just didn’t take a lot of photos at the time.

As technology changes and media becomes more apart of daily life, I found myself drawn to the desire to once again use real-life images to lead these posts–something that speaks to the time that has lapsed.

Growing up in an evangelical household, I’ve enjoyed learning more about liturgical practices in adulthood and exploring what a balance between the two look like in my life. This is the second year I’ve used Bitter and Sweet: A Journey into Easter by Tsh Oxenreider through Lent. I’m drawn to it mostly because it includes a playlist on Spotify with one song per day to accompany the devotion.

That’s just the start of all I have for you on this Friday in March, 2025. Enjoy!

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My students have been working through our annual March Minute Madness challenge. I have a high school student who asked about an app he could use to practice when he’s not sitting at the piano. We found a nice, free, simple note flashcards app in the app store called “Flash Notes Flash Cards.”

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If you are still frantically trying to finish up taxes, listen in to the Music Studio Startup podcast with Andrea Miller episode #162 where she has a CPA talk through deductions for music teachers.

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Nicola Cantan shared on her podcast something that’s been working for her in recent months to help set the mood of her morning – Morning Memos.

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Happy end of February! I don’t know about you but I am soooo ready. It’s been a yucky winter for a lot of us with all the respiratory junk. The best part of this month was gathering with friends at Superbowl. See me in the pink? The 5 people on the far side of the couch from me are my brother and his family.

One thing on my to-do list for this month was to try a new cookie recipe. Unfortunately there was too much gunky sickness going on for that to happen but I did try a new appetizer recipe for Superbowl. Let’s start our Friday Finds off with that!

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I don’t recall ever making homemade jalapeño poppers—maybe just once, and that was ages ago. Fortunately, the first one I tried was a winner! These Bacon-Wrapped, Cheesy, Chorizo-Stuffed Jalapeños from What’s Gabby Cooking will easily become a favorite as Drew is a devoted chorizo enthusiast. LOL And if you’re not into jalapeños, swapping in sweet baby peppers works wonderfully.

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If you have students who are fans of Wicked, then let me help you make their day… Chrissy Ricker has a whole series of Wicked arrangements now available! Wahoo!

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We’re getting close to the time of year when we as studio teachers start thinking more about what we want the next school year to look like. Tuition raises should always be a factor in this process. I was actually super impressed with this tuition calculator from outsidethebachs.com. It was pretty spot on to the rates I’m currently charging.

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Over Christmas break, we took our nephews indoor skydiving. It was so much fun! Believe it or not, I’ve been real-life skydiving before! When I sold Cutco knives in college, they did a skydiving office outing. It was awesome!

Here’s an up-close of me in action during indoor skydiving.

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It’s funny—I was telling my students this past week, “You know how we don’t really have Thanksgiving music like we have Christmas music?!” (I was giving them a challenge to rewrite the Lyrics to Jingle Bells in homage to Thanksgiving, thanks to Christina Whitlock’s suggestion on this episode.)

I was chuckling inside as I said that, though, because I conjured up a list of some really fun Thanksgiving songs in my custom Thanksgiving playlist.

Songs like “Sweet Potato Pie” by Ray Charles, “Let’s Turkey Trot” by Little Eva, “Carvin’ the Bird” by Charlie Parker, and more. So fun!

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I’ve always kept a small handheld vacuum in my studio to be able to sweep little things quickly (especially eraser junk off the music rack!). Our old Shark, though, got re-assigned to our camper since it had a beater blade on it we can use to sweep the rug.

I tried going without one but really missed it, so I finally went on the hunt.

What was I especially interested in?

• Small and lightweight
• Easy to clean
• A stand it could be stored on
• Minimal attachments – only really useful ones
• Replacement filter so after I wash one, I can replace it while the other one dries.
• Under $50

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I would be remiss if I didn’t start this week’s Friday Finds with the most recent news shocking our community: The End of Finale.

While Finale was a leader in the industry for decades, I can understand the reasoning behind the decision. Several years ago, after doing a monthly subscription with Noteflight for years, I was considering whether I wanted to continue with Noteflight or move to Dorico or Finale. Between the latter two options, I would have chosen Dorico. My needs were minimal, however, so when Noteflight opened an option for a lifetime license, I jumped on board.

Natalie Weber has already written a helpful blog post on making her transition to Dorico.

Last year, it was Tonara, and now Finale. It makes me wonder… what will be the big shocker at the start of the 2025 school year?

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58. That’s the number of items I have saved up to share with you in Friday Finds! I hate to be cliche but this summer has been crazy! I keep thinking I’m going to sit down and write one (which usually takes a 75 minute work block), but it just kept getting bumped. *sigh*

On the positive side, I always have lots of great things to share with you, and the more I have saved, the choosier I become. So, you really DO get the best of what I think is worth your time.

I hope you’ve had a great summer thus far – enjoy what’s left!

~Amy

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What Children Teach Us About Creativity (A Slight Change of Plans Podcast)

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If you’re still looking for a professional development event to attend this summer, consider the Music Teacher Turboboost Nicola Cantan is hosting in July. My friend Christina Whitlock and I were both invited to share as part of this event—Christina on Saturday and me on Sunday—along with lots of other great sessions put on by Nicola and her team. Hope to see you there!

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I tried the “6/10 Method,” and it’s Become My New Favorite Cleaning Method (The Kitchn)

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