Happy Friday, piano teacher friends!
As we get going into a new school term, I just wanted to quickly share about the Friday Finds series – especially if you’re new around here – so you can know what to expect. 🙂
First, my goal is that I can make your life a little easier by weeding through all the content that is out there and sharing the best of what’s worth your time and attention.
Second, I hope that you find these posts unique, refreshing, lighthearted, and fun.
Third, it’s not always just 100% about piano teaching because that’s just how I roll and as you can attest, we aren’t our profession.
Lastly, each week I focus on a specific topic. One of my most recent favorites: was #227 What’s New in Piano Teacher World. At the end of the month, I present a more random list such as today’s “Best of August.”
If you’re new, thanks for being here, and if you’re a regular reader, thanks for sticking around.
Here’s to another school year!
~Amy
1
Natalie recently shared a review on a really interesting online sheet music company where you can stream over 20,000 pieces of sheet music!
2
While the piano podcast world is starting to get a little saturated, I feel like one person I haven’t gotten to hear much on podcasts is Wendy Stevens. (Of course, I could have just missed them! LOL). Anyway, I really enjoyed hearing her chat with Leila Viss on Episode 28 of the Key Ideas Podcats.
(I’ve been playing catch-up big time on podcasts so you’re going to get quite a few in today’s list!)
3
I absolutely love playlists focused on popular tunes that use specific chord progressions. There are two people I found recently that have some great lists on Spotify.
Katie Wardrobe – Melbourne-based music technology trainer, consultant, blogger, and podcaster – has a list for 12-Bar Blues Progressions, 1-5-6-4, Pentatonic Melody, and more.
Robin Giebelhausen – assistant professor of music education at the University of Maryland, College Park, and MLT practitioner extraordinaire – has playlists on the I-V-vi-IV progression, and all the tonalities (Dorian, Mixolydian, etc.), and more.
4
How to Use Milanote as an Educator (Ashley Danyew)
She says it’s basically Evernote meets Pinterest so obviously I’m intrigued! Are you using Milanote? I would love to hear from you on how you like it. Please share in the comments or drop me a message!
5
You guys, this moment right now is my absolute favorite food season and it’s 100% because of tomatoes.
Lunch – dinner – lunch – dinner – lunch – dinner….every day our meals include something with tomatoes. There is nothing like a fresh August tomato – especially beefsteaks. *sigh*
Cod Sautéed in Olive Oil with Fresh Tomatoes (Simply Recipes). This is SUCH an easy and delicious fish recipe. Do it.
Frittata with Tuna and Tomatoes (Giada De Laurentiis). Such a quick cook plus healthy and delicious. Don’t skip the dollop of mascarpone on the side.
Paleo Chicken Salad with Bacon and Tomatoes (America’s Test Kitchen). I’m not after “paleo”, just a good healthy mayo-free chicken salad.
Pesto Salmon with Burst Tomatoes (The Kitchn). Admittedly, I haven’t yet tried this one, but it sounds delicious.
Tomato, Mozzarella & Pesto Panini (Food.com). While it’s on Food.com, it’s actually Ina Garten’s recipe from one of her cookbooks I have.
6
What is the best time to post on Instagram? It’s not just when your followers are online, it’s when there’s less competition for posts. While surprising, it makes total sense! Instagram in 2021 According to 35 Million Posts (Later.com).
7
My news often comes from The Newsworthy podcast. While I generally skip the Saturday special editions, I did catch and love the July 31st episode with The Grammar Girl including a little talk on using the Oxford Comma.
8
Training Us to Be Present for the Sacred All Around Us by Ed Cyzeweski.
9
A new recent podcast find is Sharon Says So. Episode 10 on How to be a good news consumer was especially interesting. Specifically, they talk about how to pay attention to what really matters and let go of what you don’t really need to know.
10
How to Create an Amazing Home Office (Organize Like a Pro podcast with Liz Toombs)
11
5 Tech Tools for Online Teaching (Teach Music Online podcast with Carly Walton)
12
99% Invisible podcast: Episode #453 The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food
This episode was one of the only cookbooks to exist in the Soviet Union. It was part of a radical Soviet food experiment aimed at addressing hunger in the USSR.
