Have you ever wished to have elves in your studio to help with all that “not fun at all” everyday lesson preparation routine? Have you ever been frustrated and annoyed with the size of your preparatory workload? Well, here are four little things to make your life a hundred times easier. Here is my list of the best Piano Studio Office Helpers:
Printer
It is hard to believe, but this piece of office technology is a life-saver. I print a lot. In black/white, and in colour too. Worksheets, games, cards, music, and invoices. It’s hundreds of pages weekly. My printer is old and easy to please. It is ink-jet and works with compatible cartridges and any type of paper. I got it for free with a laptop purchase 8 years ago. My Canon survived 3 big moves with me, Vancouver-Toronto-Ottawa. And there is still a lot of life left in him. To make my printing sufficient, I prefer to buy a Remanufactured Ink Cartridge Replacement for $40.00 CAD for one B/W and one colour cartridge, approximately 400 pages per black ink cartridge & 300 pages per colour one.
Paper
Paper doesn’t sound like a big deal. However, I do have a bunch of different paper choices in my office. For the regular music sheet and worksheet printing, invoices, and letters to parents I use 20lb white paper. I also noticed that 80lb paper from Costco is more opaque than the same 20lb printing paper from Amazon and Staples. For the flashcards and game boards 76lb, 80lb, or even 110lb paper is befitting, which I usually buy from Michael’s or Amazon. Nevertheless, with this thickness of paper, you have to be careful. Depending on the printer model double-sided printing could present a challenge. I prefer one-side printing for everything except sheet music.
Paper Trimmer
The humongous amount of printing and cutting things to pieces is rather time-consuming. To maximize productivity and decrease time usage; I have two wonderful paper trimmers. One of them to make precise cuts and another one to cut fast and in large masses. The precise roller trimmer cuts the letter size paper of any weight. At any rate, the guillotine trimmer will do quite the same but allows for 3-5 pages to be cut at once. It has a very detailed ruler and an ideally sharp knife.
Laminator
One of the last addition to my office is a laminator. I have only recently gotten my hands on a laminator. It proved to be a rather useful tool for minimizing paper and printing costs. Basically, this magical device allows you to immortalize your papers, allowing them to be used over and over again.
To Have Fun
If you looking for fun printables to spice your piano lessons, please visit Start Piano Studio shop here. Games, cards, worksheets and free printables will make your lessons unforgettable! And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter where you will learn even more!
