Amy shares what’s feeling good—and what’s not—this summer in her piano teacher world. From chord chart fun and Gmail hacks to clock struggles and conference burnout, it’s a real-life peek into the wins and woes of the season. Studio talk, skirts, and all!
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Transcript
It’s been 5 weeks now since I ended my school term lessons, so in this part of the world, we are fully into our summer routines. Some of you are just barely getting started, and perhaps for some, your summer start is yet to come.
As you know, it always takes a couple of weeks to kind of reset and settle our brains and routines into a new groove, so I thought this was the perfect time to share with you a fun reflection of what’s clicking and what’s feeling clunky in the life of this piano teacher this season.
I’m Amy Chaplin, and this is The Piano Pantry Podcast, where we talk about all things studio-teacher life related, from organizing your studio to getting dinner on the table and all that comes between. While not a star-struck type of person, if I had to compare what we do here to famous people, consider me a cross between Ina Garten, Marie Condo, The Lazy Genius, and your favorite piano teacher.
OK, I have six things that are clicking and working for me in this season and three that are not. First up is the good stuff.
This summer, I wanted to focus my students’ lesson time on playing chord charts. One book that has been a go-to for years is the Way Cool Keyboarding Books 1 and 2 by Will Bailey from Pedagogy in Motion.
Not only are they a good tool for introducing chord charts, but they include pieces that my tweens/teens seem to especially enjoy when they’re in burnout mode and just need something light to get them through. The pieces are fairly easy reading, are flowing and cool-sounding. I don’t think I’ve ever had a student who didn’t enjoy playing from these books.
Next up is using the Starred Inbox settings in Gmail. While I’ve played around with a few of the different Inbox types in Gmail, like Unread First or the Default with no categories which just puts everything in one inbox in date order, the starred first option has really made a big difference in helping me keep emails that need attention toward the top. Selecting the star will keep them at the top and put everything else below in your inbox. Find this setting under Settings > Inbox > Inbox Type
The third thing that’s been clicking for me in this season is watching Barber Reels on social media, like hair barbers. Have you seen these? They chat with the client and hear what they’re looking for, and then tell them what they think they need, and then ask how much they’ll tip if they love it. Then you see the before, during, and after photo transformation. I’m not big on watching reels like my husband on social media, but these have definitely caught my interest in recent weeks. My only question is do they then teach them how to style it on their own so it will look as good when they do it themselves.
The fourth thing that I’ve been enjoying this season is skirts and dresses. I’ve been making an effort to wear them more, but like anything, it just takes the right fit to feel comfortable in them. Also, I can’t do them without wearing Spanx invisible lightweight shorts, though, not for the body shaping – I can’t stand those kidn – but just to keep the legs from rubbing. I’m not one who’s lucky to not have the leg rug. If you know, you know! LOL
I have to share something funny – so I’ve been sharing this with my husband recently and he was telling me he saw a video online about a girl going on and on about how you should just live in dresses in the summer because they’re so lightweight and he was like “yeah, because your legs don’t rub together!”
By the way…
If you are enjoying this episode and would like to be part of my crew of teachers who get access to regular advice and tips from me, a few special sessions every year, and more, visit pianopantry.com/patreon to join. A special thanks to supporter Jenny Focht, a teacher from Minnesota, for being a great teacher friend, and cheerleader of this work.
OK, the fifth thing that is clicking with me this season is weekly financial processing. Now, I have to admit, this has worked for me for a long time but I bring it up because I’ve realized recently how vital it is to helping us keep in check and stay responsible with our finances. So much of what we do with money management anymore is totally out of sight, out of mind, I find the more frequently I check in, the easier it is to remember what transactions are from and to remember that little thing called a budget that was set that we use as a guideline for purchase decisions. If you don’t it’s so each to blink and have it bee months down the road and then you’re pulling your hair out wondering where money went. So, weekly financial processing – pay attention.
The sixth and final thing that’s clicking for me right now is the mindset I’m using for upkeep around the outside of our house. We have a long driveway and a good-sized property, and one thing that can easily get out of hand is weeds, especially along the driveway, parking areas, and mailbox since it’s all gravel. We also have some landscaping now that needs upkeep. So, I decided that every evening, I go out and pull 1 small bucket of weeds. Maybe one night it’s just around the landscaping area and another night it’s down one side of the driveway and another night it’s in the parking area in front of and around the barn where we keep tractor implements and such. It’s a small 1 gallon bucket, and it takes maybe 10-20 minutes. Keeping the mindset of doing it once every day means that, since there will obviously be days I will miss, I keep up on it more easily. If I were to do it once a week and then miss a week then it gets out of hand even more quickly. Plus, your back and hands get sore if you do too much at once.
Now, onto what’s not clicking for me right now. These were a little harder to name but I guess that’s a good thing. First up is a clock to watch during lessons. I’ve always avoided having a clock in eyesight of my students so they don’t get fixated on it, and I’ve just watched the clock on my computer screen out of the corner of my eye or discreetly woke up my phone to check the clock.
Middle age is roaring through, though, and it’s getting harder to see my screens until I’m ready for that next boost in my glasses prescription, I’m going to have to figure something else out. Boo.
The second thing that a boo right now is back porch time. It was a chilly spring, and we’ve been gone for the past two weeks traveling to Texas for me to present at the Texas Music Teachers Conference, so we just really feel like we’ve not gotten to spend much time in that place, which we love. I’m hoping this next month opens up more time for both work and relaxation in my favorite space in the house.
The third and final thing that feels clunky for me in this season is conferencing. I hate even verbalizing this one because I was just at a lovely conference with lovely teachers and I’m also going to NCKP later this summer.
I told a teacher friend that when I arrived at Texas MTA, I just felt a bit off, but I think it was because I was not in a normal travel situation. My husband was with me, and we drove our camper there. He dropped me off every morning in the city, where I worked remotely, and then picked me up at the end of the day. It was a conference basically in the middle of a vacation, so it just took me the first half day to settle in.
I think another reason I’m feeling this way this season is that I circumnavigated the Midwest last fall, presenting at the Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan conferences, and this fall, I’ll be presenting at the Ohio conference, so I’ve just attended a lot of them in a short time.
I love presenting and all that happens at conferences, but I think I’m just a bit burned out is all.
So there, my friends, is my current state of being.
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Thanks for being here and I’ll catch you next time!
