Episode Summary
Amy chats with attendees from the 3rd Piano Pantry Retreat – Lou Ann (Pope) Knight, Jennifer Kurtz, and Gabrielle Tee – from her home in Northeast Indiana.
Items Mentioned
Details on The Piano Pantry Retreat
Details on consultation services with Amy
Transcript
Amy: What do you think of when you hear the word retreat? While, like many words, the term can have different meanings depending on the context, most of us probably think about the definition that has the most appeal, which is to withdraw to a secluded or quiet place. While every profession has its own challenges, one that I frequently share with my husband is the intensity of being On.
And you can’t see this, but I’m putting that in air quotes. We are on with full mental capacity while teaching. I tell him it’s like being in four to five hours of meetings where you are the one directing and guiding the conversation of every meeting. So it’s no wonder when teachers hear the word retreat, our ears pick up.
Today, you’ll hear a special teacher talk episode with three teachers who attended the piano pantry retreat in my home this past weekend: Jennifer, Lou Ann, and Gabrielle. As a matter of fact, in Jennifer’s review, she said I signed up primarily because the words piano and retreat were in the title, but I came away with so much more than I expected.
The topic for the retreat was digital management. I thought I was a relatively organized person on my computer, but I learned so many new things and can already see a difference on all of my devices. Removing the digital clutter and noise is freeing. If you, like Jennifer, are interested in learning more, visit pianopantry.com/retreat for more information. By the way, I’m Amy Chaplin, and this is the Piano Pantry Podcast.
Hey there. Are you pondering changes or new offerings in your studio? Would you love to pick the brain of a fellow savvy IMT on something you’re struggling with? Fresh inspiration and helpful feedback are right at your fingertips with my one-on-one consultation service. While I am confident and well-versed In many areas of piano pedagogy and running an independent studio, topics of particular strength and interest include studio business management, including communication, payments and policies, studio marketing and social media, digital tools, management, and more. Visit pianopantry.com/consultation for more details.
All right. Why don’t we go ahead and get started and just have each of you ladies share with the listeners today just a little bit about yourself, where you’re from, and how you got into teaching?
Jennifer: I am Jennifer Kurtz, and I’m from Southeastern Ohio, I got my degree from Malone University, and it was a Bachelor of Science in Education, and I started teaching elementary music for about four years, and then I transitioned to a worship leader at a church for about ten years stayed home with my kids for another five years, and just recently got into teaching piano, so I’ve only been teaching piano regularly for about the past three years.
Amy: Lou Ann?
Lou Ann: I’m Lou Ann Knight, and right now, I live in two places. My home is in Dalton, Georgia, and my new home with my husband is in Calhoun. So we will be, I’ll be moving as soon as I have a bachelor of music in piano performance with emphasis on pedagogy. That was from BGSU in Ohio. I have a master of music in piano pedagogy from SMU in Dallas. I taught for four years at Harper College in the Chicago area and five years at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I was the co-coordinator of the PPLP, which was the Piano Pedagogy Laboratory Program. I’ve taught at Dalton State and in my home, so I’m super excited to be opening up a new studio that my husband and I are converting from a workshop that he had. It’s 30×30, and it’s on our property, and I’ll be about 20 minutes away from where my other students are and so some of them will be making the drive, and I’m sure I’ll be getting new student,s too. It’s a big, new, exciting space. I’m so thrilled.
Amy: And you’ve been teaching for 47 years, is that right? Oh yeah.
Lou Ann: That makes me sound ancient.
Amy: You were age, what, 15?
Lou Ann: About 16. Yeah, 16.
Gabrielle: Okay. I’m Gabrielle T. from Asheville, North Carolina. I also started teaching when I was about 15 or 16. I now have a home studio in Asheville that I’ve run for about 10 years, and I have a master’s degree in jazz piano. It’s allowed me also to teach adjunct at UNCA. It’s our local university. It specializes in contemporary music. I’ve always had a really wide eclectic interest in the music I study. So because I have. Experience with classical, rock, jazz, pop, and composing for soundtracks are just the things that have kept me in the career because every morning, there’s something new to teach and something new to practice.
Amy: Fun! That’s awesome. I would love for you guys to just share one little peek into what your daily routine and life of a teacher looks like.
Jennifer: Right now, for me, it’s summer and so all of my kids are home. And we have a routine that I teach in the morning or do church work. I still work for my church. While they do their morning jobs, and then after lunch, then we go and do some fun things together.
Amy: Sounds like a good summer plan. Yeah. What about during the regular school year?
Jennifer: During the regular school year, on Mondays, I usually work for my church, and then Tuesday through Thursday, I have piano students during the day. I have a lot of homeschooled students. And then one night a week I teach in the evenings as well.
Amy: Okay. And you’re in a unique situation where you’re in a small town and there are almost no piano teachers.
Jennifer: No, there are not very many piano teachers around me. There’s a lot of interest in piano and not very many teachers.
Amy: Good way to start a new business, right?
Jennifer: That’s worked out well.
Amy: Very good market. How about you, Lou Ann?
Lou Ann: My daily routine is really varied. And since I’ve gotten married, it’s been Much different than it used to be. So now I’ll get up, I’ll go outside to what I lovingly call our yarden. I’ll water some beautiful little pots of flowers and deadhead some things.
During the regular school year, I would be teaching Monday through Friday. I have some homeschool students so I can start as early as two. I would teach Monday and Tuesday till 7. Wednesday just till 5. 30 because I want to have a church service after that. Thursday until six and Friday from 2 until about 5:30. It’s been a great schedule. I take two students at a time so that one can either be at the piano with me while the other one is doing music theory or different apps on my iPad. Or if they’re both at the same level, then they will both be at the piano with me. And I have multiple instruments, so I can even have them at two different pianos. One at the grand piano and one at a keyboard. It works out really well. I just fill my schedule with lots and lots of students.
Amy: I love that term, yarden. That was great.
Gabrielle?
Gabrielle: Like both of you, it’s different every day and every season. The only thing that’s consistent is our cat Theo wakes me up at 6 am. Luckily, I’m a morning person, and I love a good slow morning with coffee. So I tend to chip away at a lot of different activities if I don’t have a UNCA class that morning. I usually practice for an hour or two, but I like to break that up by Amy doing some, doing some food prep, answering the emails, and reflecting on yesterday’s lessons.
And then I usually teach from about 1-6:30 every afternoon, Monday through Friday. If rehearsal and work schedules allow, my wife and I really try to guard our evenings for just quiet time because both of us have hours’ worth of stories from our work, usually mine full of very sweet and tender, funny stories from lessons.
Amy: Nice. Yeah, it’s good to have that cut-off time. I know some teachers aren’t. I work till 8 or 9 o’clock, and especially if you’re the one that has to do the cooking, I just had to learn I can’t teach till 8 o’clock, I have to be done by 6. o’clock to have that space.
Gabrielle: I’ve learned that’s important for us. Definitely.
Amy: I wanted to ask each of you a specific question just related to your own situation and experience in teaching. So Jennifer, what has helped you the most in your transition from school teaching and your church work into independent music teaching? Do you have any specific advice for newer teachers that has helped you?
Jennifer: I think in all the different jobs that I’ve had, it’s finding other people that do the same thing, learning from them, and asking questions. Not every teacher’s experience will translate into my studio. Just like every worship leader that I met, their experience didn’t translate into my church. But, just talking to people that are doing the same thing really gives lots of ideas. I’ve had a hard time meeting other teachers, because there’s not a lot near me, so I’ve traveled a little farther to meet some, but I’ve also
Amy: We’re so glad you came!
Jennifer: I’m so glad you had me. But I’ve also listened to a lot of podcasts too, which has really been helpful, just feeling like I could hear other teachers talking about their experiences.
Amy: Yeah, I like that. And even if you’re not, like you said, maybe utilizing the ideas that you hear from different people, it’s just like being in that same space. And just that like you’re in the same place even though you may not approach it exactly the same way. Yeah, and we’re just relating to each other and what we’re doing.
So Lou Ann, you’ve been teaching for 47 years. What is it about teaching that has helped you stay in it for the long haul?
Lou Ann: I have stayed in it for the long haul because I adore my students. I love watching the littles who just want to come to my house to be loved on and play with manipulatives. I use a lot of extra things. We clap a lot of rhythms. I use Iwako erasers on the keys and, I work a lot on their technique right from the beginning, and I also love the students that have progressed. I had 15 students who played at my wedding. I had a ninth grader who was prepared to play the Debussy Arabesque, and unfortunately, he walked into the wedding very ill. I had to turn around and leave. So luckily, I had a former piano student of mine who is a senior in college as a piano major, and she was Manning the students, playing duets with them, and she was able to take over for that.
Amy: So she just played it on the whim.
Lou Ann: Yes, she did. Luckily, I had all the music prepared in folders for her and everything. Just. I love the gamut of it. I, when I taught at the University of Michigan, I loved teaching the young adults. They were so much fun, too. I have another job, too, which is that I’m the creative education specialist with Tonara, and I love teaching teachers how to be super creative with their teaching. I get to be with, anyone from the age of four years old on up to a hundred.
Amy: Yeah, and I’ve known you for a few years. I’ve seen you online and just been able to follow you. You are just being joyous with your students and just celebrating all their little wins and successes. And all along the way. That’s awesome.
Lou Ann: It’s so much fun.
Amy: So Gabrielle, you’ve been teaching for 15 years and you’re a jazz pianist. How does your background in jazz inspire your approach to teaching?
Gabrielle: Actually, I hear Lou Ann describe the joy that you get from the variety of your teaching profession. Similar to that, I feel like that’s what drew me to jazz. Obviously, there are improvised solos in jazz that everyone knows about, but nothing’s ever the same way. But also, if you take a standard Fly Me to the Moon, you could find it in a swing, in a waltz, in a boss. I just love that a piece of music is not treated as a fixed entity, and there’s so much room for personal expression in it.
So, even if not all my students are studying jazz, I encourage them to take the same approach with their pieces. So I’m a big fan of what I call the happy accident, where maybe there wasn’t meant to be a B flat in the bass, but a student accidentally hits that instead of a B natural, and it opens up a whole conversation where we both light up and be like, Wow, that sounds really rich or that sounds really ominous and we start thinking about what other changes could we make with the piece to match that mood and, 20 minutes later we have an entire arrangement on our hands. And that just really fills me with so much energy being part of that creative. Process with, an 11 year old, I just feel like I’m so full of energy after that I can hardly sit still for the next lesson, I’m just so buzzed with energy from them.
Amy: I love that, and that’s just like finding the creativity in it and encouraging them to see that there’s so many possibilities. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic.
So we’re here together because you guys are attending my retreat. This is the third retreat ever here at my home in Northeast Indiana. And the idea of the retreat is that it’s just very personal and that I am here by your side, literally over your shoulders, able to help you. Not with piano teaching necessarily, so it’s a little different in that we are working on organizing our digital workspaces as independent music teachers, because none of you take the time to do it, I know.
Lou Ann: Yes, true. You’ve seen our computers.
Amy: And we’ve had some really big exciting wins, seeing emails going from 42, 000 to, I don’t know what not, but just anything less than 42 000. To phone apps go from nine pages of apps down to only two. It’s just really exciting to see, and I hope that you guys all walk away just feeling with a weight off your shoulders in a way, just walking away a little bit, lighter and feeling like, ah, I can do this, and now I just have a better overall understanding of, how these tools can work for me. So I just wanted to see if you guys could each share just maybe one thing that has really stood out that’s been the most beneficial to you in attending this retreat.
Jennifer: I think for me, just understanding how these systems work and how the settings on my computer work, I’ve relied on other people to set up these systems for me in the past and never really understood how they worked, but being able to now go in and change some of the settings or rearrange files or just even how my email system works I think it’s really beneficial to me.
Amy: Kind of empowering. Yeah. Just to have the understanding and the control. Okay, I know what I’m doing, and I don’t feel so lost and blind to all the technology.
Jennifer: Yes.
Amy: Lou Ann?
Lou Ann: I have to admit that when you, Amy, showed us that our computer screen Could not have any, could, didn’t have to, didn’t have to, but would not have any apps on it at all. Would have no folders and it would just have that beautiful picture that I have of my family and my dog smiling. It freaked me out. But you gave me permission to let go and to try something new. And now I am just emboldened; I am so excited to finish the work that I’ve started here. And it feels like such a freedom. It’s just taking that first step to dive into the hardest part of it, and then the rest can come from there. And I wouldn’t have taken that time several days at home to do it by myself.
Amy: You get distracted, and there are other things that just aren’t as important, like when you’re around other people in your daily work life.
Lou Ann: I would have felt guilty doing it. So now I’m just excited. I’m so excited.
Amy: And one of my favorite wins was like, she was looking at her desktop screen and she was like, where am I at? What screen am I on? And then she realized, I’m so used to seeing 50 icons on my desktop, and she was looking at something completely clear and fresh, and she was confused at where she was at.
Lou Ann: I was so lost. That was the best moment, yeah.
Amy: Gabrielle?
Gabrielle: I think the motto, use what you have, is impossible when you don’t know what you have. Exactly. That’s perfect. That’s great. Alright. So, I am confident that finally getting a handle on all of the games, the worksheets, and the digital sheet music will make me a more efficient teacher.
Amy has been so patient and supportive as we rifled through collectively thousands of documents and emails. And like to Lou Ann’s when that every piece of sheet music and game I own is in a file. Just, it’s like yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Amy: Oh, my files all have a place. I know. I’m not just having to search for them, but overall, I don’t know where it’s on my computer, yes. Awesome.
Lou Ann: I have to say, too, that Amy is just, she and her husband are consummate just hospitality experts. And that she loves to cook, so the food was delicious and just. Thought out. So thoughtful. Everything that you’ve done, Amy, has been really thoughtful. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Amy: Would you guys just be able to go out on a lighthearted note and share with the listeners just maybe one fun little silly fact about yourself or maybe a fun hobby or an aversion or something like that?
Jennifer: I just really enjoy camping and the outdoors and being outside, and I frequently tease my husband that if he could build me a room that was, like, windows on all sides, so I could just feel like I was playing my piano outside, that would just make my day. Maybe not good for tuning and all those things, but If I could just play my piano outside, I’d be happy.
Amy: You do that, we’ll come visit.
Jennifer: Okay.
Amy: Camping’s a great hobby, I love it.
Lou Ann: I did not know that I really like homesteading. I’ve always been one to have hobbies in crafts and scrapbooking and quilting. I’ve got eight quilts in various stages of construction. But I have a homesteading group that now with my new husband, I have a garden, so we actually have a food garden, too. I’ve enjoyed that. I’ve enjoyed the day-to-day miracles of everything that changes so rapidly. But one of the, my favorite things that is my new hobby is taking the chunky yarn and making little baby quilts and things from the, not quilts, I guess they’re blankets, baby blankets, and I have some chenille yarn that’s just as soft as you’d want to feel and you don’t use knitting needles, you just use your hands and so it’s been, I’ve made three in a two month period so I’ve enjoyed it. Yes, very fun.
Amy: Gabrielle?
Gabrielle: This is a musical one, but in the world of musicians, I’m odd in that my favorite musical thing to do is sight reading. And also at the retreat, we’ve had the joy of being able to look around and play some of the music at an Amy’s studio. Amy and I played several duets right before we recorded this podcast.
Amy: And we didn’t do too bad.
Gabrielle: We didn’t do too bad at all.
Amy: Fun. Yeah, I love sight reading as well. I don’t know. If it’s people that love math or something were you a math person?
Gabrielle: Yeah, but sight reading gets such a bad rap. I know it does. It’s so much fun. It’s like reading a book to me. I don’t know what it’s going to sound like.
Amy: Yeah, true. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today, ladies. I hope that you had fun doing this. Something a little bit outside of your, box a little bit. And I just really appreciate you being here with me in my home these past few days.
Today’s tiny tip is inspired by my retreat attendees from this past week. Some did not know that you can edit your autofill information on your iPhone or iPad by going into your contacts app and using the my card feature at the very top. This will autofill things for you as you need on your device like name, phone number, email and address.
Stay tuned next week for our next surprise guest host. I’ll give you a hint. That it’s a famous composer, a living one, of course, before you exit out of your podcast app, take a second to hit that subscribe button. So, new episodes will download automatically for you each week. See you next week.
