Do you enjoy giving some kind of small gift to your piano students at Christmastime? I do! I enjoy giving something small but thoughtful to make them smile. I try to come up with something different each year.

Note: This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my blog!

This year, I was pleased to find some really lovely and affordable music-themed ornament options on Amazon. In fact, I could hardly decide which one to go with!

I ended up choosing the wooden sheet music ornaments pictured below, and am very happy with my decision. They are light-weight, but nice quality wood ornaments with a sheet music print and blackened edges. The package comes as a set of 24 ornaments with 6 different shapes: hearts, pine trees, reindeers, snowmen, bells, round ornaments, and snowflakes. You must attach the strings yourself, but they are included.

Aren’t they lovely? I plan to write each student’s name and the year on the back, using a black permanent marker.

To go along with the ornament, I also ordered treble-clef-shaped pencils (pictured below). These come as a lot of 14, in seven different colors.

To package/wrap the gifts for my piano students, I also ordered transparent music note treat sacks. They come in a package of 100, so I’ll be set for the next couple of years, too! I love using these treat sacks for baked goods, too, so I’m sure I won’t have any problem using the rest.

So, voila — this year’s student gifts are planned and ready-to-go! I’m so pleased to have come up with such a simple but lovely idea for this year’s gifts.

Just in case you’re curious to check out the other ornaments I considered…

• Here’s more wooden ornaments, in a couple of different styles: style 1 and style 2.
• And here some some really pretty black cut-out music-themed ornaments and note value cut-out ornaments (available in black, silver, or gold).
• Tip: If you decide to browse for other music ornaments options on Amazon, be sure to confirm that the ones you are ordering are made of wood. While searching, I noticed that some ornaments were “paper ornaments” and while they are more affordable, the reviews stated they weren’t great quality. The ones I’ve linked to above are all made of wood.
• If you don’t want treat sacks that are transparent as I’ve shown above, here’s an option that is more opaque.

Your turn: What are some favorite gift ideas you’ve done for students in the past? And what do you have planned this year?

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

Hello, teacher friends! Today, I thought I would make an update this flashback post sharing ideas for piano student gift ideas. Read on to see what ideas I’ve done in the past…and stay tuned for tomorrow, when I’ll share what I’ve planned for this year!

I don’t think it’s necessary to give your piano students gifts at Christmastime, but it’s a nice gesture if you feel so inspired! Some years, I’ve kept it pretty simple while other years I have felt inspired to take on a more time-intensive project. I hope you’ll enjoy browsing this post and perhaps gaining an idea or two to tuck away for the future!

2011: Personalized Glass Sheet Music Ornaments

Back in 2011, I created personalized glass sheet music ornaments for each student, with their name and the year written with a gold paint pen. They turned out so pretty! I love how they turned out, and would like to use this idea again in the future. Each student also received a chocolate Symphony bar. Read more here.

That year, I gave my adult students something else: a copy of the book “The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms” by Christine Ammer. I learned about this book during grad school upon recommendation from a professor. Have you ever looked up a word in your music dictionary, only to find it wasn’t included?! Unlike others, this dictionary hasn’t let me down. It’s a nice slim volume, and a great price — I’d recommend it to any piano teacher or student! I use during lessons to have students look up the terms they encounter in their pieces.

2012: Iced Sugar Cookies

The following year, I baked sugar cut-out cookies using my music cookie cutters. I topped them with icing, and I think they turned out pretty cute!

The music cookie cutter set I own is no longer available on Amazon, but this set looks pretty similar!

I bagged them using treat sacks and a topper I designed in Microsoft Word. Read more here.

2013: A home-recorded CD of favorite student classical repertoire

The next year, I home-recorded a CD of a few favorite classical teaching pieces. This was quite a big project, but it turned out pretty neat! Read more here.

2014: A Printed Composition (or two)

This year, I composed two pieces (one mid-elementary level and one late intermediate level) and give them to my students for Christmas. This was a fun project! Learn more about the details of this project and download the elementary level piece for free here.

2015: Sheet Music Ornaments

This is one of my favorite gifts I’ve done! If you like doing crafty things, this idea might be for you. I recycled old, tattered sheet music to create these lovely sheet music ornaments. Learn more here.

2016: Iced Sugar Cookies (again)

In 2016, I made sugar cut-out cookies again! Making cut-out cookies is one of those things that I love doing around the holidays! I have good memories of making holiday cookies with my siblings growing up.

2017: Rice Crispy Treats in a Cookie Cutter

The next year, I tried something based on a picture I had seen (probably on Pinterest?) — with my own twist. I made Rice Crispy Treats, inserted music-shaped cookie cutters, and then decorated using red and green M&Ms.

I found out it was kinda tricky to remove the Rice Crispy Treats from the pan while keeping them inside the cookie cutters, but I think it turned out alright overall!

2018: Snowman Sheet Music Resin Ornament

Last year, I bought these adorable resin snowman ornaments on Amazon and added a ribbon scarf to each one (thanks goes to Sara Campbell for the recommendation!). I personalized them by writing each student name, the year, and a few music notes on the back using a permanent marker.

I paired each ornament with a bag of homemade cinnamon popcorn, made on the stovetop — a healthy snack I was really into that year!

2019: Pianist Gloves

Last year, I ordered black gloves from eBay (here) and used white 3D fabric paint to add a treble clef and bass clef on the RH and LH of each pair. I also made brownies. I think they turned out pretty cute! Read more about it here.

2020: Treble Clef Necklaces & Piano Ties

This year was a little different than usual (probably the understatement of the year…). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I am currently teaching all of my students online. Although I have a few local students here in Michigan, the majority of my students are longtime Ohio students from before my move. So, going about Christmas gifts the usual way wasn’t going to work!

I really enjoy gifting something to my students. I strongly considered making a trip to deliver gifts via porch drop-off. However, I decided against when I realized how much time that would require due to the commute and the scattered locations of my students.

So, next I considered sending gifts via mail. Taking into considering the fact that shipping would likely cost between $3-5/family, I decided I’d rather have that $3-5 expense go towards being able to give a slightly nicer gift to each student. And so, instead I selected gifts from Amazon.com and took advantage of Amazon Prime free shipping by having the items shipped directly to each student’s address.

To let students know to watch for a package to arrive, I mailed them Christmas cards a few days before making the Amazon order.

Here’s what I picked out: a treble clef necklace for the girls and a piano tie for the guys. I’ve gotten a few appreciative text messages so far, so hopefully they are all enjoying their gifts!

I enjoy doing something different each year, and this year was no exception!

2021: Piano Cookies from a Local Bakery

Last 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 also ordered custom pens with my studio logo.

Read more about my custom pens, piano cookies, and sticky note greeting here.

[2021: Check back tomorrow, and I’ll share what I have planned for this year!]

Your turn: Let’s share more ideas! What have you given for Christmas gifts for your students in the past? Leave a comment below this post!

Just a quick post today! 

I just finished updating one of the studio business forms from my Printables page for the 2022-23 school year.  It is called the Record of Lesson Attendance & Payment PDF.  I do not currently use this form myself anymore, but every year I receive multiple requests from teachers asking if I would please update it for the upcoming school year.

In case you haven’t seen this from before, here is how it works: Write your students’ names in the first column.  Each week, write the lesson date (in a month / date format) in the column for that week.  This is how you can track attendance.  The small circles in each cell are where you can write checkmarks indicating tuition payments.  Whether you charge by-the-week or by-the-month, you can place a checkmark by each paid lesson date.

Download it below or on the Printables > Studio Business page.

Hello friends, 

I’m so pleased to announce the arrival of Brenna Rose, born 08/20/2022 — two weeks before her due date. The birth and recovery went well, and we are so grateful for the new addition to our family.

We had a photographer take some beautiful photos for us. I love how our family photos turned out.

Big sister Aria, now 2.5 years old, has been pretty infatuated with baby Brenna. And she’s a big helper to me, too!

The next photo might look a little bit familiar, because I asked the photographer to take a similar shot of Aria when she was born (view it here). Of course, I wanted to recreate the shot with Brenna this time around!

We’ve been enjoying our time adjusting to life as a family of four! I’m on maternity leave from teaching until November. Babies are a lot of work, but wonderful at the same time.

I know it’s been a little bit quiet here on my blog lately. As I’ve mentioned once before, I’m continuing to work on a big project — which will likely be ready to unveil before the year’s end. In the meantime, my blogging will probably be a little bit sporadic. Hope you don’t mind.

Thanks for allowing me to share our news with you!!

PS: I’ve had a few requests for an update of the Record of Lesson Attendance and Payment printable for 2022-23. Good news — I’m posting it tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Have you heard? The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) has recently released the newly revised 2022 Piano Syllabus for their practical examinations. They are also releasing new editions of the wonderful Celebration Series piano literature collection (available soon). What exciting news for piano teachers!

Not familiar with RCM? Each year, I tend to enter a handful of piano students to take exam assessments through RCM, an excellent program originating in Canada and gradually becoming more popular in the United States. There are exam centers located in many major cities, as well as an option for an online exams via Zoom. I appreciate the thoroughness of the assessments, which require students to demonstrate musicianship skills (sight-reading, ear training, rhythm exercises, etc.) and perform a set of pieces ranging in musical styles. The levels outlined in the syllabus (a great teaching resource for any teacher — find the free PDF here) are soundly structured and have been refined over time by dedicated pedagogues in our field. RCM is also known for the quality and consistency of adjudication scoring. RCM is not a competition; it is a standard that allows students and parents to better understand and track progress during music study.

Every seven years, RCM revises the piano syllabus to incorporate new repertoire, eliminate repertoire that is no longer readily available, and refine the aural and musicianship requirements. When it’s a revision year, RCM teachers are always seeking to learn about the updates and changes compared to the previous syllabus.

RCM practical exams include technical requirements for each level consisting of certain scales, arpeggios, and chords that must be performed for the adjudicator. These technical requirements are described in the syllabus and are also notated out in the available RCM technique books. I tend NOT to purchase the technique books, because I find that students learn better than when the technical exercises been learned by rote and memorized from day 1. But it can be cumbersome to describe the RCM technical requirements on students’ assignment sheets each week — especially if you expect students to review all previous material.

Enter my technique charts. I’ve been making these since the 2008 RCM syllabus, and I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from other piano teachers who have found them helpful over the years!

I find these charts help ensure that my students are learning and reviewing their exercises from week to week. Even if you have no intention of sending students to RCM assessments, you might find these charts useful.

From the 2008 to 2015 syllabi, I recall many technical requirement changes made. However, in comparing 2015 to 2022, I found that there were not many changes made at all. Nevertheless, I wanted to revise my charts to perfectly match the new 2022 syllabus. I’m pleased to announce the new charts for the 2022 RCM Piano Syllabus are finished and available below.

I keep the PDF of these technique charts on my computer desktop and also uploaded to my iPad (I use an app called GoodNotes, but any similar app of your choice will work). This makes it easy to print out charts for students. I like to tape each student’s chart inside the front cover of one of their books. I assign items from the chart each week by outlining certain boxes in pencil or marker. At the next lesson, students demonstrate whether they’ve mastered each skill. Mastered items on the chart get a checkmark or a sticker. These charts makes it easy to track progress!

Special thanks goes to fellow piano teacher Amy Hall for helping to proofread the charts against the 2022 syllabus.

Download below, or visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to “2022 RCM Technical Requirements Charts for Piano”.

Hope you enjoy!

A couple of weeks ago, I joined a few piano teacher friends to virtually attend the 2022 MTNA Virtual National Conference from March 26-30, 2022. Although I definitely prefer in-person conferences over virtual conferences, I have to say that joining up with some buddies to watch the sessions together was a really excellent second option!

My friend Amy Chaplin (of PianoPantry.com) was kind enough to offer to host us in her home…and even cook for us! The rest of our crew included Christina Whitlock (of The Beyond Measure podcast) and Janna Williamson (intermediate repertoire guru offering a fantastic YouTube channel for piano teachers).

Oh, and I also took Aria, my 2-year-old daughter, along for the visit. Here’s a photo of Aria enjoying a delicious muffin for breakfast as we watched a conference session on the TV.

We enjoyed a lot of great meals, conversations, and professional development together.

I’m so glad it worked out for us to create our own in-person element to our conference experience this year!

There were too many great conference sessions to highlight, but in case you missed a few of these sessions I’ll mention a few.

Janna and I were honored to be part of a panel discussion, organized and moderated by Lynnette Barney, alongside Sarah McCaffrey Ritchie and Becki Laurent, entitled “Teaching Students to Fish: Developing Independent Learners from the First Lesson.”

Christina and Amy were involved in a couple of sessions, too. Christina gave a thoughtful and helpful presentation called, “Anxious Students/Anxious Teachers: How to Cope with Anxiety in the Studio.” Amy’s session, called “Reset and Refresh: Tidying Tips for Studio Teachers,” was a practical and positive talk with tips for keeping organized.

I’m sure I’ll have more favorites as I go back and watch more of the session videos, but here are a few more sessions that were especially memorable so far:

1. The opening session and recital with Adrian Anantawan. Very inspiring!
2. Sara Ernst shared a series of lesson videos as the “Elementary Piano Master Class,” interspersed with helpful commentary and discussion.
3. Benjamin Steinhardt presented “Playing Deliciously: The Legacy and Teachings of Dorothy Taubman.”
4. Kate Boyd gave an extremely well-presented session called, “Rhythm and Meter in the Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach.”
5. The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) showcase session provided a peek into the new 2022 edition of the Celebration Series (revised every seven years), to be released later this month. The Celebration Series is already a favorite resource of mine, but I am beyond excited to check out the new editions because of the inclusion of more repertoire from BIPOC and women composers than ever before.

Amy spoiled us at every meal. If you’d like to see what she made for us, click here to check out the post on her blog where she shares photos and recipes.

To wrap up this post, here’s a couple more quick links to share.

First of all, be sure to check out Janna’s post-conference reflection blog post here. She wrote a really nice recap!

Second: During our visit, Amy talked us into recording a “teacher talk” episode for her Piano Pantry podcast. It turned out great! I hope you’ll take a listen to our episode (about 30 minutes in length) to get to know us a little bit better and laugh along. You can take a listen to Episode #15 of Amy’s Piano Pantry podcast here or search for it in the podcast app on your phone/tablet.

Finally: MTNA is making the conference session videos viewable to registrants through December 15, 2022…which means it’s not not too late to register and enjoy the videos yourself! If you’re interested, get more info about registering here.

Happy teaching to you all, and I hope to see you at an in-person conference someday in the future!

I’ve recently had two questions from fellow piano teachers come through my “Ask Me Anything” form asking for advice regarding music notation software. Thinking there might be others of you out there wondering about the same thing, I thought I would publish my thoughts in today’s blog post!

Introduction

Once upon a time, the two main options for music notation software were Finale and Sibelius — plus a free open-source software called Musescore. Nowadays, we also have online-based software as well as apps for phones/tablets to consider.

While I can’t claim to be familiar with ALL of the options available today (especially the variety of apps out there), I am happy to share my experience and personal recommendations below. If you have additional recommendations, I hope you’ll share them with us in the comment section of this blog post!

Let’s get into it. I’ll start by recommending what I consider to be good starting points for students or teachers who are newly interested in composition and/or music notation software. Then, I’ll get into what I recommend for serious or experienced composers who wish to invest in professional-grade software.

Part I: Recommendations for Getting Started

1. NoteFlight.com

My go-to recommendation, for any student or teaching colleague new to composing and/or music notation software, is a website called NoteFlight.com. Because it’s online-based software, it is easy for users to access from pretty much any device — as long as you have internet access — just by logging into your own account. No installation required!

NoteFlight is fairly easy-to-learn and offers a free plan where users can create up to 10 scores. The paid NoteFlight Premium plan allows for a unlimited number of scores in addition to a number of other features. There is also a plan called NoteFlight Learn, which is a plan for classroom music educators and groups of their students. You can learn more and compare these plan options here.

At first, you’ll probably find yourself selecting every note and rhythm from the toolbar and clicking them one-by-one into the staff. Over time, you may decide it’s worthwhile to memorize NoteFlight’s keyboard shortcuts (see the guide here). More advanced programs tend to offer super efficient quick-entry methods as well, where you can memorize shortcuts on the keyboard in order to enter notes much more quickly.

At with most music notation softwares, NoteFlight allows you to hit the “play” button to hear the piece, print, and export in a variety of file formats (such as PDF, MusicXML, WAV, and MP3).

Bottom line: NoteFlight.com is a great place to start when it comes to music notation software. You might might it fulfills all your needs perfectly. Or, once you’ve gotten your feet wet with Noteflight and have bumped into the limitations of the software and/or the free plan, you might find yourself ready for something more advanced and powerful. Either way is a win!

Check out NoteFlight.com right here.

2. MuseScore

MuseScore is a completely free, open-source music notation software. After downloading and installing the software to your computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux), you can access MuseScore without having to be online. Similar to using a word processing program like Microsoft Word, the files are saved onto your computer.

I have not personally used MuseScore for quite some time, but my impression is that it is a full-featured music notation software and is as popular as ever. It’s definitely a great option to recommend to students and to consider for yourself, also!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that MuseScore has versions available for iPad/iPhone, Android, and even Kindle Fire. Like the main software, these apps are free. But please note that the apps may have certain feature limitations compared to the full version for computers. Links: iPad/iPhone | Android | Kindle Fire.

For many users, MuseScore provides everything one could possibly need in a music notation software! And with a price tag of FREE, what’s there to lose? It’s definitely worth a look. Learn more about MuseScore here.

Next up: Here are my recommendations for you or your students who are experienced or serious composers and are wanting to invest in professional-grade software.

Part II: Recommendations for Experienced or Serious Composers

1. Finale

Developed by a company called MakeMusic, Finale (available for Windows and MacOS) is considered to be industry standard and is used by many major publishing houses. Because Finale was the software used in the computer lab at the university I first attended as a music major, it is the first music notation software I learned. When I became quickly became interested in composition and started taking compositions lessons during my college years, I decided to purchase a copy of program for myself (around 2009). I’ve been a Finale user ever since!

(If you’re interested, you can check out a few of my compositions available for purchase here. Feel free to take advantage of my once-a-year 20% sale, now through March 31st, 2022, using the promo code 13YEARS during checkout.)

Finale currently offers three main versions: (1) a free download called Finale NotePad, (2) a pared-down, affordable version called Finale PrintMusic, and (3) the full-featured, full-priced Finale software. Most teachers and students will qualify for the special academic pricing Finale offers. If you or your students plan to create only smaller-scale works (no symphonies, for example!) and don’t need the “speedy-entry mode” I described earlier in this article, you might be perfectly satisfied with NotePad or PrintMusic. I recommend checking out the list of features carefully to get a good sense of the limitations before purchasing PrintMusic. Otherwise, I think it’s wise to invest in the full software. I learned speedy-entry mode during college and use it today — and it definitely speeds up the notation process (read about it here).

New versions of Finale are released every 1-2 years, although if desired you can choose to upgrade less frequently than that. If you own a previous version of Finale, you can usually take advantage of special pricing when you do upgrade (as long as you don’t wait too long between upgrades). I tend to upgrade to the latest version of Finale every 2-3 years. If Finale is something you use frequently, it’s always nice to get the newest features.

Finale offers a searchable online User Manual as well as a community forum for posting questions. Whenever I can’t remember or figure out how to accomplish something in Finale, I do a Google search and the appropriate article tends to come up immediately. Finale is incredibly powerful, allowing you to customize nearly any aspect of your score’s appearance. It may take time to learn how to use Finale, but the results will be worth your effort especially if you use it regularly.

Bottom line: Finale an option worth considering for anyone experienced with or serious about composition.

2. Dorico

Dorico is the new kid on the block, relatively speaking! Released in 2016, Dorico quickly joined the ranks of professional-level music notation programs along with Finale and Sibelius. When the developer, Steinberg, announced the project back in 2013 on their blog, they quickly generated a lot of attention within the music community. I was no exception; I found myself quite intrigued and closely followed the blog updates written by Daniel Spreadbury over the years until the first program release.

The first few releases of Dorico did not include certain features necessary for pianists, such as fingering and pedaling. But once those features were added, I decided to make the investment. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Dorico the past few years. Depending on the project, I sometimes use Finale and other times choose Dorico.

With Dorico, many aspects of music notation software have been rebuilt or reimagined from the ground up. Overall, I’m pretty impressed with it. The initial installation process was a little bit tricky, but it did not take long to learn to navigate the Dorico program and memorize the keystrokes for quick-entry of notes (find a cheat sheet and tutorials here). Compared to Finale, I find Dorico to be an incredibly snappy and stable program. In addition, I find that Dorico does an amazing job compared to Finale of automatically making sure dynamics, articulation marks, note stems, and more do not overlap or looked crowded on the page. This saves so much time when it comes to the engraving stage for producing a professional-looking score!

I’m not aware whether any of the major publishing houses have made the switch to Dorico, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some already have or will at some point in the future. Steinberg has been very forward-thinking throughout their development of Dorico. Their team is responsible for creating something called the Standard Music Font Layout (SMuFL) standard — a consistent way of mapping the musical symbols used by music notation software into a single font that can be used by a variety of software designers. This important improvement, benefitting the entire industry, was first implemented into MuseScore, then Dorico’s first release, and then into Finale (source: Wikipedia).

Like Finale, Dorico offers a number of options: (1) a free, pared-down version called Dorico SE limited to ensembles involving one or two players, (2) a paid version Dorico Elements allowing ensembles up to 12 players, and (3) the full, professional version called Dorico Pro. Dorico is more affordable than its competitors, plus it offers academic pricing for teachers and students. And if you can show proof of already owning a license for Sibelius or Finale software, you can save even more with Dorico crossgrade discount. Learn more about Dorico’s academic pricing by scrolling down on this page.

I haven’t tried it yet, but Dorico does offer an iPad version that offers most of the functionality of the full computer software. It’s free to download, and then you can unlock more features with an inexpensive, optional in-app subscription. Link here: Dorico for iPad.

Overall, I highly recommend Dorico as another excellent option for anyone interested in professional music notation software. Learn more about Dorico here.

Conclusion

Learning to use a music notation software takes time and effort, but there’s nothing like seeing your own compositions professionally notated! I hope this article has helped you determine which software/apps might be right for you and your students.

Your turn: What music notation software/apps do you use and recommend? I’d love to hear. Please leave post in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading! Have your own question to ask? Submit it here, and your question could be featured in a future blog post!

Aria’s shirt bears the latest news around here: we are expecting baby #2! It’s another girl, and the due date is early September. <3

We’re thankful for this gift! And I’m feeling happy to move beyond the first trimester symptoms (for me, fatigue and nausea)!

I had originally been planning to offer a session of my online course for piano teachers, Excellence in Piano Teaching, this summer (see institute.joymorin.com), but I’ve decided to put this on hold for now until after baby. Sorry to anyone who was hoping to take it this year! If you’re on my email list, you’ll be sure to receive any updates about when the next offering will be.

Despite dealing with first trimester symptoms, I’ve tried to prioritize keeping up work on a particularly exciting project which I hope to be able to share more about in the upcoming months. I won’t say more at this point, but I hope your curiosity is piqued and you’ll stay tuned!

In the meantime, I’ll still be blogging here-and-there. I also invite you to follow along with my occasional personal updates and everyday photos HERE on Instagram!

Thanks for reading!

It’s time to announce the thirteen randomly-selected winners of our giveaway celebrating ColorInMyPiano.com’s 13th birthday. Congrats goes to Benjamin, Phyllis, Lynn, Emily, Karen, Lori, Debbie, Susan, Naomi, Renee, Elizabeth, and Valerie! Winners, please check your inbox for an email from me.

Everyone else — thank you so much for entering and THANK YOU for the thoughtful comments! It made me smile to hear about which resources have been your favorites over the past few years.

Here’s hoping to many more years talking about piano teaching here at ColorInMyPiano.com!

PS: Don’t forget — my once-a-year 20% off sale continues through March 31, 2022. Enter the promo code 13YEARS during checkout to receive 20% off all items in the shop! Take a peek here. I hope you’ll find something for you and your students to enjoy. Thanks for supporting my work!

Just a friendly reminder to enter the giveaway before time runs out! As part of our celebration of ColorInMyPiano.com turning 13, YOU could win any item of your choice from my shop. 13 winners will be randomly selected on Monday, March 7, 2022 — so enter now!

What could you potentially win? Well, here’s a quick highlight in photo form:

To enter, visit THIS POST, scroll down, and then leave a comment there telling us how long you’ve been following my blog and something you appreciate about ColorInMyPiano (a favorite printable, things you’ve learned, etc.). 

Good luck, everyone!!

Hello friends, 

Guess what: Today, February 28, 2022, marks the thirteen-year anniversary of Color In My Piano. It’s hard to believe this blog has been around for that long!

As is tradition as part of our blogiversary celebration, I usually share a little bit about myself and the origin story behind ColorInMyPiano. I’m not one to talk about myself a lot, but I do like history and I do like my readers to know the story behind my blog’s name, for example! And as usual, I’m also running my annual 20% off sale (applies to EVERYTHING in my shop), and finally, a big giveaway. Keep reading to find out more!

The Beginnings

I began ColorInMyPiano in 2009, while I was finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. At that time, I was running a successful piano studio of about 20 students out of my parents’ home and teaching group keyboard classes at the local YMCA. I was finding so much inspiration and helpful resources from other blogs — including Natalie Wickham’s Music Matters Blog and Susan Paradis’s Piano Teacher Resources — and had also begun creating some of my own worksheets and other printables. I felt I wanted to give back and share in the same way, and so on February 28, 2009, I wrote my first blog post: a welcome and brief statement of purpose. 

On July 9, 2009, I decided that I was enjoying blogging enough to go full swing: I came up with the name “Color In My Piano,” paid for the ColorInMyPiano.com domain name, bought a year’s worth of web hosting, and gave the site a new look.

The name “Color In My Piano” was coined thanks to an essay I wrote during my senior year at Hope College. The class assignment required that I reflect upon my life and summarize my worldview. Not surprisingly, much of my essay centered around my beliefs regarding music and the role of the piano and teaching in my life. One of the themes that arose as I wrote the essay was my commitment to never allow music-making and teaching from ever feeling like merely a job or a requirement. I strive to keep “color in my piano” for both my students and myself. 

This is still an important life goal for me and helps provide a framework for what I share about on this blog. Personally, I find that I am able to keep myself invigorated in my work when I am open to learning new things, improving as a teacher, and striving towards excellent piano teaching for my students. 

That summer, my husband of one year and I moved to mid-Michigan to attend graduate school at Central Michigan University. Despite my responsibilities as a Graduate Assistant accompanying fellow music majors and teaching Class Piano, I made it a priority to teach between 5-10 private students each week. Teaching has always my primary motivation! I kept the blog going during those two years, too.

Years of Growth

After graduating with my Masters in Piano Pedagogy in May of 2011, we moved to Northwest Ohio (so my husband could begin another Master’s program in English), where I started my studio again from scratch. We rented a charming little house with a dining room that worked perfectly for my studio and I bought a piano. Sometimes, I missed being in the academic environment of college, but most of the time I felt thrilled to be “living the dream” and running my own piano studio!

Because it took a couple of years to build up my student roster, I found I had plenty of time for blogging. I continued sharing ideas and free printables — usually publishing new blog posts five days per week. Color In My Piano grew a lot during these years. I even added a shop to sell digital resources, such as my new-at-the-time music history lapbooking curriculum.

My studio eventually grew to 35 students, which I considered “full”! My husband finished his Master’s degree and was hired as the Public Relations & Communications Coordinator at a science museum for kids in Toledo, Ohio.

My blog has led to a number of interesting outgrowth projects I had never anticipated. One is public speaking. I never expected to enjoy public speaking, but I discovered it’s an incredibly fun way to share ideas and research with others. Now, I give at least a handful of presentations for local, state, or national-level events each year. (See my calendar and session topics here.)

In 2014, I started a new endeavor: offering online courses for piano teachers under the name Piano Teacher Institute with Joy Morin. Creating the curriculum for my flagship piano pedagogy course, “Excellence in Piano Teaching”, was a tremendous investment of time and energy. My goal was to combine the best of what I learned during my pedagogy classes in college while also including many practical aspects of piano teaching not typically covered. To date, my six-week course has been offered over ten times to small cohorts of teachers (over a hundred teachers total). I find it so rewarding to interact with and mentor other piano teachers in this way. (Learn more about my course and join the email list here.)

In 2017, I came up with the idea to host a summer Piano Teacher Retreat at my home. Thirteen teachers attended — I was thrilled! The theme we explored was “piano method books”. In the summers that followed I held two more retreats, each centered around a different theme. My retreats are currently on hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but I plan to offer them again when it becomes feasible. (Join the email list if you’d like to receive information when the time comes.)

Recent Years

In December of 2019, my husband and I moved from Bowling Green, Ohio to Saline, Michigan, just outside Ann Arbor (see a tour of my piano studio here). We always wanted to move back closer to our families in Michigan, and my husband was already commuting to Ann Arbor for his job in marketing at University of Michigan. Part of the impetus for this move was also the expectation of our first baby’s birth in February, 2020!

After my daughter’s birth and a six-week maternity leave, the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns hit in March 2020. I started up my students’ lessons all online. Today, my Ohio-based students’ lessons remain online while I’ve gradually begun accepting in-person Michigan students as my schedule allows.

Being a parent has been such a joy for my husband and I. My daughter brings so much joy to our household! I’m finding that my teaching is informing my parenting, and my parenting is informing my teaching.

Today, I am still as dedicated as ever to Color In My Piano. I am never at a shortage of projects and ideas to write about, and try to find time to put up 1-3 posts per week. True to its original intent back in 2009, I still think of my blog as a way to journal my piano teaching adventures, writing for myself to clarify my thoughts and to document things I was learning and doing. Thirteen years later, I find that my blog has also become a platform for helping other piano teachers like me teach effectively, organize their businesses, and have fun in the process. I never could have imagined the outgrowth of projects and opportunities that resulted, thanks to writing a blog and gaining a wonderful readership base. 

So, many thanks to you, my dear readers! I appreciate you coming along for the ride, and for your kind attention and interactions. I am deeply grateful for the things I’ve learned over the past thirteen years of blogging and for the wonderful lessons and friendships that have resulted. And I’m very excited to share with you a couple of exciting new projects in the next year. Stay tuned!

Here’s to a wonderful thirteen years, and hopefully many more to come. Thanks for celebrating with me! 

–Joy

Giveaway & Annual 20% Off Sale

To celebrate our thirteen years together, I’m running a special giveaway and a sale! Use the promo code 13YEARS to receive 20% off any item in the shop. If you’ve been eyeing my favorite Ice Cream Intervals game, rhythm cards, composer lapbooks, my original sheet music, or are thinking ahead to music camp curriculums for this summer, now’s a great time to buy because this is the ONLY time of year I ever run a sale. It starts now and lasts through March 31, 2022. Browse the shop now here.

Here’s the details about the giveaway: THIRTEEN randomly-chosen winners will receive ANY single item of your choosing from my shop! To enter, leave a comment below on this blog post telling us how long you’ve been following my blog and something you appreciate about ColorInMyPiano (a favorite printable, things you’ve learned, etc.). On Monday, March 7, 2022, thirteen lucky winners will be randomly selected and notified. 

Good luck, and I look forward to reading your comments!

Hi there! In this blog post, I’ll briefly discuss both the usefulness and shortcomings of mnemonic devices (such as “FACE” and “All Cows Eat Grass”) when it comes to music reading and then share with you a new FREE printable, pictured above.

Mnemonic Devices for Music Reading

In most cases, I tend to avoid having students use mnemonic devices as a tool to identifying notes on the grand staff. How about you? If I DO use mnemonic devices with a student, it’s in only certain circumstances and we use them only lightly.

If I can help it, I’d rather use almost any other way to build students’ understanding of how our musical notation system represents the music we hear. My approach is a bit eclectic according to what I think each student needs, but I try to put a heavy focus on building students’ ears first. Understanding notation becomes easy when it’s approached as a way of representing something we are already familiar with, versus approaching it as something that must be decoded as a pre-requisite to experiencing music in the first place.

A few of my current students came to me already reading music, but showing signs of not having a very clear understanding of how the grand staff is used to represent pitches. Here’s a few examples of such signs, which I’m sure you’ve sometimes seen students exhibit.

• When students often go to the wrong octave on the keyboard for a note they’ve “identified.” This is a clear indication that students aren’t getting the big picture.
• When students get stuck on the same notes they saw earlier, even just a measure or two prior.
• More generally: When you get the sense that students seem to view notes as single identities, rather than as part of a whole. These students often mis-identify notes, because they don’t have an easy way to confirm what they read or see how the notes fit into a context.

It takes time to help students un-learn their previous processes and re-learn something new. But of course, it’s always worthwhile! We work on the ear, and we work on recognizing familiar patterns, intervals, direction, contour, etc.

Anyway, coming back now to mnemonic devices… In those rare cases where I allow students to use mnemonic devices, we use them lightly. It’s almost more of a way to help them see how their current methods may not be serving them well, and start them on a path towards something more effective.

When we DO use mnemonic devices, we only use two: “FACE” for treble clef spaces and “All Cows Eat Grass” for bass clef spaces. This is enough for figuring out any note on the grand staff, and is far less confusing than trying to keep four different mnemonic devices straight (you know…for the treble clef lines, treble clef spaces, bass clef lines, and bass clef spaces). Even if it’s what they might have learned at school, from a previous teacher, or from a parent, I always discourage students from using four different mnemonic devices. (Have you known many students who can manage to keep all four straight?)

In all best case scenarios with mnemonic devices, we don’t rely on them for long. Ideally, students quickly move on from this and become fluent in recognizing what they see in notation as something familiar for their ears and bodies at the piano!

Free Printable: Grand Staff Reference Sheet – Naming Space Notes

Recently, I kept finding myself wishing for a simple reference sheet to help a couple of my newest transfer students. A music whiteboard works great while students are with me during their lessons (read about the whiteboard I got from MusicEscapades.com here), but I wanted something for them to use at home. I think this is going to help one of my students in particular break out of her current note reading processes and get on a better path to understanding how the grand staff relates to sound and the piano keyboard.

I designed this printable so there are two half-sized reference sheets printed on each sheet of paper. After cutting them apart, I laminated mine and have one sitting on my iPad stand ready for my student’s next lesson. (This iPad stand is seriously the best, by the way! If you need one, look no further!). I’ve also got one ready for my student to take home with her.

Have any students in mind who could benefit from this printable? To download this free reference sheet, visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to the G’s for Grand Staff Reference Sheet – Naming Space Notes. Hope you enjoy!

Your turn: What techniques do YOU use to teach your students to read music fluently? Share your tips and favorite resources in the comments below.

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!