Back in February 2021, I shared 12 podcasts for piano teachers to follow. There’s some really great podcasts in that list, so if you haven’t seen it I definitely recommend checking out that post before reading on below!

Since then, a number of new podcasts have launched — some of them very recently. In today’s blog post, I’d like to share with you another selection of 12 podcasts that are new or have come to my attention in recent months. I’ve included links to subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, but these podcasts are also available at Overcast, Spotify, or whatever your favorite podcast app. Just search them up by name.

I’ll begin with my must-listen recommendations, and then move into some podcasts I tend to follow only sporadically or am still checking out. I hope you find a few podcasts shows that might interest you!

1.

First of all, I’ll tell you about The Piano Pantry Podcast — a brand new podcast from my good friend, Amy Chaplin of PianoPantry.com. As on her blog, Amy plans to discuss a combination of topics: teaching, organization, cooking/baking, and more. She has released two episodes so far, and I can’t wait to hear more! Subscribe at Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

2.

All Keyed Up with Ben Kapilow is an interview podcast in which Ben speaks with a wide range of professionals about topics that are pertinent to the field of piano teaching. Ben always does his homework thoroughly before interviewing each guest, which clearly shows in the quality of the conversation in each episode. Highly recommended! Subscribe at Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

3.

For Piano Teachers is a podcast with Edmund Dawe, a pianist, teacher, adjudicator and lecturer in Canada where he shares his perspectives on piano teaching. Having taught piano and piano pedagogy for over 3 decades, Edmund shares his ideas, experiences and research in his podcast launched in February 2021. To date, there are 12 episodes available. I’ve really enjoyed the quality of each episode and the variety of topics covered so far. Learn more about Edmund here. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

4.

Teaching Studio Stories is newly released — a second podcast coming from Nicola Cantan of Vibrant Music Teaching. This podcast will feature conversations with everyday piano teachers sharing their stories, experiences, tips, and things they’ve learned. I’m looking forward to relating to these stories and gaining new ideas and perspectives! Subscribe at Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

5.

7-Figure Music School is a podcast for music school owners who want to create fantastic margins, hire energetic teachers, and leverage their team’s time and talent to create a sustainable business. The episodes feature conversations between co-hosts Daniel Patterson, Founder & CEO of Grow Your Music Studio, and Nate Shaw, Co-founder & CEO of Brooklyn Music Factory. Although my own piano studio happens to be a single-teacher business (just me!), I’ve enjoyed listening to the first few episodes to gain new ideas and perspectives on mindset, vision, and improving business operations. Highly recommended! Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

6.

The next few podcasts are ones I’ve been following sporadically or only recently checking out.

Sounds of Encouragement with Melissa Slocum seeks to provide encouragement from musicians and music educators. You’ll hear interviews with music teachers and musicians along with calming and topical encouragement as you face the challenges of everyday life. Find out what sounds and songs encourage other musicians and what keeps them hopeful, moving forward, and creative. Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

7.

Did you know that the longtime music studio management tool “Music Teachers Helper” has a new CEO and has been rebranded as Duet? (Learn more here.) And Duet has launched a podcast, providing insights from industry experts on how to start, run, and grow a successful music teaching studio. Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

8.

Teacher Zone. The Teacher Zone with Chris Bates and Tyler Marolf is a podcast for performing arts schools and teachers who want to grow their business. Chris and Tyler are not only fellow music school owners, but they have also created a digital management system for music schools called Teacher Zone. This podcasts features conversations between the hosts as well as some of the best and brightest minds in performing arts education and business. Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

9.

Enhance Life with Music with piano teacher Mindy Peterson is a podcast offering “a holistic look at the power of music in our everyday lives.” Mindy explores the power of music through the lens of science, medicine, sports, education, entertainment, business, service, and history. Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

10.

Music Lessons and Marketing with Dave Simon is a podcast for music studio owners or instructors looking to grow their music teaching business. This podcast will teach you how to apply marketing and business fundamentals so you can get and retain more music students. Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

11.

Music Lesson Business Academy is a podcast offered by professional drummer for the band, Face to Face, owner of The Music Factory School of Music, and marketing consultant, Danny Thompson. This podcast brings you marketing and business tips for the modern music teaching business owner. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

12.

The Business Side of Music podcast is an interview show designed to help independent artists and songwriters better understand and navigate the music industry. 45-year industry veteran Bob Bender talks to successful guests from every corner of the industry about their careers to discover the things they did right as well as the lessons they learned from any mistakes they made. Not all of the topics discussed on this podcast are directly applicable to what I personally do as a piano teacher and blogger, but I’ve listened to few really interesting episodes here-and-there. Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

Are you into podcasts? Please share your favorites in the comments below!

Hello, friends! As previously announced, I recently released a new resource to my shop: The 12 Days of Christmas Project — a kit to help you and your students create a collaborative video performing the traditional carol, The 12 Days of Christmas. I know it’s an odd time to be talking more about it, because Christmas has just passed. But I wanted to share just a couple more things about it before I let it rest.

First of all, you might remember in my last blog post I had put out a call for music teachers who might be interested in being part of a “music teacher edition” video of the 12 Days of Christmas. We ended up with 26 music teachers total who participated! Here’s our resulting video. Hope you enjoy!

Second, I wanted to let you know that I created a walkthrough video that gives you a peek at what’s included in The 12 Days of Christmas kit. You can check that out here.

Finally, I wanted to remind you that the special introductory discount for this resource expires in a few days. If you think you might like to do this project with your students next year, you might be interested in taking advantage of the using the promo code “12DAYS” during checkout to receive $8 off your purchase. Offer expires January 10, 2022. Visit my shop page here.

Happy January, everyone!

Hello, friends!

Just a short note to wish you all a happy and healthy 2022! Here’s hoping for a wonderful year ahead of teaching and music making with our students. Cheers!

All my best,

Joy

Perhaps of you might recall that last year, I blogged about my students’ collaboration to create a special video as the “grand finale” of our 2020 Countdown to the New Year project. It was our own special take on The 12 Days of Christmas (click to watch)!

Credit goes to my student, Elijah, for the idea. Because it was a somewhat last-minute project, and we kept it simple — each student learned only the RH melody for their assigned day. But I think it turned out pretty great regardless! 

Many of you responded last year and let me know you’d be interested in hearing more about the behind-the-scenes planning and video editing. And so, off-and-on over the past year, I’ve been gradually working on putting together a special kit providing audio files and handy printables to help music teachers be able to easily create their own 12 Days of Christmas video with their students!

My hope had been to have the kit published and available by November. But, as it often happens with large projects, it took longer than I expected to put everything together. In any case, I’m really proud of how it turned out. Better late than never, as they say! Even though it’s December 24, I’m publishing this today with hopes that you might like to plan on doing The 12 Days of Christmas Project with your students next year!

Here’s how it works: For The 12 Days of Christmas Project, students are assigned a short segment from the familiar 12 Days of Christmas carol to play on their instrument and video record. The teacher’s job is then to stitch all the student videos together into a final video that can be sent out to family and friends. Students will easily learn their part either by ear/rote (thanks to the provided Practice Audio Tracks) or by reading the provided sheet music.

Within this kit, you will find everything you need to organize and create your own collaborative video project with your music students — no matter what instruments you teach or whether you are a single-teacher music studio or a multi-teacher school. In it’s most basic form, the project is designed to work for 16-20 students, but there is much flexibility provided for working with more or fewer students.

For example, if you have a small or medium studio, you can assign students to cover two or more parts. This is especially great to do for students who happen to play more than one instrument. Just imagine how fun it would be to have the video involve piano, voice, guitar, ukulele, flute, violin, trumpet, sax, or French horn! (Transposed sheet music is provided.)  

If you have a large studio or multi-teacher music school, you can involve more students by doubling them up on the same day so they will be dueting in the final video. It’s especially nice to pair up students on two different instruments. Or, students could sing the lyrics or provide harmony using the provided chord chart on piano, guitar, or ukulele for someone else’s part. The sky’s the limit! I encourage you to get creative to showcase the unique makeup of your music studio.

There are loads of handy printables provided to guide you through the planning and execution of this project. Plus, there are practice audio tracks, student parts in a variety of keys, full-length solos in a variety of keys (for those students who might request to learn the entire song!), a duet accompaniment, and much more. A STUDIO LICENSE for single teachers or a MULTI-TEACHER LICENSE for music schools is available.

The video-editing stage is arguably the most challenging aspect of the project (plan for it to take up to 3-4 hours). I would probably NOT recommend this project to anyone who is uncomfortable with technology and/or video editing — unless you’ve got a friend or family member who can help you with that step. That said, the provided Video Editing Guide, YouTube video tutorial, and Teacher Score for Video Editing will show you exactly what to do!

In short, this kit will provide you all the guidance and materials you need to successfully pull off a collaborate video you can send out to your studio families and friends to celebrate the holiday season! A complete list of everything included in the kit can be found on the shop page.

In case you’d like to sneak in one more business purchase before the end of the year, I’d like to offer you a special introductory rate. Enter the promo code “12DAYS” during checkout to receive $8 off your purchase. Offer expires January 10, 2022. Visit my shop page here.

Thanks for reading about my latest project, and Happy Holidays to you!

PS: Do you have a little bit of free time in the next week? If so, would you like to collaborate with me to make our own 12 Days of Christmas video?? I’d love to round up at least 20 music teachers or so, of any instrument! Please fill out the form HERE ASAP or by December 27, 2021 if you’re interested. I’ll email you soon thereafter to assign your part and provide instructions for recording and sending me your video clip. Videos will be due no later than December 31, so that I can hopefully edit and release our final video on New Year’s Day. Thanks for your interest!

Other questions or comments? Leave them below this blog post!

Do you enjoy giving some kind of small gift to your piano students at Christmastime? I don’t feel it’s something we as piano teachers should feel obligated to do. But if it’s something you enjoy doing, I think it’s a nice gesture! I look forward to coming up with something different each year.

[Click here to see gift ideas from past years!]

This year, inspired by a photo I saw on Instagram, I decided to seek out a local bakery to make some pretty piano cookies for my students. I requested quotes from two bakeries and was thrilled when the first one gave me a rate that was reasonable enough for my budget. I placed my order and couldn’t wait for the pick-up date to arrive.

Over the weekend, I picked up my cookie order. I was so thrilled and pleased with how they turned out! Aren’t they pretty?!

Aria, my constant sidekick, “helped” me put the cookies into individual baggies.

I couldn’t be happier with how these turned out!

Something else new I decided to try this year was to order custom pens with my studio logo. I thought it might be fun to include these pens in the Christmas gift this year, as well as to use around the studio and give out to new students when they join. I ordered through CustomInk.com, which has been a great company to work with in the past when I’ve done T-shirts for my students. The pens turned out nicely! It’s a good thing, because CustomInk.com have a minimum of 300 for pen orders. I will be well stocked for at least a few years!

I also gave each student one of our family photo cards. To add a personal touch, I typed up a short holiday greeting printed onto sticky notes. (Did you know you can print onto sticky notes? It’s so handy for all kinds of projects! To learn how, check out this blog post.)

I packaged everything into bubble wrap mailers to send to my online students back in Ohio.

In my studio, I set up an area for my in-person students to receive their gifts. I’m excited to see my students’ faces when they see the cookies!

After all that hard work, Aria and I were ready to try out a cookie! It was our reward after a job well done.

Your turn: Did you plan to give out students gifts this year? If so, what did you come up with? I invite you to leave a comment!

It’s been quite a while since I shared a new worksheet…until today! Here is a brand new worksheet about ledger lines that you are welcome to use with your piano students or music students of any instrument.

The top of the page includes a definition and a graphic demonstrating what ledger lines are. The rest of the page presents a number of ledger line notes and asks the student to identify the letter name of each note. It’s a simple worksheet that might be useful to send home with your students to reinforce the concept after you cover it during a lesson.

Download this FREE worksheet by visiting the Printables > Worksheets page and scrolling down to “Identifying Ledger Lines.”

PS: I have several other worksheets of a similar format you might be interested in checking out: Introduction to the Staff worksheet, Line & Space Notes worksheet, Identifying Line & Space Notes on the Staff worksheet, Intervals Unison-3rd worksheet, and Intervals Unison-5th worksheet. Hope you enjoy!

Today’s blog post topic comes to you as a result of a question submitted by a reader. The question I received was essentially: How do you go about acquiring music books for piano students and managing the reimbursement/expense?

While there is no single “best” way to do business, there are certainly a number of good options to consider in order to find a procedure that works best for you and your clients. In this blog post, we’ll explore a handful of possible procedures and discuss their potential downsides and upsides.

4 Main Options for Acquiring Music Books and Managing the Expense

As I see it, here are the main options for self-employed music teachers:

1. You can ask students/parents to purchase their own sheet music.
2. You can purchase sheet music on behalf of your students and then collect reimbursement afterwards.
3. You can purchase sheet music on behalf of your students and cover the expense yourself via a special books/material/registration fee.
4. You can purchase sheet music on behalf of your students and cover the expense as part of the tuition fee charged for piano lessons.

Let’s discuss each option in more depth.

Option #1: Asking students/parents to purchase their own sheet music.

Asking students to purchase their own sheet music is a fairly straightforward method. You simply provide students with the title — or even a direct link — for the item that should be purchased, and then let them take responsibility from there. This means that you don’t have to worry about requesting or keeping track of reimbursements.

A possible advantage to this approach is the fact that you are giving students a reason to step foot in your local music store (if you have one near you). It’s great for students to visit the store to browse and see what’s available!

A possible downside lies in the fact that you are dependent on the parent being prompt about making the purchase and purchasing the correct item. If a parent doesn’t order a book in time, you and the student may have to wait a week or two until the copy arrives. To help prevent unwanted delays in student progress, it may be important to give the parent a few weeks notice ahead of time.

Option #2: Purchasing sheet music on behalf of your students and collecting reimbursement afterwards.

For some teachers, it may feel easier to acquire the music books and then collect reimbursement afterwards. Perhaps you might prefer being able to handle book orders yourself and take advantage of teacher discounts (for example, from PrimaMusic.com, SheetMusicPlus.com, or your local music store). Parents might appreciate the convenience factor of this approach.

With this option, it’s important to have a system in place to ensure you receive reimbursements for the book purchases you make on behalf of students. You’ll need some kind of record keeping method to track how much students owe and when the balance has been paid. Students/parents should be provided with an invoice noting the amount due to cover the cost of new books.

In case payment is not received in a timely fashion, I recommend having a plan in place to send additional invoices and charge a late fee after a certain period of tardiness. Hopefully, you won’t often need to resort to these measures, but it’s wise to have a procedure already in place so that you don’t have to make these decisions while in the midst of a problem situation.

Option #3: Purchasing sheet music on behalf of your students and covering the expense yourself via a books/material/registration fee.

Another option worth considering is covering the cost of books via a special fee (separate from piano lesson tuition payments). Call it what you like — for example, a books/materials fee or a registration fee — regardless, this method may make life easier in certain regards. For one, it eliminates the need to communicate with parents regarding balances due (yay!). However, recordkeeping is still necessary to track how much you tend to spend per student; after all, you’ll want to know if your fee is enough to cover the average cost of books.

With this method, it’s also important to track your book purchases as you would with any business expense. If you are providing music books to your students as part of your services offered, they are most likely considered to be a business expense that can be written off on your tax return. (Be sure to check with your tax professional on this.)

Some teachers consider the materials fee a “deposit,” which parents may need to add to once the balance is depleted. Others simply charge the fee once per year (with no refunds) to cover whatever book expenses may arise.

I think this is a great approach to use if you like the idea of not having to bother parents/students about the cost of books. Just collect the fee at the beginning of each school year or semester, and then just make sure you’ve got your record keeping method in place!

Option #4: Purchasing sheet music on behalf of your students and covering the expense as part of the tuition fee charged for lessons.

A fourth option to consider — especially if you are a minimalist when it comes to this sort of thing — is to cover the cost of books as part of your usual tuition charges for lessons. This means setting a slightly higher rate than you would otherwise and being sure to communicate this particular value of your services to students when they join your studio. Parents/students will quickly get used to the fact that it’s as easy as you handing them their new books. As a teacher, it’s nice not to have to collect a separate special fee from your students each year since it’s already factored in. Simple and convenient!

This option works particularly well if you charge a flat monthly tuition rate, which is what most music teachers should be doing, in my humble opinion. Charging the same amount every single month makes bookkeeping a dream and also simplifies budgeting for your students/parents. It naturally encourages consistence lesson attendance, too.

(Option #3 discussed above also works great with the flat monthly tuition, by the way — especially if you tend to take a month off during the summer. The book/materials/registration fee can be collected during your month off to help provide your business with consistent income year round!)

Option #4 is what I currently use with my students, and I have no intentions of going back to any other approach. I love keeping things simple for everyone. It’s easy to write off all sheet music purchases as a business expense. I used to sometimes feel bad when a student needed an expensive book. Now, I always feel free to choose whichever books I honestly feel are best for each student — no matter how expensive or inexpensive that book might happen to be. I keep oft-used books in stock on my shelves so they are easy to grab when needed. And I also I have quite a selection of sheet music I’ve received complimentary at conferences, been given from retiring teachers, or thrifted from local shops or garage sales (hooray for recycling!).

A potential downside to this option is that is means it requires raising your tuition rate, which could possibly have a couple of results. It might make you look more expensive, at first glance, in comparison to other lessons in your area. The other possible result is that it might cause you to shy away from raising rates even when it might be entirely appropriate and in fact wise to do so. As long as you can avoid falling into these psychological pitfalls, I think including the cost of books within your normal tuition rates is a great way to go for any music teacher.

Summary

There you have it: FOUR solid options for how to go about acquiring books for students and manage the expense. Although I’ve weighed in with my personal opinion regarding which method I like best (#4), there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all piano teachers. It’s truly a matter of what works best for you and your students. All four options are valid, and it’s great to be able to consider multiple ways of doing things — especially if you are looking for a way to solve a problem or streamline things in your particular music studio.

Your turn: Let’s discuss! What is your current procedure for acquiring books for students, and why? What other methods have you tried in the past? I’d love to hear from you! Leave your response in the comments below.

PS: Would you like to learn more about streamlining your business operations and running a profitable business? Please consider checking out my online course, Excellence in Piano Teaching! We discuss business topics and much more. The next session begins in January. Learn more and join the email list HERE.

PSS: Would you like to submit your own reader question? I invite you to submit yours here!

Recently, I’ve been enjoying a fun DIY project: refurbishing a vintage Jaymar toy piano! My husband saw it for sale on the Shop Goodwill website, saw its potential, and bought it as a surprise for me. The wood case had quite a bit of water damage, but all the keys were playing fine.

I’ve been sharing about this project on my Instagram, so perhaps some of you have seen some of these photos. If you happen to have Instagram, I would actually recommend viewing the photos there (click HERE). But if you don’t have Instagram, please keep reading!

Chalk paint is always a great choice for furniture. It gives such good coverage and provides a nice, matte finish when its done. I had a few different colors already in the house. I went with Scarlet Red.

I decided not to paint the legs and fallboard, in order to preserve the “Jaymar” label.

Then, I prepared for staining.

I applied three coats of polycrylic.

And here’s how it tuned out!

My daughter, Aria, (22 months of age now) is enjoying our new toy piano!

I’m happy with how this project turned out! It actually turned out even better than I expected.

Thanks for checking out my project!

Anyone have any suggestions for pieces I should learn to play on my new toy piano? If so, leave your ideas in the comments.

PS: One last note about Instagram. I like to post fun updates that aren’t big enough to make it to the blog. You’ll find little peeks into my teaching, family life with my husband and little daughter Aria, and anything else fun I’m up to in everyday life. I invite you to follow me here!

Today, I have a story to share and a recommendation for a fun piece of music for Halloween or anytime!

A few years ago while sifting through a box of old music given to me by a retiring teacher, I came across a piece of sheet music with a distinctive cover I recognized. It was a piano solo called “Big Foot” by Kevin E. Cray and published by Schaum Publications. “Big Foot” was a piece I remembered my younger brother playing back when we were growing up. It was a piece he LOVED and played constantly, especially once he could play it from memory. The piece became a family favorite, one that we would often request he play.

Rediscovering this piece and recalling those memories caused me to want to teach “Bigfoot”! Upon searching online, I was unable to find the sheet music available. So, I assumed it must have gone out of print. I scrounged around through my music library and was able to find the original sheet music my brother used. I felt lucky to have my own personal copy to keep as well as the newly acquired sheet to give to a student.

I gave the piece to a student who I thought would enjoy the piece. Here’s a video from 2019 of Nate playing “Bigfoot.” Teaching this piece was really fun!

Fast-forward to today…

A teacher who recently happened across Nate’s video let me know that the sheet music for “Bigfoot” is available after all! Though no longer available as a sheet music solo, “Bigfoot” is available as part of a compilation series called, Schaum – Short & Sweet, Halloween Level Three. This book was compiled and edited by Wesley Schaum and contains six spooky solos by various composers. “Bigfoot” is the final selection in the book.

As you can imagine, I was pretty thrilled at the news and ordered myself a copy immediately! I’m pleased to be able to teach this piece again to students in the future.

Anyway, I just thought it would be fun to share those fond memories and recommend this teaching piece to other teachers. I hope you’ll agree “Big Foot” is appropriate for Halloween or anytime. It’s a piece that sounds impressive and isn’t as quite difficult to play as it looks/reads. If you are a teacher who likes to teach pieces by rote/ear, you might be interested in adding “Big Foot” to your teaching repertoire. The patterns and structure of this piece make it easy to memorize. Although the piece is labeled as Early Intermediate, I think it can be given to a Late Elementary or even Mid Elementary level student if you teach it at least partly by ear and work section by section.

The Schaum – Short & Sweet, Halloween Level Three book containing “Big Foot” can be purchased at your local music store or online retailers including Amazon | SheetMusicPlus.com | PrimaMusic.com. Note: This blog post contains affiliate links. Thanks so much for supporting my blog!

Your turn: What pieces of music from YOUR past hold special memories for you or your family? Or do you have any favorite rote pieces to recommend? Please share with us by leaving a comment!

It’s that time of year — time to pull out my Trick-or-Treat! rhythm game! During the weeks leading up to Halloween, I like to use my Trick-or-Treat rhythm game at pretty much every student’s lesson. It’s a fun way to make students “earn” their treat, and it’s such a great game for building their rhythm skills. Best of all, they LOVE this game!

In case you haven’t seen me talk about this game before, allow me to tell you more about it. In my opinion, this game is one of the best creations from my shop! Keep scrolling down the end to check a video demo of the game as well.

Here’s what it’s like to play this game:

I playfully inform the student that I have a bowl of treats — but that they must EARN their treat by playing a rhythm game. ? I choose the appropriate deck for my student (Levels 1-4) and then explain the gameplay. There are TRICK cards and there are TREAT cards. When a TRICK card is drawn, the student must perform the rhythm on the card and draw another card. When a TREAT card is drawn, it’s game over and the student gets to choose a piece of candy.

Sometimes, gameplay is very quick and students only have to perform one or two rhythm patterns. Other times, gameplay lasts awhile and the student might have to perform eight or nine rhythm patterns before they happen to draw a TREAT card. It’s fun to see how the game goes each time we play!

The sequencing of the rhythm skills in this game is loosely based on Music Learning Theory (MLT). Each of the four levels contain rhythms in duple meter and triple meter. The rhythms get progressively more advanced with each level. The easiest rhythms contain only quarter notes and eighth notes (or, macrobeats and microbeats, to use MLT-based terminology). The more advanced levels contain sixteenth-note combinations, ties, rests, and upbeats. The leveling information is detailed clearly for the teacher on a cheat sheet.

I have to say, even if you aren’t familiar in the slightest with MLT, chances are this game will nevertheless work extremely well for you and your students. The sequencing, in my opinion, is more natural to how we learn music compared to the sequencing typically encountered in most major piano methods of today.

I like to have my students “speak” the rhythms with their voice, but if they aren’t comfortable with that I allow them to perform the rhythms on a single piano key. I sometimes ask them speak the rhythm on a neutral syllable (like “BAH”) and other times have them use rhythm solfege (I use Gordon-Froseth rhythm syllables — DU DE in duple meter and DU DA DI in triple meter). Any counting method you prefer will work fine for this game!

The first week you present the game to your students, I recommend starting with Level 1 (even if they can handle more advanced rhythms) just so they get the hang of the game. Over following weeks, you can stick with the same level if more practice is needed or bump up to the higher levels.

Do you teach preschoolers or young beginners? Here’s how I adapt the game for those ages. Instead of asking students to read the rhythms, I perform the rhythm first and ask them to echo what they hear. This is SO good for their ears.

Do you teach in groups? With groups, gameplay is basically the same except I ask the entire group to help perform the rhythms together.

Here’s some feedback I received from a piano teacher friend about the Trick-or-Treat rhythm game:

I’ve had other teachers tell me that they play this game all year round; it doesn’t have to be limited to Halloween time! Students love both treats and games any time of year!

Thanks for reading more about my game. You can read more and purchase the digital download (PDF) of my Trick-or-Treat game in my shop for $9 HERE.

Happy Halloween!

PS – Prefer watching a video? Check out this video of me (and my daughter) demonstrating the game!

Are you familiar with Carol Matz and her Interactive Piano Method?

Carol Matz’s Interactive Piano Method is unique for providing a corresponding, interactive online experience for students alongside their printed lesson books. If you’d like to learn more, you can read all about her method here on her website.

But in today’s blog post, I’d like to focus on Carol’s Christmas arrangements. After all, it’s that time of year when many of us are prepping Christmas music for our students!

Around this time last year, I purchased Carol’s Christmas Deluxe Collection, a bundle of 15 studio-licensed pieces. And let me tell you, it was such a lifesaver! It was exactly what I needed at the time, especially given that I was still teaching entirely online at that point. More on this collection later, below.

When I recently found out that Carol was getting ready to release a couple of new bundles this year, I reached out to her to collaborate for this blog post and give you the full scoop. In this review, I’ll give you an overview of all of Carol’s Christmas music offerings as well as a limited-time promo code just for Color In My Piano readers. Read on.

1. Carol Matz’s Interactive Piano Method® Christmas Books

The first thing you should know is that Carol has written Christmas books to correspond with all the levels of her Interactive Piano Method series (1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3, and 4). These books can be ordered as either printed hardcopies or digital downloads that are licensed for single users (one print allowed). These are a great option for carefully leveled Christmas arrangements for your students. On her website, you’ll find sample pages so you can preview the quality of the arrangements in her books. You can check out the Interactive Piano Method Christmas books here.

If you scroll down to the bottom of that page, you’ll find a Studio-Licensed bundle called the Christmas Deluxe Collection. This is the bundle I mentioned earlier that I used extensively with my students last year. For this digital booklet (PDF), Carol has compiled a selection of 15 arrangements from across the various levels of her Christmas books. “Studio Licensed” means the purchasing teacher has permission for unlimited prints for your own students. This bundle also includes a set of accompaniment tracks (MP3) for students to play along with. And some of the pieces have notated teacher duets at the bottom of the pages.

The arrangements in the Christmas Deluxe Collection range from easy Pre-Reading to Early Intermediate. There are some really pretty arrangements; in particular, I appreciate her Early Intermediate arrangements of Silent Night and O Holy Night. My students have enjoyed those as well as Deck the Halls and the Ukrainian Bell Carol (aka Carol of the Bells).

The Christmas Deluxe Collection bundle is an amazing value, and a great way to incorporate Carol’s music into your teaching! I’d highly recommend this bundle to any piano teacher. You can view sample pages or make a purchase on Carol’s website here.

2. Additional Christmas Arrangements

Carol has a variety of additional Christmas arrangements available — both single pieces and bundles — that are Studio Licensed. Examples include the “Easy Jazzy Christmas” bundle (Late Elementary), a handy “Jingle Bells Studio Packet” containing Jingle Bells arranged at five different levels, and a couple of Tchaikovsky Nutcracker bundles. These are definitely worth checking out, especially if you are really into Studio Licensed music. I plan to use a bunch of these pieces with my students this year!

Check out the page of Additional Christmas Arrangements here.

3. Carol Matz’s Studio Packs

Carol’s Studio Packs are a new release. Studio Packs are Studio-Licensed “enhanced PDFs” containing images, links, and lesson material corresponding to each arrangement. They are designed to provide ways for students to dig deeper, discover, and create, whether you are teaching in-person or online lessons. Orchestrated MP3 backing tracks and teaching tips videos are also included.

As you can see in the screenshot above, there are two Classics Studio Packs available and two Christmas Studio Packs (released just this week!). There is an Elementary pack and an Intermediate Pack. Each pack contains five arrangements of Christmas songs.

Note for in case you want to buy both the Studio Packs and the Christmas Deluxe Collection: there is TINY bit of overlap between them. One arrangement from the Christmas Deluxe Collection also exists in each Studio Pack. I still think both bundles are worthwhile, especially since the Studio Packs provide the extra links and lesson material.

Carol’s arrangements are great, and those of you who enjoy interactive digital assignments will probably consider these Studio Packs gold! I plan to try them out with my students this year. Check out them out here.

Tips for Printing and Teacher Organization

To keep myself organized especially for teaching online lessons, I always print myself a hardcopy of any studio-licensed materials I purchase. For example, last year I printed out the PDF for Carol Matz’s Christmas Deluxe Collection double-sided on paper. Then, I used heavier cardstock paper to reprint the front cover and provide a blank cover for the back. This definitely helps make the packet more durable so I can use it as a reference from year to year.

Then, I use a high capacity stapler to “bind” the book together. This might seem random…but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my high capacity stapler here on my blog so allow me a moment to sing its praises! It’s just like a normal stapler, except for the fact that the high capacity staples allow you to comfortably staple up to 60 sheets. It works like a dream, and I use it all the time. If you think you might find it useful, I definitely recommend getting one. There are certain times when I like to go to Office Max to have projects professionally spiral bound, but there are other times when my high capacity stapler is all I need.

You can find the Swingline high capacity stapler I have here and refill high capacity staples can be found here. Please note: The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links. Thanks so much for supporting my blog!

As far as digital organization goes… I maintain a folder on my computer called “Sheet Music.” Inside that, there is a sub-folder for “Christmas.” I always rename the files of any PDF sheet music to reflect the composer’s last name first and then the title of the work. For example: “MATZ – Christmas Deluxe Collection.” I definitely recommend organizing your files as you go so you can hopefully find things when you need them!

Bottom Line (and a Promo Code for 20% Off)

Thanks for reading this far! I hope you’ll consider checking out Carol’s Christmas pieces for your piano students. I really do like Carol’s style of arranging. The lower-level arrangements sound true to the original tune and manage to incorporate some harmonic elements while remaining manageable for the student. The upper-level arrangements begin to sound like true arrangements and introduce some very nice textural and expressive challenges for students.

Carol has generously offered to provide a promo code just for my readers, and I hope you’ll take advantage of it! The limited time special is for 20% off ALL of Carol’s self-published Christmas music available on her website — including the brand new Christmas Studio Packs. During checkout on Carol’s website, just be sure to enter the promo code JOY20 to get the discount (expires October 31, 2021 at midnight). Click here to browse Carol’s music.

Thanks for reading my review, and a big thank you goes to Carol for the wonderful Christmas arrangements! We piano teachers sure appreciate having such a wide variety of great music to teach our students.

Your turn: Have you enjoyed using any of Carol Matz’s music with your students? What other Christmas books do you use with your students? I’d love to hear what you have to say! Please leave a comment.

Just popping in for a quick post today!

Last weekend, I attended an incredible 2-day state conference put on by the Michigan Music Teachers Association. I feel so fortunate to be part of such an amazing organization of music teachers here in Michigan. It was an outstanding event — definitely high on my list of memorable conferences. Huge thanks goes to the efforts of many hardworking folks behind it all. Oh, and can I also add, it felt SO good to be back at an in-person music event.

Our guest artist was Norman Krieger; guest conference clinicians were William Chapman Nyaho and Heather Nelson Shouldice (have you checked her podcast on MLT?); and we also heard from a number of our own MMTA members presenting 20-minute talks.

I also just wanted to let you know that I recently switched my blog over to a new web hosting service. My site has been running on the slow side — perhaps you’ve noticed? After much troubleshooting and tweaks, I finally decided it was time to switch to another service and a faster plan. Things seem to be running super fast now, which makes me a happy camper. I hope your user experience on my website will feel great thanks to the increased speed!

If you have feedback or ever encounter any problems with my blog, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’d love to hear from you!