Amazon is running its Spring Sale from March 20 – 25, 2024.
I did some leg work for you and compiled all items from my favorites lists that are currently on sale (there were 27!).
Categories include:
Enjoy!
36% OFF
Would you like to have another fun musical assignment you can use both in your lessons and to assign for at-home practice, especially for your littles? Expressive movement videos might be a perfect addition to your teaching mix.
Expressive movement takes from philosophies like Dalcroze and gets students moving to music in a way that reflects the patterns, form, and expressive quality of the music.
I first shared about these videos in a full blog post in 2022, which includes a compilation of 15 videos I found on YouTube.
Expressive Movement Videos for Preschool Lessons and Group Classes
Today, I’m expanding on that post to bring you a free downloadable resource to help you assign these videos to students during the week.
This file will be most useful for those who are using a digital practice app that will allow you to bulk-load assignments using CSV files. Don’t worry, though; even if you don’t use an online app, you could still use this spreadsheet to copy and paste text to create your own assignments.
Continue readingAmazon Prime Big Deal Days is here!
If you don’t know what that is, it’s a special sale event exclusive to Prime members that occurs in the fall, ahead of the holiday shopping season. For October 10 and 11 (2023) only, you can get special savings on thousands of items across all product categories.
As you likely already know, I love shopping and finding things through the recommendation of others, which is why I’m always sharing things with YOU. I thought it might be helpful to pull together a list of some of my favorite items I’ve shared over the years here on the blog and even on the podcast over the past 18 months.
It’s not totally exhaustive, but it’s a solid list of some really great products I think you’ll also love. There are 21 items broken down into 4 categories:
As an Amazon affiliate, I do receive a small percentage of sales through these links. The work of this AD-FREE blog and podcast is only supported through affiliate sales, purchases in the shop, and the new Patreon membership.
Thank you in advance for supporting the work I do here through one or all of these avenues!
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In April 2021, I discovered and shared here on the blog that Piano Explorer Magazine had been discontinued. I know how sad many of you were to hear that news, so I’m excited to share with you today a similar type of magazine that is now available!
In July 2023, Piano Inspires Magazine announced a new publication called Piano Inspires Kids. (Just to be clear, this new publication has no affiliation with the former Piano Explorer Magazine, which was published by The Instrumentalist.)
Piano Inspires is one of many resources part of The Francis Clark Center and is the brainchild of Andrea McAlister and Sara Ernst (pictured above). The magazine is geared toward young pianists of all levels, ages 8-14.
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11/22/2023 Update
Unfortunately with the major website overhaul SheetMusicPlus just went through these lists are not shareable at this time.
I am leaving this blog post up in case that changes in the future with more site improvements and I can update this blog post.
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Since the closure of Primo Music in recent years, Sheet Music Plus has become my go-to site for purchasing music online. I’ve always had success finding music on the site and experienced good customer service.
While their discount (5% for two or more copies) is not as good as some sheet music sites like Primo have offered in the past, I can usually still get a discount either through MTNA or by using my Capital One Shopping Extension on Chrome.
That being said, I don’t worry about that too much because sheet music is a tax write-off for the business, and purchasing music is how we keep our composers paid!
Sheet Music Plus has a feature I didn’t know about in the early days (or at least didn’t start utilizing fully) until recently. That is, you can create your own “music lists.”
To save a book to a music list or create a new one, hover over ” Save to Music List” below the “Add to Cart” button.
(Be careful – clicking “Save to Music List” will just save the item to your “Default List.” You have to HOVER and then click on the list you want to save it to. Otherwise, you can select “Create New Music List.”)
To find your list on Sheet Music Plus, go to “My Account > Music Lists”
There are three scenarios in which I think using this feature would be useful.
(1) You want to have an easy way to save your favorite books without keeping a repertoire database of some kind.
(2) If you opt to have your studio families purchase books, you could keep a list of all your studio’s frequently used books so you can quickly reference and send links (the same could be done on Amazon as well!)
(3) You want an easy way to share repertoire lists with others (like me!). I honestly keep the lists mostly for my own record, but it’s a nice bonus that sharing the list with you is so easy!
My lists aren’t exhaustive, and I try to update them when possible, but they have a good start.
Amy’s Favorite Supplemental books for Students
Amy’s Favorite Church Music books for Students
Amy’s Favorite Pop/Disney/Video Game Music for Students
Amy’s Favorite Christmas Repertoire for Students
Amy’s Favorite “Classical” Repertoire Books for Students
Feel free to link to some of your repertoire lists on Sheet Music Plus in the comments – I love checking out books other teachers love!
Thanks to summer, I finally had a chance to sit down and put together a little creative project I’ve had on my mind for a while!
I’m always looking for fresh, uncluttered, and visually appealing images to use on my computer desktop background or wallpaper.
Years ago, one of the food websites I was following offered a new set each year. Unfortunately, she no longer does this and ever since I’ve never really put any effort into finding something new – I just rotate through her old ones along with a few others.
If you’re interested, she has a live set you can still get your hands on. Visit the blog post: Free Backgrounds for Food Enthusiasts from Chocolate and Zucchini.
Back in those days I would have had no idea how to create my own but it occurred to me last year I could easily do so with Canva (which I swear I use almost every day! LOL).
So, I’ve created a set of 12 images featuring 12 of my favorite quotes (one for each month of the year – which is about how often I try to rotate). I tried using a combination of both educational quotes, life quotes, and productivity quotes. I hope you find the choices well-balanced and inspiring.
My goal was to keep it simple and visually appealing. I think the Piano Pantry dark blue color looks amazing as a desktop background and makes for a really sleek and clean feel.
Here is a slideshow preview. Click on the arrows on the bottom left or hoover along the right or left sides to go forward or back.
When coaching teachers on digital organization, it’s always my recommendation to keep your desktop free of shortcuts and to use your taskbar to pin quick links to your most used programs. This allows your screen to be clutter-free and more aesthetically pleasing.
For any links you do keep on the desktop background, try and relegate them to the side as much as possible. As you scroll through the images you will notice I tried to keep the quotes especially free of the left margin which is my preferred location for anything on the desktop.
Sign up here to get the download delivered to your inbox. It will send you a link and when you click on the link, you will receive access to a ZIP file. From there you will want to download the file to your computer and extract the file. Be sure to save it in a location you will remember to access.
*By submitting this form, you acknowledge that you’re signing up for my email list and agree to receive regular communication (generally once a week).
While I think it’s fun to change my desktop background each month, I would never remember if it didn’t place a recurring reminder/task in my calendar. For more tips like this, listen in on episode #006 of The Piano Pantry Podcast – Tasks: They’re Not All Created Equal
Enjoy!
If you would like to see more of these in the future, let me know in the comments!
Over the years, I’ve shared about an expressive movement resource I use off and on during preschool lessons and early elementary group classes from John Feierabend called Move It!: Expressive Movements with Classical Music for All Ages.
The series includes 20 dances set to Classical works from Brahms’s “Waltz in A-flat” to Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” The movements reflect both the form and expressive quality of the music. They’re really fun, and my kids have always enjoyed them.
During COVID times, I found myself wanting to give a small assignment like this for my preschool kids to do at home. Unfortunately, the series I have is only available on DVD. So, I went searching for other options available online and quickly came across a large number of videos on YouTube.
These videos make for a fun and quick “focus activity” to use at the start of lessons or group classes for preschool or early to mid-elementary students.
You could also use them at the beginning of group lessons as you’re waiting for everyone to arrive for the class. Students can join in as they enter the studio.
Do it along to the video, or learn it yourself and have them follow you.
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Do you include group classes in your studio in some way, shape, or form? Do you have at least two pianos? If so, then consider incorporating ensemble playing into this time!
Piano ensembles are a fun and easy way for students to experience collaborative playing and have been a staple activity in my group classes for years. I’ll share some great sources for piano ensemble music in today’s post.
(For holiday-specific ensemble music, check out the post: Christmas Collaborations: Recommended Piano Ensemble Music)
Before we dive in, one point of advice I wanted to mention is that I have always approached this as a sight-reading activity. I do not send music home prior to a group class for them to practice.
Music is chosen based on what I know students can easily sight-read. Since I am lucky to have four keyboards with headphones, they spend a few minutes playing through their part a couple of times, and then we unplug and play together.
Also, erring on the side of easier than I think they could play has proven to be a good rule of thumb for successful experiences. I’ll try to give you some specific examples throughout.
Interested in hearing more on how I run my group classes?
Listen in on Episode #3 of The Piano Pantry Podcast: Group Class Scheduling Experiences and Ideas
My favorite over the years has been the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library Piano Ensemble Series.
Reasons I like this series:
Things I don’t love about this series:
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 1
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 2
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 3
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 4
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 5
Similar to Hal Leonard, Alfred has a piano ensemble series as part of their Basic Piano Library method.
Reasons I like this series:
Things I don’t love about this series:
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 1A
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 1B
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 1 Complete
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 2
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 3
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 2 & 3 Complete
There are two other good locations that I currently know of for piano ensemble music online. I have not used either one extensively as I have the Hal Leonard or Alfred Ensembles but I like what I see and think they are a great option!
Please note that I am not being paid in any way to promote these products. I’m just letting you know what’s out there! 🙂
The first is Lauren Lewandowsi’s site: Piano with Lauren. She has 12 arrangements available.
Each piece includes:
The newest one I’ve discovered is Miss Dorla’s Piano Pyramids.
Each piece includes:
I hope this post has given you some great resources for gathering your students to make music together!
Do you have any favorites to add to the list? Let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for new resources for piano ensembles.
Please note all of these links are affiliate links which simply means I get a very small percentage back without it costing you extra as a way of helping me run this blog. Thanks!
Recently, I shared a couple of blog posts related to building a lending library in your studio of music-themed children’s books and comics.
After purchasing a few more books from some of your recommendations, I noticed I had quite a few books that had suggested listening lists in the back of the book. Thus was born the idea to create listening playlists to accompany some of these books!
I’ve been using Spotify for years to create playlists of my own. It’s a wonderful place to create public playlists anyone can listen to.
In this post, I will share brief synopses of each of these 9 books as well as the direct link to each playlist.
For quick access to them all in one location, simply click on the link to my public playlists.
As a bonus, as a way of sharing these playlists with your students, I’ve created a free printable of bookmarks you can print on heavy paper or cardstock and stick inside each book when it’s checked out.
This will be an easy way to give parents the link to listen to these playlists at home when reading these books with their children.
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What kinds of activities do you do to help your students get focused at the beginning of a lesson?
I saw this question recently in a Facebook group post and realized it was time to share an activity started doing this year.
After attending a workshop by Melody Bober a couple of years ago, I was inspired to come up with a little warm-up routine to use at the start of each student’s lesson.
Not long after that, I was listening to an episode of the All Keyed Up Podcast where he was interviewing Marvin Blickenstaff. At one point, Marvin called warm-ups at the beginning of a lesson a way of “stimulating circulation.” I loved that phrase and it was another element that convinced me to come up with a fun little routine of my own.
The benefits of including something like this in your lesson are:
The routine I designed is now available in my shop. Here’s a look!
While this was developed with piano students in mind, it could be used with music students of any instrument!
Some of my specific goals in developing this routine were:
As a bonus, the words flow in a somewhat chant-like manner. The first two of the seven-line chant are:
Look to the left and right;
Tilt your head side to side.Gentle twist, from the waist;
Body circles, that’s the way.
Here is a 0:15 snippet of the 0:50 routine.
A couple of final things to keep in mind when incorporating a routine like this:
This product includes a PDF printable of the full warm-up chant as well as the full video displaying the motions.
Add it to your shopping cart now or from the Piano Pantry shop.
Do you have any favorite warm-up/focus activities you use in your studio? Share in the comments!
