Category: Entrepreneur

beginner tutorial, Entrepreneur, learning environment, Music Lessons, piano lessons, piano practice, piano teacher, Singing teacher, Uncategorized

Creative music crafts for children: Reinforce Rhythm and Notes in music Lessons.

lizteachespiano

Music learning for children is all about creativity. While traditional piano and music theory lessons are essential, they can be even more effective when paired with hands-on, imaginative activities. That’s where creative music crafts for children come in!

Crafts bring musical ideas—like rhythm, time signatures, and keyboard layout—off the page and into the real world. They help kids see, touch, and build the concepts they’re learning, turning lessons into play.

In this post, you’ll find two creative music crafts for children that reinforce key skills in rhythm and note recognition. I’m sure you can find these ideas online as I have, I’ve just added my own little twists to them- I recommend you do the same!

🕷️ Craft #1: The 4/4 Rhythm Spider

This adorable Rhythm Spider is more than just a fun project—it’s a clever, hands-on way to explore rhythm and understand 4/4 time signatures.

🧩 How to Make the Rhythm Spider:

  • Start with a spider body (cut from card or paper).
  • Add 8 legs, using paper strips or pipe cleaners.
  • Each leg represents one bar of 4/4 time (4 beats).
  • On each leg, children create their own rhythm pattern that adds up to 4 beats.

They can use:

  • Drawn notes
  • Rhythm stickers
  • Note stamps
  • I recommend black paper and white pen for added realism!

💡 Sample Rhythm Ideas:

  • 4 crotchets (quarter notes)
  • 2 minims (half notes)
  • 1 minim + 2 quavers (eighth notes) + 1 crotchet
  • 1 dotted minim + 1 quaver

Each leg becomes a mini rhythm puzzle for the student. The variety helps students understand that there are many ways to make up four beats.

🎹 Craft #2: Pop-Up Piano Card

This craft transforms the keyboard into a 3D learning tool. The Pop-Up Piano Card helps children visualize and memorize the layout of piano keys—especially the black key patterns that guide note identification.

🧩 How to Make a Pop-Up Piano Card:

  1. Fold a piece of cardstock in half to form a card.
  2. Cut and glue white keys in a row on the inside fold.
  3. Add black keys in groups of 2s and 3s, just like on a real keyboard.

🔍 Learning Goals:

  • Understand how black keys are grouped to help identify white notes
  • Recognize patterns in the keyboard
  • Build familiarity with note names and key positions

🎵 Why Creative music crafts for children reinforce rhythm and notes in music Lessons.

Children don’t just learn by hearing or seeing—they learn by doing. Children are all different, and your lessons should be to.

I recommend adding a craft activity to your lessons for:

Multisensory learning: Combines sight, touch, and movement
Supporting different learning styles: Great for visual and kinesthetic learners
Boosts engagement: Keeps children interested and focused during lessons

Creative music crafts aren’t just fun—they’re a meaningful part of music education. Whatever you decide to make, these activities help children engage in your lessons, and with musical concepts.

So the next time your student struggles with rhythm or note placement, take a break from the piano. Grab the scissors, paper, and glue—and let them build their understanding one beat (or key) at a time.

💬 Have you tried crafts in your music lessons?

Thanks for reading!

beginner tutorial, Entrepreneur, learning environment, Music Composition, music production, Review, synthesizer, Uncategorized

Teenage Engineering PO-14 Sub Review

lizteachespiano

In a world of synths, Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators are quite unique—minimalist, affordable, and surprisingly powerful. The PO-14 Sub, focused on bass synthesis, is the one I chose from the PO family. (I will probably get another!) So here is my Teenage Engineering PO-14 Sub Review!

Here is a link to all the Pocket Operators

Designed for portability and simplicity, the Sub delivers gritty, analogue-style bass sounds with a digital twist. It offers 15 bass synth engines, a 16-step sequencer, built-in effects, and drum sounds—all controlled through a barebones but intuitive interface. It looks like a calculator, and is super fun!

Its raw, punchy tone makes it a great tool for sketching beats, layering textures, or just getting inspired when you’re away from your main setup.

The fact that it fits in your pocket and runs on AAA batteries makes it even more appealing for producers on the move. The sound is surprisingly good for its tiny size (it was even smaller than I thought!).

Thanks for reading my Teenage Engineering PO-14 Sub Review. The PO-14 Sub is a reminder that you don’t need a wall of gear to make interesting music. If you’re into lo-fi aesthetics, heavy bass, or just want a fresh way to explore ideas, the Teenage Engineering’s PO-14 Sub is a great little synth to have!

Business, Entrepreneur, learning environment, Music Lessons, piano lessons, piano teacher, Review, singing lessons, Uncategorized

Inspiring Lessons Through Smart Planning-and a free resource!

lizteachespiano

 Whether you teach piano, violin, or voice — a clear curriculum and planning turns lessons into lasting progress.

Teaching music privately gives flexibility — but without a structured approach, that freedom can become overwhelming. I like organisation and planning. A well-crafted curriculum and plan doesn’t restrict creativity, it supports it. With the right planning and curriculum in place, you can stay consistent, adapt to individual students, and track progress with clarity and confidence.

Here are a few practical tips to help you shape your music lessons:


1. Start with a “Why?”

Ask yourself:

  • What is the goal of your teaching? (Exam prep? Creative expression? Life-long musicality?) These goals may be different for depending on your student.
  • What do you value in a musician? What do you think is important for a student to know?

This helps shape your curriculum— and makes sure every lesson builds toward something meaningful.

Be sure to ask your students “Why?” also. At every trial, I ask my students why they want to learn to play piano or sing. 

2. Design Flexible Learning Plans

You don’t need a rigid syllabus. Instead, create learning levels (e.g. Beginner, Early Intermediate, etc.) and have an idea of what students need to know at each level:

  • Core skills (technique, reading, listening)
  • Repertoire (always get your students input in repertoire also)
  • Creative work (improv, composition, etc.)

A note here: You will be teaching all these things to all your students, but you may have students with particular interests/goals. It is very important that you incorporate their goals into your lessons to give them a personal 1 on 1 experience (after all, that is often what students are having private tuition for) . So if you have a student who wants to get better at sight reading, make sure you plan this into their lesson in a way that works for them. The way one student learns to sight read will be different to another.

3. Plan Lessons in “Mini-Arcs”

Think in 3–5 lesson arcs, rather than one-off lessons. Each arc could have a little focus on:

  • A piece or project
  • A specific technique (e.g. legato playing, bow control)
  • A musical concept (e.g. phrasing, dynamics, rhythm)
  • What do I want the student to know or do by the end of this arc? (Ask the student for their input as well.)
  • How will I break that down across lessons?
    You will still need to be covering everything they need to know in the lesson, but there wil be a time in the lesson you can focus on this particular area. 

4. Keep your Lessons and Curriculum Balanced

A well-balanced music lesson usually includes:

  • Warm-up or review (5–10 min)
  • Technique focus (10–15 min)
  • Repertoire (15–20 min)
  • Creative or listening activity (5–10 min)

Mixing modes — playing, listening, creating — keeps energy up and supports different learning styles.

5. Reflect and Adjust Often

After each lesson, jot down:

  • What worked?
  • Challenges?
  • Next step?

Even a 1-minute note helps you spot patterns and adapt. Over time, this turns into a useful resource for planning and curriculum insight.

It is a lot of work being a private music teacher! Planning and preparation of every students lessons does take time. However, if you do stay consistent with goals and planning- not only is beneficial for the student- but beneficial for you as a teacher- you go into each lesson calm and prepared. 

You don’t need a one-size-fits-all curriculum- you need a framework that guides each student’s journey. If you’re a little stuck on how to begin, use this lesson plan document to jot ideas down. I would recommend in time you begin to make more personal plans and layout, but to make a start I hope this will be useful!

With structure and planning, your lessons become more purposeful, and your students feel the difference. 

beginner tutorial, Entrepreneur, Music Composition, music performance, music production, Review, singing lessons, Singing teacher, synthesizer, Uncategorized

Eventide Space pedal: More Than Just Reverb?

lizteachespiano

I have never used a guitar pedal before, so I wasn’t even sure what to expect. I know pedals add effects like distortion or delay, but does it make a real difference? Pedals all seemed a bit like background stuff, or pedals are for people so proficient they know exactly what it will aid with. So when I managed to try out the Eventide Space pedal — this mysterious, brick with 11 knobs and names like “Blackhole” and “Mangled Verb” — I wondered what it would do.

What happened instead was more like falling to another dimension of live sound 🌠.

There isn’t just delays and distortion. Its texture, depth, movement — sounds I didn’t even know a guitar could make. As someone totally new to the world of pedals, the Eventide Space really inspired me in guitar playing and musical ideas.

If you’ve ever wondererd, “What would it sound like if my guitar was echoing inside a black hole?” —now you can wonder no more!

First Impressions:

Physically, the Eventide Space is built like a tank — solid, black, serious. It looks more like a piece of studio gear than a pedalboard buddy. There’s a screen, 11 knobs, multiple footswitches, and lots of buttons. I like how tactile it is.

If you’re coming from a basic Hall/Room pedal, your first reaction might be: “Wait… what do all these do?” If you take a minute or two to play around with sounds and then twist knobs the other way whilst playing sounds, you’ll figure it out quite quickly.

Yes, Space does hall, room, plate, and spring — and they sound good. But that’s not why people buy this thing.

People buy Space for the Blackhole, Shimmer, and MangledVerb algorithms — lush, sweeping, otherworldly sounds that feel more like film scores than guitar FX.

Put simply- it sounds really cool without having to try.

And the modulation. The delays. The reverse features. You start with reverb, but end up somewhere between Blade Runner and a sunrise on Mars.

Not Just for Guitar

One of the best-kept secrets about Space is that it works on vocals, synths, and even drums. I’ve yet to try this yet, but I will. In fact, some producers treat it more like an outboard effect than a pedal . Ambient musicians and post-rock bands would especially love it for its pad-like qualities.

Specifications

  • 100 presets (including 50 user slots)
  • Full MIDI control
  • Expression pedal inputs
  • tap tempo
  • A “HotSwitch” for instant changes

you can get incredible results by just tweaking three knobs: Mix, Size, and Decay.

This is actually a Drum and Bass song I wrote (which you can check out here with all my music), but I’m demonstrating how inspirational and diverse this pedal is.

Downsides?

Very few.

  • Price: Around 5000kr , so it’s not cheap.
  • Learning curve: If you don’t like menus, be prepared to spend time tweaking.
  • Mono input: It can limit how you use it with stereo rigs without extra routing.

These feel like small trade-offs for what you get in return.

Here is a link if you want to look at it further Eventide Space Pedal

 Who Is This For?

Bedroom guitarist chasing dreamy soundsYes, but expect to lose hours
Ambient musician layeringAbsolutely
Straight-ahead blues playerMaybe try a simpler cheaper pedal
Studio producer or synth wizardThis is gold!

The Eventide Space is the kind of pedal that makes you play differently. Think less about solos and more about soundscapes. Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s deep. But if you want reverb that feels like actual space, this is the one🌌.

Thanks for reading!

beginner tutorial, Business, Entrepreneur, learning environment, Music Composition, music performance, music production, synthesizer, Uncategorized

Review: Polyend play + groovebox

lizteachespiano

I recently got to try the Polyend Play + groovebox by Polyend, and thought I could share some thoughts and review it—especially for those of you who are more of a beginner in music gear like me!

What Is It?

The Polyend Play + is a groovebox—basically a music-making machine that lets you:

  • Load sounds (called samples)
  • Sequence beats and melodies
  • Jam and experiment with music—no computer needed!

Think of it like a beat-making playground. You can try out some ideas and also use to enhance your live performances.

Who It’s For:

  • Producers wanting a hands-on groovebox with solid DAW sync and good sound design options.
  • People comfortable with importing samples and diving into menus.
  • If you want to add layers and beats to your live performances

 What I Liked:

✅ Super fun to use – You can start making beats right away. It comes with hundreds of built-in sounds, and the colourful grid makes it easy to build loops. It has a ‘Fill’ function which is great!
✅ Playful and creative – You don’t need to know music theory. It encourages happy accidents and experimenting.
✅ Looks amazing – The interface is clean, the lights are bright, and it’s just fun to look at and touch.

Polyend Play + groovebox review

Pros and Cons

👎

  • Menu diving for editing—knobs aren’t fully descriptive; deeper edits require interface navigation, so to change reverbs/delays/LFO etc you will need to go a bit deeper into menus and know what you want.
  • Squares everywhere– it helped me to think of bars in classical music, and then tracks in a DAW for each horizontal line of squares- but the layout does take a bit of time to get your head around.
  • User reports of bugs/crashes—I made a drum and bass beat, which another time suddenly glitched out and deleted. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to re create and it didnt do it again, but for some this could be very upsetting! Many fixes are firmware-based; results vary by unit.

👍

  • Impressive sound palette – synth engines sound rich, not thin or digital, and pair well with sample tracks- the control of sound and how much you can play with the sound is very professional.
  • Workflow + Perform mode = Once you have a basic idea of what the buttons do then you can create something very cool very quickly. Step repeater and Fill make jamming truly engaging You can get a loop going in no time at all.
  • DAW integration is smooth thanks to multichannel USB streaming.
  • I also really like it has Synthesizer function! These have so many sounds to choose from.

Ive linked a more technical/ spec heavy review here

Polyend Play+ is a powerful, fun, and creative groovebox with next-level synth engines and very flexible sequencing. Whether you are a studio composer or want to make beats live- if you value sound quality, technology and integration, it’s a compelling choice.

Let me know your thoughts if you’ve tried this or another groovebox! Thanks for reading!