NoTreble: Transforming Music Education
A project born at the DMZ in 2022 and inspired by my passion for music learning and education as a violinist with over 10 years of experience. NoTreble is designed to connect music teachers and students in a way that enhances learning and creates new income opportunities for educators.
Achievements: Successfully pitched to a panel of judges, winning recognition for innovation.
Objective: To provide music teachers with tools to offer structured digital feedback and monetize their expertise, while keeping students motivated to practice.
Status: Currently in research and development.
The Challenge in Music Education: Motivation, Feedback, and Gaps Between Lessons
Description:
Music teachers and students face significant challenges in maintaining effective learning between lessons:
Teachers struggle to keep students motivated to practice consistently.
Monitoring progress and providing timely feedback outside of lessons is difficult and time-consuming.
Students lack structured, actionable guidance during practice, limiting their improvement.
Impact:
These challenges result in slower learning progress, disengaged students, and missed opportunities for teachers to enhance their impact and income.
Understanding the Needs of Teachers and Students
To validate the problem and design a solution, I conducted surveys and interviews with music teachers and students. Here are the key insights:
Teacher Insights:
100% of teachers struggle to keep students motivated to practice.
72% rated monitoring practice progress as very important, yet many lack effective tools to do so.
43% would “definitely” provide feedback for additional income, and 57% said “maybe,” highlighting strong interest in monetization opportunities.
Student Insights:
50% of students do not communicate with teachers between lessons.
80% are interested in receiving digital feedback, with 50% very interested.
70% cited lack of time as the biggest obstacle to practice, showing the need for more effective, intentional guidance.
NoTreble: A Tool Built for Teachers and Students
NoTreble bridges the gap between music lessons by offering tools that:
Enable teachers to provide structured, actionable feedback on student practice.
Allow teachers to monetize their expertise by offering paid feedback sessions outside of regular lessons.
Keep students motivated with goal tracking and timely feedback, ensuring more intentional practice and better results.
Unique Differentiators:
Purpose-built for music education, unlike generic messaging systems.
Focused on progress tracking and goal-oriented feedback for enhanced learning outcomes.
Streamlined monetization features designed for music teachers.
Recognized by the DMZ panel in 2022 for its potential to transforming music education.
Designing the Teacher Studio Page
Building on insights from my user surveys and research, and guided by the unique differentiators identified earlier, I designed the Teacher Studio Page to serve as the central workspace for music educators. After analyzing an existing tool like My Music Staff, I identified a gap in platforms that enable seamless feedback, task tracking, and monetization all in one place. The Teacher Studio Page brings these functions together with the following core features:
Teaching Streak Card: Encourages consistent engagement through gamification.
At-a-Glance Dashboard: Summarizes active students, tasks, and unread messages.
Quick Actions Panel: Enables teachers to assign checkpoints, add students, or jump directly into tasks.
Recent Events Feed: Keeps teachers informed of submissions, reminders, and student activity in real time.
This page was designed specifically for tablet devices to ensure easy navigation, clarity, and efficiency in a teaching environment.
