As 2016 comes to a close, I’m looking back at this past year and can’t believe what a whirlwind and blessing it has been. It’s been a year of opportunity, growth, challenges, and firsts.
Today I would like to share with you a personal reflection as well as the best posts from Piano Pantry in its first year.
Goal-Setting
This past year, I decided not to make any “New Years Resolutions” but to instead, sit down and set specific goals for myself. Evernote guru Michael Hyatt wrote a post How Evernote Can Help You Achieve Your Goals in 2015that I used as inspiration.
Speaking of Evernote if you missed it, check out my post on using Evernote as an independent music teacher.
One of those goals was to start this blog and my studio website by March 1 (the latter of which I accomplished this summer). This site’s first post, “Welcome to My Studio”,was published on March 20, 2016. Check!
When I first started teaching piano as an independent music teacher, I learned quickly there was more to the profession than being a pianist and pedagogue. I was managing a business and, in a way, people. Tasks like tracking student information, lesson plans, overall student progress, music to be ordered, recital participation, and repertoire lists became a big part of the job.
Before Evernote…
I would find myself unable to recall the materials I needed to purchase when I happened by the music store unplanned.
Oodles of information and ideas that I intently recorded during sessions at local, state, or national conferences found themselves in paper stacks without a second glance.
I read valuable and detailed advice regarding iPad to MIDI capabilities in a Facebook thread, but it was later fuzzy in my mind when I needed it most. When I tried to find it, the conversation was lost in a sea of never-ending social media posts.
If you’re like me, you long for anything that streamlines the business side of your work. While today’s digital world offers many tools and applications to help us manage and organize the tasks we juggle on a daily basis, one stands out:Evernote.
Piano Safari has been a method on my radar since the first version of the books came out. I’ve known about it since (I’m guessing) 2008. Julie Knerr, one of the authors, went to grad school with a girl I did my undergrad studies with (they may have even been roommates, but I can’t remember for sure). My friend told me about the method, and I haven’t looked back.
I was drawn to Piano Safari due to my disappointment with the technique books on the market. I hated them to be quite frank. I didn’t feel they were effective and they were…well, what they were – exercises – and boring to boot. Even though most technique books do correlate with what the students are learning in the lesson book, I never felt the transfer of learning happened.
It wasn’t until 2013 that I started using the method heavily. With the increased use came the desire to maximize the “fun” of the safari theme more with stuffed animals.
Building up my safari-themed animal collection was a bit of a chore! I remember asking the authors where they got theirs, but mostly, I was on my own finding them. Today, I hope to help YOUR search a little easier than mine.
I’ll be sharing not only where I purchased the animals but also why they’re a good investment and how I use and even store them.
Why The Prop?
Using the stuffed animals adds not only to the fun (kids can’t resist squeezing the heck out of them!), but they’re a hands-on/visual way to reinforce technique.
I use the animals in several ways.
Directly demonstrate the technique motion. For example, have the monkey take a swing on their arm or use Tree Frog’s feet to play legato on their arms.
Animal “plays along” with the student. As they’re playing the exercises, I make the kangaroo bounce lightly on the keys next to them so they have a visual of having a gentle, bouncy arm.
Animal “talks” to the student. A.k.a. me making silly voices about how happy Zechariah is with their firm fingernail joints or how sad tree frog is they didn’t make their fingers sticky that time. The kids love this.
Lesson visitor. Animals are often silent observers of the student during their lesson. Sometimes the student will suddenly stop and say “I think Mr. Kangaroo is tired and is ready to go back home” and they’ll put him away.
Goals In My Quest for the Best Helpers
When I began the search, I had a few goals in mind:
(1) I didn’t want to go out and spend $100 purchasing a bunch of animals. I did end up spending that or maybe a little more in the long run but it was over the course of the last 2-3 years.
(2) At first, I searched local stores and ended up with some larger stuffed animals. I found them too bulky to work with, though, so I went online to find smaller sizes. I should have done this upfront as randomly chasing down specific stuffed animals of specific sizes in stores was not fun!
(3) I really wanted to keep the cost under $10 apiece although $5-$8 made me happiest. In some cases, I ended up going $10-$15.
(4) I wanted the animals to look as authentic as possible. Some of the stuffed animals out there look nothing like the actual animal. I didn’t want a cutesy-looking animal. Let’s keep it real. For example, I would have preferred a smaller giraffe, but most of the small giraffes out there had no neck, and since the point of the tall giraffe technique was to think of their long neck, I had to go with a 12″ giraffe.
(5) My goal was to find an animal for each technique exercise in book 1. (Lion, Zebra, Giraffe, Tree Frog, Kangaroo, Bird, Monkey) However, because the Charlie Chipmunk and Herbie Hippo rote pieces are so popular, the kids were always asking for Charlie and Herbie, so I decided to get them too.
My Winning Fuzzy Friends
Charlie Chipmunk
Herbie Hippo
Larry the Lion
Kangaroo
Zechariah Zebra
Tall Giraffe
Soring Bird
Tree Frog
Monkey Swinging
If all else fails, let the student bring their own prop! In book 2 there’s the Flamingo Dancers rote piece. While this isn’t a technique exercise, the animal theme lends itself beautifully to a fun prop. This couldn’t be displayed better than the day one of my sweet students walked into lessons with her flamingo headband. Too fun.
Storing the Stuffed Animals
In my studio, all these furry friends sleep in a cube storage bin right next to the piano. The students love to go digging for them when it’s time.
On ONE occasion, I let one of my students play with the animals during her music lab time. She loves them so much, I couldn’t resist.
What’s one 30 minutes lab in the long haul anyway? It brought her joy and she had a blast while her sister had her lesson that day.
*Note: this photo was from when I had mostly large stuffed animals, but I’ve since found I prefer to work with smaller ones. It was just too cute of a picture not to include!
Originally published June 2016; Updated May 2020 & March 2021.
The “One-Minute Club” Note-Naming Challenge is a program that focuses on the skill of naming and playing the notes on the music staff in one minute or less.
Made famous by Jane Bastien, the idea has continued to be promoted and developed by Susan Paradis, and now myself! :-). (Susan has a wealth of free downloadable materials which she redesigns each year including downloadable charts, flashcards, and full-size and business-card size certificates.)
One of the nice things about this program is there is quite a bit of flexibility in implementing it in a way that supports the way you approach teaching note names. This post will look at six items to consider when setting up this challenge in your own studio, including goals, timeline, levels, rules, tracking, and rewards.
I’ll also share some really good bonus tips to help students reach their potential during the challenge, recommend a few favorite flashcard sets, and share a free download to help you get started!
Do you give out awards to your students for various achievements from the past year?
Would you like to do more awards but aren’t really sure what to do besides recognizing student achievements in festivals and competitions?
Do you struggle to implement or track something like this with any kind of consistency?
This post is going to look at a few types of awards that can be integrated into your studio’s awards program, as well as how to track everything by creating a simple “policies and procedures manual” of your own.
Types of Awards
There are a few different types of awards I give annually at the recital.
Awards don’t always have to be about celebrating achievements; they can also serve as a time to celebrate a student’s ongoing commitment to music study, which is why I love MTNA’s Music Study Award.
Please note that you have to be a member of MTNA to have access to this award.
They have a free certificate available for download signed by the current MTNA President and the Executive Director and C.E.O.
The PDF is editable so you can easily type in your student’s name and print it.
Don’t worry, it doesn’t print the purple color on your forms!
For the first few years, I printed them on heavy white cardstock but recently have been using heavy certificate paper so they look a little nicer.
Important points to note:
It can be a bit tricky to find these awards on the MTNA website, so I’ve included a screenshot (updated as of 4/2021). You will need to be logged in using your member information in order to access these pages.
[Click on the photo to enlarge]
If you are using a certificate paper that has a large border on it, you will need to scale down the print area. Here’s a 2-minute tutorial to show you how.
Event Participation
Any students who participated in events outside the studio throughout the year are given their ribbons and certificates at the recital.
For example, if I have any students participate in our state’s Achievement in Music Festival in March, they are given their certificate and medal on the day of the event, but the theory ribbon is distributed to teachers after the event.
It’s nice to have something physical to hand to students when recognizing their participation in the event during the recital award time.
One-Minute Club
Each year all students are required to participate in the One-Minute Club Note-Naming Challenge. The winner of each level is given a $5 gift card to Walmart and the overall winner (the fastest time for level 5) is given a $15 gift card. These are all announced at the recital.
Other Awards
A couple of other programs I’ve used in the past that are good to include in your end-of-year awards time:
The Music Achievement Award Program is another one offered to members of MTNA and can be found in the same area of the Members Only site as the Music Study Award shown above.
Students have to complete several outside musical tasks such as writing a report on a composer, composing pieces, and more. They have a huge array of things to choose from and MTNA has an implementation pack to help you get started.
Students who completed this program received a small plaque at the recital that says “Music Achievement Award,” (purchased from Music in Motion). I also took those students to a professional performances such as a concert with the Philharmonic. Due to the expense of the awards that I give for this program, I do charge a small fee for students who enroll.
I offered this (optional) opportunity to my students for several years but in my effort to reduce activities and simplify, have not offered it in a while.
Design A Policies And Procedures Manual
Once you determine the types of awards you want to incorporate, set aside some time to formally write up the program (for your own reference) so it’s concrete and consistent from year to year.
Here are several items to consider including in the manual:
1 – A list of the awards you give annually including any requirements.
Here’s mine as an example:
MTNA Music Study Award (awarded for total years in piano lessons) Participation Award (less than 25 lessons)
Year 1 – Certificate (25 lessons minimum)* Year 2 – Certificate + Lapel Pin Year 3 – Certificate Year 4 – Certificate + Lapel Pin Year 5 – Certificate Year 6 – Certificate + 5” Trophy Year 7 – Certificate Year 8 – Certificate + 7” Trophy + Legacy Inductee** Year 9 – Certificate Year 10 – Certificate + 11 ½” Trophy
*If preschool students participate in recital they receive a participation award and/or the certificate from Wunderkeys for completion.
**Students who study at Studio 88 for 8 years will be given the legacy award and their names placed on a plaque in the studio.
2 – Links to the exact item(s) that you purchase for each award.
For consistency, give the same awards every year. This is also a way to build excitement for students. Imagine a 2-year student seeing a student who has been studying for 6 or 8 years receive a large trophy.
I recently witnessed a 5-year student commenting to another student that they’re staying in lessons at least until they receive the “Legacy Award” (8 years) if not longer (see below for details on the legacy award).
Here’s what mine looks like:
3 – Notes and reminders regarding engraving or anything else you may want to remember from year to year.
It was important to me that the wording and formatting of my engraving were the same from year to year so I keep a few notes regarding those kinds of details.
For example, do have the names engraved in all caps or just uppercase the first letter? Do you put the year the award was received on the plaque or trophy or X number of years of study, or a date such as 2015-2020, etc.?
4 – A list of students by name and their years of study.
Keeping this list from year to year will be a big time saver. Each year I simply copy and paste the listing onto a fresh sheet, shift everyone’s names down a year, and remove those who are no longer students. This process takes about 10 minutes!
If I have any transfer students who will be receiving an award for the first time in my studio, I make sure I confirm with the parents exactly how long they took lessons prior to coming to me and ensure the parent is in agreement with the years of study I will be awarding their student.
Awards
4/21/202 – To see more specifics on the trophies I give as well as a list of my awards updates, check out this post:
3/31/2021 – If you’re just now starting an awards program, do you wonder if you should play “catch up?”
The iconic spiral-bound piano lessons notebook. Is there a piano student in all the world who can be found without one?
One of the first, if not THE first one I had was small (approximately 3″ x 5″) with a red cover and side spiral. I kept it for years but cannot seem to find it in my old memorabilia. Knowing me, I probably threw it away during one of my “reduce and minimize” streaks.
As a teacher, I used notebooks for years, but in my effort to grow and manage the structure of lessons better I started making my own assignment sheets. I distinctly remember this as a period of intense growth and scrutiny of myself as a teacher.
During this time, I was trying to figure out how to be a piano teacher as opposed to a classroom music teacher. Although I had been teaching piano part-time for years, it felt like a whole new world as I learned about true piano pedagogy. I had no idea there was so much that should be incorporated into the lesson!
In this post I’ll share the story of how and why designing assignment sheets became an important part of my growth as a teacher. You’ll also get access to a bundle of more than 20 of these assignment sheets for FREE.
Methods are to Recipes…
I’m an avid cook. I grew up watching and helping mom out in the kitchen. Mom is a good country cook who raised her family through the 80 and 90s – a time of Campbell’s soup and casseroles. Although she had her trusty favorite recipes, we often called her MacGyver in the kitchen as she could make a meal out of nothing.
When I was first married, I used all her recipes, but when the poundage began to add up for both my husband and me, I realized I needed to learn to cook healthier and incorporate flavor through herbs and spices instead of butter and sour cream. Thus, I embarked on the world of cooking shows and an endless recipe obsession.
Stick with me…
When we lived in Australia, one of my favorite shows was Chef at Home, hosted by the Canadian chef from Prince Edward Island, Michael Smith. He advocates using your instincts and what you have at home to create simple, easy, and delicious meals. At the time, I thought, “Yeah, right!” I can follow a recipe and make a fantastic meal, but I don’t have a deep enough understanding of food to come up with something on my own – I’m no MacGyver.
Stick with me…
A few years down the road, one day, it suddenly dawned on me that I was cooking something for dinner with complete confidence—no recipe in front of me! What an intense and rewarding feeling that was!
Do you see where I’m going with this? Method books are recipes. They help us know what musical concept to introduce in what order. However, when we understand pedagogy, how children learn music, the foundations of healthy technique, and more, we understand the flavor of the ingredients and how those ingredients come together to make a pianist. It’s kind of like knowing how the ratio of flour, sugar, butter, and egg makes a cookie as opposed to a cake.
There is a connection to my assignment sheet addiction, I promise…
While I still regularly use and rely on the sound progression and solid pedagogy of several methods, I was freed the day I realized I could teach a student without a method in front of me if I wanted.
Why the Addiction?
My assignment sheet obsession started somewhat as a way for me to write out my own “recipe instructions.” Their role became a way for me to help guide my lessons and remind me of what I needed to incorporate. Each one tells a different story of the goals I had at the time and the things I was focused on as a teacher.
I create new assignment sheets at least once a year, sometimes twice, dare I say sometimes even three times? Often, I have different sheets for my school-age students than I have for my preschools or adults, so I could have three different sheets going on at once, though not always. Summer always proved a good time to try a new sheet before launching it with my full studio in the fall.
Over the past 5-8 years, I’ve created more than 20 different sheets. At first, I was going to pick my favorites to share, but I realized that each one was, at one point, a wonderful, new, and perfect solution to a fresh assignment sheet. Who am I to say which one will work best for you?
There were times in the early days when it almost felt that if I could just make the perfect assignment sheet, I would be a perfect teacher. Bahahaha, yes, we’re all laughing—I know! Looking back now, I realize that is ridiculous.
I’ve learned to let it go, and honestly, the main reason I switch assignment sheets now is that I am completely out of boredom. I get tired of looking at the same sheet day in and day out. Plus, I start thinking, “Gee, maybe if I add a new joke or quote to the sheet each week, I’ll get some of them to fill it out more regularly.” Bahahaha, it’s a laughing matter once again, I know!
There are always students who fill it out diligently and others who don’t bother, no matter what I do. I’ve called them anything from “Weekly Learning Guide” to “Assignment Sheet” to “Assignments for the week of…,” to “Piano Homework” to “Daily Practice Steps” and more. Does the title make a difference or inspire them more? Nope, not one bit.
I have a few students who hate it when I switch in the middle of the year, so I just use the same assignment sheet for them all year. Others find the switch refreshing, as I do, and some don’t care either way. There have been times when I’ve used the same sheet for everyone and times when I’ve used a different sheet for adults, preschoolers, elementary schoolers, and high schoolers.
They’re kept in color-coded hanging files next to the piano, and I just pull a fresh one out and place it in the front of their binder on top of last week’s sheet. Most have been designed in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher, but I’ve also experimented with designing in Canva.
Get these assignment Sheets.
Preview and download the bundle of these sheets on Assignment Sheet Central. Take your pick! You name it, I probably have it.
Do you still have or remember your first notebook? What did it look like? Do you use a spiral notebook for assignments, binders with printable assignment sheets, or are you 100% digital? Share your memories in the comments!
Have you ever had moments when you feel like banging your head against the wall during a lesson with a student? Those moments seem to happen to me most often with musical terms and symbols.
I’m not shy to say there are times I’m screaming in my head, “Seriously, how many times have we used this term during lessons? It’s called a ‘staccato!'” While my more experienced and sensible teacher side calmly says“Ssssttttaaaa” trying to draw the word out of them with a verbal cue or gives them multiple choice.
When asked what “Andante” means, the student looks at you sideways, eyes squinting slightly in uncertainty as if they had just eaten a piece of sour candy, hands twisting, and mind whirling. “It means…it means like slow….or well, maybe fast?”
At this moment, my teacher conviction takes over, and I remember:
