Episode Summary
Karen Thickstun, NCTM, teaches piano pedagogy at Butler University, operates an independent studio, and recently retired as founding director of the Butler Community Arts School. She holds degrees in music, economics and business administration. Thickstun is currently serving as national president of Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Contact Karen: [email protected]
- Karen’s background, including a business degree in economics
- Butler University pedagogy position
- Her path to MTNA President
- Begin engaged in the profession – Say YES!
- Attending Conferences / MTNA 2022
- An organizational tip – she says it’s “old school” but I think it’s great!
- The non-teacher side of Karen – including auto racing!
- Silly/Fun Fact about Karen (involves March Madness!)
Items Mentioned & Related Content
Podcast Episode: 001 Organizing Student Files (The Piano Pantry Podcast)
Blog Post: File Fever: Organizing Student Files (PianoPantry.com)
Blog Post: Tips for Presenting: Tools, Resources, and a Pep-Talk
Blog Post: Organizing Your Hard Copy Music Books (labeling file folders)
Transcript
Amy: Have you ever been to a state or national teacher conference? If so, when anyone asks what your favorite part is, what’s one of the first things that come to mind? For me, and many teachers I’ve come into contact with, the answer is quite frequently this. Spending time with our piano teacher friends.
Whether it’s meeting for coffee, gathering a group for lunch, or hanging out in the foyer between sessions, we love our time together. I’m a person who thrives on change. In life, it means I like to rearrange my living room every few months, make new recipes half the time, and never return to the same location for vacations.
In my studio, it means I may not always offer the exact same lesson format year after year. For this podcast, it means that, while it will primarily be a solo podcast with me, your host, Emmy Chaplin, every five episodes, I plan on shaking things up with some casual chats with my music teacher friends, just like you.
In fact, maybe someday one will be you. Inspired by the fact that our time together at conferences is one of my favorite things about attending, I wanted to bring that right here to you. So friends, why don’t you grab a beverage of some kind and eavesdrop in with me and today’s piano teacher friend, Karen Thickstun, current president of Music Teachers National Association and a personal friend and colleague from the great state of Indiana.
Welcome to the Piano Pantry Podcast, where together we live life as independent music teachers. In this space, we talk about all things private music teacher life related, from organizing your studios to getting dinner on the table and all that comes between. You’ll get loads of easily actionable tips on organizing and managing your studio, while balancing life and home.
I hope you enjoy my chat today with Karen!
Karen, welcome to the Piano Pantry podcast. I’m so excited to have you here today. Thank you for inviting me. I’m excited to be here. Just to set up the overall mood of this episode, I wanted you and our listeners to picture us in a cozy setting. Imagine we’re at a conference, and we’re maybe sitting in a couple of big plush chairs, or maybe we’ve gone to grab a coffee or something like that. I just wanted to feel it like a nice teacher friendly chat. Is that okay with you?
Karen: That is just fine. And we’ve done that before, Amy, at conferences in the lobby.
Amy: That is true. Yes. So Karen and I are old Indiana friends, I guess you could say, from the state board. Now, before we get into too many nitty-gritty details about yourself and teaching and whatnot, I always find myself curious about people’s names. So can you talk to me about your last name, Thickstun? Is there any kind of an origin or anything like that? Do you find people mispronouncing it or what do your students call you?
Karen: Truthfully, I don’t know a lot about it. I do know it’s German in origin. And if people see it written, they don’t mispronounce it. Okay. If they hear me say it, because that th, The TH sound. Sometimes they think it’s Dickson or Fickson or something else. And then they have problems. But if they see it, they’re usually just fine because that first part of it, T H I C K. Yeah. Is a word they know.
Amy: That’s funny. We used to live in Australia, and I always found any time I would say my name to people in Australia, Amy, they would think I was saying, Emmy. And I’m like, no. So I would have to say. Amy.
Karen: I get that. I get that. And even though it’s hard, that TH is hard for children sometimes, they do call me Mrs. Thickstun if they are my pre college students. And then my college students, of course, call me Professor Thickstun.
Amy: Tell us a little bit about where you’re from and what your current teaching situation looks like, as well as, I know you made a change recently, so maybe you can share a little bit about both your past and present situation.
Karen: How far back do you want me to go? Shall I go back to my childhood as far as you want, because there are a lot of influences there from my mother that I’m sure influenced the directions that I’ve taken over the years? I remember, growing up until I was about 13, my mother had an independent studio in the home, a piano studio. So I grew up watching, hearing lessons, recitals, all of that. I knew exactly what piano teaching was all about and what to expect. There were four of us within 10 years of each other. And so we all took beginner lessons with my mother.
And I have to stop and ask you, can you hear the piano next door?
Amy: Yes, I can. Sounds lovely. Is that what you get to hear all day?
Karen: That is my soundtrack. That is a practice room. That is the joy of being in a music building on a university campus where I am right now. So, from day to day, I don’t know which composer I’m going to hear, but It’s one of our piano majors, so it’s always excellent, and I enjoy listening to them practice.
So growing up all of us, four siblings all took piano lessons, beginner lessons with my mom, and we were her guinea pigs, so to speak, because when, and she’s told me this, so I know when I was around five the method that had just come out was the music tree, and he wanted to try it out. So she often tried it out on us, and that was, therefore, my first method, and fortunately, it’s a great method, and it worked really well with me, and then she continued to do that with my siblings. I’m the oldest, so…
What I especially remember is that lessons were not structured, and she never forced the issue. If one of us wanted to stop for a while, we stopped for a while. She was always willing to resume at any time and continued to whatever degree of rigorous intensity we might have wanted, so all four of us grew up with piano, but only two of us went on to major in music.
By the time I was in high school, I decided I did want to seriously focus on piano and I remember this conversation really well because it was a hard conversation to say to my mother, could I try another teacher. . Cause you don’t know if that’s going to hurt her feelings. Honestly. At that point, she had moved to a faculty position at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. And so I asked if I could take lessons from one of their faculty, and she embraced the idea. She recognized that if I was going to be serious enough to go to college in piano performance, that was probably necessary. And I also, honestly. I wasn’t sure if we could afford it at the time. And again, my parents did not let that be a barrier.
Amy: And that’s a big step, though. When you’re teaching your own children to then let them go to someone else and especially, were you nervous going to your mom? When you’re like, I don’t know what she’s going to say.
Karen: I was very nervous, and I’m guessing the teacher I first studied with there was nervous too, taking me on and knowing that relationship.
Amy: How old were you when that happened? Do you remember?
Karen: It would have been in ninth grade. Ninth grade. In high school. So I spent four years, four years in the college prep area.
Amy: Okay. So did you go for pedagogy or music education, or what was your experience once you went to college?
Karen: Oh, no. When I went to college, there was only two choices in my day. . For most universities, it was piano performance, which I did, or music education. And if you chose music education, there was only one expected outcome, and that’s that you would be teaching in a school. And I knew, didn’t think that was for me.
I wasn’t sure at the time, but I did a piano performance because it was a true passion, a true love. But I also ended up with a double major in economics by the time I finished. Okay. Wow. Something I discovered while I was at college as an undergrad, and I enjoyed it.
Amy: How do you just discover economics? Did you just happen to take a class? That was required or something? Like, how do you go from music to economics?
Karen: Exactly. I went to Duke University for my undergrad, and that is a liberal arts college, much like Butler, where I am now, but you were required, you are required to take all the disciplines, at least something, at least at the time that I was there. So yeah, I had to take something in that area in that college part of the university and I just tried a beginning economics class and I enjoyed it. I took another one, and by that, eventually, I said gosh, I could. I have enough credits here. I could make this a double major without going more than four years. So why not?
Amy: Yeah. So where did you go from there once you got your music and economics degree, out of college, and got your first job?
Karen: So that’s one of those crossroads. Yeah. What do you do next? And every graduate finds that, but there were a number of factors. I was a little burned out. In music, I’ll be honest with them practicing and performing. I also had an opportunity to go further away from home with an economics job. And that was very attractive also because it would pay off my student loans. And I had a hefty student loan.
All those factors together. I never gave up on piano. I still continued; I’ve had a church job since I was 12. That has never changed. Ever since I’ve been in the country, economics took me to Washington DC, a great city to explore and live in for a while. At some point, I decided to get an MBA.
I’m going to give you the quick version here. For 10 years, I was in the business field at MBA University in Virginia. Then I was recruited by a company in Indiana to move me out here, and then worked for them for six years, fortune 500 manufacturing, with nothing whatsoever to do with the arts. But it’s where I met my husband. It’s where I have settled.
It’s where I learned about Butler University and, oh, piano pedagogy. That was not a field when I was an undergrad, but now it is an emerging field. Very interesting.
Amy: Okay. And you’ve been at Butler for how long?
Karen: I would have done my master’s in pedagogy in the late 80s, and then I stayed on as an adjunct, and I’ve been here ever since. So then, at Butler, you were the leader of the Community Arts College? So we have a nonprofit community arts school, which I was director of for 20 years. I retired from that full-time position this past summer. That’s the
Amy: Congratulations!
Karen: Crossroads – You have to figure out in your life sometimes.
But in between, there is tons and tons of teaching, pre-college mostly. Yes, I teach pedagogy here. At the college level and a few other classes, like the group piano and keyboard skills and things like that, but for years, I also taught at the Indianapolis Piano Academy, which is a for-profit Academy, a very different world. I’ve had a home studio for over 20 years. It’s phased out right now, but for many years, I had that going strong.
When I moved from one city to another in Indiana, I. Got into the travel to student homes. That’s
Amy: Okay. So you have done the travel teaching thing.
Karen: I feel like every kind of teaching that I did, honestly, I did that for two years because as a way to keep the students I had while I was building up another studio in my new home. A few other teachers and I created the Butler piano camp many years ago and ran it for years. So, summer camps – tons of that kind of teaching. I feel that if you are a pedagogy professor, you need to practice what you stay in touch and know with children want
Then, of course, the last Kind of teaching that I added, as did everybody, March 2020, online teaching, that was the first one in a week. I had all my students online. So yes, I’m still adapting, still being flexible, still trying to do whatever my students need.
Amy: One thing I always find myself intrigued by is people’s schedules. What was your life like either when you were teaching full-time or maybe even now in semi-retirement? Whatever picture you want to paint for us.
Karen: Let me describe for 20 years, especially as I was running the community art school and teaching and doing a church job and trying to do MTNA and other professional development things. Things did work best when I had a schedule like this, and that was teaching Monday through Thursday, coming to Indianapolis Butler University Monday through Thursday and Saturdays.
I need to back up here for a moment. Your listeners don’t realize that I live in a small rural Indiana town an hour and a half south of Indianapolis.
Amy: So you drive a lot, or you drove a lot.
Karen: I drove three hours a day. The only way that worked was to not drive during rush hour.
Amy: Smart.
Karen: Rush hour is no fun. In Indianapolis or anywhere, so a typical schedule is that I would have mornings at home with my husband and my dog. Now, my husband’s been retired for many years. So this fit his schedule perfectly too. And that from 11 to one is my commute time. And then I would be here on campus to teach from about one to 8pm, and then I’d have 8 to 10 PM to commute back home.
And then from 10 to 12, I’m a night owl. I’m not a morning person that helps from 10 to 12, to decompress, organize, do my workout, things like that. The key to that Monday through Thursday and Friday off is that driving five days in a row I found was too much. But four days felt okay.
. Long, long time. Of course, that was a factor in retiring, and I knew I could give up the commute.
Amy: Sure, and I think that’s a good life balance thing to just let your body will tell you what feels right. You try it one way and then you make adjustments based on what feels right and what feels good and what feels healthy as well.
Karen: Absolutely. And it took me a while to figure that out. Listen to your body, but listen to your heart too, because you have to do what you love to do. And being here on Saturdays meant I had to give up a lot of weekend activities that other people do, which I’m rediscovering now. So that’s good. . But it allowed me to be here to support the community art school, but also to teach for many years, I taught a group class for five and six year olds. And that was just one of the most joyous classes that I’ve ever, and they are so So eager to learn everything.
They do it all.
Amy: I can relate to your life balance thing about discovering four days a week because I have felt like that in my studio. I did five days a week. For, I don’t know, years, maybe six, seven years, and then I was just like, I need a break, I need an extra day to do catch-up things or to, like, do things like write proposals or do, my blog stuff or whatnot.
And so I cut down to, Monday to Thursday myself, did that for a couple years, and then a year or two ago I went back to Fridays, I just suddenly felt, you know what, I think I could go back, I just feel like I could teach students on Fridays, so I did that. But then, after a couple of years, I was like, oh man, I really miss my four days of teaching focus and having that Friday either as an off day or to catch up on other things you can’t get done during the week.
Karen: I also found early in my teaching that I could only go so many students in a row before I needed a mental break in order to really be my best self for those remaining students. And my limit was five. I, they’re early in my teaching when you’re trying to do as much as you can, because. If you need the income, maybe you’re just trying to build, I, there were days when I did eight, nine, 10 students in a row.
Amy: I agree. Mine is six right now. I do six 40-minute students back to back. If I do seven, I can get through it, but I just don’t feel like I’m there, energy-wise. So
why don’t you tell us a little bit about your journey into the MTNA presidency? Is it something that you somewhat aspire to achieve in your own professional goals, or did your path take you there naturally?
Karen: I will say it was natural because I did not aspire to it. In fact, when I was state president of Indiana, which you have been, you know what a huge job that is. You know how rewarding it is because Indiana has a great board, great teachers, and is so supportive. They were always there for anything that we wanted to try. Let’s give it a try. But I do believe, to date, that was still one of the most challenging positions I ever had.
And at that time, someone even asked me, Karen, do you want to be national president? I said no way. Part of it was I really felt like we had achieved something in Indiana. I felt like I had been able to contribute, and that was rewarding in itself. I didn’t feel that I needed to do anything further, and I just did it on a very realistic level. Knowing me and my leadership style, MTNA at that time, and this would have been in the late 90s, was a very different organizational structure than it is today. At that time, the next step was division president, which meant you had to run competitions, and that was at a regional level, and that was just not something I was really interested in doing.
Amy: So not anybody could just be voted on as MTNA president. You, there was like a stepping stone kind of you. Is that what you’re saying?
Karen: To some extent, those were the experiences. There were expected experiences that you would have had. I don’t remember the exact succession, but it all changed around 2001 with a different set of bylaws. Everything was reorganized, and some of the barriers to progression were eliminated. Some of there were a couple of things that I would describe as antagonistic dynamics that were built in and that were eliminated.
Amy: It’s good to see progress and ways like that.
Karen: And at that point, I was just happy, serving here in Indiana, and it was another six years before I was asked to run for an office. For a division office or and then another four years after that before I was asked to run for a national office, but that’s what allowed me to come back and say yes, was that there had been changes to the structure that I felt like my leadership style could fit now and we would both benefit,
Amy: so what’s it like being on a national board of directors?
Karen: It’s quite different from the state. You can probably tell. It is so different. There’s lots, let me say this. I’m sure you can’t tell all, but give us a little peek. No I can’t, but you can imagine a state board, every person, their perspectives you’ve taught and been colleagues with them, usually for a long time.
Yeah. And you have. Common experiences within a state.
Amy: And like a lot of us, I even know on the Indiana board, we call each other friends.
Karen: We are. Yeah. And many of us get together and do things unrelated to. state board business. So I would say there’s lots of compromises, and it’s been really enlightening, especially during COVID, to see how different parts of the country have different experiences, therefore different perspectives, and therefore different things that they will vote for.
Sure. And yeah, so just and then, of course, far more complex issues because it’s not just what serves teachers in Indiana. It’s what best serves everybody.
Amy: That’s what I was going to say. You’re not in Indiana anymore, Karen.
Karen: And you’re trying to find that best solution for everybody, which of course, you can’t please everybody. So it’s always a compromise, and you’re looking for the best way forward.
Amy: But I’m sure it’s really neat getting those different perspectives and seeing everything in a totally different way. Than what you’re used to on a state board.
Karen: Absolutely. Yeah. But again, the reward, just like a state board, is you make some great friends and great colleagues. And these are people that I know I can go to if I have a question about some aspect of teaching.
Amy: Yeah. And like it’s people that you would otherwise would maybe never have known. I would have maybe never known you very well if I hadn’t been on the state board. We’re in the same state, and maybe I would have met you at a conference or something, but we wouldn’t have the same relationship,
Karen: Absolutely. Lots of people I never would have met.
Amy: In regards to being part of and engaged in our profession, what piece of advice or encouragement would you give? Maybe first of all to young professionals, and then secondly, to more seasoned teachers.
Karen: That’s a great question. And honestly, I the advice I would give is going to be the same, and this is going to sound counterintuitive. So bear with me here for a moment. The advice is to say yes. We hear so much about saying no, but I want to talk about Just for a minute about saying yes because you often don’t know where whatever it is going to lead you. I always encourage, especially young professionals, to try it out. It does. You’re not making a lifetime commitment.
Most of the things you’re asked to do. Give it a try. See if it does fit. And then you can always defer later. For example, my first job in the Indiana organization was as a newsletter editor, and that’s an intimidating position. It was my very first one. I didn’t know what I was doing, but saying yes to that made me connect with everybody who was contributing to the newsletter.
It got me involved in those dialogues, those conversations, and it’s what really helped me understand what a music teachers association is all about. And I’m happy. I said yes to that. Eventually, I said, No, I need to not do this anymore. I need another experience. Saying yes to writing a business column for the American Music Teacher gave me a way to connect with other like-minded individuals and a way to use my business background and incorporate that into that part of my life.
And that’s something I’m still saying yes to, so you never know where it’s going to lead. Somebody wiser than me, a friend, said Karen, but saying yes to something. It is also saying no to something else. And you can say it the other way around. Saying no to something is saying yes to something else.
But you’re always making that trade-off. And that’s part of your balance. But I just recommend don’t say no because you think you’re not ready, you think you’re not capable, or you’re insecure about it. Let’s move forward through those things and give it a shot.
Amy: I agree 100%. And I’ll tell you a little story that supports that. So, for the Indian Music Teachers Association, one of my first jobs was VP of Membership. That was for four years. But then, at that time, I also took on the website editor. And I knew nothing about websites at all. I was just like I’m probably the youngest, actually, I think I was the youngest person on the board at the time.
Yeah, so I took it on, and we were transferring from one type of site, and I can’t remember what we were on, to WordPress. I knew nothing about WordPress, and it is not easy. And I remember logging on thinking, what have I gotten myself into? But that was the precursor to me starting my blog. Because I knew how to use WordPress, I was able to develop my own blog. And I, I did all the work myself. I didn’t hire somebody to do my website. So that was huge for me, like a big open door.
Another thing I’ll share is that I’ve always been scared about being on podcasts. I was asked several years ago to be on an episode, and at the time, life was throwing a lot of things at me, and I had to say no just because I literally didn’t have the mental capacity or time or space for that. But also there was a part of me that was like, I can’t do this, I’m too scared, but here I am, how many years later, and doing one myself. Yes, I agree with you. Say yes.
Karen: And that’s a great example of the skills you develop and the things that make you who you are now that you can then use in other ways within your career.
Amy: So speaking of connecting with teachers, do you attend many, have you always attended the national conferences? And if so, what do you like about conferences the most?
Karen: I love conferences. State, national, doesn’t matter. I just love learning, and I feel like teachers, all of us in general, are lifelong learners, and that’s what feeds us at these conferences. But yes, this March will be my 27th consecutive MTNA National Conference.
Amy: Wow. You’re kidding. Consecutive? You haven’t missed any?
Karen: I have not missed one since 1996, somewhere right in there. But here, oh, they’re a great example of saying yes. The reason I went to my first conference was because on a LARC, I submitted a proposal just to see what it was like and to try to do a trial run, thinking, okay, next year I’ll get serious about it. Surprise, it was accepted. It was about teaching ensemble, and I thought, wow, okay, now what? And I was scared to death. I had no idea what to expect out of a conference, much less presenting.
Amy: I had the same experience the very first time I presented a session for Indiana was that marketing one. You remember, I’m sure.
Karen: I remember.
Amy: It was like 45 different things that I did. And I remember. Maybe even just the year before that, thinking, going to conferences and going, I can never do this. There’s no way I’m going to stand up in front of people. I have no ideas to share, and then I just did it. And I was; I had every word written out. I was so scared to present, but then it turned into an opportunity, a national opportunity. Now, I actually go around and speak to teachers’ associations around the country. I was just at Virginia Beach back in October. So yeah, say yes to even things that are scary.
Karen: Absolutely. And what I discovered when I went to my first conference was how supportive and friendly everybody was. They were not judgmental. I was afraid of that. Being a younger teacher, are they going to accept what I’m saying? But they weren’t, they were so supportive, made me feel so much at home that of course, I came back the next year.
Amy: The timing of this interview coincides with the 2022 national conference. So I’m, we’ll be publishing this in March leading up to that. It was going to be in Minneapolis, but it’s now going to be virtual. And I’m sure that was a really hard decision for the board. A lot of times in life, things get thrown at us that we would never expect. And yet. As we were just saying, it often opens a door to a whole new world that we would otherwise perhaps not have ventured into. And online conferences, I think, were one of those things for MTNA and Frances Clark and all these other ones. So, what surprises did MTNA experience in the journey into virtual conferences? And is there anything else you would like to share regarding the upcoming conference?
Karen: You’re right. We did have to switch to virtual recently. Very hard decision. I know we all desperately want to be back in person, but in a way, it was an easy decision because you have to do what’s best for everyone’s health and safety. And in that sense, Omicron just made that decision for us in a sense. Yeah, it’s definitely, it’s been a learning curve for the association as well as all of us as individual teachers to get used to how we can best utilize this technology. And I think we’ve done as well as we could with what has been thrown at us.
What was, I don’t know if this was a surprise or not. I didn’t predict it, but last year was a virtual conference. That’s the first time we said up front, it’s virtual, here it is, and we’re going to do our very best, and had a new platform, had interactive stuff as well as pre-recorded stuff so that you could come during that week or you could watch it all later.
Record attendance and teachers who had never attended a national conference of any kind before. One-third. of the total attendance were first-time attendees.
Amy: Oh my goodness.
Karen: That is just astounding to me. That is access, and that is reaching people who’ve never had the opportunity. We need to keep reaching people who want it. Clearl,y they wanted it. They paid money and came, and hopefully, they will come again this month.
Amy: And it opened the door to a whole new format of in-person or virtual now. And I’m sure that will never change, until something else major in the world happens; who knows, so since the main goal of this podcast is for teachers to get loads of easily actionable tips on organizing and managing their studios while balancing life and home, I have a couple of final questions for you on this topic, if that’s okay.
Now, I don’t know if you consider yourself organized or not, but I figure anyone, even if they don’t consider themselves organized, has something that they can share related to productivity or organization that works well for them. It could be anything. So the door is wide open.
Karen: I’m going to go back to my teaching years when I was full-time teaching because that’s when you had to be organized, or you just didn’t. Have much of a balance in life. So yes, I do consider myself organized, but it’s old school, Amy. And I know you and other teachers of your generation just have to mentally translate what I’m going to say in the particular software program.
Amy: No worries. Let’s hear it.
Karen: Colored file folders. This is basic stuff. I had so many different types of students. So I have one color file folder for all my grad students, a different color for my pedagogy class, a different color for my pre-college, a different color for summer lessons. So I can easily see on my shelf, if I’m getting ready to teach a grad student, I know exactly where their folder is, but related to that is a folder for each individual student.
And I believe you’ve done this too. I’ve seen you organize your file cabinet.
Amy: Yeah, I’ve got a post on that. And I also, my very first podcast episode, I think, was on that, and I’ll post links to those in the show notes as well.
Karen: I’ve been doing this since the 1980s. So, in every student’s folder, their assignment is included. The lesson plan that I did for them, the actual books that they are using. I always have my own copy. And especially if it’s a unique individualized book for that student. I have their birthday written on the front of the folder. So I always know when my students’ birthday is coming up, and I can wish them happy birthdays.
Any news items that I clipped out of the paper about them or Christmas cards that they gave me are all in that one folder, and I can go straight to that. Their payment records are also there. That’s all great advice. And old school or not, I even do stuff like that.
Amy: So it’s not too old-fashioned, Karen. It’s great. What about Karen’s non-teacher side? Outside of your professional life, what are some maybe personal interests or hobbies?
Karen: This has to go with balance a lot. But I will say another thing I would like to share that for balance is that commute that I do. That is when I decompress and mentally plan, and by the time I get home, work is over, and I’m focused on my family in my home. And that’s the one good thing that comes out of a commute. My husband is not a teacher. He is not a musician. He is nothing that overlaps with me. So I’m able to sort all that out and leave it in the car.
Amy: I used to do that too. And that’s one bonus. It’s great to work from home, but that is definitely a bonus of commuting. My first job was In the public schools for the first three years of my career as a choir director. And, oh man,
Karen: Bless you for doing that, though. I love public school teachers.
Amy: Yes. And it’s true. I had a half an hour drive, 30 to 40 minutes, and it was much needed. My mind just had to, like, mentally unpack the day.
Karen: Yeah. Yeah, but one of my outside interest in this because of my husband, I had never been to a a racing event, auto racing event of any kind until I met my husband he was a sprint car race driver. For 30 years, he now owns sprint cars and builds them. We hire a young guy to drive them now, but when you were at a racetrack, and I worked in the pit crew, and this is what people because this is what you do in Indiana, it’s a small town. Racing Saturday night, every Saturday night in the summer type of things. That’s where I learned how to change a tire. Yes, I can do that.
Amy: So cool.
Karen: My job is running the stopwatch and keeping track of his safety equipment. But when you’re in that environment. You don’t dare let your mind go anywhere else. You are focused on racing. You are focused on his safety and making sure things happen the way they’re supposed to happen. And that has just been fantastic for me because it lets me push everything else aside. And let’s, it’s a total release from any issue I had in teaching or issue I had.
Amy: Like you said, so different than what you do, it’s like a complete mental cleanse, probably.
Karen: That’s a good way to explain it. Yeah, it’s a cleanse. But again, just learning a new skill outside of what you already do is another way to just create balance, but also re-energize and fuel new creative thoughts that might take you in another direction.
Amy: At the end of every episode, I like to finish off with a silly fun fact about myself, but since this week is more about you, is there anything fun you can share?
Karen: Here’s what I came up with because I had to think about that for a while. I have always loved watching March Madness and the NCAA Tournament. I love college basketball. And I got to thinking why is that all three of the universities that I’ve attended Duke University of Virginia and Butler University, all three have played in the final game for March Madness.
There is a history there of cheering for my team, but Duke has won five times, Virginia won one time, and Butler came within the final shot of winning when they made it to the final game. So, that’s why I love March Madness.
Amy: Fun. So you’re a basketball fan as well. Is there anything else that you wanted to share that we missed today?
Karen: No, this is so much fun, Amy. Thank you for launching your podcast. I can imagine how beneficial this is going to be to teachers because I know some of the things that you are really organized about.
Amy: I hope so too.
Karen: I know that from your blog, which I’ve read for many years, the Piano Pantry blog. So, good luck with this new venture for you.
Amy: Thank you very much. And it was nice chatting with you. Have a great day.
Karen: You too. Bye.
Our second Teacher Talk chat is a wrap. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Karen as much as I did. Jump into the show notes for more information on connecting with Karen, along with getting links to some of the items that we mentioned in this episode. If you missed the first Teacher Talk with Ben Capelo, host of the podcast All Keyed Up, you can catch him in episode five.
Stay tuned in another five episodes for our next Teacher Talk chat. Who will it be? It’s a surprise, but I know you’re going to love it. See you guys next week!
