A Note on Office Organization

My primary project this past summer was to organize my office and music studio. Oh no, not a cursory, throw things into a file to deal with later. I've been in extreme decluttering mode.

Since I began teaching in 2001, I have dutifully kept all of my music teacher newsletters. Have I read them all? No, of course not. 

Just a fraction of my piles to declutter! Photo by R-M Arca

Just imagine how much paper that is. Got the picture in your mind? My paper clutter is truly as scary as you imagined it to be.

I am approximately 80% through but I have been gleefully ripping out articles to read throughout the year. I have developed the following filing system:

1. Activity/Event ideas

2. Blog topic ideas

3. Group Class ideas

4. Lesson planning

5. Professional library ideas

6. Music games and puzzles

7. Piano Pedagogy

8. Professional development

9. Portfolio additions (my own published articles)

10. Recital/performance ideas

They will reside in my Active Files drawer until I am done with them. My hope is that throughout the year, I'll actually read these articles. Of course, that hinges upon me clearing the area leading up to my filing cabinet.

Cutting down my To Read Pile into a simple filing system. Photo by R-M Arca

Getting into the Swing of Things

September flew by oh so quickly! Maestro and I are gradually catching up on the admin end of things. I am still behind on my bookkeeping, which is nothing new. At least, I am finally done all 36 year-plans for my students. Writing four articles that are due on Tuesday had to take a back seat to transferring my website to a new server as I was getting regular bandwidth overage messages. While I was at it, I decided I may as well do the redesign I was planning to do in the summer.

Maestro is enjoying computer lab with the students. He likes to watch Beethoven Baseball as much as the students like to play it. He's also developing a sticker fetish, which is not a good thing. We'll have to work on that. He thinks the sticker tray is a tug-o-war toy.

This month, we can settle down into sinking our teeth into new repertoire (my students' and my own). I can't wait to try all my new books, which I got for the Contemporary Idioms program.

But enough of work. Have a great weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving!

The revamped website should be live within the next 24 hours. Happy exploring!

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Musings on the First Week of of the Fall Term

After a summer off from teaching, my colleagues and I are very glad to have the weekend. Over the summer, we forgot how hectic the pace is during the school year. Poor Maestro has to memorize a whole new schedule (it's too bad dogs can't read). I have to give him credit though. After one week, he catches on to who is supposed to come when. Since everyone is adjusting to their fall schedule, my main priorities this week were to reconnect with returning students, to get to know new students and assess who did their homework (and who needs extra review).

I gave all the kids some origami that I made over the summer. Their first homework assignment is to compose or improvise a short song about one or both of their origami. It will be a musical carnival of the animals, with songs about whales, seals, fish and various birds.

Next week is a whole other story. They'll be hit on the head with musical math to review rhythm, sight-reading (presented under the guise of trying out the pop and jazz books I recently bought), scales, chords and arpeggii to get their fingers back into shape. We'll also fine tune the songs I assigned them for homework.

Things are gearing up once again with ARMTA Calgary. One committee meeting down for the month, three more to go.

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Happy Holidays from Musespeak.com

Both teachers and students are counting the days before Christmas Break. Yes - us teachers are really looking forward to not teaching for a couple of weeks. Some of the administrative tasks can't be put off for that long, but at least they can be crammed into a couple of days, leaving plenty of time to catch up with family and friends. My break doesn't begin until late tomorrow evening because of teaching an a Christmas party gig. I can't wait till I'm done (did I say that already?).

Maestro and I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays.

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Music Teachers Helper

Lord knows we teachers need all the help we can get. Private music teachers have anywhere from five students to over 60. That means we need to keep track of each student's curriculum, payments, etc. etc. Some families require more communication than others. Some are more technologically savvy than others. I've got my trusty Quickbooks, Palm Pilot, website and e-mail that I use for communicating with my students' families and keeping track of things. But for those teachers who don't have these resources, Music Teachers Helper can assist with scheduling, invoicing, bookkeeping and more.

There is even a blog for teachers.

Thanks to my colleague Heidi for this link.

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.