General - Piano Pantry

Giving Tuesday: 10 Music-Based Organizations to Consider

November 30, 2019

In light of the upcoming global cause called #GivingTuesday, I thought I would share with you a list of 10 organizations that we as music teachers could consider supporting as we approach the end of the year.

First of all, I was curious and did a little research on this initiative and wanted to share some fun facts:

It is held the Tuesday following the U.S. Thanksgiving.
Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation.
The movement was a response to the rise in commercialization and consumerism during the post-Thanksgiving season (a.k.a. Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
The hash-tag (#) makes it empowering via social media.
There’s a whole website dedicated to #GivingTuesday!
It’s not just about donating money but about encouraging people to find a way to give back – whether that’s monetarily or simply of your time.

Presented in alphabetical order, here are ten organizations working for the betterment of our musical world. (In order to give you the most accurate description of each of these organizations, the descriptions have been taken directly from their website.)

Disclaimer: This list is simply based on research. I am not being paid by any of these organizations nor do not have experience donating to all of these organizations. Always do further research so you know where your investment is going!

#1 Give A Note Foundation

Give A Note Foundation was created to bring awareness to the importance of music education and to nurture, grow, and strengthen music education opportunities—for every student, every school, and every community. Because music not only offers students the chance to develop creativity and self-expression, but also builds skills such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking that are necessary for success.

#MusicEdMatters

Visit: giveanote.org

#2 Hungry for Music

At Hungry for Music, our mission is putting quality musical instruments into hungry hands. We serve children who demonstrate a desire to learn music, as well as teachers who have students willing to learn.

In 25 years, we’ve delivered more than 13,000 instruments to children in 49 states and 30 countries.

Visit: HungryforMusic.org

#3 MTNA Foundation Fund

The Music Teachers National Association uses the Foundation Fund to expand its mission through a variety of grants and awards to deserving music teachers and their students.

More than $150,000 in grants and awards each year for:

Competition Prizes for the winners of the MTNA Student Competitions
Collegiate Grants for the professional development of Collegiate members
Program Development Grants for music organizations to use as seed money in their quest for larger-scale funding
Community Engagement Grants for programs and projects designed to be used by affiliates to engage the local community in musical events
Teacher Enrichment Grants for MTNA members to pursue needed professional development opportunities
Affiliate Enrichment Grants for local and state MTNA affiliates to develop educational and professional development projects and programs
Composer Commissioning Program for MTNA state affiliates to commission new music to be featured at the state conferences

Visit: mtnafoundation.org

#4 Music Link Foundation

Our Mission: Any child who has musical potential deserves the opportunity to nurture this talent to its full extent. Many children lack the chance to receive music lessons due to financial need. The MusicLink Foundation reaches out to low-income families by linking these students with professional music teachers willing to reduce their fees to make the lessons more affordable for the child.

Note: The MusicLink Foundation does not reimburse teachers for this scholarship donation, but supports them in a variety of ways.

Visit: www.musiclinkfoundation.org

#5 Music Unites

Music Unites is the leading non-profit charity organization supporting music education around the world. Music Unites partners with music stars, celebrity ambassadors and music sponsors to promote music projects and events at local schools – educating kids through music. Music Unites is a music foundation that empowers children through donations from individuals, foundation partners, organization events and music education projects. Along with our music partners, musicunites.org features news, events, video and press of the organization. Special charity partners have supported the Music Unites Foundation while guiding youth towards planning achievable goals for the future. Music Unites feature workshops with ambassadors such as Swizz Beats, John Forte, Sting, Gary Clark Jr., and more.

Visit: https://www.facebook.com/MusicUnitesOrg/

#6 The NAMM Foundation

The NAMM Foundation advances active participation in music-making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving, and public service programs.

A supporting organization of NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants, the NAMM Foundation is funded through trade association activities and donations.

Visit: nammfoundation.org

#7 National Association for Music Education

National Association for Music Education (NAfME), among the world’s largest arts education organizations, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. NAfME advocates at the local, state, and national levels; provides resources for teachers, parents, and administrators; hosts professional development events; and offers a variety of opportunities for students and teachers. The Association orchestrates success for millions of students nationwide and has supported music educators at all teaching levels for more than a century

Visit: nafme.org/

#8 Pianos For Education

Pianos for Education supports piano education by loaning quality pianos to institutions…

…In pursuit of that goal, we have over time expanded our programs to seek out deserving institutions and organizations that lack the financial resources to acquire and maintain adequate inventories of quality pianos for their music-education curriculums. We also accept applications from private piano teachers and studios in need of piano loans for their students’ studies. All of our loan programs include regular service and maintenance throughout the term of the loan.

Visit: pianosforeducation.org

#9 Pianos for Peace

This program gives talented but disadvantaged young people the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge to actively contribute to the development of their communities…

…We encourage and support students to become “Ambassadors for Peace” to build bridges and heal communities through creative, educational and cultural exchange programs. Target groups include children, students, refugees, and deserving academic institutions.

At Pianos For Peace, we are achieving peace starting with the individual, to the community and the world.

Visit: pianosforpeace.org

#10 Pianos for People

Pianos for People inspires successful futures by providing free access to the transformational power of the piano. For families and individuals with limited resources, we break down financial barriers and leverage the piano as a gateway to empowerment, community, and self-esteem. In an environment of support, inclusiveness, and equality, we do this four ways:

Inspiration: Free Pianos
Education: Free Lessons and Workshops
Community: Free Special Events
Enrichment: Free Summer Music Camps

Visit: pianosforpeople.org

I’m sure there are many, many more organizations out there that would benefit from our generosity on #GivingTuesday. If you know of any other organizations that work to support music education, please feel free to share in the comments!

Unique Student Birthday Cards on Etsy

August 5, 2019

by Amy

Add Comment

If you’ve been here a while, you might already be aware I’m a big advocate of sending students cards (or postcards) for their birthdays.

Marketing with Postcards (it’s not what you think!)

After spending a few years using generic “Happy Birthday” card packs, I realized I could use this opportunity to inspire my students a little more.

I started with Susan Hong’s Mandala postcards. (Get the link along with several other fun ideas from the post: Fun Postcards for Student Birthdays.)

Today I wanted to share with you the super fun abstract piano art ones I chose for this year.

The past two year’s I’ve purchased from Etsy and have a feeling this may be my go-to place for several years to come. As long as I get them for under $1 per postcard, I consider that worth it.

Aren’t they cool?

Find them at Brian Moss Art on Etsy.

09/21/2021 Update – Unfortunately it looks like his shop is no longer available, but I would encourage you to search Etsy for more fun music-themed birthday card finds!

What I Learned in my 11 months as a Worship Team-Leader

June 6, 2019

by Amy

2 Comments

I’ll never forget that day. I was at the 2017 MTNA Conference in Baltimore, Maryland when I got a text from a good friend letting us know that a big announcement would be made at our church that Sunday. It sounded really, really serious.

Since I wouldn’t be there, I called him immediately and was shocked to hear that our Senior Minister, who had been with nearly 30 years, was being let go. (The nitty-gritty of the reason why, of course, is not pertinent to this story, so we’ll skip over those details.)

After hanging up the phone, my next outing at the conference was brunch with my good friend (and author of The Varsity Musician’s Playbook), Christina Whitlock, and Wendy Stevens. Bless their hearts, they were very sympathetic to my blubbering shock at the information I had just received.

That is one of my life moments I will never forget.

Fast-forward just over a year. It’s now the summer of 2018.

Our church was going through a formal “transition” process with a company called Interim Pastor Ministries. It was a long process, but the results were well worth it in the end.

During this time, a person in our congregation who had been a worship leader in a previous career had been filling in as our worship leader. After a year he was ready to step down, but our church still had not hired a new pastor and wanted to wait until the new pastor came before hiring other staff.

Thus, I was next in line as the most obvious person to ask to lead the worship team.

This is another one of those life-moments where it throws you a complete curveball.

MY plans for 2018-2019 were to vamp up my work here on Piano Pantry, open up a shop, etc. His plans were otherwise, however, and I am so glad I took the fork in the road.

The Job Situation

Since this was a temporary situation and I already had a job playing for a small Lutheran church in our town, the elders wanted to ensure I did not have to quit my job to take on this role. Thus, it was set up that I was the “coordinator” of the team, not necessarily the weekly “up-front” worship leader.

My duties included scheduling the team, choosing music, putting together all the chord charts and sound files, and rehearsing the band and vocalists every Thursday night and Sunday morning. (Plus all the other little things that get wrapped up into it that you can’t really articulate).

On Sunday mornings, I would arrive at our church at 7:00 am to prep, rehearsed the worship team from 8:00-9:15, left to play at the Lutheran Church at 9:30 (while our worship team led the 9:30 service), then came back and attended our 11:00 service with my husband.

Every 6 weeks or so, I would take a week off from the Lutheran Church (I just recorded the music for them on a Yamaha Clavinova) and would lead worship at my church. Otherwise, we had 3-5 team members we rotated as worship leaders from week to week.

It’s been a whirlwind, but the past 11 months has taught me a lot as it’s been a new and unique experience for me. The only other time I’ve been in charge of music in a church was for two summers after I graduated high school. I moved out of my parent’s house and lived with my aunt and uncle so I could lead music at my uncle’s small church. That was 20 years ago though, and things have changed quite a bit!

This week is my last week in this role and I thought it might be nice to share with you some of the things I learned not only so you might glean some tips, but as kind of a final recap for myself mentally.

It’s that whole “putting a period on the end of a sentence” thing in life where you mark the end of one venture before moving onto another.

Here are a few things I’ve learned over the past year:

1) Appreciate the person who is leading.

Just like a lot of things in life, it’s easy to nit-pick and finds fault if things aren’t exactly the way you would like them. We tend to like things catered to our exact tastes.

There is so much more that goes into the role of worship leader – I had no idea. I learned that I need to appreciate the person who is in that role more and be positive and supportive of that person, even if their “style” or the way they operate things is not exactly the way I would do things.

2) Plan with Planning Center Services

Planning Center is a website for churches focused on managing different areas of the church such as member databases, check-ins for child programs, church event management, and so much more.

One of those areas is Planning Center Services which is designed to organize all things worship-team including team schedules, weekly planning, and file-sharing. We have our own song database, can organize our songs with tags and can see a history of when and how often we’ve done each song. I don’t know what I would have done without it!

Planning Center Services also has a sheet music app called Music Stand that links to your P.C.S. account and syncs your Order of Service playlist so it will create a setlist from your service order. The best part is that if you make any updates to the files, it will automatically update in Music Stand as well.

It even has the ability to connect everyone’s iPad on the team to one “session” so one person can turn everyone’s page at the same time. (This feature never worked for us quite the way we wanted but it’s still a cool feature!)

Giveaway! Piano Lessons: Music, Love & True Adventures

April 23, 2019

by Amy

16 Comments

Today I have a giveaway for you!

A few years ago I read the book “Piano Lessons: Music, Love, & True Adventures” by Noah Adams. In my quest to always minimize “things” in my possession, I was looking over a few books I owned and asking myself whether they were ones I would want to read again and take with me into my future.

This book, while I recall enjoying it, is not one that I necessarily would need to read more than once.

It’s a memoir by Noah Adams, long-time co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered. He writes of his journey with learning to play the piano over the course of a year.

I’m not a big reader of memoirs and biographies, but if you are, I’m sure you will find this book delightful!

Please keep in mind, what I’m giving away is my used copy. It’s paperback with slight wear on the outside and a few highlights throughout.

Rather than just donate it to a bookstore, I thought one of my readers might enjoy it. (It will be mailed within two business days of the giveaway ending via media mail at no cost to you.)

In order to enter this giveaway, please comment on this post and answer the simple question: Do you enjoy memoirs? (Even if you don’t, you can still win! 🙂 )

You can gain an extra entry by visiting the Piano Pantry page on Facebook.

Only those with a U.S. mailing address can win.

The drawing opens at 12:00 am on Tuesday, April 23 and ends at 12:00 am on Tuesday, April 30. The winner will be randomly selected.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you a reader? Check out more recommended resources on Piano Pantry!

Books for Piano Teachers

Books for Piano Teachers interested in Music Learning Theory (MLT)

Piano Teacher World: A Year in Recap, 2018

December 20, 2018

by Amy

Add Comment

Last year (2017), after being inspired by a post written by Leila Viss in 2016, I decided to sit down and think through everything that happened not only in my world as an independent piano teacher but just in general in what I would call “Piano Teacher World”.

Writing posts like these the last couple of years have been very enlightening, encouraging and really just a healthy exercise in gratitude in general.

The idea behind the “Piano Teacher World” recap is to take a look back at significant news, happenings, and impact in the world of independent piano teachers. The final part of this post also includes resources that have made a direct impact on my own teaching.

I tried to be as thorough as I could and will admit that the list is much smaller than it was last year. Be sure and share in the comments if there was anything you would add to the list!

For the sake of being thorough, I asked for recommendations on multiple Facebook groups and received a lot of excellent feedback on The Art of Piano Pedagogy group regarding overall trends – all of which I agree with. Let’s start with those. (If you’re interested in reading all the comments, which are much more specific, check out the full post here.)

2018 Trends

1 | Declining or leveled-off interest in iPads and apps. Better balance and understanding in the role they play in lessons.

2 | Teaching and learning piano online is becoming more and more viable and easily available.

3 | A shift in attitude and growing excitement toward rote teaching/learning.

4 | Increased curiosity and interest in Music Learning Theory and how it can impact piano teaching, not just Early Childhood Music.

5 | Continually improved quality and ease-of-availability in regards to self-published material.

6 | Rising interested in quality blogs, podcasts, and online communities.

7| Continual professionalization of the field.

8 | A renewed interest in pedagogy outside of academia.

9 | Ongoing concerns with declining membership in professional organizations such as MTNA.

Also mentioned in the list, while not a “trend,” was Brenda Wristen and Lora Deahl’s book Adaptive Strategies for Small-Handed Pianists (Published November 2017).

In Piano Teacher News

ELISA MILNE opened a shop on her website.

Launch of CYBER CONSERVATORY that accompanies the app Super Score.

A teacher friend shared this one specifically with me. She has always loved Marvin Blickenstaff’s method “Music Pathways” and Paul Sheftel’s MIDI accompaniment for the series. She says there are lots of good compositions by Lynn Freeman Olson.

THE FRANCIS CLARK CENTER is continuing to see changes as Dr. Pamela Pike was named the new Editor in Chief/Chief Content Director and Dr. Andrea McAlister was appointed as the new Director of Content Curation and Senior Editor for Clavier Companion.

They also launched a Facebook group for subscribers called Piano Teach Learn.

Creating a Studio Legacy with Student Photo Boards: A Canva Tutorial [Video]

November 7, 2018

by Amy

1 Comment

This is my current student photo board.

Students are not displayed from oldest to youngest, but by how long they’ve been studying with me – moving from left to right and top to bottom.

Every photo includes the student’s picture, their first name, and the month and year they started taking piano lessons at Studio 88.

The white spaces are inspiring quotes. I could have filled them all up individually if I had included my adults, but I assumed they would want anonymity. (After one of them asked why they weren’t on the photo board, I realized next time I should just ask if I could include them rather than assume!)

Today I want to show you how you can create a photo board like this using an online design studio called Canva.

First, I want to briefly share what got me started on having a student photo board.

Who’s the Team?

One of the hottest series here on Piano Pantry is called the Varsity Musician’s Playbook. Written by a good friend of mine, the series focuses on how we can develop thriving studios and students who are deeply committed using principles from team sports.

Facebook Live Studio Tour Wrap-Up

June 28, 2018

by Amy

Add Comment

Earlier this week, I hosted a Facebook Live series that toured various areas of my piano studio.

If you missed it, you can still catch the videos on the Piano Pantry Facebook page. There were several blog posts and items I mentioned in the videos I’ve also linked for you below.

Many thanks for all the encouraging comments and feedback! Now that I’ve finally taken the plunge, I look forward to doing more Facebook Live videos!

Day 1

Studio layout/overview, workspace, student files, and how I organize my music. Click here to view the video.

Posts mentioned / related:

Icing Your Studio
File Fever: Organizing Student Files
Tidy Teacher Tips: End of Semester Reset

Other resources mentioned:

Day 2

A look into my teaching space and student music lab. Click here to view the video.

Posts mentioned / related:

Other resources mentioned:

AKG K52 Closed-Back Headphone
Apple iPad Pro (128G, Wi-Fi) I bought mine refurbished!

Day 3

A look into my student space including incentive program, prize boxes, game drawer, practice charts and more. Click here to view the video.

Posts mentioned/related:

Other resources mentioned:

Article on Alfred Music Blog: Tips on Fostering Music for Life

June 26, 2018

by Amy

Add Comment

My June article submission, Learning Music in a Quick-Fix Society: 7 Tips to Foster Music for Life for the Alfred Music Blog, is now live. Here’s a sneak peek:

The quick fix. Today’s society thrives on doing things bigger, better, faster. Timers are placed in fast-food drive-throughs, crash diets are a dime a dozen, and recipe videos are on fast-forward.

Music teachers may find themselves continually reminding families that learning an instrument is not just a summer or semester-long activity but an ongoing process that requires dedication, determination, and grit. Gentle conversations may occasionally be had regarding realistic expectations such as “no, playing Beethoven’s Für Elise is perhaps not an appropriate piece for a first-year student to be learning quite yet.”

Having information available at our fingertips in an instant has made it hard to not expect everything in life to function in the same way. Today I’m going to share with you seven ways we as music educators can create an environment for our students and families that fosters a sense of “music for life” in a society that values quick learning and information gathering.

1. Assign rich and rewarding repertoire.

Beginning repertoire doesn’t have to be boring. It doesn’t even need to be just in major or minor or in a fixed position such as Middle C or C major. Keep your music library stocked with quality pieces that introduce students to all kinds of interesting sounds, tonalities, and meters. For piano students in particular, find music that explores the entire keyboard from the first lesson. Rote pieces are a wonderful way to allow students to experience exciting music beyond what they can read.

Continue reading this article on the Alfred Music Blog.

If you’re interested in checking out other articles I have written on Alfred Music Blog, they are:

Audiation: The Foundation of Music Learning Theory (October 2017)
4 Ways to Motivate Students: Banishing the Summer Practice Blues (June 2017)

Here are some other posts you might enjoy:

A Fountain of Joy

Personal Teaching Tweaks

General

On Playing By Ear: Contributor on Piano Picnic Post

June 21, 2018

by Amy

2 Comments

Recently I was asked to contribute a few thoughts on playing by ear along with my favorite ear-training exercise in a post on the New Zealand-based blog Piano Picnic.

Other contributors include Jennifer Foxx, Tim Topham, Nicola Canton, Christopher Sutton, Sara Campbell, and more.

Check it out.

Category - General

#1 Give A Note Foundation

#2 Hungry for Music

#3 MTNA Foundation Fund

#4 Music Link Foundation

#5 Music Unites

#6 The NAMM Foundation

#7 National Association for Music Education

#9 Pianos for Peace

#10 Pianos for People

The Job Situation

1) Appreciate the person who is leading.

2) Plan with Planning Center Services

Most Popular Posts Written in 2018

Most Popular Posts/Pages of All Time

Most-Read Friday Find of 2018

My Personal Favorite From 2018

Month-by-Month Recap of Posts from 2018

January

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

2018 Trends

In Piano Teacher News

Who’s the Team?

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

1. Assign rich and rewarding repertoire.

Categories