The field of music education has long been shaped by gender norms influencing both instrumental choices and repertoire. These norms still affect musical practice (Borgström Källén, 2025), while women remain underrepresented in textbooks (Koza,1992) and in music history (Borowiecki, Kristensen, & Law, 2025). In one-to-one piano teaching this imbalance is even clearer, as students are usually assigned works by male composers—a pattern confirmed by the Women in Music 2024/2025 Report, which shows that women’s works are still performed far less frequently than those of men. Building on this context, I conducted a study to explore how piano lessons can support students in developing their musical identity. My approach builds on a sociocultural perspective, which views learning as a process that develops through social interaction and participation in shared intellectual practices (Vygotsky,1978). Within this framework, I introduced the music of women composers as a pedagogical tool. This strategy enabled students to construct their identities through engagement with female historically marginalized figures while simultaneously challenging the gendered canon itself. In this way, the sociocultural model informed my teaching practice, and the inclusion of women’s music served both as a fundamental means of identity formation and as a way of questioning and reshaping the canon. The methodology drew on feminist perspectives, enabling students to encounter the complex historical narratives of women in music (Caruso,2014). The process included several stages: an initial questionnaire, short research on the composer, letters written by the students to her, which connected them with her and her time, a final questionnaire, rehearsals, and a concert. For this project I selected the French Romantic composer Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937), whose life and works are well documented. Her pedagogical Album pour les tout-petits offers pieces that allow children to enjoy music while simultaneously developing technical skills.Findings reveal that none of the students were previously familiar with “classical” women composers, referring almost exclusively to male figures. Introducing the music of Bonis sparked curiosity among the children, encouraged adolescents to reflect on women’s exclusion from the canon, and supported processes of identification and reflection among adults. In their final questionnaire, all participants emphasized the importance of performing works by women and suggested strategies to increase their visibility. This approach may help renew the canon and bring about long-awaited changes in practice, that, despite extensive research from Green (1996) to Borgström Källen (2025), have yet to occur.