Flu shot FTW!

I think there is a decent chance that I was the first person in town to get my flu shot this season. Score! I love winning. There are different schools of thought on the benefits and risks of flu shots, but I am in the pro-shot camp for the simple reason that when I get the flu, I really get it bad. It's just horrible. Enough said.

Which reminds me, please swap lessons with someone if you have the flu on your piano day. Thank you!

Check out our assignment books. They are assembled and, in a word, fabulous. The Fall Term starts TOMORROW, and I'm so excited to see all of my students back again! 

Hey, you guys! Don't forget to mark your calendars for the all-important BATTLE OF THE STUDIOS: Sunday, October 21, 3pm, at New Hope Presbyterian Church. Please schedule your pumpkin patch trips, hay rides, and apple-picking times on ANOTHER DATE! I need you to show up and help The Piano School win the Bragging Rights trophy back from the Boles Piano Studio!

Weekly Schedule with Pinterest Idea

I finally learned how to use Pinterest this summer, and today I made a Pinterest craft. There are several cool ways people are using picture frames as stylish wipe-off boards. One involves this sort of cluster frame:

Usually, people choose the ones that have eight separate 4X6 frames so that they have one for a title box and seven for the days of the week. The plan is to cut out eight 4X6 pieces of patterned paper and use letter stickers to put a heading at the top of each piece: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc... You add these papers to the frame, then use a wipe-off marker to write on the glass...to-do lists, schedules, or whatever.

For my project, I only wanted a six-frame cluster - one box for my title and the five more for the teaching days of the week. I have a fixed schedule, so instead of using a wipe-off marker to list each day's plan, I printed it directly onto 4X6 pieces of patterned paper. Here is the result:

Now I have my schedule of piano lessons in front of me while I teach. I can still use the wipe-off marker idea to add notes, check-off students, or cross out canceled lessons.  I like it!

Hats off to you, Parents!

September 10! That's the day the 2012 Fall Term begins. I am truly excited about working with my wonderful group of students. You might not be able to make it out from the picture below, but there are 45 kids on the schedule Monday through Friday. Each day's lessons will begin at between 2:00 and 3:00 and the last lesson will end after 7:00.  There are kids of all ages and from all backgrounds on my roster. Many live nearby, but a few will drive as long as 45 minutes to get here. It's a privilege to have these precious young people entrusted to me for part (or all) of their musical education!

I'd like to address parents for a moment, because I want you to know what an important thing you are doing for your children by providing them with piano lessons. You make several sacrifices in order to give your child a private music education. Some of you have to scrimp and save to pay the tuition. Some of you have to juggle the crazy schedules of several children and work magic to provide reliable transportation to lessons. Some of you sit with your young children by the piano at home to assist with practicing. Some of you pick up your children early from school in order to make it to a 2:30 lesson slot or arrive late at lacrosse practice because you don't want to miss piano. There are myriad ways that you put your child's needs ahead of your own in order to make sure piano lessons are in the picture.

To you fabulous parents I want to say, "Bravo!" You are investing your time, money, and energy in an pursuit that will, very likely, yield dividends for years to come. I'm not just saying that because I'm the piano teacher. It is a well-documented fact that children who take piano lessons do better in school. It has also been discovered that these children are less susceptible to the effects of dementia and perhaps even Alzheimer's by the time they reach old age! Can you imagine? I don't claim to understand why this is true, but I will tell you a story to illustrate.

My childhood piano teacher, Mrs. Todenhoft, suffered five strokes several years ago when she was in her 80's. It was shortly after her husband had passed away, and she was in a state of utter confusion. Initially, she had a hard time remembering or doing much of anything. But gradually things came back to her. Do you know what was the first thing to return? Her music. She remembered how to play hundreds of pieces on the piano long before she was able to remember what year it was or what state she was living in! I went to visit her a few times in the retirement home where she lived, and she was still playing piano like a pro even though she needed assistance with other things.  Well, one day in 2008, I learned that she had agreed to play piano at the local mall for the Thursday Morning Music Club's National Day of Music. I was a little worried that she might forget the date of the event, so on my way to the mall to see her play, I gave her a call. Sure enough, no one had reminded her about the engagement, and no one had offered to drive her to the venue. Most 83-year-old ladies would have simply bowed out (or not agreed to play in the first place), but she said, "I can be ready in five minutes if you'll pick me up." When I walked into the lobby, she was coming toward me, cane in hand, with a list of songs she planned to play. No songbooks or sheet music, just a list. When we got to the mall, she walked right up to the piano and began to play. At first she forgot to take the spiral key bracelet off of her wrist, and she didn't quite know what to do with her cane, but she started in on her "set" like an absolute authority. She played so well, that passersby started to give her requests, and she obliged them! It was a moment that I'll never forget. Here is a video clip from that day. Notice the cane, the purse, and the list I mentioned.



After her gig in the mall, my piano teacher was beaming. She had great fun sharing her music with the people strolling by, and she was, I'm sure, happy to have been able to do what she did given her recent difficulties. What a valuable skill piano-playing has became to her during her senior years. By the way, when shopping for a suitable retirement home, her family made one stipulation. The facility had to allow her big Yamaha grand piano to move in with her. There aren't many homes that can accommodate that sort of request, but one was found, and I'm so thankful that it was. Here is a little video of my teacher in her room at the same Yamaha piano I took lessons on in the 1970's and 1980's. She was playing "There Will Never Be Another You" for me, and it chokes me up every time I watch. Because the truth is, there will never be another Mrs. Todenhoft.




On another note, if I can make half the impression on your child that Mrs. Todenhoft made (and still makes) on me, I will be very honored indeed. The thing about piano lessons is that we all remember them. Good or bad, we remember our time as a piano student, right? But piano-playing is a long tradition that I have the privilege of passing down to your child and which my teacher(s) passed down to me. This legacy can be traced back many generations to great historical teachers like Chopin, Liszt, and even Bach. It will continue to be spread (re-gifted, if you will) into the future as long as parents like you keep seeing that learning to play the piano is much more than plunking out right and wrong notes and keeping a steady tempo. It's a legacy from our ancestors and a mode of communication that survives when our human mind starts to fail. What a gift we send into the future when we keep this tradition alive.

Betcha didn't know you were doing all of that!

Free Printable Year-View Calendar!

You can download this
with the link below.

Why don't all planners have a view of the year with interlocking months? I don't know, and I really need one for planning lessons and events during the school year. So, I made one, and I'm sharing. Here you go!

2012-2013 Yearly Academic Calendar (PDF)

Battle of the Studios 2012

WHAT: Battle of the Studios 2012: 

~ The Piano School vs. The Boles Piano Studio ~

WHEN: October 21, 2012

3:00 p.m.

WHERE: New Hope Presbyterian Church

Ladies and Gentlemen, I invite you to attend the 3rd Annual Battle of the Studios concert! The "battle" is between The Piano School and the Boles Piano Studio. The purpose of the event is to gather as many of our piano students as possible for a concert of duo piano music selected especially for them!

The battle may be friendly, but let me tell you, it is fierce! The studio with the highest percentage of enrolled students in attendance gets to take home the Bragging Rights trophy for an entire year. It's a matter of school spirit! Of personal pride! Of preserving your teacher's ego!

The Piano School won the battle in 2010, but the Boles Piano Studio won in 2011. Oh, the agony of defeat!

Students, THE PIANO SCHOOL MUST GET THIS TROPHY BACK! The only way to make that happen is for YOU to show up and be counted. We can do this!

GAME ON!!!
Update: Sneak peek at what we are rehearsing...

New School Year: Assignment Books

I use a custom-made assignment book
in my studio. Here is a sampling of pages
from this year's book.

Download my newest assignment sheet here: The Piano School Assignment Sheet

Piano teachers share ideas with each other all the time, so I will admit that the idea of a custom assignment book did not originate with me. Two of my colleagues were kind enough to lend me their studio assignment books several years ago for ideas. I did not copy their books, and I'm sure they wouldn't have wanted me to. It takes hours to develop the pages, and it would simply be unfair for another teacher to copy what you have created without permission and/or financial compensation. I gleaned ideas from my colleagues' books, and used their pages as mental starting points from which I created my own sheets. I have subsequently shared my books with other teachers (with the understanding that they will not copy any pages without my permission), and some of these teachers have come up with fabulous ideas that never occurred to me. We share with each other but respect intellectual and creative property. Piano teachers are generally a considerate lot.

When my books are finished, they will be spiral-bound with a nice clear plastic cover and black plastic backing. I charge my students enough to cover the cost of printing and binding, and the books are a required purchase. But what an indispensable tool they are! We rely on these bad boys to keep us straight throughout the year and to remind us of what has been accomplished.

One page that is a big hit with some of my students is the 1000-Minute Club sheet. I did not invent the 1000-Minute Club. I found it on the Internet and then tweaked it to fit my studio needs. As far as I know, the person or people who came up with this idea intend for it to be shared: 1000-Minute Club PDF

Each year, I add and subtract items as our needs change. This year, I added a section to the weekly assignment sheets to help us keep track of the games we're playing at Music Learning Community. I'm particularly proud of this little addition:

It's the little things! An area
for recording online assignments
will save me time during lessons.

I also added a Circle of Fifths (after years of drawing it on the spot!) and a sheet explaining the triad patterns I have my younger students learn. Here is the complete list of contents:

• Cover sheet
• Directory of phone numbers and websites
• Class Assignments (each student is assigned a class for group lessons)
• Music History (a summary of historical periods and composers)
• Fall Term Divider
• Awards earned during Fall Term
• 1000-Minute Club for Fall Term
• Due dates for Fall Term
• Write your bio (for Christmas recital program)
• Assignment sheets and staff paper for Fall Term
• Spring Term Divider
• Awards earned during Spring Term
• 1000-Minute Club for Spring Term
• Due dates for Spring Term
• Write your bio (for spring recital program)
• Assignment sheets and staff paper for Spring Term
• Summer Term Divider
• Assignment sheets for summer lessons
• Circle of Fifths
• Scale Fingerings
• Pentascales
• Major Scales
• Minor Scales (harmonic)
• Minor Scales (melodic)
• Triad Sheet
• Extra staff paper

I'm always looking for ways to improve my assignment books. If you have ideas for additions or modifications, please share!

DOWNLOAD MY ASSIGNMENT SHEET HERE: The Piano School Assignment Sheet

New School Year Prep: Filing System

My beautiful new hanging files :)

I'm getting organized for the upcoming year of piano lessons this week. One of the things I did recently was to replace my cheapo file folders with lovely new hanging files. For the tabs, I downloaded a template and printed professional-looking labels for each family with whom I work. Sorry you can't see my knock-out font choice, but I must blur names to protect the innocent. Wait, maybe I can show you. I'll do a mock-up with fake people for the sake of illustration...

Here you go:

Label template provided at the folder manufacturer's website.
The font is American Typewriter. Last names size 18, first names size 12.

So what do I put inside these folders? Not much since most of my record keeping is done electronically. But I do need a place to store registration forms, artwork and little cards my students give me from time to time, newspaper clippings, and worksheets. 

How long do I save paper documents? Not long at all. I generally keep things as long as the student is currently enrolled. After that, I return sentimental items and shred anything that is no longer needed. If I kept everything from every student I ever taught, I'd probably have to rent a storage building. So while I was filing new documents for the coming year, I purged old stuff that was out of date. It's a fresh start. Love it!

Piano Parties for Adult Students

Adult piano students generally despise the idea of public performance. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, adults are self-conscious about their abilities. They may be so anxious about playing in front of others that they need a libation or medication to be able to do it.

I don't teach many adults, but I have been working with a few for several years. These ladies have successful professional lives in completely non-musical fields. They are good at what they do and have plenty of confidence in their abilities on the job. They have the professional respect of their colleagues. So when you put them in a situation like a piano recital, they have a sense of inferiority and embarrassment that they are not accustomed to. They think they look silly playing easy piano pieces that a child could play. They worry that they will make mistakes, and they often do. They have physical symptoms of anxiety such as shaky hands and fingers, loss of memory, and a general feeling of disorientation. In short, they feel like they are being tortured in front of an audience!

Early in my career, I had the misguided notion that it was good for adult piano students to perform in recitals along with youths. I hoped that they would feel better and better about public performance with each subsequent recital. Big mistake. My adult students felt humiliated performing in a recital with children. It didn't inspire or empower them...it belittled them. When I was a child, I remember performing in countless recitals along with adult students. That was just the way my piano teacher did things. The adults in those recitals seemed fine with it. So why were my adult students having such a negative reaction? I think it must come down to the ratio of adults to children. In the case of my childhood piano teacher, at least half of her students were college-age or older. The children did not outnumber the adults. In the case of my current studio, children make up 99% of the enrollment. The adults are rather an anomaly.

Initially, my solution to this problem was to stop asking my adult students to perform. They didn't want to do it, and I realized I shouldn't push them into it. But in recent years, I have discovered a wonderful alternative to this. As I mentioned before, I teach a couple of adults now. One of these adults has several friends who dabble in piano as well as other instruments. Most of them are physicians, but they enjoy leading a closet musical life in their spare time by learning a piece or two each year. How neat is that?! Well, these adults have a history together. They work together and feel comfortable around each other, so they decided to organize "Piano Parties" complete with hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. After an initial mingling and loosening-up period, they all make their way into the piano room and begin playing pieces for the group. They still get extremely nervous, but they are willing to do it because they know everyone is in the same boat. Everyone is vulnerable. No one is allowed to attend unless he or she intends to play a piece.

This is an ideal setting for adult piano performances. There is a feeling of camaraderie that permeates the whole affair and a bond that develops because of the shared - rather humbling - experience. The students (not the teacher) organize these gatherings on their own and host them in their homes. They type up the programs, provide the food and drinks, and send out the invitations. It truly is empowering rather than humiliating, somewhat by virtue of the fact that they are in charge of the proceedings.

Piano parties, in my mind, are the solution to the problem of providing adult amateur pianists with an informal performance outlet. Because my students organize these parties on their own, there is basically no work for me to do, other than showing up...if they want me to. :)

My Yamaha is ready for Spring!

My piano students enjoy it when I change things up with the seasons, so I've decked one of my pianos out in colorful egg lights and hung a cheerful banner welcoming Spring. Here are a few pictures:

The egg lights stay cool, and they're not breakable. I found them at Big Lots for about $5. The banner is made of 2 sheets of 8.5" by 11" pastel cardstock folded in half length-wise and taped together underneath. The "Hello Spring" letters are cut from various pieces of paper scraps. I just glued the letters on and had an instant piano banner! It is held in place with a piano lamp and a paperweight.

Multi-Tasking on a Sick Day

So today is Saturday, and I'm on Day 2 of what I believe is the flu. Yesterday it hit hard, so I followed the advice we've all heard a million times and attacked it with full guns at the first sign. It seems to have worked, because today I feel great. Just one problem, I now have pinkeye (conjunctivitis) as well. Before we talk pinkeye, let me tell you about the weapons I unleashed on the flu yesterday.

1. Airborne. This stuff is terrific. I drank a fizzy glass of orange-flavored Airborne every 4 hours as soon as I had the slightest inkling that I was getting sick.
2. Neti Pot. You really have to use a Neti Pot or some other type of nasal cleansing system if you truly want to attack your flu with nuclear power. I know for a fact (and I'll spare you the details) that I exorcised the ring leader of my flu germs from my sinuses the third time I did a nasal rinse. I rinsed every 2-3 hours yesterday. Now that I'm feeling much, much better, I'll probably slow that down to twice today. To learn how to use a Neti Pot, go to YouTube and watch the many entertaining how-to videos. 
3. DayQuil and Mucinex. My caring son made a trip to CVS for me and brought home a bag of flu weapons. DayQuil helped alleviate the all-over achy feeling that usually accompanies the flu. It also put the breaks on my coughing spells. I really was not experiencing tons of congestion on Day 1 of my flu, but I knew from experience that it was coming. So I preemptively took a Mucinex with a full glass of water.
4. Rest/Sleep. I called off all of my fun morning plans (which included scrapbooking, thinking about scrapbooking, and shopping for scrapbook supplies) in order to stay in bed several extra hours. My teaching schedule for the day began at 2:30 (yes, I did teach...see below), so until 1:30, I slept, Neti Potted, Airborned, and splashed my face with warm water.
5. Hot Shower. At 1:30, I hopped (really more like dragged myself) into the shower and breathed in lots of steam. This made me feel instantly better.
6. Piano Lessons. Early in the day, I emailed my 10 Friday students to warn them of my condition. The ones who either didn't get the message or who had gotten flu shots went ahead and came to piano. The other half or so opted to stay home. (Note to you piano teachers out there: My studio policy states that I will guarantee a make-up lesson or tuition credit if a canceled lesson is due to teacher illness or conflict.) Was it smart for me to teach on a sick day? In hindsight, probably not. But I did clean the piano keys and computer keys/mouse several times. My students and I all used hand sanitizer more than usual as well. If no one reports back that they later got sick, I'll be very happy.

That brings me to today. My flu symptoms have almost disappeared! It's pretty unbelievable. But now I have pinkeye. Where did THAT come from? No idea. I did have two adult students scheduled today, one of whom is a doctor. She said that pinkeye is "super catchy" and that I would need antibiotic eye-drops to clear it up. So, no lessons today. I called my family doctor, and she was willing to phone in a prescription for me without having me come in to see her. Bless her! The world's greatest small-town pharmacy is in my neighborhood. They delivered my drops, and now I'm on my way to normal eyes.

So, now about the multi-tasking on a sick day. Here's what I need to make progress on today:

• Filing my taxes
• Practicing piano for an upcoming performance
• Laundry

Here's what I want to do today:

• Scrapbook
• Get a manicure

My solution is unfolding before my very pink eyes. Here's the plan. I'm going to pull out my handy kitchen timer and work on a circuit. There are no serious deadlines today, but they are looming in the near future. Therefore, I can make room for my "wants" in today's sick-day circuit while inching closer to finishing my taxes and laundry and being ready to perform. Each time I complete a full round of circuit items, I'll call that a "Phase." (IMPORTANT: To make this plan enjoyable and possible on a sick day, you need to have already showered and spruced up a bit. I don't think I could drum up enough motivation to proceed while sick if I didn't feel fresh.) So here are the six phases:

Sick Day Circuit: Phase I (1 hour)

10 minutes: Start the laundry & drink Airborne
10 minutes: Prep nails for manicure
10 minutes: Work on taxes (I'm using H&R Block At Home)
10 minutes: Practice Chopin Mazurka: Do an initial run-through & jot down items needing work
20 minutes: Scrapbook! (I'm in the middle of a giant scrapbook about my college years.)

Sick Day Circuit: Phase II (1 hour)

10 minutes: Switch loads and do Neti Pot
10 minutes: Manicure: Base coat of polish
10 minutes: Work on taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Focus on/drill 1st few items on list from Phase I
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

This is not a hand model. This is my actual hand today.

Sick Day Circuit: Phase III (one hour)

10 minutes: Switch loads & take Dayquil
10 minutes: Manicure: First coat of color 
10 minutes: Work on taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Focus on/drill next items on list from Phase I
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

Regroup/Take Stock: At this point I have treated my dwindling flu symptoms; I've gotten 3 loads of laundry partially done (1 completely, 1 in dryer, 1 in washer); I've worked on my taxes for 30 minutes; I have a half-complete manicure and an intelligently rehearsed Chopin Mazurka; and best of all, I've gotten to do the thing I wanted most of all (scrapbook time!) for an hour. If my energy level were lower, I would need to stop here and take a nap, but I'm feeling pretty good, so I'll go on to Phase IV.

Sick Day Circuit: Phase IV (one hour)
10 minutes: Switch loads (last one in washer) and take Vitamin C
10 minutes: Manicure: 2nd coat of color
10 minutes: Work on taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Rehearse/drill next items on list or go back and rework 1st items
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

This is not from a Martha Stewart magazine. This is my actual laundry.

Sick Day Circuit: Phase V (one hour)
10 minutes: Switch loads (no more in washer, just dry and fold)
10 minutes: Manicure: Top coat
10 minutes: Work on Taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Rehearse/drill items from list
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

Sick Day Circuit: Phase VI
10 minutes: Finish laundry (fold/hang the last load from dryer)
10 minutes: Work on taxes (5 minutes on the computer, and 5 minutes putting away papers)
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Do a slow run-through and jot down items still needing work for next time.
30 minutes: Scrapbook!

This is the Chopin Mazurka I'm practicing. I love it so much!

There we go! It looks good on paper. I'll post a comment later on to let you know how things actually ended up. If nothing else, I am a list lady, so this plan motivates me a great deal.