Canva is such an amazing resource and one that I have come to use almost daily. Even when I think I know a program well, I find myself always learning something new from Katie Wardrobe at Midnight Music. Check out the podcast episode #134:10+ Canva features you probably didn’t know about.
I just find this soooo touching and yes, it totally made me cry at the end!
10
An excellent article from Jane MacGrath on progressing students through what she calls “black hole literature.” An excellent pairing to this article is another article and free download from Janna Williamson on how to evaluate repertoire difficulty.
We’re all a little picky on the way we teach chords and scales. Maybe this new complete scales and complete chords book will be one that works well for you!
At my February local book club meeting, a friend confided in the group that she had not been reading much because she had been engrossed in a podcast.
This podcast takes you inside the story of Mars Hill Church in Seattle – from its founding as part of one of the largest church planting movements in American history to its very public dissolution—and the aftermath that followed.
Thanks to her recommendation, it’s totally had me in its grip this past month. I’m not finished yet, but I’m 70% through and completely in shock at this true story. I think you’ll get addicted as well!
Most of us teach, perform and listen to Classical music. Many of us also teach pop songs or jazz. But do you ever break outside of these walls? And if you want to teach different types of music, how do you find it?
That’s the question Nicola answers in this episode of the Vibrant Music Teaching Podcast – one of my favorite of her most recent episodes!
Don’t worry – even I had no idea there was a difference!
9
Interested in self-publishing and selling your sheet music? I just recently heard about ArrangeMe.com, owned and operated by Hal Leonard.
This site allows people to sell their arrangements of popular songs, public domain works, and original compositions through the world’s most popular sheet music retailers. Cool!
In his first solo episode, Ben Kapilow lists 15 piano teaching mistakes he made earlier in his teaching career, which he was inspired to correct as a result of interviewing various piano teaching experts for the last 50+ episodes of the podcast.
Ben has had a brilliant group of guests on his podcast. If you haven’t listened yet, definitely subscribe!
12
Any Le Creuset fans out there? Well, I’m more of a dreamer. LOL. They have a big sale going on through March 14. Check out!
Welcome to the first Friday Finds of 2022! It’s been a busy January with the startup of The Piano Pantry Podcast. I hope you’ve had a chance to catch at least one episode if not all four.
As life moves forward, things change and evolve including what I’m doing here on Piano Pantry. If you’ve been around here awhile, you may have noticed that this weekly series has become a little more sporadic.
My beloved Friday Finds series has and will continue to remain, but may be more dependent on what life allows from week to week and month to month. At a minimum, you will always see an end-of-month “best of” publication.
So, thanks for sticking around for this series my friends, a Piano Pantry staple and reader favorite since 2016!
1
I discovered the most DELICIOUS soup recipe this past weekend Pulled Pork Chili Verde (The Kitchn).
I added 1 c. fire-roasted corn (from Trader Joe’s) as well as additional liquid – the liquid that came out of the instant pot from cooking the pork shoulder. No additional salt was needed at the end due to the addition of that liquid.
While we’re on the topic of bread, recently I discovered a wonderful store-bought pita at our Walmart – Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Pita. It’s low in calories (60 apiece), soft, light-weight, and a good source of protein.
It’s only every 7 years (ish) that New Year’s Eve will land on a Friday. We celebrated our “Best of December” Friday Finds before Christmas and I told you it would likely be the last unless I just ended up with some great stuff. Well, here I am with one more batch of goodies as the new year turns over!
1
If you buy much of anything on Amazon, you know that sometimes the order total does not always end up being the transaction amounts that show up on your form of payment. Multiple items in an order may ship differently and don’t charge to your form of payment until they ship.
This has proven quite tricky for me as we download and categorize all of our transactions into Quicken for budgeting purposes (read more on that here). As we were struggling through the holiday transactions, Drew finally Googled something like “how to quickly find Amazon transaction amounts”.
Lo and behold!!!!
It took a few steps, but here they are:
In Amazon go to > Accounts & Lists in the top right corner
Chad Twedt doesn’t post often on his site, Cerebroom, but when he does, I always find it thought-provoking and fascinating. Check out: New MyNoise Soundscape: Piano Escape.
6
Following up from #4, in my opinion, the best way I find to keep track of new content on your favorite sites (especially those that don’t post a lot like Chad’s) is to use an RSS reader. Find out more here: Managing Internet Content the Easy Way.
7
Joy just launched a new product, it’s a project kit on creating a studio-wide video of The 12 Days of Christmas. The launch promo code expires on January 10.
Happy End of 2021 everyone! Unless I just end up having a big list of goodies pile up by New Year, I plan for this to be the last Friday Finds of 2021!
Christmas Treats
1
I have been connected to and following fellow teacher Daniel Light for quite some time and especially love his #thingspianostudentssay hashtag. It wasn’t until recently I discovered he has quite a lovely website and fabulous piano arrangementsincluding some Christmas ones!
2
My new favorite Christmas candy – Andes Peppermint Crunch! I grabbed a bag of these randomly while at the story early in the season and they did not last long, oh my!
Peppermint + white chocolate + Andes brand = heaven to me.
I was very late to the game discovering Katie Wardrobe and her podcast, Music Tech Teacher. Ever since, however, I’ve been enjoying her email list. this month she shared a great Advent calendar with lots of goodies including this free music notation library!
A fun podcast to listen to this holiday season! Kids in Slovenia don’t have to settle for just one santa! Each santa has had his moment in the spotlight—each in a different period of Slovenia’s complicated history.
I’ve been a fan of James Clear for years – even prior to his famous book Atomic Habits. This podcast is for anyone who has an interest in the Enneagram and is hosted by Ian Morgan Cron, author of the famous book The Road Back to You
Friend and colleague Daniel Patterson of Grow Your Music Studio along with Nate Shaw of Brooklyn Music Factory has launched a new podcast for music school owners.
Did you hear? Prima Music is going out of business! So sad! Prima was my go-to for quite a long time. Pop over there through the month of December for 50% off EVERYTHING while supplies last.
After reading my post on organizing printed music, Natalie has been cleaning out and updating her own music files. Check out her before and after photos and get a free download of folder labels. (Natalie Weber | Music Matters Blog)
It’s time to cue up our Thanksgiving listening playlist! Mine is Thanksgiving playlist is public on Spotify which means you can enjoy it as well! Here’s a sneak peek:
As you know, the minute Thanksgiving is over, the world moves onto the Christmas/giving season. As you consider where you might be able to give even amidst rising prices in our own lives, consider these 10 Music-Based Organizations on #givingtuesday.
If you’re an MTNA member with an established studio and teaching professionally for no more than three years, consider applying for the MarySue Harris Studio Teacher Fellowship. It’s a wonderful opportunity for new teachers and one I wish I knew about when I first started my studio.
3
You guys, I have developed a serious hobby of creating playlists on Spotify. My husband gets the biggest kick out of it. Over Fall break last week we traveled to Virginia Beach for a speaking session on digital management strategies I gave to a local group there. On the way home I created two: Indiana, My State, and Halloween.
One of the tools in this series is a pretty cool magnet board which, after having a look myself on her recommendation, inspired this week’s finds. First of all, I thought it might be nice to hear directly from this reader on why she loves Easy Notes.
I have recently found and love Easy Notes by Rebecca Wilson (find it at wilbecks.com). There are two workbooks, as well as charming character magnet manipulatives. I have used mnemonics, not because I thought it was the way to go, but because I didn’t know there was a better way (yes, I use intervals some too).
Easy Notes teaches note names (four octaves) through stories. It’s simple and whimsical, and the students really like it. Most importantly, it is making a difference in their note reading.
I only happened upon her and her new creation when I watched a webinar. I think she’s from New Zealand. The workbooks used to be $10 each but are now $18 each, but I recommend the Easy Notes Teachers Kit (with Large Magnetic Stave) for $109.99. The Easy Note Student Kit (with Small Magnetic Stave) is $99.99, is fine, too, but I just like having more space between the treble and bass staff.
This was the first magnet board I purchased. I love that it’s compact, double-sided, and has multi-colored magnets that come along with it. I did find the space above and below the staff a bit cramped for teaching ledger line notes though.
Lots of other great resources available on this site as well.
3
After E-Z Notes, my next find for a magnet board was from Musical Escapades. Similar to E-Z notes, I like the compact size of the board and multi-colored magnets that accompany it. It’s not doubled-sided like E-Z notes but there is more space for ledger line notes.
I find both the E-Z Notes and Musical Escapades staff board magnets to be a bit small to manipulate but with the more compact size, that’s to be expected.
4
MusicToolsLady.com, besides a staff magnet board she also has a great music note slider tool as well.
