The SproutBeat Story
Little did Eik Mar know that when she started creating fun music theory worksheets for her piano students, it would grow into a library of over 3,000 resources!
How it started
After obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from Wichita State University in Kansas, Eik Mar opened her piano studio located near Austin, Texas.
As she taught from many of the traditional method books, Eik experienced many of the same issues other teachers do: students not understanding abstract music theory concepts, not remembering what they learned from week to week, losing or forgetting their theory books …
But Eik knew it didn’t have to be this way.
The first adventure
In addition to teaching music, Eik loved working with software and design. She set out to create individualized worksheets for her students that would be educational and fun at the same time.
When other teachers started asking for worksheets for their students too, she decided to create a website with the help of her partner, James Laughlin.
In 2012, they started the Fun and Learn Music site so teachers could download these resources for free.
SproutBeat is born
In 2014, Eik and James decided to create an iOS app to enable students and teachers to draw on their digital worksheets – this was the beginning of SproutBeat!
A few years and a few versions later, when Eik noticed her students were still making simple mistakes on their worksheets, she knew there had to be a way they could learn from their own mistakes and are able to practice at home independently.
What if there was a place where students could play music theory games online that would give them instant feedback in a fun way?
An extensive transformation
So in 2019, Eik began working with a team of developers to create SproutBeat Leap, a site with lots of interactive games to review theory and ear training concepts. The platform was a huge success receiving positive feedback from teachers and students alike.
In 2021, SproutBeat went through an extensive app redesign to offer a more streamlined experience by combining the interactive games and worksheets into a single web app.
SproutBeat today
SproutBeat now serves teachers in over 30 countries across many different kinds of music studios and schools.
Eik continues to improve the app and enjoys creating resources for music teachers everywhere to help them engage their in-person and online students to make learning music theory fun!