The Piano Pantry Podcast

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.

The one tune it seems like every single piano student wants to play in the Christmas season. Here’s how you can help them play it by ear.

Giving updates to studio parents regarding their student is something we often avoid because it feels like it has to be a formal report. It doesn’t have to be that way! Sending updates is about the little things. Here’s one tool that can help simplify the process and make it more enjoyable.

Little irritations can add up. Whether it’s coming from a student, a studio family, a colleague, or a friend, allowing ourselves to build up mental frustrations for too long is unhealthy. Here’s one easy action step you can take to put humanity back into the situation.

A little life-share moment as Amy gives listeners an overview of her recent month-long European trip, including background planning, travel insights and reflections, piano books she took as gifts for friends, food experiences, a crazy story, and more.

Five things we can do (outside of time off or vacation) to help us feel grounded and reset. That is, an extra breath of fresh air when down, a boost of energy when worn out, or a shot of inspiration when creatively dry.

This episode is a replay of #018 - Grounded: Mental and Emotional Resets

Amy chats with teacher Valerie Merrell on their shared experience returning to grad school later in life.

Amy chats with piano teacher Anna Fagan who teaches online full-time from her RV home.

Give your students the gift of being able to play “Happy Birthday” by ear anywhere and at any time. Someday they’ll thank you!!

3-ring binders are an excellent tool for keeping student materials organized. Here are some purchase considerations and ways to use them.

A “use what you have” approach to intentional meal planning and sheet music mania.

The week leading up to the first lesson of the school year can feel a bit frantic - like we have to have everything ready for all of us students on day one. In truth, the first lesson can be quite chill, and we don’t have to have everything in absolute order. Amy will share a few things we can do on the first lesson day to help us “ease in.”

Amy chats with teachers Laura Harding, Emily Suszko, and Laurie Bender - attendees of the 2nd Piano Pantry Retreat.

Good written communication takes thought, intention, and practice. Let’s consider ways we can simplify our written communication with studio families. They will notice (and appreciate) when you make things easy!

The benefit of having a flexible studio calendar and how rethinking what we’ve always done can often reap unexpected and positive results.

10 apps I use daily as an independent music teacher, working professional, and human being.

12 of Amy's summertime favorites.

Amy chats with piano teachers Abby Maser and Nicole Douglas during the first-ever Piano Pantry Retreat.

In today's world, ideas come to us more frequently than we go searching for them. How can we avoid letting ourselves go down a rabbit hole whenever we come across the latest and greatest?

Organization tips for cleaning up your computer’s desktop space and a free download of 12 desktop backgrounds.

Organizing, keeping, and maintaining, a waiting list; I hope my hard lessons will be ones you can avoid!

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

Teacher Jonathan Roberts, director of the South Shore Piano School in Boston shares his experiences with the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) as an examiner, mentor, and US representative. We also discuss the impact of the RCM’s Music Lights the Way campaign, which gifted over 400,000 books to 20,000 teachers in the US and Canada from the new 6th edition of the series. The campaign includes an incredible new festival and competition as well.

Spring is a season of rejuvenation and renewal, so why not re-energize by giving your studio a good spring cleaning and physical overhaul? We’re not talking about your everyday dusting and sweeping here, people. It’s time to go deep. Deep cleaning that is. 

Five things we can do (outside of time off or vacation) to help us feel grounded and reset. That is, an extra breath of fresh air when down, a boost of energy when worn out, or a shot of inspiration when creatively dry.

Three formats we can use for our studio recital programs: print, digital, and verbal. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each format and consider some good resources to help you.

Crafting a recital preparation timeline and checklist is a simple and effective way to make your annual event run smoothly from year to year.

Life lessons from my brief time in the sales industry more than 20 years ago that have stayed with me to this day.

Four ways studio teachers can develop and nurture friendships with other teachers (including the stories of how I met three of my own piano teacher friends!)

A brief history tour of the development and evolution of the world of piano teacher blogs and websites. From this perspective, I’ll interlace my own story of Piano Pantry, highlighting some of the resources available to you. Lastly, we’ll look into how you, too, can “share your stuff.”

While practice is one of the biggest lines we tow with students, the truth is that we aren’t always practicing what we preach as teachers. In today’s episode, we’ll look at reasons we may not practice ourselves enough and find ways we can enable a routine because practice...it’s not just for students! 

A casual teacher-friend chat with Karen Thickstun, President of Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA), 2021-2023.

A few ways we can give small offerings in our lives and studios when we feel a world away but hold current events in our hearts. We’ll wrap up the episode with a moment of silence as a collective community to offer thoughts and prayers for all those in Russia and Ukraine but even more specifically for our colleagues affected there and elsewhere.

No matter how long we’ve been teaching or what level of education we have, giving written feedback and ratings to an unknown student in a one-off event is a completely different setting and format than working directly with a student you know in person on a weekly basis. In this episode, we’re going to look at four ways we can conscientiously prepare ourselves as adjudicators leading up to a festival or competition.

Track tasks with your photo app. Shockingly simple? Yes, but there’s an important kicker you won’t want to miss. After taking a brief look back at the evolution of photo management in our lives, I’ll share how my photo app has become both a way of tracking tasks as well as a daily recurring task in and of itself.

Is your task list stressing you out? Does it feel like your task list is never-ending? In this episode, we’ll talk about how we can identify three different types of tasks and separate them out in a useful, practical, and sustainable way because it’s true - they’re not all created equal!

Ben Kapilow is the Resident Music Director at the Media Theatre for the Performing Arts in Media, PA, where he teaches a private studio of 60 students and music directs musicals for the Broadway and Children's Series. He is the host of "All Keyed Up," an interview podcast aimed at piano teachers.

The conflict between prime teaching hours and the evening meal can make getting dinner on the table tricky. In this episode, we’ll look at 6 different ways or tools, if you will, that you can keep in your back pocket to help make dinner happen despite our schedules. My hope is that you might consider there’s more than one way to juggle a teacher’s dinner struggle.

How to incorporate group classes into your studio offerings. After experimenting with various formats over the years, I’ll share my experiences with each. We’ll also touch on how fees come into play, as well as times of year that seem to be the sweet spot for holding these enrichment classes. For the cherry on top, stay tuned to hear about the big group class revelation that took me 10 years to figure out.

Before this new podcast gets too far in, we’ll address the elephant in the room: I’m not the first piano teacher podcast vying for your attention!

In this episode, we’ll talk about how to manage our intake of podcasts in a healthy, manageable, enjoyable way without feeling overwhelmed by all the content or like it’s another task on our to-do list.

As this podcast kicks off, it's the first week of January. Lesson schedules are re-launching as students return to our studios. The start of the new semester means a lot of new materials are being organized and distributed. Let's discuss how we can keep all our student materials orderly and easily accessible, including labeling and using two different levels and types of storage.