Saturday was much busier than anticipated and I know you are anxiously awaiting to see who won the Note Hitter app…
The lucky winner (using random.org) was Amy who said “Great tool to help students! Thanks!” Amy, email me: jennifer@foxxpianostudio.com for instructions to download your new app! Congratulations!
Remember you can purchase Note Hitter for only $1.99.
Our family is huge Disney fans. My husband and I celebrated our honeymoon there, we celebrated at least one anniversary there and on average we take our kids to either Disneyland or Disneyworld about every other year. When I found out that MTNA conference would be held at the Disneyland hotel in 2013 I was so excited for a couple reasons. 1) Staying at the Disney hotel has always been on our wish list 2) It was close to home (AZ). Then I found out that MTNA conference will actually be during our spring break (that never happens). That made me happy because I wouldn’t have to worry about taking my studio spring break the opposite week all of my students have spring break PLUS my family can come along and enjoy Disney!
I thought since we have been to Disney so many times I would share some tips that might be helpful to teachers and their families who decide to visit the most happiest place on earth!
1. Plan on crowds- Even thought California isn’t on spring break that week, doesn’t mean surrounding states aren’t. I know for a fact that AZ and Texas will be. We were crazy and went during our spring break two years ago and yes it was very crowded.
2. Tickets- I would recommend getting park hoppers because then you are not limited to which park. If you find Disneyland is ridiculously crowded that day, hop over to CA Adventures and see if it’s better. I would recommend buying your tickets in advance through the MTNA link. These are going to be much better deals then if you waited and bought them at the park. But be careful what you buy. Even though the Twilight ticket may seem like the most ideal option since we will be in classes all morning/afternoon, depending how many days you want to go to the parks, it might not be. For example a 1 day Twilight park hopper is $76.00 a day. If you plan on going at least 3 days, you get more value for your money by purchasing the 3 Day Park Hopper ($200 versus $76 x 3= $228) Basically the longer you stay, the cheaper to play!
3. Food- Food is expensive at the Disney parks and hotel. So I would plan on bringing some food if you can. (I heard that every Disney resort has a fridge in each room) Food is allowed to bring inside the parks. If you are driving and will have a car, then you can drive to restaurants that surround Disney. This will save you money as well. There are also restaurants that are in walkable distance from the parks. Our family likes to budget and splurge at a couple Disney restaurants while we are there. For some restaurants, like the Blue Bayou (inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride) you will need a reservation. Reservations can book up months in advance so if you think you want to do that, do it now! Use the Dine Line — (714) 781-DINE to book a reservation in advance. Another food tip is eat during the “off” hours. Either early or late, because restaurants, etc… do get very crowded during prime hours. A little tip I learned at our last Disney trip is a cup of water is free! I’m not a big soda drinker and bottled water costs $2.50, but if you ask for a cup of water there is no charge!
4. Hotel- Like I mentioned earlier, I was super excited that this years conference was at the DL hotel so our family will be staying there this year. However in the past we have usually stayed across the street at hotels that are within walking distance for much cheaper.
5. Extra Magic Hours- The perk to staying at a Disney sponsored hotel is the Disney Extra Magic Hours. This is especially good if you have family that is coming to play while you are in classes. Extra Magic hours allow guests to go to the parks early or stay late.
6. Fast Pass- We love our fast passes! So Space Mountain has a 90 minute wait, what do you do? Get a fast pass of course! Fast passes allow you to by-pass the regular line and go into the “fast pass” line which will be a shorter wait. When you get your fast pass you will receive a return time frame when you can get in the fast pass line. On the fast pass ticket it will let you know when you can redeem another fast pass. (Click on link to see list of rides that take fast passes) Fast passes can sell out, so if there is a ride you want to use it on, don’t wait too long! (Especially CarsLand)
7. Rides and Entertainment- If you have never been to Disney I would highly recommend taking in the firework shows, parades, etc… They are spectacular! However if you have seen them, then this is the perfect time to ride the rides that usually have long waits is during those shows. Some rides will also have what is called a “single ride” line. (See link for list of rides that have single ride lines) If you don’t mind sitting next to a stranger on the ride, these lines will save you a lot of time! If you are planning on seeing a firework show or parade plan on crowds, grab a snack (or meal) and find your ideal spot early. (But not so early that you are wasting time on not doing anything) If you are taking along a child, ask a cast member about doing a child swap! If you aren’t big into rides, the beauty of Disney is there is entertainment going on all over the parks all the time. You can just be walking down Main Street and all of the sudden several cast members in costume break out into a song. Take the time to stop and enjoy the entertainment!
8. Weather- Though California is nice in March, it does get chilly at night. So be sure to bring a jacket or sweater. There are many times we have been rained on, so it wouldn’t hurt to bring along a poncho and/or umbrella just in case. Be sure to wear sunscreen!
9. Mobile Apps- It is essential to download a Disneyland and California Adventure app in my opinion. You can see wait times, maps to both parks, restaurant info (including menu’s!) and more!
10. PhotoPass- You might notice Disney photographers hanging around prime picture locations. Even though you have your camera, I would recommend getting a photo pass from a photographer and having them snap your picture as well. It’s free for them to take your picture. You then take your photo pass home, log on and decide if you want to purchase any of those pictures.
11. When to go- Well, we have limited choices of when to go, but the most crowded of course will be on the weekends. So if you are only going to visit the parks for a couple days, then I would go on Tuesday/Wednesday.
12. Comfort- Walking, standing in line, and all this AFTER classes can be wearing on a body. Be sure to dress comfortably and wear comfortable shoes. I would also recommend carry as little as possible. Wear a fanny pack etc… There are lockers, but I personally find it a pain to have to stop the fun to go back to the lockers. Oh, speaking of bringing things, remember you will need to go through security upon entering. So be prepared to unzip your bags, etc… I try hard not to have to bring any bags and just put essentials in our pockets so we can bypass that line.
13. Shopping- The Disneyland hotel is located by DownTown Disney which is a fun shopping experience. There are also plenty of shopping experiences inside the parks. Even though the park may close at 10pm, the stores are usually open 1-2 hours after the park closes. By browsing the stores afterwards, you can avoid the bad rush to transportation. By the way if one of your souvenirs breaks (accidents happen) just take it to the nearest store that carries that product and they will replace it for free. Shopped until you dropped? You do not have to carry your packages around with you all day. You can either have them sent up to the front of the park to pick up on your way out or if you are staying on Disney property you can have them sent to your resort’s gift shop (usually next day- verify how long with cast member).
14. Rest and relaxation- When our family needs a much needed rest, we take the train ride. There are 4 stations– Main Street, New Orleans Square (near the Haunted Mansion), Toontown Depot (next to Small World), and Tomorrowland Station (behind Autopia). It’s nice to sit, relax and see parts of the park that you can only see on the train.
15. HAVE FUN! Disney is a magical place to be! Yes, there will be crowds, and I can pretty much guarantee that mishaps will happen but make the best of it and just enjoy! And hopefully you gave yourself a little extra time off after conference to recuperate before getting back to teaching because you will need it!
See you at MTNA conference! Be sure to say ‘hi’ if you see me!
I’m going to be taking a little blogging break but wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
May you enjoy a blessed holiday with your loved one’s.
Congratulations to Roz and Ashley for being the lucky teachers to win the Music Theory for Beginners app!
Thank you for everyone who commented. I hope you try out the Music Theory for Beginners app with your students! Remember it is on sale right now for only $2.99!
(Roz and Ashley… please email me jennifer@foxxpianostudio.com for instructions how to claim this app!)
Congratulations to Denise Homsley, she is our winner for the NoteWorks app!
Thank you for everyone who commented. Hope you try out the iPad NoteWorks app with your students!
Denise- email me ASAP: jennifer@foxxpianostudio.com to claim your prize!
Only 6 hours left to enter the giveaway for the NoteWorks app! Be sure to leave a comment on the original post here.
Good luck!
One of my favorite business apps I use a lot is called TurboScan. For only $1.99 you can literally have a scanner you can fit in your pocket (using the iPhone or iPod Touch).
TurboScan is super easy to use. It uses the camera of your IOS device and is quick! You can scan multiple pages (love this!) in one document, name your scan, email your scan via a pdf, jpg or png file or simply save it to your camera roll. Scans can be cropped to where you want them,
This week I am passing out Halloween music to my students. Normally when a student borrows a piece I will write all the information on the book down and then type it into Music Teachers Helper. This week however, I realized how much easier it would be just to scan the cover and save it with the students name that is borrowing the music. This was so much faster and has become a new favorite tool for this purpose! When a student returns the music, I will simply delete the file of the scan that I had saved.
Be sure to visit the iTunes store to read more about TurboScan plus some tricks and tips to make sure you have a high quality scan.
Happy Scanning!
Are you familiar with the Animusic DVD’s? You can also find some clips on YouTube if you don’t have the DVD’s. Animusic is a music computer animation production. My students love watching Animusic. I have one student that would watch it every week if he could. The animation in these productions are very detailed and mesmerizing. And believe it or not, students can learn quite a bit from watching these clips (more on that later).
Last February, Intel decided to make a real world version of Animusic’s “Pipe Dream”. Taking 90 days to go from concept to completion, the robot “musicians” use 2,300 balls to produce 120 unique notes on what Intel describes as “off-the-shelf hardware” running “existing software”… and $160k later the real world version was born! Check it out here.
A couple years ago I posted how I use Animusic in my studio and shared some resources. You can review that post here.
This was a popular giveaway which tells me that practicing is one of those things most all teachers struggle with their students at one time or another.
Andrea with TeachPianoToday recently blogged about this subject so I wanted to share her post with some ideas of what can be helpful in your studio.
BigFoot, Ogopogo and Summer Piano Practicing. Which is Real?
Okay, now for what you have been waiting for, our winners for the book, SHHHH… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is Practice
DRUM ROLL….
The lucky two winners for this giveaway is Sarah with Discoveries Piano Blog and Susanne with Oakville Piano Studio. You should be hearing from Andrea from TeachPianoToday.com soon for download instructions!
Congratulations Sarah and Susanne! Hope your students enjoy the activities!
Remember this book is reproducible for your studio. So if you used this with 25 students, the cost is really only $1.60 per student! Not too bad when you think of it that way!
Today I wanted to share with you an app called Flashnote Derby. If you are not familiar with Flashnote Derby, this is a note reading app set in a horse race game style. When students answer notes in a timely manner correctly the horse and jokey move forward, when answered incorrectly they move backwards. As you can see from the pictures, the notes that are drilled can be customizable for your student. You can also customize how many note questions are given and how fast they should be drilled.
I have a student that absolutely loves this app. He likes to see his horse move forward and will play this game again and again to improve his score.
Also included in this app are instructional video’s for learning the note names.
Flashnote Derby is compatible with iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
Luke Bartolomeo, creator of Flashnote Derby was gracious enough to give a copy of Flashnote Derby away to two lucky winners of my blog! Thank you Luke!
How to Enter: Leave a comment on how you use your IOS device in your studio. If you don’t have one yet, let me know how you would use it if you did. For extra entries, mention this giveaway on your blog, Facebook and/or Twitter. Be sure to come back and make additional comments of where you posted about the giveaway. I will be using a random number generator to choose the winner.
Entry Deadline Date: All entries for this giveaway must be received on or before Thursday, June 7th to be eligible to win.
Winner Selection and Notification: A winning number will be generated using Random.org shortly after the Entry Deadline Date. The winner will be announced on this blog on Friday, June 8th.
Claiming Your Prize: Winner must respond within two (2) days of notification or forfeit the prize, in which case an alternate winner will be selected. Your app code will be emailed to you.
GOOD LUCK!
