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Amy talks with Valerie Merrell, a piano teacher from Indiana, about how she utilizes Notion – a productivity and note-taking app – to manage her piano studio.
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Items Mentioned and Other Related Content
Organize Your Life With Notion (Workshop)
Digital Organization Coaching with Amy
Podcast Episode 105 – Evernote vs. Notion
Podcast Episode 109 – Amy & Joy: Ways We Used Notion This Week
Access Bonus Notion Tour Videos
Transcript
Welcome to episode 136 of The Piano Pantry Podcast. I’m Amy Chaplin, your host—a piano teacher who also loves talking about digital tools and productivity. We are at the end of a 3-part conversation series here on the podcast with teachers on how they are utilizing Notion to manage their music studios.
In episode 134, we heard from Jill Gilbert, a teacher from Washington State. Last week, you heard from Stephanie Thompson, a teacher from Michigan, and today, you’ll hear from Valerie Merrell, a teacher from Indiana.
Notion is an awesome productivity and note-taking app that my friend Joy Morin and I have become pretty passionate about using over the past few years. We’ve developed methods and systems for managing teacher life using Notion and are now working to help our independent teacher community discover this wonderful tool.
Each of the three teachers sharing with you in this series participated in our workshop this past March – a workshop that we will be running again on September 20-21.
In this live two-day workshop, we share our methods and systems for managing teacher life using Notion. We’ll not just teach you HOW to use Notion; we’ll also teach you how WE use Notion. Registration is open. Visit PianoPantry.com/notion for more details.
And now, let’s hear from Valerie.
Amy: Well, Valerie, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here today. And would you just start by introducing yourself and letting everyone know what your studio currently looks like?
Valerie: Sure. Yeah. Thank you. I love visiting with you. So this is always great. So, I usually have between 25 and 30 students in my studio. There are usually two to three virtual ones that I’ve kept from previous states I’ve lived in and that jumped up. One of them referred a bunch of family members, and so I now have seven that are virtual as well. And so, for some of those, I overlap lessons so that the students get private lesson time and ensemble time weekly, which is fantastic. But that’s pretty much my comfort zone; sitting around there with 25 to 30-ish students is what I prefer.
Amy: So now Valerie and I are real-life friends, too. She lives in Indianapolis, so we’re only maybe an hour and a half, two hours from each other, and have been part of the state board and things like that together. And she’s been on this podcast several times, I think. We had a conversation in 2022 or something like that, about attending grad school later in life, which we both did. And then you’ve also been a part of my Tonara podcast episodes, I think. Right, Sherry?
Valerie: Yes, that’s correct. Yes, yes.
Amy: So I told her, I’m like, you may be the person that’s been on here the most. And that’s what happens when you’re friends with the podcaster.
Valerie: Oh, always fun though. Always fun.
Amy: When did you discover Notion, and how long have you been using it?
Valerie: Joy Morin introduced me to Notion in the summer of 2021. I remember that very specifically because it was during the virtual NCKP conference. And so a few of us had rented a house and were staying together, and she showed some little snippets of how she was using it. It was very early, I think, in her exploration of it, so she wasn’t completely advocating for it or, you know, sold on it, but she was just exploring it a little bit.
I just really love organizational devices, whether they’re physical or digital, and I fell in love with them. So, I poked around at it for a little bit. There were some that you could do initially without delving into too much. And so I did that for a while, and then I decided to. Do a getting things done database if you’re familiar with that.
So “Getting Things Done” is this book and this system. I set it up following this YouTube tutorial, and it was fantastic because it’s pretty powerful, and I would never have been able to do that on my own. And it would have taken forever if I tried to figure out how to do that. So, I really appreciate the YouTube tutorial, and I have used it for years.
I continue to use that, and it’s really fantastic. Then I just slowly started using it more for the studio and really loved the functionality that I found. And I also, so I took the Notion workshop. That you and Joy did. What was so fantastic about that was that sometimes when you use a product, you get pretty comfortable using the few parts you have used but don’t take the time to explore other things.
And so. There were quite a number of super easy things, but I never would have found them, you know, unless I had taken time to explore on my own, and obviously, I wasn’t doing it. And so, I feel like my creativity and the potential, the options ballooned with the information presented so clearly to me. So, I put pretty much anything I can put in Notion these days.
Amy: Yeah, me too. And it’s just baby steps. You know, when you start using a new product, sometimes you’re just dabbling, learning it, slowly moving into it, until it just becomes like, you’re everything. And that’s how I feel like Notion is.
I love how you said when you first started using it, you know, you watched that YouTube video, and it was so helpful in kind of getting you started because I feel like, With Notion sometimes people start using it, and they’re just a little bit unsure how to organize it even though it’s it has a great structure that you can create with it. Sometimes, it’s just like needing that first step to help you figure out the best way of making it more functional.
All right, so now let’s get into some specifics. Would you mind just telling us how you use it in your studio?
Valerie: Oh yeah, so I can’t count the ways. I started listing – like I made a list of a bunch. So professionally, I use that with being the, the gym to the local music teachers of the association president, I use it to organize quite a bit of information and we are setting up our very first piano ensemble event this November, I’m thrilled about it. I have also kept all of the organizational information here, like the venues.
The venue comparisons and such so that I also have all that information for future years. And piano rentals, repertoire, and just so many moving parts. So, I’ve used that in the professional aspect of my music career as it goes. But I also, For my studio. I do. I have a studio dashboard, and I have a massive amount of pages off of it, which I access quite often and some that are there more for reference.
So, as I was going through the list in preparing for this, I remembered I have my Christmas or, excuse me, my Christmas list. Ornament list. So for, for every year, I have a theme that I do. And so two years ago was Legos. And then last year was whatever it was, you know what I mean? And this year is detectives. And so I do an ornament that goes along with that theme. And so that’s just a quick reference place that I don’t have to like, think back through what those are. So it’s things as simple as that, but it keeps the information organized so I don’t have to recall… okay, what did I do 3 years ago? What did I do 2 years ago?
It’s stuff I would not access terribly often, but it’s definitely helpful to still have. And then I have information like. Events that I don’t want to do yearly. So we often have, you know, like a fall recital or spring recital and the things that we know we consistently do every year in our studios, but I like to do some events, not every year and I don’t want to keep reinventing the wheel with creating them or considering when was I going to do that?
When did I do that? How far will it be until I want to do it again? So, keeping a multi-year rotational schedule type thing like we did silent films last year, and I don’t want to do that every year, but I’d like to do it probably every two years, and so I can now have that in the rotation things like that.
Amy: And seeing it all together you can really just see that visual like you said of like okay every four years I might do this every five years I might do this and it’s just nice like seeing it in one glance.
Valerie: Exactly, especially when considering a student’s longevity with me. And so how many times will they experience this thing? Yeah. And so I have it broken out by season and, then I am working on, well, when I started, I was trying to decide how I actually wanna do this? Because there are so many ways that you could put the information in, sometimes that’s a deterrent.
And so I find value sometimes in check, like trying it out a couple of different ways, like segmenting it by season and then more of an overview by year to see which is more practical for my purposes, which I actually refer to more. Yeah. This past summer. I created a summer list by week, just a simple project list because there are always so many projects floating around in my head or ideas or things to consider.
And it was, it’s Sometimes too overwhelming to have a massive to do list, and I have in the past created like a dump list of ideas in general. Well, how often do you go back and reference that kind of thing, you know? Yeah. It’s good to get out of the brain, but sometimes it’s just too overwhelming to go back and look at, you know.
And so seeing the information or the task, the ideas segmented by week was like, that’s a throwaway list. I won’t go back and access that again, but it was fantastic for that brief period of time. So I have these, you know, these pages that I use regularly and these pages that I use seasonally. And then I’ve also found value in, okay, just for this one thing, I’m going to do this.
Amy: Yeah,
Valerie: I also use it for event preparation. Certainly. Yeah. And one of my favorites is my new student checklist. I always thought, okay, do this and this and this and this. And, you know, then 10 minutes before they walked in, I was like, oh, let’s do this and this and this, you know, 10 minutes after they walked out, oh, more, you know, and so just really making sure I had a sequence of when students that initially sent in an inquiry and, you know just documenting their process and they became a new student and then having like all the things to check off once you’re a new student and then also moving them past that into kind of the continuing education segment of their, their life in my studio type thing. Yeah.
Amy: So I’m curious, you mentioned, you know, managing projects and like having weekly management through the summer and just making it feel more like it wasn’t just a dumping grounds, but more of just a way of helping you plan it out more easily and also then let go of it when it was complete. How did Notion help with that as opposed to how you may have done that prior? Can you try to be more descriptive? How did that play out exactly?
Valerie: I have a few thoughts on that. The first one is that it was really easy to set up and customize specifically with, like, you know, I’m thinking about this. Throw away one for the summer, right? And I was able to customize it much more to my liking. Not that making something visually pleasing is super important, but when it’s a big part of your life, you know, it’s lovely to see something that you enjoy seeing or that you created. And previously, I had been using like Excel or Google Docs or, you know, that type of thing. And so I didn’t enjoy looking at those.
Amy: Yeah. It makes a difference.
Valerie: Yeah. So that enjoyment factor was great. I really like how you can nest things on the side panel. So when I first started, I didn’t realize this, and I would just create pages. And so I would. Have all these pages on the side and I would have to go select what I wanted.
And then in the course that you did in the workshop, one of the first things was that you exposed us to this idea of like a dashboard. And then we could nest these things underneath that. And then I can nest some things underneath those. And so the organization. was significantly easier to find things much more logical. So I appreciated that very much.
Amy: So being able to layer things into levels basically and create almost like a breadcrumb similar to how you would like on a web, a website, you know, where you have different levels of pages within pages.
Valerie: I think one thing that I value so much as well is Being able to keep such a variety of styles of documents within one system, because before I was jumping between lots of programs and different places that things were saved, and You know, even now, sometimes somebody will say, Oh, do you want to save this to one drive? Or do you want to collaborate with this on another platform? It just becomes overwhelming when you have so many options for where to find something.
I have to go when I look for something I created or worked on 4 or 5 years ago, there’s quite a number of places to look because things were just organized, but in a scattered organized fashion, I suppose, you know, and it just visually felt overwhelming, you know, even yesterday, my husband asked if I wanted to transfer something like a document to him, and I was on an apple, and he was not.
And so. I was saying, well, you know, you don’t use this. What would be the easiest way? And he said, well, “how about OneDrive”? And my body just shutters…”oh, that’s another one I haven’t used in a while.” Now I have to go flame the login. I have to figure it out, you know? And so I, I just was like, well, how about let’s do, you know, if I can keep things to Google Drive and Notion, it makes my life much easier.
Amy: Yeah. I, my husband luckily has gotten onto Notion as well. So it’s just been so much better because we can do vacation planning, and we can share pages, and we can both contribute to the page. And it’s just a different experience than sharing on a Google Doc or something like that. What has been the most surprising thing about using Notion, or maybe your favorite thing?
Valerie: I think the versatility. When I was initially introduced to it, and explored it a little bit, I really was looking more for, looking at it as a, Oh, you know, this can replace my spreadsheets. And it really is so much more than that.
It’s, it’s, and it’s fun to explore. The ease of customizing is just so fantastic. And I am not like a scrapbooker. I’m not a super crafty person in right ways. And it just offers enough balance for me to do something. So it looks pleasing and fun, but I don’t feel pressure to do a lot. And I don’t feel overwhelmed because of that.
Amy: Yeah, I’m the same way. I, like, I’m not a crafter. I used to do scrapbooking in high school and stuff, but yeah, the artsy stuff to me does not come naturally. Like, you know, some people do beautiful bullet journaling and, you know, all the artwork that they design, you know, that’s just never been me, but this allows an outlet to kind of have a little artsy side where you can create designs and layouts and looks that you enjoy and have fun with it without getting crazy.
Valerie: Agreed. Agreed. And I think, you know, when I think of a spreadsheet, it’s always the joke. When I’m talking to somebody and an idea comes up, I’m like, Oh, spreadsheet time. Right. I love spreadsheets. I love color coding. I love. And that’s, you know, when you think about crafty things, the things that spark joy in my soul or something often look at organizational things.
And this just allows you to tweak them it fairly easily into something that’s even a little bit more visually pleasing. So despite what your style is, or regardless of what your style is, you can probably do even more super creative, crafty-ish things with it. Or you can keep it fairly streamlined and, you know, simple and clear, but still add some fun elements, I think.
Amy: Well, thanks so much for being here today, Valerie. It’s been so fun chatting with you and hearing how you use Notion in your studio. You’ve given us a great picture of what that can look like and the possibilities, and I’m sure our listeners have been inspired today. So, thanks for being here.
Valerie: Oh, yeah. Thank you.
Amy: Guess what, friends?! Each episode of this Notion series includes a video tour where Jill, Stephanie, and Valerie give you a look into their Notion account so you can see firsthand how it looks and feels.
You can access this bonus content by joining my Patreon Community. For just $7 a month, you’ll also get access to quarterly presentations, regular tiny tips from me, weekly power hours, and email processing support. Join at the Insider level today at PianoPantry.com/patreon.
It’s a pretty sweet bonus if you ask me, especially since your monthly support also helps cheer on the continued creation of this podcast.
These video tours will also be included in the resource hub Joy and I created for our Notion workshop attendees.
Register for Organize Your Life with Notion by September 6 to receive $30 off. Visit PianoPantry.com/notion for more details.
