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Recently, I was browsing through a book called “Making Music for the Joy of It,” by Stephanie Judy. I was looking through the chapter on practicing, because I was looking for a little inspiration to get my personal practice to the next level. In this chapter, I found a really great tool to help me create better and more focused practice sessions: The Musical Logbook. After I read the chapter, I went to Staples and bought all the supplies to make one, and I have been using it daily for the past 2 weeks. I have to say, my type A personality loves this kind of structure. I thought it would make a fun activity for group workshops with students. There are many opportunities for creativity, and I think making your own individualized logbook inspires you to actually use it and can possibly get you excited to practice. Here is what’s inside:

Every year, I struggle with what to give my students as a token of my appreciation for their hard work when the holidays roll around. I know that giving gifts is not something that I as a studio owner have to do, but it’s something I have enjoyed since I first started out with only a handful of students.

Now that my studio has reached upwards of 50, that complicates my gift-giving efforts just a bit. The homemade DIY gifts I used to give were time consuming and on the expensive side, and even just a few dollars per student adds up quickly.

So in the last two years since my studio exploded (in a good way), I’ve come up with a couple different gift ideas that are practical both financially and time-wise.