Here’s a fun way to start your Monday morning! (Check out the whole story behind this event here.)

HT: Chris Foley at The Collaborative Piano Blog

Not once, but twice this week I heard things that brought a smile to my face…

1. Sunday morning after the church service I was talking to a lady about starting her 5-year old daughter in piano lessons next fall. She asked if it was okay for her to start on a keyboard. I told her that I actually require families to have a piano and explained why. After listening and understanding my points, she braced herself and asked how much she should expect to spend for a decent piano. I told her that to get a good lower-end used piano she should expect to spend between $1,000-$2,000. She let out an exclamation and said, “Oh my goodness! I was expecting $5,000 or $6,000! That’s no problem at all.”

2. Monday morning I got a call from a student. The message she left was, “Hello, Miss Natalie. This is Katei. I’m having some trouble working out my fingering on the Beethoven Sonata in F and was wondering if you could help me. Please give me a call. Thanks.”

Now if only those kinds of conversations happened more often!

It is with great excitement that I announce the official launch of the Music Matters Blog Shop! As many of you know, in addition to teaching music I love to do design work. So I thought I’d have some fun creating music-themed designs and selling a line of merchandise. So far I’ve only got one design on a couple of different merchandise items, but I’m really excited about it and can hardly wait to get the shirt I just ordered (the red one)! I’d be willing to do some custom design work for anyone who wants me to create a certain item for them using their studio name, logo, etc. Just contact me and we can work out the details.

Special Offer: At the checkout, I received the option of entering the e-mail address of 5 friends to receive a $5 off coupon for Cafe Press. I will enter the e-mail addresses of the first 5 people who e-mail me and tell me that they’re interested.