App-Land Madness: How I Organize My Devices

April 9, 2018
by Amy
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App-land madness.

Yeah, you know what I’m talking about!

As teacher especially we deal with twice the amount of apps because we have not only our personal apps, but endless apps on rhythm, sight reading, note-naming, and on and on and on. It’s likely most of us don’t even use half the apps on our screen on a regular basis.

While our smartphones and tablets are incredible devices that have given us the ability to access all kinds of useful (and some not so useful) tools that can enhance the way we work, teach, and go about our daily lives, they’ve also become another item that we have to figure out how to manage.

You guessed it. Today we’re talking about device organization.

If you’re anything like me, since the day you’ve owned a smartphone and/or tablet, you’ve played around with and rearranged the layout of your devices again and again.

Over the past year, I’ve finally settled on a layout I like and have stuck with. As a bonus, the layout is almost exactly the same on both my iPhone and iPad.

Today I have a video for you on how I organize my devices.

Care to have a peek?

If you prefer to watch it on YouTube, just click on the word “YouTube” on the bottom right-hand corner of the video. In order to see the video as clearly as possible, I would recommend expanding the video to full screen by clicking on the broken box-shape clear to the right of the screen at the bottom.

Do you have any tips that work for you when it comes to device organization? Share below!

Tidy Teacher Tips: End-of-Semester Reset

December 19, 2017
by Amy
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As we roll into the end of a semester of teaching, students and teachers alike are itching for a much-needed break from the past months. It’s time to breathe and reset our mind, body, and spirit by walking away from our day-to-day tasks and celebrating the season with friends and family.

Before you close the door to your studio, I would like to encourage you to take a little time to reset your workspace so that when you return, you can hit the ground running in a fresh environment.

We’ll address three areas that are common in a music studio, including our teaching space (around the piano), workspace (around our desk), and student space (such as the music lab, waiting room, and prize box/incentive areas) accompanied by photos of my own space getting a refresh.

At the end, I’ll even share a few ways I use “resetting” on a daily basis, not just in my studio but in daily life tasks.

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Organizing Piano Games with Evernote

July 3, 2017
by Amy
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This is a guest post by Missouri teacher, Anita Byers (bio at the end). 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!

 

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 following three photos are 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 store my games physically, and I added the drawer number right after the game’s name when I entered each note.  My games are easy to look up in Evernote and 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.

 

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.

 

Digital Photo Organization

May 6, 2017
by Amy
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What’s the one digital item you find trickiest to keep organized?

For me, it’s photos.

Many readers have asked about this, and when a friend asked the same question just the other day, I knew it was time to share.

I have a confession though – I wouldn’t call my way anything special, it’s just what I do for now. I love seeing ideas of how others organize, even if I don’t end up doing it that way, so hopefully, you can find some inspiration to clean up your photo files and share any great tips you have with me!

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Writing Student Evaluations Using Evernote

April 28, 2017
by Amy
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Change.

I thrive on it. I love the seasons, rearranging 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 can give distinctive physical and mental relief and rest. 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!

For many independent studios, the end of the school year is a time to take a step back and celebrate the culmination of students’ work and progress through recitals.

Not only that, but it’s the perfect time to turn our heads and reflect on the last 30-40 lessons and 4,000-plus hours of practice. Did we use our time wisely? Did the student make progress? Did they participate in any 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. (My studio is closed for a semester break the last week of May, and then we return for summer lessons the first week of June.)

My role in that meeting time is to give the student a formal evaluation, and the parent and student’s part is to fill out questionnaires, which 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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Recital Preparation Timeline and Checklist

April 18, 2017
by Amy
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It’s that time of year for many when preparations for year-end recitals are in full force. If you have ever had to mentally think through the same basic list of tasks every year for your recital preparation, this post is for you!

The first year I had a recital in my studio, I kept detailed records of what needed to be done, when, food needs and amounts, and more. I’ve continued to do so every year, and this habit has become a planning life-saver.

Using a recital preparation timeline and checklist keeps me sane, saves time (by not having to think through every little detail again from year to year), and saves money (tracking food purchases vs. actual usage).

What Should I Include?

There are three different types of items you will want to create checklists for:

  1. Preparation timeline and checklist
  2. Miscellaneous notes of reflection
  3. Food buying guide

The recital preparation timeline and checklist should include a timeline leading up to the recital, such as what items to complete 3-4 months before, 6-12 weeks before, 3-4 weeks before, the week before, the day before, and the day of.

Miscellaneous notes of reflection are a great place to jot down mental notes for yourself for future recitals. For example, “Don’t do recitals that last longer than 60 minutes without including an intermission,” “Don’t forget you like to keep a clipboard with you for all your announcements and awards,” and so forth.

The food buying guide, of course, is only applicable if you provide the refreshments for the recital yourself (or for the rehearsal). I’ve always liked serving students a pizza lunch after rehearsal as a simple and fun way to build community within the studio.

Over the years, I’ve saved myself a lot of money by taking time to record actual numbers, such as how many people attended, how much food I bought, how much was left, etc., and have really gotten it down to an exact science.

Be sure to sit down no more than a day or two following the recital to make your notes of reflection and record food consumption. I promise your future self will thank you!

Start Your Own Document

To help you get started, I’m going to share a free document of my list of items – many of which you will want to include.

Keep in mind that the content is my personal record. I’m giving you access via Google Docs. Access is view-only, so you will want to download the document and make your own edits.

Click here to DOWNLOAD.

Interested in learning how to organize studio awards? Check out this post: Studio Awards Policies and Procedures.

 

Conference Management 101: Four Tips for Organizing Information

March 13, 2017
by Amy
7 Comments

At the turn of the millennia, while the world was rejoicing in making it successfully through Y2K without disaster, I was excited and rejoicing in my new world as a budding music educator. In January 2000, I attended my first-ever professional conference as a freshman in college, M.E.N.C. (Music Educators National Conference).

Here we are 17 years later, and since my professional focus has shifted to piano rather than choral education, I’m soon headed to the 2017 Music Teachers National Association Conference in Baltimore, MD.

2016 MTNA Conference, San Antonio, Texas

Conferences.

Are.

Awesome.

I love every minute – I really do, and that’s why I want to share with you a bit on the topic today. You may be wondering, though, what I mean by “managing” conferences.

Put it this way – do you KNOW how many different topics are getting thrown into your brain before lunch?! Ha! If you’ve ever attended a conference, you know what I mean!

We are presented with so much good information it can be easy to walk away and not implement half of what we want to accomplish.

Michael Hyatt hits it spot on when he says:

Information you can’t find or use isn’t information. It’s noise.

So, we need to plan how to take in the information in a way that doesn’t just add to the stack of cool ideas that never get used. In other words, we don’t want all the information to get “lost in the noise.”

I want you to walk away from a conference feeling like all you’ve learned is easily retrievable and, in turn, useful. I’ll also give you a little peek into my own process, including how I utilize Evernote.

First, a little conference-attendance pep-talk.

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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 watch the series, it could potentially change how 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.

 

Friday Finds #39: Productivity Tools and Simple Songs

January 13, 2017
by Amy
3 Comments

 

1

I often struggle with finding off-bench music lab activities for my youngest students (ages 5-7). Since I have one student doing lab and one in a lesson simultaneously, they have to, for the most part, be able to function on their own. If a student doesn’t read well yet, that makes it even harder.

In comes MLT and the idea of acculturation – being absorbed in and hearing music in a variety of styles, meters, timbres, instruments, and modes. Viola! One lab I rotate now is purely listening (15-20 minutes). It’s simple – they listen to music while drawing freely in their personal art book and they love it!

What Great Music! Classical Selections to Hear and to See is wonderful for this. Not only is the music of high caliber, but there are beautiful images to accompany each piece.

If you’re interested in reading a little more on how I use “art books” with students check out this post.

 

2

Sort by Price. 167 words by Seth that will kick your “commodity” marketing mindset in the pants.

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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, 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 will 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.

 

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