Chocolate Eighth Notes: A Sweet Valentine’s Day Treat

Every Valentine’s Day I like to make my students a little music-themed treat. This year I made these cute chocolate eighth note!

Chocolate eighth notes are arranged in a circle with the flags at the center. The chocolates are surrounded by tiny pink hearts.

Check out my Valentine’s Day round-up post with more Valentines treats, activities and games!

If you’d like to make these sweet treats, here’s what you’ll need:

Depending on the size of the heart-shaped chocolates you are using, you may need to trim your coffee stirrers. I cut mine in half by etching a notch in the coffee stirrer with the X-acto knife. Then I broke the stirrer in half.

An X-acto knife cuts a coffee stirrer

Paint the coffee stirrer pink and cut out the eighth note flags from the cardstock. Glue the flags to the coffee stirrers with stick glue.

A pink eighth note flag and stem are placed next to a bottle of pink paint and a tube of stick glue.

Apply the double-sided tape to the end of the coffee stirrer.

The crafter applies double sided tape to the end of the pink eighth note stem.

Press one of the chocolate hearts onto the double-sided tape.

A chocolate is pressed against the tape on the pink eighth note stem

Apply double-sided tape the other side of the coffee stirrer and to the wrapping of the chocolate heart.

The crafter applies double sided tape to the back of the chocolate’s wrapper and the back of the pink eighth note stem

Press the second chocolate heart onto the first heart and stirrer.

The crafter presses the other chocolate onto the double sided tape

Optional: Write a message on the flag.

The crafter uses a black fountain pen to write a sweet message on the flag of the pink chocolate eighth note

And there you have it! 🙂 My students loved these sweet notes!

The pink chocolate eighth note sits on a piano keyboard

Explore more creative teaching ideas
  • Valentine’s Day Round-Up
    Make Valentine’s Day special for your students with free downloadable piano-themed Valentine’s cards and lots of music theory games that will have your students seeing hearts!
  • Sweet Words
    Love doesn’t come easy but Sweet Words certainly help! Your students will get all the feels with this elementary-level Valentine’s Day note-reading and keyboard awareness game.
  • I Can Heart-ly Wait for the Punchline
    A heart themed laugh-out-loud note reading game. I love this game because not only do students have to think about keyboard geography, they also have to be able to associate the notes with their exact location on the piano. 
  • Sky High Love
    The rhythms get longer as the heart towers get higher! Whose tower will remain standing in the end?! This adrenaline-inducing rhythm game is a great way to kick-off a lesson and get the energy up.

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Classical Music Easter Eggs

I LOVE a good classical music pun and I feel it’s my responsibility as a piano teacher to share all of the awesome classical music puns with my students! Fortunately they humor me and get a kick out of it too (I mean who doesn’t love a good dad joke?!).

Each year I’ve been challenging myself to come up with different Easter egg crafts to hand out to my students before our Spring break. Last year I made music note eggs which were a big hit! This year our recital theme is Joseph Haydn so I decided to make a classical music pun egg for my students to 1) help them remember how to properly pronounce Haydn’s name and 2) get a chuckle out of them.

Four composer easter eggs with Haydn, Liszt and Handel sit in a pile of pink fake grass.

They are easy and cheap to make which is always a winning combo in my book! I even took it a step farther and made a couple of other designs just for fun. The possibilities are truly endless with this craft!

For this craft you will need:

Take a piece of copier paper and place it on top of a sheet of tissue paper. Using a pencil, gently trace the outline of the copier paper onto the tissue paper. Cut the tissue paper along the lines you traced. The tissue paper should now be the same size as the copier paper.

A person traces a the outline of a sheet of copier paper onto a sheet of white tissue paper using a green mechanical pencil.
A person cuts a sheet of white tissue paper using a pair of pink scissors.

Place the tissue paper on top of the copier paper and tape the top edge of the papers together (this will give the tissue paper stability when it runs through the printer). I used painter’s tape but any tape will do. Trim any excess tape off the edges of the papers.

A person tapes together a sheet of copier paper and a sheet of white tissue paper using blue painter's tape.
A person folds over a strip of blue painters tape to secure two sheets of paper together.

Feed the taped edge of the papers into your printer and print out your design onto the tissue paper.

Paper is feed into a laser printer.
A sheet with mutliple images of the classsical music composer Joseph Haydn exits a printer.

Cut out the designs carefully.

Multiple images of classical music composer Joseph Haydn lay on a wood desk.

Apply a coat of Mod Podge to the area of the plastic egg where you will be placing the design. Place the design onto the egg.

A person applies a layer of Mod Podge to a light blue plastic easter egg.
A person glues an image of Joseph Haydn to a blue plastic easter egg.

Gently tap the design into place and apply a layer of Mod Podge on top of it to seal it. Set the egg aside to dry.

A person taps the image of Joseph Haydn onto a blue plastic easter egg.
A person seals the image of Joseph Haydn onto a blue plastic easter egg using Mod Podge and a paintbrush.

Once the egg is dry, take a Sharpie and write your message on the egg. In my case I wrote: “What’s Haydn in the egg?”

A person writes a on a blue plasitc easter egg using a black Sharpie permanent marker.

Gently pop the egg and carefully cut the design where the seam of the egg has been glued shut using the X-acto knife (utility knife). Then fill the egg with goodies!!

A person cuts the image of Joseph Haydn along the seam of a blue plastic easter egg using an xacto utility knife.
A person fills a blue plastic easter egg with candy.

I loved my Haydn egg so much I decided to experiment with a few other designs for fun! One with sheet music and two with composer puns: “Grocery Liszt: Candy, Candy, Candy!” and “Handel with care!“

Classical music pun on plastic easter eggs sit in a pile of pink grass.

Explore more creative teaching ideas
  • Top Practice Tools Every Piano Student should Have: Curiosity
    Curiosity is the catalyst that gets students to start learning the piano in the first place and can be exactly what’s needed to keep them going for the long haul. Why is it so important and how do we keep it going? What if I don’t play an instrument, but want to encourage my child in their practicing? Check out all the answers plus download a free printable for parents!
  • Compose a Ringtone
    Ringtones are helpful but what if we could make them special too?! This is a fun and quick project that even the most reluctant students can get behind. Plus it makes a sweet Mother’s or Father’s Day gift!

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Plastic Egg Music Notes

I recently came up with the idea of making music notes out of plastic eggs. I made them as Easter gifts for my students (I put a few pieces of chocolate and candy inside each one). They all loved them! And they were super affordable to make (which is important when you have a lot of students!).

I ended up having so much fun making them, I not only made one for each of my students but also made a bunch for myself. And that’s because my mind was swimming with ideas on a variety of different ways to use them:

  • gifts for students as they head off for summer vacation
  • music teacher gift (make some for your child’s school music teacher and fill them goodies!)
  • music theory games (more on that is a future post!)
  • kid’s craft for a music-themed summer camp
  • decorations for your piano studio or music room

There are so many possibilities! And bonus… they are SO easy to make. Here is a video showing the whole process:

To make your own plastic egg music notes, you will need:

Black self adhesive craft foam sheets, five black plastic eggs, a bunch of black pipe cleaners, and two stick of black hot glue sit on a white table.

Whatever plastic eggs you decide to use (I think colorfully ones would be so adorable, too!), remember to look for plastic eggs that have two holes in the bottom (the wider half of the egg).

Hands hold the halves of a black plastic egg

Fold one of the pipe cleaners in half and thread the two ends of the pipe cleaner through the holes in the bottom half of the plastic egg. Make sure to start on the inside of the egg so the ends of the pipe cleaner are on the outside of the egg.

A black pipe cleaner has been bent in half and a hand points to the bend.
A black pipe cleaner is threaded through the holes in the bottom of a black plastic egg

Pull the ends of the pipe cleaner through and twist them tightly against the egg. You may want to push the pipe cleaner on the inside of the egg so that it is flush on the inner wall of the egg.

Then twist the two ends of the pipe cleaner together from the base of the egg all the way up to the ends of the pipe cleaner.

A black pipe cleaner is twisted to the bottom of a black plastic egg
Half of black plastic egg is held up to show how a black pipe cleaner was attached to the end of the egg

Since I was making a bunch of music notes, I made an eighth note flag stencil out of cardboard. I traced the flag onto the back of self-adhesive craft foam. Then I flipped the stencil over to get a mirrored image of the flag and traced the flag again. I was able to stencil 12 flags onto a single sheet of self-adhesive craft foam.

Hands trace an eighth note flag cardboard stencil onto the backing of a sheet of self-adhesive craft foam
Hands trace a second eighth note flag cardboard stencil onto the backing of a sheet of self-adhesive craft foam

Cut out the flags. It is now time to assemble the three parts of the music note!

Half of a black plastic egg with a black pipe cleaner attached to it sit between two black eighth note flags made of self-adhesive craft foam

Bend the pipe cleaner about an inch from the top. This will provide a secure connection point for the craft foam.

Hands bend a black pipe cleaner

Peel back the paper backing from one of the craft foam flags. Press the bended end of the pipe cleaner against the sticky side of the craft foam. Make sure that the stem of the note is along the edge of the flag but still sticking to the flag.

Hand peels the white paper backing off of black self adhesive craft foam
A pipe cleaner is placed on the sticky side of black self adhesive craft foam

Remove the backing of the second craft foam flag and carefully lay the sticky side of the flag carefully onto the sticky side of the first flag. The pipe cleaner should be sandwiched between the two craft foam flags. Be careful when sticking the flags together… the adhesive is very sticky and once they touch, you cannot pull them apart without ripping the craft foam.

Hand peels the white paper backing off of a second black self adhesive craft foam
Two black self adhesive craft foam eighth note flags are glued together.

Press the flags together to secure everything together.

Hands press together two pieces of black self adhesive craft foam

This part is optional but if you plan to use the plastic egg music notes for games or as decorations, I would strongly suggest adding this step. My experience is that the craft foam tends to separate over time. It will hold together in the short term, but over time the craft foam flags will have to be pressed together again on occasion.

In order to make everything hold together in the long term, I suggest running some hot glue along the seams of the craft foam flags (at the edges where the two flags meet).

I also like to add a dot of hot glue at the base of the stem, where the pipe cleaner exits the holes of the egg, to help the stem stand up straight. The stem will usually stand up straight with a little adjusting, but the glue gives it a little extra support.

A hot glue gun loaded with a black hot glue stick applies glue to the edges of the plastic egg music note
A hot glue gun loaded with a black hot glue stick applies glue to the base of the plastic egg music note

The plastic egg music note is all done and ready to be filled with some treats!!!

A plastic egg music note is loaded up with a piece of chocolate

Explore more creative teaching ideas
  • The Die of Destiny
    Sometimes  a student will walk into my studio without their usual bounce in their step. I’ve found that a little silliness and a dash of chance gets them in the mood to pull out their piano books and play music. The Die of Destiny is a fun and quick lesson starter to get students playing.
  • Compose a Ringtone
    Ringtones are helpful but what if we could make them special too?! This is a fun and quick project that even the most reluctant students can get behind.
  • Two Sides of the Same Coin
    A game about enharmonics that can be played in several different ways! Students will try to collect the most enharmonic pairs and hope that their coins don’t get stolen by another player.

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Music-Themed Candle Craft

Every year I make my students a music-themed gift around the holidays (usually an ornament! You can check out last year’s gift here). I have a lot of students so I always opt for a handmade gift because 1) I love crafting and showing my love for others through crafting and 2) it’s extremely cost effective.

I gift them to my students at our last lesson of the year and it always warms my heart when parents share pictures of my ornaments on their trees year after year. This year I decided to transform battery-operated candles into little piano themed lights for their pianos at home. I made a total of 36 candles and the final cost was roughly $1.50/candle (not including the time to make them, which was several hours spread out over 3 days. Time is always something to keep in mind when crafting in quantity!).

If you’d like to watch me craft a candle, check out my YouTube short:

For this craft you will need:

Picture of tools and supplies needed to complete the craft. Tools required are hot glue gun and glue, Mod Podge waterbased sealer and glue, paintbrush, scissors, bowl, and nail file. Supplies needed are battery-operated candles, music note napkins, glitter, twine and your choice of embellishments (such as ribbon, keyboard charm, jingle bells, and sequin holly leaves).

Start by opening up the napkin and loosely measuring how many candles you can cover with a single napkin. My candles were 2 inches high and 1.5 inches in diameter, which allowed me to cut the napkin into eight equal rectangles. Cut the napkin according to the measurements of your candles.

Music note napkin unfolded with a pair of scissors hovering over it, indicating that the napkin should be cut into rectangles to fit the battery-operated candles.
Music napkin cut into eight equal rectangles.

The napkins I used have 3 plies (layers of napkin) which would make them a little thick and prone to wrinkling. I removed one of the plies (you could remove two plies and keep only the layer that has the sheet music printed on it. I tried this and found the napkin to be extremely delicate when gluing to the candle. One ply is possible to work with, just be extra gentle).

Napkin has three plies. Photo shows the back ply being removed to make the napkin thinner.

Now that the napkin is all prepped, cover the battery-operated candle with a layer of Mod Podge (or white glue).

Battery operated candle is being covered with a layer of Mod Podge (sealant glue) using a paintbrush.

Carefully attach the napkin to the candle, patting it gently to adhere it to the candle. If the napkin has any indentations in it, you can carefully smoothen them out by running your finger across them.

Music themed napkin rectangles is placed on the battery operated candle covered in glue.

Once the candle is dry, use a nail file to scrape the excess napkin off. Remember to always move the nail file towards the center of the candle (not away from it!) to keep the napkin from tearing. The napkin will fall off and leave a nice clean finish to the bottom and top of the candle.

A nail file is being scraped against the edge of the battery operated candle to remove the excess napkin from the candle.
Photo show the napkin easily falling off by using the nail file. This method leaves a clean edge along the candle.

Add a layer of Mod Podge over the napkin to protect it. Once it is dry, it will give the candle a slightly waxy look, like a real candle.

A layer of Mod Podge (sealant glue) is place on the candle with the napkin to protect the napkin.

Apply a thick layer of Mod Podge along the outer and inners rims of the candle to make it look like melted wax.

A paintbrush is used to apply a thick layer of Mod Podge (sealant glue) along the outer rim of the candle to imitate melted wax.
A paintbrush is used to apply a thick layer of Mod Podge (sealant glue) along the inner rim of the candle to imitate melted wax.

Pour the glitter into a small bowl and dip the candle with the thick layer of Mod Podge into the bowl to cover the Mod Podge. The “melted wax” will now have a sparkly shine to it.

The candle is dipped into a bowl filled with white glitter. The glitter sticks to the Mod Podge (sealant glue) along the inner and outer rims, making the melted wax sparkle.

Time for the embellishments! Apply a little hot glue to one end the ribbon and attach it to the candle. Measure how long the ribbon should be to wrap completely around the candle and trim it to size. Glue down the rest of the ribbon.

Apply hot glue to the ribbon embellishment.
Wrap the ribbon embellishment around the battery operated candle. Cut the ribbon to size and glue in place.

Cut enough of the twine string to wrap it three times around the candle (leave a little extra on both ends to tie it into a bow!).

Wrap twine around the red ribbon embellishment 3 times.

Thread the keyboard charm onto the twine string and tie a bow.

Thread the keyboard charm through the twine and tie the twin in a bow.

Depending on the size of the charm (mine was rather large), add a little bit of hot glue to help hold it in place.

Apply hot glue to the back of the keyboard charm to help hold it in place.

Hot glue the holly leaves to the candle. I placed mine right above the twine bow.

Holly leaf sequins are hot glued to the candle as additional embellishments.

Final touch! Hot glue the jingle bell to the candle.

A golden jingle bell is hot glued to the candle and holly leaves as a final embellishment.

And there it is! Have fun experimenting with different embellishments (I used a red and white twine on some candles and replaced the holly leaves for gold glittery leaves on others)… if you teach siblings, it’s always nice to have something a little different so they each have their own special gift. You can even use a larger candle to make a beautiful holiday decoration for your piano (because we teachers deserve pretty things too!).

Finished music note candle craft sitting on a piano keyboard. The candle has red ribbon and twine tied around it as well as a keyboard charm, holly leaves and a jingle bell as embellishments.

They look so pretty together all lit up and ready to head off to my students’ homes!

Several music note candles sitting on a piano keyboard. The candles are lit up. The candles have red ribbon and twine tied around them and have a keyboard charm, holly leaves and a jingle bell as embellishments.

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25 Piano Gifts for Young Musicians

Looking for a last minute holiday gift to inspire your child to pick up their instrument and practice more in the new year?

Every year I send out piano-related gift suggestions to my piano families. It’s a nice way for parents to encourage and recognize all the hard work their kids put into practicing (because, unfortunately, the piano doesn’t always get the same sort of fanfare as sports and other extra-curricular activities). The list is always a mixture of useful and fun stuff and the kids always enjoy showing me the piano gifts they received when they come back from our Holiday break.

Everything on this list I’ve either purchased for myself, have had students purchase, or is currently on my wish list (in case anyone’s looking for a last minute gift for me! lol).

Here are my top picks for this 2022 Holiday Season!

Practice/Lesson Helpers

Metronome – The friend and nemesis of all musicians! It is always a useful tool to have at the piano. This metronome is a great size and has volume control (my mom for one could not stand the ticking sound of the metronome!). I loved it so much that I bought several to use with the children’s band at my church.
Metronomes are essential for practice and came in at no. 3 on my list of the Top 7 Practice Tools Every Piano Student Should Have.

Music Book Clip – There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of playing a piece and watching the book slowly shutting! This book holder will help keep those books laying flat on the book rack.
This is another essential practice tool and came in at no. 6 on my list of Top 7 Practice Tools Every Piano Student Should Have.

Manuscript Paper for Younger Kids – A perfect sized notebook for writing down compositions. It has a nice wide staff (easier for kids to write music on), 100 pages, and is 8.5 x 11 inches.
Manuscript paper is incredibly versatile and important for any piano student which is why it took the No. 2 spot on my list of Top 7 Practice Tools Every Piano Student Should Have.

Manuscript Paper for Older Kids and Teens – A perfect sized notebook for writing down compositions. It has holes to easily fit inside a three-ring binder, 64 pages, and is 8.5 x 11 inches.

Sheet Music Folder – I love the idea of students curating a folder of their favorite pieces. Pieces that they have mastered and loved and can easily revisit anytime they feel the urge to just play! This folder is a perfect place to put these pieces. The plastic sheet protectors keep those precious favorites safe as they are played over and over again!

Books

All About the Grand Staff with Guido D’Arezzo and Yookan the Toucan – Shameless plug of my book! It is a great choice for students who are just starting to learn to read music on the grand staff. My daughter has been playing for years and she picks up this book at least once a month to read for fun! She’s my biggest and best cheerleader! For more on my book, visit my blogpost about it.

Family Dynamics – An adorable adventure into the orchestra. Children get to meet the different instrument families along with Violin as she discovers her unique sound. Created by a music educator, the illustrations are whimsical and full of life.

Who was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? – The Who Was series is a great introduction for kids to learn about famous people, places, and events throughout history. In this book from the series, kids get to meet the great Classical Period composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! I’m still waiting on a “Who was Ludwig van Beethoven?”…

Robert Schumann’s Advice to Young Musicians – Robert Schumann besides being an innovative and extremely creative composer, was a prolific writer. His original “Advice to Young Musicians” was published in 1848 and so much of it still holds true today! World-renowned cellist and author, Steven Isserlis takes Robert Schumann’s words of wisdom and brings them into our times, providing some additional thoughts from his own career. The chapters are short and filled with encouragement, advice and wisdom. For older readers and teens.

Why Beethoven threw the Stew – Steven Isserlis introduces older kids and teens to the people behind the great music! Ever witty and always informative, Isserlis brings six of his favorite composers to life: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Stravinsky. And if your kid enjoys this book, don’t miss the sequel Why Handel Waggled his Wig!

T-Shirts

A little humor, a lot of keys, and mega dose of style!

Music Literacy Matters – I often have to go over how 1st and 2nd endings for repeated sections work with my students. This t-shirt is a hilarious way to remember how they work! It’s the music version of “Eats shoots and leaves”. LOL

Piano Girl – This one I bought for my daughter years ago and she still wears it! It’s a favorite around here. Over time (and numerous washes!) it has taken on a vintage look which has made it look even cooler.

Music Theory – I have a music theory cheat sheet poster on my studio wall from Tone Deaf Comics. The kids are fascinated by it and we often refer to it when we are talking about theory concepts (especially the circle of 5ths). This t-shirt allows them to wear their music theory with pride!

Grand Piano Patent Print – The technical drawing of a 1928 grand piano patent looks incredibly cool on this t-shirt. Pianos are always cool, but there is something to be said about the beauty of a technical drawing showing the intricate details of the construction of a grand piano.

Think outside the Bachs – Ok, I laughed a little too hard at this one. And I’ve decided to get it for myself; it’s perfectly nerdy! It’s for the all die-hard classical pianists out there.

Accessories

Music Themed Jibbitz –  Let them bling out their Crocs with these adorable jibbitz.

Piano Purse  – Seriously, how cute is this?!! I’ll probably end up getting this for myself. (Update: I did!! I actually got the black and white one AND the pink one! They are adorable!)

Piano Necktie – This is perfect for a recital! I’m hoping one of my students shows up at our 2023 recital wearing this.

Piano Winter Scarf – This reminds me of a scarf that my grandmother knitted for me when I was a teenager. It’s a very stylish way to stay warm this winter!

Piano Shoelaces –  Imagine these on a cute pair of Converse sneakers. Adorable!

Fun Stuff

My Piano Pal Pillow – This adorable little pillow will smile at you no matter how your practice session is going! Handmade by a music educator and oh-so-cute, this pillow is perfect for any young pianist’s bedroom! It also comes in a version without a face.

Music Blanket – And if you have a piano pillow, you definitely need a blanket to curl up into while practicing on these cold winter nights or just to snuggle with.

Piano Tumbler – Because you need to stay hydrated while practicing (just remember to put it on the floor, not on top of the piano!).

Rainbow Music Tumbler – For those of us who dream of rainbow colored music (or have synesthesia, like Scriabin and Liszt claimed they had. They said they could see specific colors when they heard different notes.)

Pastabilities Music Pasta –  I thought this was hilarious! It’s a bit pricey for pasta, but you can make a whole themed-dinner out of it (and maybe even get your child to give a little mini-recital for the family! That’s what one of my piano families did!).

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Composition Project: Compose a Ringtone

Creating a ringtone can be a fun and quick composition project for students! Since a ringtone is short (40 seconds) and, therefore, the composition needs to be short, it is a great little project even for students who are reluctant to compose or for very young kids. And as an added bonus, it can be made with someone specific in mind… for example, for mom as a gift for Mother’s Day so she can use it on her phone as her timer ringtone (I have my own personalized timer ringtone that my daughter composed and I love it!) or as a birthday gift for grandpa. It is a really special way for students to use their musical knowledge and creativity to brighten the lives of the people they love.

Although are were a lot of pictures in this step-by-step walk-through, it is a very simple process. Every time I record my students (we make a recital Cd every year as well as a composition Cd when we have a studio-wide composing project), I teach them how to do basic editing with GarageBand and how to navigate it. As far as music production softwares go, it is very easy to use and a great starting point for kids (and us teachers who don’t want adventure into the music production world – me included!).

If the kids want to explore GarageBand beyond just playing their composition:

  • they can create their own beat to play under their composition (a great exercise for working with rhythms!)
  • create lyrics for their composition and then record themselves singing (for all our budding singer-songwriters!)
  • if they play another instrument, they can accompany themselves (a great way to have them start thinking about harmonizing with other instruments and creating layers to a piece of music)

the sky is really the limit for their creativity on this project! And the beauty of it is that since it is a short composition (a maximum of 40 seconds), they can try out many different things!

I am going to explain my process for an iPhone/iPad (I don’t have an Android…) and digital piano (you could also record your students playing an acoustic piano by setting up a microphone connected to your device).

After your student has composed their ringtone composition, it’s time to record! Open up GarageBand on your iPhone or iPad and click on the + symbol in the top right corner:

Select “Keyboard” (for a digital piano set up) or “Audio Recorder” (for an acoustic piano and microphone set up):

If you do not want the metronome ticking while your student records, tap the metronome symbol to turn it off.

Tap on the + symbol in the upper right hand corner:

GarageBand automatically limits the number of measures to 8. To record to the end of a piece without worrying about getting cut off after 8 measures, tap on the arrow next to the text “8 bars”:

Then toggle the slider to green. GarageBand will now continue to record until you tell it to stop. Tap on “Done” (top right corner) to return to the keyboard screen.

Connect your digital piano (or microphone) to the iPhone/iPad:

Press the record button and have your student play his/her composition:

Tap the square icon to the left of the record icon to stop recording when your student is done playing:

If there is no editing to be done, tap on the arrow in the top left corner and select “My Songs” to save and return to the main page:

Your student’s composition will be automatically named “My Song #”.

You can rename it by pressing and holding the keyboard and selecting “Rename”. Type in the name of the composition.

The easiest way to create a ringtone without having to install any apps or connect the iPhone/iPad to iTunes is to share the composition as a “Project” and send it to the recipient. They will then open it in GarageBand (which is free and comes with all iPhones/iPads) to create the ringtone.

Another option for sharing the would be to share it as an “Song” and send it as a .wav file. If the recipient has an Android they can use that .wav file directly and set it as a ringtone. However, if the recipient has an iPhone they will have to convert the .wav file to a .m4r file.

I’m going to explain how to share the composition as a “Project” and what the recipient needs to do once they receive it. To share with a parent/guardian/relative/friend, press and hold the keyboard icon above the name of the composition and select “Share”:

Select “Project”:

A menu will pop up asking you how you would like to share the file. Choose whichever option best suits your needs (Google Drive, e-mail, text message, etc.) and send it the student’s parent/guardian/etc.:

When your student’s parent/guardian/etc. receives the file, they can open it in Garageband. It will appear in GarageBand’s main menu.

They will press and hold the keyboard icon above the name of the composition and select “Share”:

They will then select “Ringtone” in the menu that appears:

They will then choose how they would like to set their ringtone:

The ringtone will now appear as an option with all their other ringtones!

I hope your students have fun with this little composition project!

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25 Piano Gifts for the Musician in your Life

Is it just me or does the Holiday season speed up every year?! Somehow Christmas is just two weeks away and many people are trying to find last minute gifts that are both meaningful and useful.

Toucan piano holiday gift guide

Every year I send out piano-related gift suggestions to my piano families. It’s a nice way for parents to encourage and recognize all the hard work their kids put into practicing (because, unfortunately, the piano doesn’t always get the same sort of fanfare as sports and other extra-curricular activities). The list is always a mixture of useful and fun stuff and the kids always enjoy showing me the piano gifts they received when they come back from our Holiday break.

Everything on this list I’ve either purchased for myself, have had students purchase, or is currently on my wish list (in case anyone’s looking for a last minute gift for me! lol).

Here are my top picks for this year!

CDs

Beethoven’s Wig – The title song of this Cd has always been a favorite among my students (we watch the video every year at our annual Beethoven’s Birthday Bash! You can watch is here.). The other songs on the Cd are equally as fun and is an entertaining (and hilariously silly) first exposure to some of the great masterworks of classical music. The Cd also includes the original version (without the lyrics) of each piece.

Carnival of the Animals – The Kanneh-Masons – The incredibly talented Kanneh-Mason family comes together for a beautiful performance of Camille Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals” as well as a selection of several other favorites.

Lang Lang “Piano Book” – Lang Lang recorded his favorite piano pieces from his childhood. These short masterworks for the piano are some of the most popular ever composed for the piano and most students run into them at one point or another. It’s a great selection of music to inspire students to keep practicing!

Helen Marlais’ Real Music for Kids – A beautiful compilation of short solo piano pieces. Many of these pieces are a student’s first dive into the rich world of classical music.

Practice/Lesson Helpers

Metronome – The friend and nemesis of all musicians! It is always a useful tool to have at the piano. This metronome is a great size and has volume control (my mom for one could not stand the ticking sound of the metronome!). I loved it so much that I bought several to use with the children’s band at my church.
Metronomes are essential for practice and came in at no. 3 on my list of the Top 7 Practice Tools Every Piano Student Should Have.

Music Book Clip – There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of playing a piece and watching the book slowly shutting! This book holder will help keep those books laying flat on the book rack.

Manuscript Paper – A perfect sized notebook for writing down compositions. It has a nice wide staff (easier for kids to write music on), 100 pages, and is 8.5 x 11 inches.
Manuscript paper is incredibly versatile and important for any piano student which is why it took the No. 2 spot on my list of Top 7 Practice Tools Every Piano Student Should Have.

Sheet Music Folder – I love the idea of students curating a folder of their favorite pieces. Pieces that they have mastered and loved and can easily revisit anytime they feel the urge to just play! This folder is a perfect place to put these pieces. The plastic sheet protectors keep those precious favorites safe as they are played over and over again!

Treble Clef Photo Holder – I usually send my students home with a sticky note listing their practice pieces of the week. This sticky note lives on the cover of their method book or binder. But this little photo holder would be a perfect place to put the sticky note at home! If placed on the piano, it would be a quick and easy way for students to reference what they need to practice each week.

Books

All About the Grand Staff with Guido D’Arezzo and Yookan the Toucan – Shameless plug of my book! It is a great choice for students who are just starting to learn to read music on the grand staff. My daughter has been playing for years and she picks up this book at least once a month to read for fun! She’s my biggest and best cheerleader! For more on my book, visit my blogpost about it.

When Step met Skip – An adorable adventure of steps and skips on the staff sure to entertain beginning music readers.

The Story of the Orchestra: The Nutcracker – I love “The Nutcracker” (our ever growing collection of nutcrackers can attest to that! We are getting close to 20!!) and this gorgeously illustrated telling of “The Nutcracker” is a beautiful way to share Tchaikovsky’s music with kids! Children can press the buttons on the side of the books to hear Tchaikovsky’s music played on each page of the story. I currently have “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Magic Flute” from this collection and plan on adding “The Nutcracker” very soon!

Clara Schumann, Pianist and Composer – Clara Schumann deserves all the attention and recognition she has been receiving in recent years. In the heavily male-dominated world of classical music, she is an inspiration to young girls. This chapter book dives into her life and long career dazzling audiences all across Europe with her music.

T-Shirts

A little humor, a lot of keys, and mega dose of style!

Piano Necktie T-shirt

88 Keys, 10 Fingers, No problem! 

Piano Girl

Retro Piano heart

Rock Paper Scissors Piano

My Piano is Calling

Fun Stuff

Nanoblock Grand Piano – For the lego enthusiast! The bricks (as small a 4 mm x 5 mm!!) require some precise construction skills. You can purchase it as part of an instrument set or individually.

Composer Socks – Keep your toes warm (and inspired) while you play the pedal! Two composers are available:
Beethoven
Mozart

Make your Own Music Box – For the composer! They can immortalize their music (and practice writing notes on the treble staff!) with this very cool little kit. Once they are done punching out their piece on the paper strip, they can play it on the music box. Extra paper strip refills are sold separately.

Piano Purse  – Seriously, how cute is this?!!

Piano Earrings

Music Pasta – I thought this was hilarious! It’s quite pricey for pasta, but you could make a whole music-themed family dinner out it.

Let’s stay in touch, join the list!

As a “toucan” of our appreciation download a free set of note flashcards (link in our Welcome email)!

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