Today's blog post found me wishing to write about so many things, yet I couldn't help but address the elephant in the room that a very big milestone lies ahead for my piano studio, and that is Marcheselli Music Studio's upcoming 10th anniversary celebration in just a matter of weeks.
Even though I have kept reminding myself of this important date ahead, it only really sunk in emotionally just the other day, and I found myself tearing up to think of all the very special learning and teaching moments that have taken place in my studio as I approach 10 years of continuous piano teaching in my own studio. (Otherwise, I actually have over a dozen years of continuous piano teaching experience, since I started out at a recreation center.)
So, in honor of this upcoming anniversary, I will be making some posts dedicated to this milestone. There are so many memories to sift through and yet I find myself landing on the memory of how I first adapted to teaching online in challenging conditions during the recent pandemic.
It took a lot out of me to adapt to this whole new way of teaching that was different from anything that I had ever done before, and yet I had just enough energy and fascination to take on the whole venture of learning about apps and cameras and other gear in order to teach as effectively as possible online as live.
One summer during the pandemic, I remember launching an online “music history and appreciation” camp for a family of young piano students who I met at church and taught a while back. For this camp, I carefully prepared slides and notes and exercises to convey to them remotely, and they ended up having a lot of fun and so did I.
Experiences like this made me warm up to online teaching and I still enjoy it to this day.