Each Friday on this blog, I will share some of my favorite finds from the past week. I absorb a lot of content in Feedly so I’m looking forward to helping you as busy teachers see what’s worth checking out! You will find anything from teaching articles, podcasts, music news, recipes, favorite pieces, and more. I promise to try to keep it under 10 items!
1
Find out how you can use Noteflight’s online notation software in your studio.
2
There is a whole slew of metronome apps out there. Find out which one may be right for you.
3
You may or may not be familiar with the Ted Talk by psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth: The Key to Success? Grit. It’s worth the 6:12 of your life to watch. Encourage your students and families to view it as well by including it in your newsletter, Facebook page, or assign during computer lab time. The producers at Freakonomics Radio talked this week with Ms. Duckworth on how grit isn’t something you’re born with but how it can be learned. Find out How to Get More Grit in Your Life, and those of your students, I might add!
4
Seth Godin’s post, (always short and pithy) on Rigor “Doing things with rigor takes effort, but not everything you put effort into is done with rigor…We know that you’re working hard. The next step is to do it with rigor.”
This makes me think of the scripture from Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” ESV
Another one by Seth on “Striking a Chord.”
5
There are so many things pianists can apply to their practice and performance skills in the article When it Comes to Focus What Do Elite Athletes Do Differently posted on BulletproofMusician.com.
6
I would love to have monthly Spring Garden Parties like Gaby! Who wants to come?! Such beautiful fresh veggies – her photos themselves are delightful and inspire me to remember to eat fresh.
7
Graham Fitch’s analogy of the Three Little Pigs about smart practicing was brilliant! Bring out your inner child and take the 8 minutes to watch the cute cartoon at the end of the post too, “Silly Symphony–The Three Little Pigs.”
8
There are two new websites to check out in piano-teaching-world. Irina Gorin and created a new site for her Tales of a Musical Journey (Irina is a fellow “Hoosier” a.k.a. person who lives in Indiana). Piano Safari has launched their updated site, and it’s beautiful! They have a 15% off sale going on for just a few more days until Sunday, May 15. If you’ve thought about trying the method out, now’s the time!
9
I found this article talking about the website Allrecipes to be interesting and spot-on. An extracted quote:
“For the most part, the [dishes] don’t require exotic, expensive ingredients. They’re familiar. They’re unpretentious. More than anything, they’re a reminder that although the conversation about food moves at lightning speed, with new trends pinging across our social media accounts daily, our actual cooking habits change much more slowly. Tastes are passed down from parents; palates developed over lifetimes. Shifts happen over generations, not weeks.”
10
The Piano guy’s “Jungle Book/Sarabande (Mayan Style)”
