#1 - I quit my job with Fidelity Savings and Loan in January 1981 to teach piano and work on my art career, planning to do both equally. I took my first student in 3/81. The first issue of the newsletter came out in 4/82, and was basically a flier outlining lesson fees. It didn’t become a monthly newsletter until 3/83.

#2 - I stopped advertising for new students in 10/82 and never needed to advertise again.

#7: In June 1983, I was offered the position of being the principal teacher at Pacific Piano and Organ (later Colton Piano) at Hilltop Mall in Richmond, CA. They wanted me to teach all of my lessons in the store and to give the free group lessons that came with the purchase of a new piano. While I was deciding whether or not to accept their offer, I did one six-week session of free lessons to a group of about thirty people ranging in age from about 3-90, some of whom didn’t speak English! What a nightmare! All of the pianos in the store were so badly out of tune that I was embarrassed, and a lot of my families were upset about the prospect of having to go to Hilltop Mall for lessons. I decided to decline their offer!

#14 3/84: My house in Richmond was too small for recitals, so we had two recitals at students’ homes that had large living rooms. I decided to have recitals in my backyard, which was bigger than the house. The dining room acted as the stage, and we took out the sliding glass door, so it was a great “venue” - we just couldn’t do Christmas recitals due to weather! I also started a points system and a sticker book as an incentive for students to practice. Stickers were a huge fad at that time, and students could "buy" stickers each week with their points.

#20 11/84: I vented about a parent who screamed at me and pulled her daughter out of lessons because I was teaching “the devil’s music.” The music in question was from Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" album.

#35 2/86 was a difficult issue to write. My husband had told me on New Year’s Eve that he wanted a divorce so he could “go find himself.” The next year was very difficult, but I ended up on my feet.

#45 12/86 was the first time I asked students for their "Two Biggest Christmas Wishes" and put them in the newsletter. Over the years, that list started to include more and more artists as well.

#56 11/87 was the first issue done on my new Macintosh computer. I still have that little box - almost an antique!

#69 12/88: I was now living in Hercules, CA and announced a house-warming recital.

#74 5/89: This was another very significant issue. My “crazy pianist” logo appeared for the first time, but not yet as a masthead. Yanni was Composer of the Month, and was still relatively unknown. I had sent questions to his record label, and his publicity person answered them for me. It was the first time I did a sketch of the composer, and the first drawing I had done in several years. I had no idea of where this would lead! I had seen Yanni’s first Bay Area concert in 10/88, and was very excited by the experience.

#80 11/89 came shortly after the Loma Prieta earthquake. Ironically, Yanni had called and left a message on my answering machine the night before the quake, saying he would call again the following day. Of course, then the quake knocked out all the phones for the better part of a week, so I didn't get the chance to talk to him for awhile.

#83 2/90: Yanni and I had had the first of two long phone conversations, and he really liked the Composer of the Month I had written about him. This was the first issue with the crazy pianist in the masthead (the one I'm still using.)

#87 6/90: I interviewed Suzanne Ciani by phone, and she was Composer of the Month - my first phone interview!

#95 2/91: Students were given the assignment to write to one of the dads in the group or to “any soldier” during Operation Desert Storm (no worksheets that week!). 41 letters and drawings were sent.

#107 2/92: With my new laser printer, the newsletters suddenly became much easier to read!

#112 7/92: I took groups of students to both Santa Rosa and Berkeley to see Yanni perform with his band (no orchestra!). In Berkeley, we were in the fourth row and were able to meet Yanni after the concert. He remembered me and our phone conversations, and blew students away when he gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek! Quite a birthday that was!

#113 8/92: I bought my grand piano.

#116 11/92: Suzanne Ciani wrote to say that she had moved to Marin County and would like to meet (the start of something very big!!!).

#117 12/92: Suzanne Ciani agreed to do a workshop here.

#145 5/95 In March, my most-advanced student, Gregory Kwok, had performed a solo concert to raise funds to tour with The Continentals, an evangelical ensemble. It was a concert that left me unable to make my closing comments, I was so choked up! Gregory was gone most of the summer of '95, playing the piano and improvising with the group.

#159 6/96: Sixteen students were lined up to play for Suzanne Ciani’s second Hercules workshop. We were on to something!

#163 10/96: I was packing up and getting ready to move to the bay side of Hercules. Pagers were becoming a major nuisance during lessons, and I made it a policy that they needed to be in another room during lessons for non-adult students.

#170 5/97: The first issue of "Wind and Wire" magazine was about to be published. I wrote CD reviews and interviews with artists for the two years it was in operation.

#175 10/97: Another electronic device was becoming a menace, and I banned virtual pets from lessons.

#179 2/98: David Lanz’s instructional video was released, and I about fell off the couch when I saw my name in the "acknowledgements” part of the credits!

#203 2/2000 I started working with John Nicholas at SoloPianoPublications.com writing reviews and interviews for that site. "Wind and Wire" had stopped publication in mid-1999.

#215 2/01 There was also an article about what we would do should “rolling blackouts” interrupt lessons (didn't happen!).

#219 6/01 Real Music hired me to proof-read Kevin Kern’s new songbook from Korea; my first major proofing job! I was approached about doing a workshop with David Lanz when he was touring California in the fall. I got a cell phone that rarely worked, but it was a start!

#223 10/01 I had asked students to give me their definitions of what “Music Is...” and decided to send out a group email to the composers that I knew to get their thoughts as well. That email went out on 9/10/01. From that email, the idea was born to put a compilation album together to help raise funds for the victims of 9/11. The response was incredible, and the result was “The HeartAid Project.” Our first workshop with David Lanz was 10/7/01, and a group of us went to Pleasanton to see him in concert the night before. What an amazing weekend that was, with six or seven composers here along with David and his wife.

#256 7/04 We had the second and third Whisperings Solo Piano Radio concerts at my house. The first night, Suzanne Ciani, Michael Dulin, David Nevue, Janie Horton, and Steven Cravis played; on the second night, it was Michael and David again along with Laura Sullivan, Scott D. Davis, and Brenda Warren.

#277 4/06 David Lanz made a return visit in March to do a workshop with us along with David Nevue and Scott D. Davis. The three artists had performed a Whisperings Concert in Vacaville the night before, and Jeff Bjorck. had flown up to go to the concert with us.

#289 4/07 David Nevue performed our last Hercules house concert in March. I announced that Mom and I were planning to move to Oregon the end of June, and that I was planning to continue teaching over the internet. I was one of the first piano teachers to do that!

#291 6/07 was the last issue of Pianotes to come out of Hercules. There was no issue in 7/07.

#292 8/07 covered a lot of information about online lessons, which I had started mid-July. Of the fifteen students who had committed to doing lessons online, only five followed through, which was disappointing. Several artists offered to help me work out some of the glitches in the audio and visual parts of online lessons, which helped a lot.

#298 2/08 My relationship with Solo Piano Publications ended after about seven years. All of my reviews and interviews needed to be transferred over to my new site.

#299 3/08 I announced the name of my new website, MainlyPiano.com.

#302 6/08 was the first issue posted online.

#313 5/09 Apple Computer was retiring the website program I was using for reviews and interviews and I was racing to convert all of my online files to iWeb.

#331 11/10 I received an email from Apple Computer saying that on all of the web pages that had been created with their old Homepage website program would be removed from the internet. I had to go through and convert all of those pages to iWeb, one page at a time. Again...

#347 3/12 Once again, Apple announced that they were retiring their website software, so I needed to move the site to a new host. I was very apprehensive, but had enough warning that I could get it done!
#353 9/12 Mom and I adopted our Aussie puppy, Joey.