Lieve Van der Plaetsen
Molenstraat 70
9940 Ertvelde
+32 472 31 96 82
pianootjes@telenet.be
Lieve Van der Plaetsen took her first piano lessons with Lucie Devooght in Evergem and Ghent, and at the end of her academy studies she was awarded the Government Medal for Piano. In the meantime, during her secondary-school years, she had already obtained the First Prize in Music Theory at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Ghent, and when she was barely 18, Lieve earned the teaching diploma in Music Education from the Central Examination Board. This allowed her to combine her further conservatory studies in Antwerp with teaching.
In Antwerp, Lieve studied piano with the renowned piano pedagogue Jacques De Tiège, in whose class she obtained the First Prize for Piano. She also earned a First Prize in Music History under Boudewijn Buckinx.
She performed for about ten years with the piano duo Martenizza, for which works were composed by Marc Maes and Boudewijn Buckinx. In addition to teaching at the Kunstacademie De Poel, where she succeeded her former teacher, Lieve closely followed the musical development of her daughter Floor and resumed her own studies. Inspired and motivated by Floor’s Suzuki lessons, Lieve decided in 2013–2014 to begin training with teacher-trainer Anne-Marie Oberreit in order to learn how to teach young children according to the Suzuki philosophy and pedagogy. In July 2014, she obtained the Level 1 Suzuki Teacher Certificate, and in 2015 she completed Levels Two and Three.
Because this form of music education—and more specifically piano lessons—turned out to be something many parents and children had been waiting for, Lieve decided in September 2017 to reduce her teaching assignment at the Mago by 40%, so that she could teach at home on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings for young children. The Pia-Nootjes slowly but surely became a well-known name in the piano world.
In the meantime, Lieve also obtained the certificate to teach C.M.L. (Children’s Music Laboratory), a kind of “music theory,” but entirely Suzuki-minded and aimed at children from the age of three.
During the coronavirus period, Lieve wrote down her musical life journey and described how she evolved as a pedagogue in the book The Circle Is Complete.
In September 2026, after a 42-year career in public education (day school and music academy), Lieve will retire.
However, as a Suzuki teacher, she will continue working in her own Suzuki school, www.Pia-Nootjes.be.
She will also continue to play piano and flute, and hopes to have more time for this from September onwards.
