My home studio is one of my favorite rooms in my house. It’s where I teach and practice and get to be creative. It’s one of the few rooms in the home that solely belongs to me. That room also has an amazing view of unobstructed farmland, one of the major reasons we bought this house. Shortly after moving in, we quickly determined that this would be the ideal teaching space for me. It has a separate entrance, that amazing view, and its location at the back of the house means it keeps the lessons and practicing as noninvasive as possible for everyone else who has to live here. Plus my cats like sitting on top of the piano and watching the birds. The room had some initial issues: it was essentially a sunroom with louvered windows and a screen door when we moved in, to say nothing of the dark grey and maroon paint scheme and faux grass carpet. Putting in actual windows and doors, changing out the flooring, and new paint were among the first things we did after moving here. I swore that I was never going to put any kind of window treatments up because I wanted that view. As you may guess, things change–as they do when you live in a home for many years. A very warm summer, a lack of direct air conditioning in that room, and three fewer large shade trees in the backyard made for a very uncomfortable playing space this summer. The room is also very cold in the winter due to the lack of direct heat. My music library was also out of control. It was organized, but the music was getting bent and misshapen from the way it was stacked on the bookcase. I am a big fan of Marie Kondo, and trust me, she would not have approved of the state of this room. My studio refresh is still a work in progress, but the latest upgrades include new honeycomb blinds, which should have summer heat shielding and cold insulating properties, new magazine files for the music, and a general deep clean of the space. I hope to add a new throw rug and clean out and organize my old CD collection soon as well. It’s amazing how decluttering and improving a space will declutter your mind as well. The peace and calm I feel in that room have risen, which translates to my playing and teaching. I hope the students feel it too and are moved to create great music with me.
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I Write too!I write about flute, classical music, college auditions, positive mindset, and music advocacy. Archives
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