With all the discussion that arose out of the last Simply Music post, I thought it would be interesting to look through some of the web sites of piano teachers who use Simply Music as the methodology for teaching their students. What follows is a compilation of sites I looked through.

I was particularly interested in the summary of the Simply Music program on the pianowithwhitney site. Apparently Whitney was classically trained until she was 18 but realized that she still couldn’t just go out and play songs. She was dependent upon sheet music plus she no longer enjoyed playing the piano as much as she felt she should. Her mother, a teacher, had transitioned over to Simply Music with her students. When Whitney saw the results, she herself learned the method and then became a certified teacher. Her site even includes playlists.

While Whitney comments that going through the Simply Music method renewed her love for music, this teacher notes that after 10 years of traditional training the Simply Music method expanded her musical abilities to include composition, improvisation, blues and accompaniment abilities. Other teachers and pianists also note that this method improves their memory for music.

Cheryl Goresko has a piano studio in Pennsylvania called Hands Together Piano Studio. She studied music all the way through college, took additional graduate school courses and studied with a concert pianist. She started teaching piano in 1993. In 2002 she too switched over to Simply Music. Her bio and testimonials are here. Her summary of the benefits of the method is here.

For more meaty reading, see this newspaper article by piano teacher Carol Purcell entitled These Are Not Your Mother’s Piano Lessons, the summary at Lozier Music in Michigan, and the summary and about page of Anneka’s overseas Piano Easy site. Here is a page at Playtime Piano Lessons called The Culture of Simply Music. She is located in California and is a Senior Associate teacher for Simply Music.

Here are two schools or academies that use Simply Music as their approach to teaching piano. Piano Success Unlimited is in Washington. The About Simply Music page gives a brief summary while the Testimonial page has some good information and perspective - particularly the testimonials of 84 year old Dodie’s piano students. Aspire - The Academy of Expressive of Arts also in Washington state offers instruction for a host of artistic pursuits. Simply Music is their method of choice for teaching piano. (Wow - I wish this school were in our area!)

A final two sites: Carrie Lozier is a Simply Music teacher whose site features references from Mary Pride and Dr. Anne Wright of the Old Schoolhouse Magazine and this interesting page from Piano Forums at Piano World. Some claimed that Simply Music was merely rote playing or playing by ear and objected to the concept of Simply Music teachers not having to be “advanced musicians” in the usual sense. There are some very eloquent responses to this type of thinking, particularly the response by “jotur” who benefited from using the Simply Music CD’s and the one by “StephanieF” who reminds us all that making music is a very broad endeavor enjoyed in many different ways by all kinds of people all over the world.

Simply Music isn’t the only way to teach piano but it is a very welcome new “living” way that provides an opportunity for many more people (many with learning disabilities and brain damage, by the way) to express their innate sense of rhythm and musicality. I wish my daughter right now and all of my children as they get older could have lessons with a certified Simply Music teacher. Currently there is only one in all of the state of Virginia, however, and she is clear over by the Chesapeake Bay. In order to bring more music simply into our home, my musical daughter will simply have to become a Simply Music teacher herself!

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,

Leslie

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