The Piano Pantry Podcast

Organizing, keeping, and maintaining a waiting list: I hope my hard lessons will be ones you can avoid! (this episode is a replay of episode 22)

A random handful of some of Amy’s favorite things.

Canadian composer, piano teacher, and blogger Rebekah Maxner shares insight for piano teachers of all levels - from beginner to advanced - on what it can mean to teach a neurodiverse student. She touches on nearly 15 indicators and how certain characteristics can be signs of neurodiversity.

Do you struggle with finding suitable venues for holding recitals, or do you just feel like shaking things up a little in your studio this upcoming holiday season? In today’s episode, I hope to save you a little energy and brain power with a little more than a half dozen recital ideas, from large in-person events to small-scale, intimate recitals, online-type digital events, and more.

Amy chats with Sally Eppert, an Indiana friend and colleague who was recently named the 2023 Indiana Music Teacher Association Teacher of the Year. Sally manages a large studio and four teachers - offering both group and private piano lessons, voice, and percussion.

In this episode, Sally and Sharon from The Curious Piano Teachers share eight types of questions we can utilize in our lessons, from what they call “skinny” or easy, closed questions to meta-cognitive, emotional, and more.

Do you enjoy including Halloween-themed activities in your music studio during the month of October? Amy has tried all kinds of stuff over the years, and in this episode, you’ll hear ten items that have made the cut and continue to be staple activities this time of year in her studio.

Are you a sucker for top tools, recommended resources, and favorites lists? Here are nine items that I regret not investing in sooner that will be helpful in both your business and everyday life.

In reaction to the Tonara shutdown announcement, this is a special teacher talk episode. After briefly covering a list of Tonara alternatives, Amy shares a step-by-step process for easing the pain in your Tonara transition. Interspersed with Amy’s advice, you’ll also hear short audio snippets from eight of her teacher friends sharing their own thought processes, feelings, and ideas for moving forward. Even non-Tonara users who are interested in different ideas on how to give assignments to students will benefit from this episode.

Why do we often find ourselves struggling on the whole to give or not to give questions in regards to gifts for students, whether that be Christmas gifts, birthday, or even recital gifts? In this episode, we talk about the decision-making process, the emotions behind it, and some practical gift ideas as you plan your year.

While it’s important we as teachers support our composers and publishers, sometimes it’s nice to know a few ways to save a little here and there (because we buy a LOT of music)! Here are 12 ways to save.

While getting meals on the table is a daily life task many in this world understandably struggle to execute, the schedule of an independent music teacher seems to make it even harder. It’s easy for meal-planning efforts to often focus on dinner - leaving the midday meal a little in the lurch. In this episode, I’ll share six ways you can help your lunchtime meal plans.

As we shift into fall-scheduling mode, find inspiration for setting your own daily work-life schedule by hearing highlights and snippets from seven previous teacher-talk guests.

Four teachers chat up all the good stuff from the NCKP: The Piano Conference in Chicago, Illinois. As you can imagine, it was an extra special time as it was the first in-person NCKP since the pandemic.

Are you tired of the struggle when it comes to fall scheduling? Today I have seven things I want to arm you with that might be the easy answer you need to make things work for all involved. A lot of this has come from experiences of my own over the years as well as things I see others doing. I’ll also share a little look into how I handle my own scheduling because I know you all love logistics!

7 extensions (plus 3 bonus ones!) that you might find useful to use on Chrome. We’ll also talk about why Chrome is the browser of choice for many, what an extension is, and how you can get them.

Being productive doesn’t always have to be about freeing up time to get more things done. Think about it as a means of creating margin and space in life. Here are five of Amy’s best hacks for setting up a more productive digital workspace.

Amy chats with attendees from the 4th Piano Pantry Retreat - Florence Phillips, Laurie Bender, Shelley Pritt, and Laurel Carroll - from her home in Northeast Indiana.

Sometimes changes we make result from weeks - if not months - of ruminating and pondering, and sometimes they occur on the fly when something suddenly doesn’t feel right. Here are seven things that Amy is rethinking in her own studio.

Are you curious about travel teaching? In this episode, piano teacher and composer Chrissy Ricker shares her experiences as a traveling piano teacher: the advantages, disadvantages, and lessons learned from over a decade of teaching piano in students' homes.

Amy chats with attendees from the 3rd Piano Pantry Retreat - Lou Ann (Pope) Knight, Jennifer Kurtz, and Gabrielle Tee - from her home in Northeast Indiana.

How many shelves, tubs, or binders do you have full of old class notes and professional magazine subscriptions? In this episode, we consider why we hold onto so much old information we rarely, if ever use and how we can sort through and save it in a more useful way for the future.

Amy chats with Jason Sifford, a freelance pianist, teacher, and composer from Iowa.

How we manage to accumulate sheet music exponentially; steps for purging and maintaining a more intentional music library.

In this episode, we talk about why we have so many tools and resources we never use and how five little questions can help us easily decide what should stay or go. Let’s start purging!

Adding a video element to your end-of-year evaluations can be a simple, effective, and wow-inducing approach to displaying student progress.

This episode is a replay of episode 021 - A Simple, Effective, and Magical Element for Student Evaluations.

Ashley Danyew, Ph.D., is a musician, educator, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder and Editor of Musician & Co., a website for self-employed musicians and entrepreneurs; writes a blog and teaches online courses for church musicians and music educators; hosts the podcast Field Notes on Music Teaching & Learning; and maintains a private piano studio in Rochester, NY.

Eight YouTube channels piano teachers could benefit from following. Included in this list are those with high-quality theory videos, reliable performances of student repertoire, “how-to-teach” repertoire advice, and more. You’ll even get two bonus highlights with my go-to tech guru and favorite exercise channel.

In this episode, we are going to chat about one of my favorite business practices for piano teachers: Reflecting on your piano teaching business so you can determine the specific strategic goals you need to set for the coming quarter. This will help you run your piano studio with relevance, action, and efficiency so you can make decisions on how to operate your studio with your strategic goals in mind!

Anna Haugen began teaching piano lessons at the early age of 16 and has continued teaching for the past 28 years.  Anna is married and has four children.  She lives in St Paul, MN. This year, Anna took a sabbatical from teaching to travel the United States with her husband and two younger daughters for six months.  They have visited over 20 states.  Anna has loved the travel experience but is looking forward to returning home to resume teaching in May after six months of living out of a suitcase.

Attending conferences requires a large output of time and money. No wonder we often try to take in as much as possible to get the most bang for our buck.

Unfortunately, what happens is we go home with lots of great intentions and ideas but struggle to implement all we may have wanted as we go back into the rhythms of daily life.

In this episode, we talk about four strategies to help us absorb as much as possible from our conference experience but in a useful way.

Four ways to motivate students with ASD and ADHD in music lessons.

With a BM in Piano Pedagogy and 7 years of teaching experience, Abigail runs a private studio near Dallas, Texas. She specializes in preschool and neurodivergent students, using a play-based approach for classical piano lessons.

In 2021, Abigail launched Whole Foundation Method: an online shop with fun and comprehensive tools for beginner-intermediate piano students. She loves learning, teaching, and equipping teachers with helpful resources!

Four ways studio teachers can develop and nurture friendships with other teachers. Through each avenue, I’ll also share the stories of how I met three of my piano teacher friends. (This is a replay of episode #013 How to Make Music Teacher Friends”.)

10 ways we can turn a potentially frustrating lesson into a positive musical experience.

Ten tips to help you organize and streamline the process of tackling tax prep work.

There is an email tool that exists inside every type of inbox that is incredibly useful yet somehow confusing to many. In this episode, Amy will clear things up so you can finally utilize this tool and make it part of your daily email workflow.

Being organized is not a one-off activity. It’s about maintaining a mindset and desire to be intentional about finding systems that work well for you. More importantly, it’s about being willing to think again and regularly reconsider whether those systems are still serving you well.

In true new-years fashion, we’re going to have a brief chat about taking time to look back and notice what all life has brought in the past year before looking forward to the year ahead. You’ll also get a sneak-peak into what you can look forward to here on the podcast in 2023!

A special Teacher Talk episode for this final episode of the year! A has conversations with THREE of her piano teachers.

Barb Grube is Amy’s first piano teacher. She has been teaching piano lessons in Fort Recovery, Ohio since 1984. She recently retired from her job playing organ in church after 50 years but continues to teach a small handful of piano students from her home.

Kathryn Grile was Amy’s high school piano teacher. She has a BA and MA in Piano/Organ Performance from Ball State University. Kathryn recently retired from two roles: 29 years teaching Piano Pedagogy, Piano and Theory at Taylor University where she coordinated the Center for Musical Development and 44 years as the Director of Music at Eden Church in Muncie, Indiana. She currently teaches piano in her home studio in Royerton, Indiana and is Director of Music at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Muncie, Indiana.

Amy studied with Lori Rhoden when working on her Master’s Degree at Ball State University. Dr. Rhoden is Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Group Piano/Piano Pedagogy at Ball State University. She holds a DMA in Piano Pedagogy /Performance from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include sight-reading and performance pedagogy.

Resist the urge to run out the door and into holiday break. Take the time to reset by clearing three spaces and do a little planning to create a smooth transition into the new year.

A look at little (or even big ways) we can improve the way we keep our recipes organized. I’ll walk you through some things to think about when considering a recipe management tool and will also share about my favorite recipe app.

Ten holiday-themed activities to use during your December group classes.