Category: Announcements

Announcements, Performances

My 2013 Spring Recital

Joy Morin

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend!

Saturday was my students’ Spring Recital!  Like last year, I held it at my local library.  My students all did such a nice job — they make me so proud!

DSC_20130330_154803In photo above you’ll see each student with a rose, which is a tradition I’ve kept up for the last few years.  It’s nice to give something at the end of the recital, and giving a rose is a nice, affordable gesture to congratulate them for their performance and hard work.

Do you have a recital tradition?  🙂

Announcements

Photo of My Studio Featured in Clavier Companion!

Joy Morin

A couple of months back, I shared on facebook that Clavier Companion magazine was looking for submissions of photos of different piano studios.  I decided to go ahead and submit a few photos of my studio, and I was thrilled that they decided to use one of them!  If you subscribe to Clavier Companion, take a look at page 25 of their January/February 2013 issue, and you will see my photo:

Screen shot 2013-01-14 at 12.10.20 PM

How exciting!  I enjoyed browsing all the other studio photos in the article, too.  I also recognized photos from some other bloggers: Jennifer Fink of Pianimation.com, Leila Viss of 88pianokeys.me, and Dorla Aparicio of missdorla.com.

If you aren’t a subscriber of Clavier Companion magazine, definitely check them out!  It is very affordable (both print copies and the digital version) and the articles are always excellent and inspiring.

Announcements, Studio Business

My New Bookcase

Joy Morin

A couple of weeks ago when the small bookcase next to the piano in my studio starting leaning rather precariously, I knew it was time to find a new one!  Finding a bookcase that has shelves that are tall enough to hold music books is a challenge, however.  The other challenge is finding something sturdy enough to support the weight of all those music books!

But I think I found the perfect solution.  🙂

My sister and brother-in-law along with my two nephews have been visiting for the last week (hence the lack of blog posts lately — sorry!).  We made a trip out to IKEA yesterday, and I bought this BESTÅ shelf unit for $130:  

Continue reading “My New Bookcase” →

Announcements, Teacher Feature

Joy Gets Interviewed… :)

Joy Morin

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a 16-year-old homeschooler, asking if I’d answer some interview questions for a research project about piano teaching.  I was happy to oblige, and she was willing to let me post my answers here too.  It was kind of fun!

How old were you when you first began learning/playing piano? Around 6 or 7.

Why did you start playing the piano? My mother got me started with her old piano book when I began showing interest by messing around on the piano.  (The book was John Thompson’s “Teaching Little Fingers To Play,” for those of you interested!  It starts right at the beginning with staff notation. 🙂

What music schools or institutions did you learn music at? I took private lessons with 3 different private teachers during my childhood and high school years. I attended Grand Rapids Community College for my first two years of college, transferred to Hope College to finished my Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance, and then afterwards completed a Master of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy. The college-level pedagogy courses I took were the most valuable — and second were the private lessons. I think every piano teacher should take or audit piano pedagogy courses at their local college if they ever have the opportunity. I am a much better teacher because of those classes than I could ever be otherwise!

Who have your teachers been? Various piano teachers in my town, and then college professors at whatever college I was attending at the time. Continue reading “Joy Gets Interviewed… :)” →

Announcements

Blogging Break

Joy Morin

Just a quick post to let you know that I will be taking the week off from blogging.  My brother is getting married this weekend, so my husband and I will be staying in Michigan with my family for a few days.  And the early part of this week is going to be busy with the usual teaching in addition to the packing and preparations.

I hope you’ll miss me while I’m away!  🙂  See you all next week.

Announcements, Performances

Spring Recital Details

Joy Morin

As I mentioned yesterday, our Spring Recital was Saturday!  Here’s how it went down:

  • It was held at the local library.  They have an atrium with a Steinway baby grand piano.  In the past, I’ve always held recitals at churches (and once at a school).  I look for churches with grand pianos that can be moved to the center of the sanctuary.  Being new in town, I haven’t yet discovered which churches have this kind of set-up (plus they have to be affordable).  Two of my students suggested using the library, so we did.  It costs $50 to rent and it’s a nice location with high ceilings and lots of natural light.  I was happy with it!
  • I always play something at my students’ recitals.  This year, I asked my friend, a violinist for whom I’m accompanying for her semester juries at my local university, to play her jury piece with me.  She was thrilled to be asked — but she needed to be first on the program so she could leave early for another event she had in the afternoon.  I wish I could let you hear the piece — but I forgot to start the video camera before we played the piece!  (I’m still kicking myself.)  Anyway, here’s Itzhak Perlman playing it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKI9uoNfC18
  • After the violin piece, my students played.  I had 10 out of my 16 students play at the recital (the others are adult students, new 4-year-old students, or had a schedule conflict).  I knew it would be a short and sweet recital, but I still feel recitals are beneficial enough that it was worth doing anyway!
  • After playing, my students stood in the front for a group photo, and I gave them each a rose for their performance.  It’s a tradition I’ve been doing for a few years now, although my students in my new town, of course, have not experienced it yet.
  • Afterwards, we had a little reception with cupcakes, a Kit Kat piano (a la Pinterest), and cheese n’ crackers.

I don’t think I can share video of the recital since the pieces performed are under copyright, but I hope to share a photo slideshow soon!

Do you all have Spring Recitals coming up?  I like holding mine early in the Spring because May and June are such a busy months.

Announcements

Email Subscription Updates

Joy Morin

Yesterday, I transferred the email daily blog update service over from Feedburner to MailChimp.  I’ve been using MailChimp to handle weekly blog update subscriptions, and have been pleased with everything about it.  Now that MailChimp is handling both, you will find it easy to switch between the two at any time – which you can do by entering your email address into the subscription box in the sidebar.  Mailchimp will recognize that you are already on the list and lead you through the option of updating your preferences.

So, those of you who are getting daily blog updates in your email in box should be viewing the new email look right now!  Hopefully, the transition was smooth – let me know if you have any problems of concerns.  The rest of you should be pretty unaffected by this change.  🙂

Announcements, Giveaways

Celebrating 3 Years!

Joy Morin

Today marks the three-year anniversary of Color In My Piano!  HOORAY!  It’s been such an exciting year, and I’m so thrilled to have been able to share my experiences with you all.  Thank you all for your support and for making this blog such a fun place to share resources and ideas with each other.  I can hardly believe Color In My Piano has been online for three years already.

Below is a run-down of the history of the Color In My Piano blog, as well as details about a GIVEAWAY!  Read on.  Continue reading “Celebrating 3 Years!” →

Announcements, improving as a teacher, Music Camps, Studio Business

My Summer Camp Plans for 2012!

Joy Morin

I recently started to do some in-depth planning for the summer camps I plan to offer this summer!  My studio policies provide students with two options for the summer months (June-August):

  1. Students ages 6-12 may participate in a camp each month plus take 5 lessons scheduled approximately every other week around family vacations, or…
  2. Students may continue weekly lessons (10 total) as normal.  Students who choose to continue lessons as normal are welcome to sign up for 1, 2, or all 3 summer camps on top of their lessons if desired, at a special rate.

Because I have such a range of ages/levels in my studio, I decided to make my camps very flexible so that students of a wide range of musical backgrounds (even those with no music background) can attend camp.  When my studio is larger, I will probably design camps for certain ages/levels.  For this year, I think it’s best to be flexible.  I’m encouraging my students to invite their friends to attend camp and I’ll put posters around town too.  I’m hoping for a turnout of about 4-8 students attending each camp.

Below are the descriptions I came up with for each camp.  What do you think — do they sound like fun?!  🙂   Continue reading “My Summer Camp Plans for 2012!” →