Merry Christmas!

In place of our traditional Christmas recital, this year, 

we each recorded our Christmas songs to share with you!

Merry Christmas!

Some students chose to play Fischer yesterday!  I can't say enough times how wonderful to be making music together again!

Kyle's first time seeing a baby grand in person!

Tim let me record him playing a song--the first "recital" on Fischer!

Carly at the keys! 

She has done an awesome job learning the first movement of a Sonatina mostly on her own! Staring the second movement this week!

Meet Fischer!

A new friend arrived at Music In Your Heart yesterday, and I want to kind of make introductions before students arrive for lessons today. First, I would like to tell a little story about pianos.

The piano I've had in my home for the last 21 years, an upright Kimball, was a graduation gift from my parents when I received my music degree. It had been their friends' and hadn't had much playing since it was bought new in the '90's. It lived in my apartment in Columbus, Ohio for a short time, our first house in Columbus for an even shorter time, and came with us when we moved here to Arrowsmith in 2001. 

Pianos require a consistent temperature and humidity level to be maintained. Our old (125+ years) house has not had central air conditioning for the 19 years we've lived here--until last month! (I could talk about how how life-changing central air is, but that's another story!) My point is, Kimball has been through some life over the past 19 years because we couldn't regulate the humidity level and temperature in the house consistently. I stopped having it maintained and tuned several years ago because my piano tuner became so frustrated that his work would be undone so quickly. My students can probably tell about sticky keys in the summer (That low B that won't even play!) and clicky keys in the winter (We just call it "extra percussion!").  When I had toddlers, one of them left a sippy cup of water on the keys for who-knows-how-long before I found it, and my piano tuner had to heat up the wood of the key over my stove and sand it down with sandpaper to get it to work right again. Yes, Kimball has been used and "loved" a lot over the years. 

My kids have grown up playing it... 

My students have spent a lot of time playing it...

And, I'm so, so, so happy that 5 students returned to lessons in the last couple weeks to play it!

Now, as much as I've loved Kimball and have been SO thankful for all the music made on it, I have always wanted to have a baby grand in my home.  I grew up playing on a baby grand in my parents home from the time I started piano lessons at age 5, and there's just something special about it. 

But, because we didn't have central air, we didn't want to put the money into buying a baby grand we couldn't maintain. So it has just been a dream...until yesterday!

A little over a week ago, my friend Tracie texted me pictures of a little baby grand piano and asked if I might be interested in having it for free!?!

Now, I am always hesitant to consider taking a piano that someone wants to give me for free. They are such sensitive instruments, and you always need to know as much as possible about a piano's history and condition before agreeing to take it and assume care of it. 

Upon asking some questions, I learned that this piano was been in a beautiful old mansion that is about to be demolished after sitting empty for at least a year or two. I watched many videos and read up on how to inspect a used piano.  And two of my kids and I went to inspect the piano ourselves.  

We were amazed at the condition the piano was in, 

and felt confident we needed to rescue it to come live at our house!

So just yesterday, the moving company we hired met us at the house in Decatur and carefully packed up  and transported our new friend Fischer!

I followed them and watched them bring it into our house!

And now it is at home at our house!

Fischer will need to rest for a few weeks before I will have it tuned and regulated, so it is a bit quirky right now with some keys having a little more ring...but actually less so than my Kimball, really!

My daughter Annah and I have already spent hours carefully cleaning the keys and wiping down the surfaces on Fischer.  And for now students may choose if they want to play on Fischer or Kimball.  I will disinfect both between lessons so that students have a choice which they sit at, and I will stay at whichever one they don't choose and we will still have social distancing.  

I'm happy that my students and I will get to enjoy this new-to-me piano together!

Returning to In-Person Lessons

July 1, 2020

Hello dear Music In Your Heart students and families!

I hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying this beautiful summertime! I have missed you all very much, and am sorry for going such a long time without checking in with you. I hope you have been continuing to make music even though we haven’t met for lessons. I know that for myself, making even just a little bit of music at home has helped me a lot over the past few months when I felt like there wasn’t much else I could do. 

When the shelter-in-place went into effect in March, I had 16 students who were coming to my home for lessons in-person each week and 4 students on my waiting list to start lessons as soon as possible. I have had one student consistently continue piano lessons online for the past 3.5 months. It hasn’t been ideal for either of us with spotty wifi and cellular connections, but it has been wonderful to continue to learn and make music!

For weeks, I’ve been thinking about how and when to invite students back to my home, and with Illinois entering into its Phase 4 Plan this past week, my husband and I have been discussing how that can happen and how it should look for us. Like every other business and organization, I have to put a number of rules and requirements in place. I don’t like having to do that, but I want to protect my family as well as any of my students who do choose to return to lessons in person, and I want everyone to feel comfortable.

My students and families have all been so flexible with me and my family’s ever-changing schedule over the almost 19 years I have been teaching in my home, and I am ever-so-grateful to all of you for that!!! As much as I may dislike what COVID-19 and its mandates have done to the study and performance of music (and so many other things!), I hope that we can be understanding with each other and be happy to return to making music even though it has to be differently. 

Sadly, my voice students, I still cannot currently consider a way to consider teaching voice lessons within CDC guidelines in person, and I have found that most connections have too much delay to manage online voice lessons. 

I also have to say goodbye to my youngest students for a while longer and not admit any who are younger than [going into] 3rd grade. It is just too difficult to ask a child that young to sit still and not touch anything but piano keys for half an hour, not allow them to use the bathroom if need be, and not have their parent nearby if I need assistance. 

I am also not taking on new students during this time.

I cannot explain to you how much this breaks my heart. I’m so sorry. I pray for and look forward to the day it is deemed safe to return to the important practice of making music together.

Before listing the regulations for in-person piano lessons, I would like to reiterate that I am willing to offer online video piano lessons for those [going into] 3rd grade and older. I have used FaceTime, Google Meet, Skype, Zoom, and would be willing to try any other platform if you have some other preference. (For students younger than high school, I would prefer that a parent stays nearby during the lesson to help with technical issues.)

All students and a parent/guardian (if student is a minor) must sign a liability waiver. 

As a student arrives for each lesson, I will verify that they have had no symptoms of illness in the past 14 days and take/log their temperature with a no-contact thermometer.  If any symptoms or temperature above 100.4, the student may not enter my home. 

Following verification of no symptoms, social distancing of 6 feet will be maintained throughout the lesson. I am fortunate to have a large enough space and multiple keyboards in the room to accommodate this.

Only the student who is having a lesson may come into the house, and the student will only be allowed in the entry way and the music room. The living room, bathroom and all other areas of the house will not be accessible. My family will not be present in the entry way or music room space while I am with a student. 

For students under 18, I will be implementing a written progress report to the parent/guardian following each lesson.

Both student and I will wear facial coverings during the in-person lesson time. 

Before and after each lesson, I will disinfect the piano keys and all doorknobs a student could have possibly come in contact with on their way in/out of my house.

I will be using a timer so that lessons remain within each student’s designated 30-minute lesson period. The timer will start and end at the scheduled 30-minute lesson time, regardless of whether or not a student arrives on time. I will do my very best to complete as much work as possible during the scheduled lesson time, but will have to end when the 30-minute timer goes off. (If further communication is necessary, I will include this in the progress report or via email/text…This has always been the case.)

I will also be implementing an empty 15-minute space between lessons. This should allow students to come and go at completely separate times, as well as give me time to properly disinfect.

If anyone in my household has any symptoms of illness, as always, I will notify students and try to offer an online/video lesson at the usual time if I am able.

Please know that I wish things were not this way. I feel like an old grouch having to implement all these rules. But at the same time, I want as many of you as possible to feel comfortable returning to lessons. I love and appreciate each of you and your families and look forward to seeing you soon.

If you would like to return to lessons in-person, please reply to this email or text me to work on scheduling.

Blessings,

Taryn

Rainy Day Songs

My student, Tim, recorded two great songs for my recording a couple weeks ago, 

very appropriate just before we had a lot of rain. I love them, and think he did a great job!  

It took me a while to find time and pick a song to record, but today, I found this arrangement in a book in my music room and remembered how much I love it.  It felt like the perfect combination of songs, and I hope you enjoy Give Me Jesus with Steal Away.

Challenge and response

Alex took me up on my challenge to record himself practicing! Thank you, Alex!  

    

Since I promised to respond to each video submitted, I recorded myself practicing a fun song today.

 

I hope these videos add joy to your day!  Let's keep making music!

College Voice Jury

Since my daughter is studying music, she is required to do a jury (a graded liveperformance for the voice faculty selected from the pieces she has worked on in her private lessons) at the end of each semester. With classes being online, she was only required to record one song.  I had the privilege of accompanying her on her Mozart aria Deh vieni, non trader from Le Nozze di Figaro. 

Challenge Accepted!

Last night I received the first video of one of my students playing! As promised, I recorded a song today, and here you have a playlist with both! I left some mistakes in my video...It’s a little tricky to feel like you’re playing well enough to record. It’s ok though; just be real.

Thank you, Anna B, for getting the ball rolling! Nice job!! Let’s keep those videos coming!

Let's Try Now

To all my wonderful students and families,

I hope you are well during this trying time of the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Order. I don't even know how to explain how much I miss you all!  A lot!!!

Some would think I should be upset that I'm not able to generate any income right now, but I'm not. Money is not really what it is about for me at this point. I really don't make much working part time, and I am super thankful my husband still has a job to support our family. I really am just worried about all of you being able to continue to learn and use music!

I'd really like to try doing some piano lessons with those of you who would like to and can afford it. It is ok to take some time off here and there, but we are now 7 weeks out from the last lessons I taught. That is almost equivalent to taking a whole summer off--which I never advise!  There is just too much backing up and review that has to take place when there is no practice or progress for that long.  I want your music education to be as seamless as possible, and unfortunately, I don't really foresee being allowed to open my home to you again in the very near future.

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to begin to wrap my head around this and really want to try, but I think maybe we all have been wishing that the shelter-in-place and social distancing orders would end at some point in the foreseeable future. I am starting to feel that things could continue to go on this way for a very long time, and now is the time time to try to adapt and do what we can.

Here are some ways we could attempt online lessons:

1) You could send me videos of you playing your songs.

• This could work better than a live online lesson, as WiFi/cellular connections are not always good enough to see/hear clearly over Zoom or other online meeting apps. 
• I am up for whatever format would work best for you. You could upload videos and send me a link, or you could text or email me video clips of each song. As long as I can see you at the piano and hear you clearly, I can then send feedback (in your preferred format: email, text, reply video) like I would give in a lesson.  
• If you'd like to try this option, we would need to verify whether or not I have copies of your music to look at.  If not, I would need you to send me a picture/scan of the pages I don't have here so I can follow along with your videos.

2) At this point, I would really like to try a FaceTime lesson with someone.

• I've tried Zoom and Google Meet apps, and haven't had much success.  The quality of video and audio have not been good.  
• My own kids have had successful lessons via FaceTime with their private music teachers, and it seems to be the best platform for sound and video to travel both ways at the same time. 
•  If you would be willing to try a FaceTime lesson with me, please shoot me a text and we can get it set up. 
• If it goes well, I would be up for doing FaceTime lessons with as many of you as have access to an Apple device with FaceTime capability!

I believe music and the arts are important in our daily lives right now for our entertainment and comfort, and they will also remain important in the future for our mental and emotional well-being and healing!  Let's keep learning and sharing our talents and gifts!

Recording Challenge

I hope my students are all recording themselves making music at home during this time! It doesn't have to be fancy, but I would love if you would share it with me!

In fact, I challenge you to send me a video of yourself making music!  If you do, I will record myself practicing or performing something and share it here.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some videos of my kids making music in our home and links to their teachers.

This is my 15-year-old son Caeden practicing Guitar before an online Zoom lesson April 2nd with his teacher, Michael Hull. 

You can also check out Mr. Hull's YouTube Channel. He is an amazing classical guitarist and teacher!  We are very fortunate that Caeden has been able to study with him for over 7 years now.

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In February, my daughter Sylvia competed in the Bloomington Normal Youth Symphony Howard Rye Concerto Competition playing the Haydn Cello Concerto and won! That meant she would perform as the featured cello soloist with the orchestra on their concerts in May.  We are so proud of her, and so sad that she will now not have that opportunity, as the orchestra's spring concerts have been canceled due to the shelter-in-place order.

Here is Sylvia practicing the Bach Cello Suite (No. 2) at home, April 6th. 

Sylvia has studied cello with Dr. Adriana La Rosa Ransom for 6 years (after studying violin for 5). Dr. Ransom is Professor of Cello and Director of String Project and the Community School for the Arts at Illinois State University, and has been a wonderful teacher for Sylvia! 

In 2017, Sylvia and I attended an Illinois State University Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Dr. Glenn Block. Dr. Ransom was the featured cello soloist for the world premier of a piece by Carl Schimmel called "There Was, and There Was Not" for solo cello and full orchestra. You can read about and watch this performance here: There Was, and There Was Not

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My daughter Annah is a college freshman studying Music Education. This year she has been at Greenville University studying voice with Caitlin Hadeler. Since she is not on campus now for the last quarter of the year, she had to record a performance of one of the songs she's working on in her voice lessons to be used in an online recital. We have really enjoyed listening to her learn this very difficult piece while at home: The Beauty Is from A Light In the Piazza.

I am so happy to be working with Annah some again while she is at home, and am excited to do both piano and voice lessons with her this summer before she begins school at SIUe--hopefully this fall!

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Remember, the point of this post is my challenge to you, my students!
I challenge you to send me a video of yourself making music!  If you do, I will share your video with permission, and also record myself practicing or performing something and share it here!  Maybe we can have our own virtual recital soon!

Online Music Resources

Here is a short list of websites for you to check out from home. Some are just cool performances to watch, others are fun music games to play, and some are fairly in-depth tools for you to use to deepen your musical skills and knowledge. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions about which sites and sections of sites would be best for you and where you are in your own personal study!


Note Naming Game

Chrome Music Lab - Music Experiments for Kids

Music Tech Teacher - Cartoon story music quizzes!

Classics for Kids - music games

The Remarkable Farkle McBride - video/reading of the book by John Lithgow

Sight Reading Factory - test your sight reading ability by playing along

The Ryhthm Trainer - test your rhythm knowledge by hearing and notating what you hear

5 Crazy Piano Performances You Have to See to Believe

Music Theory.net - music theory lessons online (iOS apps available)

From the Top - an independent non-profit organization that celebrates the passion, dedication, and personal stories of the nation's outstanding young classical musicians

Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration

teoria.com - music theory lessons/tutor

Khan Academy - music basics

Jazz Piano Tips

Update on Lessons During Stay-At-Home Order

Hello dear students and families,

I miss you SO much!  I miss making music with you, seeing your faces, and having you in my home every week and in my life!  I want you to know that you are all so very special to me, and bring such joy to my life!  It is really hard for me not to see you regularly. 

How are you doing?  Have you been using your gift of music during this time? I have to admit, I am struggling sometimes; I feel very "non-essential." But, I do find that when I make time to sit down and sing, play, practice, or even just listen to music, it helps me feel much better.  I hope you have been doing the same, and using your music to help you get through this time.

I have been thinking of all my students, praying you are well, and trying to figure out a way to continue making music with you... I have tried a couple of live online lessons with one student, and I have to say it's not great. With my husband working from home, a college student and 2 high school students doing all their schooling from home, and 15 devices in our home that can connect, our WiFi signal is very tired.  It is just not feasible for me to try online lessons in real time with all 16 of my students right now, which makes me really sad.

There are online resources out there, but music is so personal...I feel like there is no real replacement for one-on-one in-person lessons. However, I feel like there are some ways we can try to connect and move forward with your personal music study if you would like to. Please contact me if you would like to try some different kinds of lessons.

Above all, I pray you are safe, healthy, and enjoying some of the blessings that are coming along with this strange time in life. I know I am truly am happy to have my whole family at home every day, around the table more in a week than we have been in months. I am thankful for time to rest and relax, read, pray, be creative, and catch up with friends on the phone since we are not running, running, running here and there like we usually are. I'm grateful for the coming of spring (even with today's return of winter!) and I look forward to spending more and more time outside in the fresh air.

I would love to hear from you--whether you want to try some kind of continued music lessons or not.  I would love just to hear how you are doing and what you are up to. Feel free to contact me anytime, via email, phone call, text, or social media. 

I miss you and am praying for you!

Taryn

Lessons Canceled Due to COVID19 Stay-At-Home Order

Dear students and families,

I’ve been thinking of you all so much and praying for you as our world navigates the threat of this virus. For now, I’ve decided to cancel all lessons. I’m very sorry, and I hope we will be able to resume soon. If you have questions about my decision, please feel free to ask. 

I truly hope you are well, and will really miss you and making music with you in these next weeks. 

God bless you! 

Taryn

P.S. - If you might be interested in trying lessons online, I’d appreciate hearing from you as I consider if this is something I want to offer in the future. A 2-way lesson would require me to be able to clearly see and hear you at your piano and you to see and hear me at mine via FaceTime, Skype, or another video app. If that’s something that might work for you, let me know.