Thought I’d share a few photos of random things from the studio…
Here’s a first composition created by one of my young students last week. It’s called “Hush Little Squirrels.” I love her inventive notation system! You can see the black key groups of 2’s and 3’s pictured, and the L’s and H’s mean high or low. I was so proud of the work she put into creating and notating her piece.
The new year always brings about a time of reflection for me. I find myself thinking back over the past year and looking forward to the future, wondering what the new year might bring.
This year was a time of great change for my husband and me. In May, I graduated with my Master of Music degree. We also moved to a new state. It has been an adjustment to be out-of-school. I still keep myself just as busy as I was during grad school, but it’s a different kind of busy. Instead of having a schedule where nearly every half-hour of my day was portioned out to a class, rehearsal, or other appointment, my schedule is suddently much more flexible. Now I have the flexibility to choose when I complete the items on my “to-do” list. And I have to time to work on various projects that I never would have had time to do during grad school. Continue reading “Thoughts for the New Year”
As promised, here is a slideshow of photos from my student’s recent Christmas recital/party. Enjoy!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O2V5khQ-4A
Click here to read about the three games we played after the recital.
My apologies for being MIA from the blog the last few weeks! At the beginning of the semester, I put up posters around the music building of the university in my town for freelancing as a collaborative pianist. A few music majors contacted me rather last minute to ask if I’d accompany them for their end-of-the-semester juries as well as a concerto competition. Learning their music and scheduling rehearsals has kept me very busy the last few weeks! But I’m grateful for the extra money, especially after finishing all my Christmas shopping. 🙂 Anyway, I’m back now! Juries are today, and this week will be much less hectic than the previous few weeks.
Now I’m focusing on the last stages of planning for my Studio Christmas Party on Saturday. A couple of parents have volunteered to bring goodies, so I just need to make a few things. I found some great food ideas on Pinterest. (I love Pinterest! Are any of you on Pinterest? Feel free to follow me, and I’ll be sure to follow you back!) Continue reading “Studio Christmas Party Update – Food!”
Here in the U.S., Thanksgiving Day is celebrated this Thursday!
My husband and I are hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house and we have lots of preparations to make, so I’m taking the week off from blogging.
Thanksgiving blessings to you all!
See you next week.
Photo Credit: wikimedia.org
I don’t know about you, but I’m always on the lookout for creative and inexpensive items for my teaching. The dollar store is one of my favorite places to go!
In the craft aisle at Dollar Tree right now, there are packages of foam cubes, as shown in the picture. I’ve always wanted to make scale blocks like Natalie Wickham’s, but have never got around to buying the wood blocks and paint. These foam cubes seem like a pretty good alternative, although they may not last as long I suppose. On the upside, it doesn’t take long to write the alphabet letters on these little cubes with a marker! I am going to go back to buy a couple more packages, so I can make a nice set of scale blocks using the orange colored cubes. Continue reading “Recent Purchases: Scale Blocks & A Technique Monkey”
Thanks to the wonderfully helpful ideas that YOU all submitted in reply to the Forum Q&A last month about advertising, this year for Halloween I am passing out candy that has a note with my studio name and information on it!
I created these tags in Microsoft Word and printed them onto cardstock paper. I cut out each tag and used a circle of scotch tape to attach the candy to the backside of each tag. The tags have my studio name, what I do, and my contact information. Continue reading “Halloween Candy = Opportunity for Free Marketing”
I thought today I’d share a photo of the sign I have on my house for my studio! My brother-in-law made it for me as a birthday gift (my husband gave him the idea). The lettering is just the right size for the window and can be seen well from the road, since our home sits pretty close to the road. It looks very professional, and we’ve already had a few of the neighbors notice it. 🙂
Before putting a business sign outside my home, I had to get a “Home Occupation Permit” from the city. I’m sure it varies from city to city, but my permit cost $25 (I think it’s per year – or maybe longer) and it allows me to put up one sign, no larger than 12 inches by 12 inches. I suppose that if you live in a rural area, there might not be any stipulations regarding running a business in your home or putting up a business sign — but it doesn’t hurt to check. Most cities probably do. Having this Home Occupation Permit gives me peace of mind! Should a neighbor ever complain about my business for some reason (unlikely to happen, but always possible), the city would not be able to easily shut me down since I am running my business legally. Continue reading “My Studio Sign and More”
Today I’m proud to take you on the penny tour… 🙂
My husband and I feel so blessed to have found this adorable old house to rent. Continue reading “Tour of My Teaching Studio”
You saw the sneak peek photo yesterday…..now here’s the full scoop on my recent piano purchase!
I’ve been shopping on Craigslist for quite some time, and I learned that a lot of piano shopping is about personal preference. My husband and I looked at an absolutely breathtaking Knabe from the 1920’s, for example, but as soon as I played a few notes I knew it wasn’t the piano for me. Somehow, it just didn’t grab me. I wanted to find something that I would love to sit down and play.
Then, we looked at a 5’7” Kawai…..
The owner was asking $3500. It was built in 1966, and the inside parts and the finish are all in original condition. I could see it probably needed a little bit of work, but I really, really liked the touch. It was fun to play!
I hired a registered piano technician to inspect the piano for me before I bought it. The technician confirmed that it does need some work, but we were able to talk the owner down to $2500. My new piano was delivered last Friday!
Sorry the photos are a bit grainy…I used the camera in my iPod Touch.
Hello, fellow piano teachers!
I hope you’ve missed me during my blogging hiatus. 🙂 My husband and I are now happily moved to northwest Ohio, where we are renting a lovely old three-bedroom house within walking distance of downtown. We have so much more space here versus our one-bedroom apartment back in Michigan, and let me tell you – this house was made for running a piano studio! Lots of photos are coming soon, so stay tuned.
So, what have I been up to the last few days/weeks?
I do have one sneak peek photo to show you for now……………
These are exciting times! I feel like I have so much to share. I hope you’ll stay tuned. 🙂
Joy
Today I wanted to share a photo from my university’s Community Music School recital a few weeks ago! This is one of my wonderful students who I unfortunately must leave behind now that we are moving. 🙁 I will miss all my students!
My fellow teachers and I bought roses to give out to all the students who performed that evening. It was so fun to watch the students faces as they each received their rose and gave it a big sniff. They felt like real performers!
In other news, my husband and I finally have living arrangements in Ohio! We will be renting a cute little three-bedroom house. It will be so exciting to set up my piano studio……but first we have to deal with the great fun of packing and moving. We will be staying with family for a few weeks until the landlords finish a few last-minute projects inside the house. By the middle of June, we hope to be totally moved into the new place.
Meanwhile, I have a feeling that my blog posts may become few and far between over the next few weeks. Bear with me! I’ll be back eventually with plenty to share, I’m sure. 🙂
Stay tuned — I’ll be announcing the winner of the Fearless Fortissimo giveaway momentarily…
Your Cart is Empty
