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In this episode, Amy chats with six teachers who attended the 2024 Piano Pantry Retreat. You’ll hear the best of what they took away from the retreat. Guest include Michelle Miller, a teacher from Ohio; Jeanine Skinner, a teacher from North Carolina; Trudi Norman, Mary Majerus, and Becky Barber, all from Georgia; and Krysta Hawkley, from Amy’s home state of Indiana.
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Transcript
Welcome to episode 125 of the Piano Pantry Podcast. I’m your host, Amy Chaplin, an independent piano teacher whose mission is to help you lead a vibrant, fulfilling teacher life.
This podcast is brought to you ad-free by my community on Patreon. Thanks to their regular monthly support, I can come to you each week and share with you everything related to teacher life, from running your studio to getting dinner on the table and all that comes between. On this podcast, you’ll receive loads of easily actionable tips on organizing and managing your studio while balancing life and home. If you would like to support the podcast for as little as $4 a month, visit PianoPantry.com/patreon
Every few episodes, I like to chat with teachers like you. Today, you’ll hear from six teachers who attended my digital organization retreat, which takes place every summer in my home in Indiana.
We had fun squeezing in and chatting around the new student work table in my studio, where my homeschool families sit and do work while their siblings take lessons, and students sit to do theory work and draw while waiting on their sibling’s lessons.
By the way, I have a new studio tour blog post that is getting ready to go up soon on the Piano Pantry blog, where you’ll get to see my newly finished studio space and some of the new furniture I spent hours researching and loving. If you want to be sure and catch that, join my email list at PianoPantry.com/subscribe
Enjoy this episode with my new teacher friends!
Well, welcome to the Piano Pantry Podcast, ladies. This is so exciting to have you sitting in my piano studio around my new table I have here for my students to work at. Why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself, tell us where you’re from and what your current teaching situation looks like.
Michelle: My name is Michelle, and I’m from the Cincinnati area. I currently have a home studio of a mix of voice and piano students, about 30 students total. And I’m taking the summer off. Yay for you! Hi everyone, I’m Jeanine Skinner from Wake Forest, North Carolina. I happen to have a music school called Music Academy South. My own studio has 14 students in it, and I am having a great time teaching.
Trudi: Hello, my name is Trudi, and I teach private piano lessons in a studio out of my own home. I have 20 fantastic students currently, and I teach two full days and one-half day each week. Sounds like a great schedule.
Mary: Hi there, I’m Mary Majerus. I’m from Georgia, Marietta, Georgia, and I’ve been teaching for 40 years, but I started choral music first in Indiana, and now I’m in Georgia teaching private students in my own home, and I have 26 wonderful students. Love them. They love my dog Mozart. That’s a great day. We have a great time together, but I’m also kind of down, sizing this summer, just taking 15 students and then back in the fall with 26.
Krysta: I’m Krista. I teach in South Bend, Indiana. I am teaching out of my home right now. I’ve done a lot of teaching in various situations for the last 20 or so years. I just started my home studio a couple of years ago. Just finished my second year. I have 26 students.
Becky: And I’m Becky Barber from Marietta, Georgia. And I teach students out of my home. Have 24 currently and enjoy teaching students of all ages. And really enjoy what I do.
Amy: Well, before we start talking about some of the things that we’ve covered in this digital organization retreat and taken away from that, would you guys just share something that’s been helpful to you personally and your own daily workflow as an independent teacher?
Michelle: I keep a running notebook with every student’s name in it, and I take about 30 seconds to review that as they walk in and unpack their folders, just so I remember what we covered the week before.
Jeanine: For me, I like to structure my full day with goals and tasks that are manageable for that particular day. As far as the students and their repertoire, I have a Dropbox where I have their music. And so I’m, before they come in, I’m able to pull out the same scores that they are having and enjoy following and coaching from that environment.
Trudi: My idea is very similar to Michelle’s, except I use sticky notes. I love sticky notes. So, as a student leaves each week, I jot down on a sticky note how I want to start their lesson the next week, and then I take a quick look at that as they come in the door. That’s great.
Amy: Did you know that there’s a Sticky Notes app, too? It actually looks like Sticky Notes. I’ve not used it myself, but I’ve heard about it. You should check that out.
Mary: And I like to review for students, too, by just keeping a small notebook. I do the same. And it helps me keep track of what they’re learning. And I also have them come in, and they just have a routine when they sit down to start their warm-up exercises like Marvin Blickenstaff. He really talks about that a lot. Goes through a lot of the exercises. So I give them some great technical exercises. Then they go to the repertoire and they just, they have fun having a routine. But they can break it up. And do a different way to start. Start with music they like. And I like letting them do that at the beginning while I’m getting myself organized. And it seems to work out pretty well for all of us.
Krysta: Something that I started doing just this year – emails were kind of overwhelming me on a daily basis. I felt like I would never be through all of my emails and answering everything that needed to be answered. And so I decided to dedicate 45 minutes to an hour every single morning just to email. So I don’t, let’s, yeah, before I do anything else in the day, I go straight to my email, and it makes it feel much more manageable. The very first time I did it, it took a little bit longer because there was more to deal with, but then, since then, it takes me, even some days, only like 15 minutes to get through my inbox, and then I don’t have to think about it the rest of the day.
Becky: I do a similar thing too, as far as just keeping a notebook, a binder, I journal a little bit after each student at the end of the day, after each student’s lesson, I’ll jot down some notes so that I know the next time what we’re going to do. It’s just the only way I can keep track.
Amy: As I said in the intro, you guys are here because you are attending the Digital Organization Retreat. Trudi, we’ll start with you. Can you tell us something you were the most surprised to hear or learn about in attending this retreat?
Trudi: My big organizational problem was emails, and I had an inbox full of emails. And so I think something that has been very helpful to me, and I was surprised at this, but my inbox is not the place to organize, it is the place to process. I also loved Amy’s analogy, which I need to think of as my physical mailbox at the end of my driveway. And so we take that mail out of the box daily, right? I need to be doing very similar things with my email and processing them.
Amy: Yeah. So it’s for processing. It’s not for saving, right? It’s not a place to save your stuff.
Trudi: That’s right. And I’ve been trying to save everything in all these folders. Like, I don’t need to be doing that. The way I need to process.
Amy: What about you, Becky?
Becky: I’ve learned a ton since I’ve been here. Cause I’m not that much of a techy person, but. Amy’s shown me several little tips to make it easier to navigate my phone apps and things, even just flipping from the middle of the phone screen to get some of my tools down. It was a new thing that I didn’t know about.
Amy: Just put your finger on the screen, and you pull down. It’s great, isn’t it? Those little things, but it’s those little things that really make a difference in our everyday workflow, you know, just like little motions and movements like, Oh, that was so much easier that way. And it just takes intentionality, learning them, and using them frequently. So, Mary, what has been the most beneficial thing to you?
Mary: For me, it’s this summer, I really wanted to, I wanted to plan out and organize my home more. And I would say this retreat really helped me to realize digitally my emails, my home screen, everything that I do, even all the files that I have for my classes and for my lessons, I really needed to simplify them. So I, she, you’ve taught me how to get rid of things I didn’t really need to keep, to simplify the home page on my, the home screen on my phone, my iPad, and I’m sure on my computer when I get home to do that. But I really felt like it’s going to help me just take a load off in my mind of things that I don’t have to worry about or deal with again. Because my husband always says, move that paper one time. Don’t keep moving it around from place to place. And it’s the same thing with these digital screens that we deal with. Deal with it once and stop redoing it.
Amy: What about you, Becky? What’s the most beneficial thing?
Becky: Just doing this together. Because I think if I – it’s overwhelming to tackle big projects on your own, but just the fact of coming together as, you know, doing as a team has really been a big help.
Amy: I agree, and having that time, right, I think that’s why it’s so important because you just, it’s so hard when you’re at home to set aside those huge blocks of time to be able to really tackle this stuff properly. Right? You can do it in little 30-minute increments here and there, but it’s totally different than tackling it all at once and just being entirely focused on that. I know I got a little bit of a kick out of you guys last night. We went to dinner, and we came back, and I was thinking, Oh, we’re just going to relax and chit chat. And they went straight to their computers. They were so focused and just ready to work. And I love that. And that’s why this in-person event, I think, is so beneficial because you’re just engrossed in it. Trudi, what advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about attending this retreat?
Trudi: Do it. Amy is just incredibly hospitable. Her food is delicious. She has a way of just making you feel so special. And we just, we enjoyed being here so much. I also, of course, got some incredibly helpful information. And so we’re going to take home with us. It’s going to benefit us in the long run. But also just being able to connect with other private music teachers and being able to talk shop while we have lunch together has been wonderful, too, and all the laughing has been nice and relaxing.
Amy: You’ve had some good laughs for sure. Yeah, sure have. I wish I had record like started before we started recording the podcast. There’s some good stuff there. What about you, Mary? What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about attending?
Mary: I think the main thing is, again, connecting and being able to hear from other people; this is the way I do things, and you see, well, I need to be doing better at that, but I also see that I’ve been a little bit on track, and coming to the retreat helped me realize that organizational goal I had this summer, that you’re all trying to do the same thing, so we’re doing it together, and we help each other. What I like is, Amy’s helping us. And we’re all helping each other achieve the same goals, you know, simplify our lives, simplify our digital space, and help one another be better teachers, be better people, and have a more organized home life, too. I think it’s great and you’re so, you are hospitable. Thank you. And the food is delicious, and you don’t want to miss out, and it is relaxing, and it is great just to focus on one thing.
Amy: Well, and like, as you were kind of saying at the very beginning, one of the first things I did was I shared everybody’s statement on what you struggled with the most, and to be able to see,e oh, man It’s not just me that has trouble with emails or it’s not just me that feels like crazy and scattered and behind Just coming together and realizing that we all struggle with those same things
Mary: And that’s what I love about educators. They help each other.
Amy: Absolutely
Trudi: and learn from one another.
Amy: Yeah. So Michelle, this is like an “if I knew Then what I know now” question. So, “if I knew then what I know now,” I would have or I would…
Michelle: I had a harsh awakening when I opened up one of our sessions was social media, and my Facebook was a cluster of things that I’ve been interested in for the past 20 years. And I followed, what was it, 2,100 pages?
Amy: 2,100…wow
Michelle: I was part of over 500 groups.
Mary: Wow. Oh, my goodness.
Michelle: Yeah. And I can say now that I’m down to, I think it was like, 200 pages and 70 groups or something. So, yeah, I feel lighter.
Amy: It gets you how often I was like, Michelle, what are you working on? I’m just removing myself from groups for like two hours.
Michelle: It was funny. And I was telling the ladies that it’s just like a collage of my life for the past 20 years. Like, oh, this is when I went through my knitting phase. Yeah, I followed 40 knitting pages at one time, and this is when I was trying to sleep train my child. I’m part of all these sleep training groups, so going through,h and it was kind of funny to go through and delete all those, but I will be more mindful of the content I am following moving forward so that I don’t crowd up my feed with Toddler sleep habits when my children are 16.
Amy: So basically, if I knew then what I know now, I would not follow so many.
Michelle: I would not have followed. Maybe just done a quick Google search and then let it be and did not make it part of my live feed – which I think too we have to remember that social media has changed so much. And I guess I probably didn’t realize when I was following those pages that they would show up for the next 15 years of my life. So, being more mindful.
Amy: You were seeing things in your news feed again. Yeah. That I hadn’t been seeing.
Michelle: I was like, oh. It’s good to see that that person is still well. I like them. I’m glad to see them again. And memes of cats that I was following. I still have those, but you know. Balance. Balance.
Amy: What about you, Jeanine?
Jeanine: Well, I had a surprise when I opened up my inbox and really found 27,000 emails in my inbox, and I had no idea. For some reason, it did not populate in the same way once we filtered. Amy helped me pull everything together. So I’m an organized person, but I’m also a sorter, and I love sorting things. So, I sorted a lot of my emails into all of these different folders, and they dated all the way back to 2017. So she did a sweet hour session with me last night to get me started, and it was so valuable, and it really turned the, the big ship around and it has made such a difference in how I’m viewing. I’m still deleting, and my computer’s a little slow, but if I had known what I know now, I would not have preserved those multiple emails.
Amy: Yeah. And not had so many folders. No. And when you create those folders, they’ll eventually just delete them when you don’t need them.
Jeanine: Right. Yes. So, I did a good job of purging today.
Amy: Great. So Krista, what’s something you felt overwhelmed by that you now feel like you can kind of let go of?
Krysta: So something that actually applies to a lot of areas in my life is the idea of – of letting go of the idea that everything needs to be done all at once. I am somebody who wants everything to be organized at one time. I want the whole house to be clean at one time. And I’m learning that that’s not realistic. And so, yeah, one thing that you were telling us was talking about making changes from this point forward, and then fixing the old stuff as you can from, yeah, going forward. And so that’s something that I’m working on being okay with settling into.
Amy: That’s a great one. That’s a really good one.
Mary: Letting go of some of those old emails.
Krysta: Right. Yes.
Amy: And being okay, I think you guys were all surprised when you saw that I had 9,000 emails in my email inbox; you were like, what? Now, I should correct myself; it’s not in my inbox, right? We’ve learned it is, it’s in my all mail, which is just an archive, basically. It’s all, it still exists in my email, but it’s not in my processing inbox, right? So what about you, Michelle? What’s something that you felt overwhelmed by that you now feel like you can let go of?
Michelle: I think it sounds really simple, but this is specific to my iPhone. You don’t have to have every app on your home screen. There’s an app library. It’s newer. And I, I knew it was there, but I really hadn’t explored it, so I had all these individual folders, and they were all labeled, and I was doing twice as much, and looking at twice as much of every, like, I had; basically, you have double of every app, essentially. And you don’t if it’s not something that you’re opening every single time you open up your phone. It’s just not necessary. So, I deleted like all my apps. Yeah,
Amy: But they’re still there – you didn’t delete you just removed them off your homescreen.
Michelle: Yes, I removed them off my home screen – or all eight of my home screens – LOL – swiping through continuously to find the same app I opened up every single time. I open my phone but just letting go of all of those apps and knowing that they’re still there, but they don’t have to crowd up what I see every time I open my phone
Amy: …and realizing that you don’t have to be overly organized in a way like you don’t have to control that.
Michelle: Yeah, right.
Amy: It doesn’t have to control you.
Michelle: And I think one thing that I know I’ve been fighting with technology is Because we’re told like, oh, live a clutter-free life, live this simple life, have, don’t have anything, be a minimalist, and you know, then I open up my inbox and I have like 30, 000 emails and I just want to throw my computer out the window, but it’s okay to have an archive, it’s OK to have you know, a folder of articles that you want to read later. You don’t have to delete it all, but the phone does a lot of organizing for you itself. So you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Amy: So Krista, how has your mindset changed moving forward?
Krysta: So the phrase that comes to my mind when you ask this question is less is more. I have always been attracted to Amy’s minimalist, clean aesthetic, and that’s attracted to me, but I felt like I needed some guidance on how to get started getting to that point. So, I’ve learned, for example, that I don’t need more email labels or more folders on my computer, and my files on my computer need to be more organized. It’s just a matter of I’m using fewer folders or labels in a smarter and more efficient way. Yeah. So that’s a new mindset for me.
Amy: Yeah, that’s great. What about you, Jeanine?
Jeanine: Well, I totally agree with Krista. I feel like the way that we have organized our minds during this time is also setting a template in my brain for how to do other aspects of my life once I get home.
Amy: I love that.
Jeanine: Because I’m ready to jump into that closet and do some purging there. I’m ready to get into that kitchen and see what I can do without. And just have things easier and not feel like you’ve got to go through so much to, to manage. And so I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this process with you. It’s been something that will probably be life-changing.
Amy: Yeah, it’s surprising you were talking about having so many tools and just not having to have so much stuff, like, being a little bit minimalist. People are always surprised that I don’t have a gazillion gadgets in my kitchen. I don’t have an avocado peeler, you know? Like, I could use a regular knife to cut an avocado, you know? So I’ve never been into a lot of those little gadgets and tools. And those that I end up having, I end up not ever using, and then I get rid of it, you know. So, yeah, like you said, it applies to everyday life things even, too.
So, in this podcast, I sometimes like to share random life tips and ideas. Do you guys have anything that you can share? It can be anything, just fun, random things. It doesn’t even have to be teaching-related. So let’s start with Becky.
Becky: I did not realize that you could freeze avocados. They have to be mashed, but you can freeze them in little balls and still use them without that. I’ve been through so many, you know, and thrown so many away, and now I realized you could freeze them.
Amy: I did not know that.
Krysta: My tip is about meal planning, and this is something that I was, that I clung into since we had our daughter who’s four now instead of having to come up with a brand new meal idea every day of every week. We make categories for each day, like, in the wintertime, Monday was always soup day. And we have a list of like, maybe four or five soups that we know we all like. And we just have to choose from that list instead of like, the whole worldwide list of soups they could possibly make. Tuesday’s always Taco Tuesday, Wednesday’s pasta, or Thursday’s always leftovers, and yeah, so that has really, really helped make that whole process easier.
Amy: Mary?
Mary: I think mine is I’m a person, I think my whole life represents trying to be balanced, being more of a balanced person. It means work out some. Enjoy your work, but don’t just work; have fun, see your friends, have a dog, have a cat, do some gardening, enjoy cooking, just enjoy a lot of things in life, not just focus on a few, and really your relationships are probably the most important thing. Investing in those, so, you know, students and your family and friends, we’ve made new friends here at this retreat. I just think that’s the way you balance your life, so enjoy life with all those different aspects.
Amy: So what about you, Trudi?
Trudi: Mine has to do with mindset. And that is to find something every day that you’re grateful for. And particularly, I think, well, most of us would have many things, right, that we could put in a list of things that we can be thankful for. But particularly if it’s a down day or a particularly stressful day, for me to just remember and have a list, an ongoing list in my head. Sometimes, I’ll write it down of things that I’m just grateful for. Speaking of, I’m very grateful for this retreat, to have all these new friends, and to have the information that I know now.
Amy: I love these small spaces, these these little groups of people coming together because I just value connection so much in this way. And we will, we’ll keep in touch. Like we’ll see each other at conferences and stuff and it will feel even more special than just seeing each other at those big conferences because we’ve spent. Like actual quality time together. Jeanine?
Jeanine: Well, I have two random things—one that’s non-music and one that relates to us as piano teachers.
Amy: Okay.
Jeanine: The non-music one is, so don’t go to bed with dirty dishes.
Amy: I agree. I agree. I like that.
Jeanine: The times that I’ve been so tired that I went to bed without washing the dishes or putting them in the dishwasher. I go, just walking into the kitchen is like that. So it’s so nice to know that your kitchen is ready for you in the morning.
Amy: Well, and stuff dries on the dishes if you don’t wash it right away. It’s harder to wash, I tell my husband.
Jeanine: And recently, I’ve discovered, as a piano teacher, that I enjoy the personal interaction with the students more, not as the authority, not as the person that has all the answers, but somebody that’s sharing ideas. And so, I even told a new student the other day, I’m just an older person that’s experienced more things, sharing with you, things that I want to pass on to my students, and so I don’t want you to see me as somebody to be afraid of, because they, my name happens to have a doctor in front of it, and so they are always, you know, saying, you know, “you’re the doctor,” and it’s like, no, I’m doctor, I’m Dr.
Skinner, but I’m also Jeanine, yeah, and so I’m your teacher.
Amy: Michelle
Michelle: my pro tips are not that, mind-blowing. If it can’t go in the dishwasher, don’t buy it. And if it can’t go in the dryer, don’t buy it. That’s what I’ve learned. It’s really the answer.
Amy: The shirt that I have on today, I got at home and realized it says hand wash.
Michelle: You know what? So you put it in the dryer. You find out what happens.
Lots of chatter and laughter between participants that it was not possible to transcribe.
Amy: Well, you guys, this has been so much fun. Thank you for being willing to join me here on the podcast. And I’m just excited to see you guys just moving forward and to take all these things home with you and to continue to expand upon them.
Everyone: Thank you. Thank you for everything.
sound of rewinding the tape (outtake of chatter prior to recording)
Michelle: I’m still looking up my life tip.
Amy: You’re looking up your tiny life tip?
lots of laughter
Krysta: Dear Internet, what is my tiny life tip?
lots of laughter
Michelle: Ask the internet. What did Siri say? Don’t trust Siri.
lots of laughter
Thanks so much to Michelle, Jeanine, Trudi, Mary, Krysta, and Becky for being willing to share their experience with you today. I especially loved getting to hear their random life tips.
Do you have a fun random life tip to share? I would love to feature it on the podcast—it could be anything!
You can send me a voicemail at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of the show notes. Speaking of the show notes, during the retreat, one of the attendees was asking me how she could get to the podcast review area. It’s not that intuitive, so here’s how: In Apple podcasts, go into the show – not just inside an individual episode – and scroll almost all the way to the bottom. There’s a small bit of text written in purple just below where the large Ratings & Reviews header is located. You can easily rate the podcast and also write a review if you like.
Thanks to all who have taken the time thus far to share the podcast in this way. Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next week!
