SIMPLY MUSIC is an Australian-developed piano and keyboard program that offers a breakthrough in music education. This unique method has children, teens, adults and seniors playing great-sounding contemporary, classical, blues, and accompaniment pieces - immediately, from their very first lessons.
Four Distinguishing Features
Four distinguishing features separate Simply Music from traditional programs:
- The quantity of music that students learn
- The quality of music that students play
- The speed of progress
- The ease with which students experience the process
Four Goals
When comparing Simply Music to other programs, it is important to understand that our stated goals are distinctly different from traditional methods.
Our overriding goal is to create a culture where people of all ages, easily and readily acquire and maintain music as a lifelong companion. Inside of this goal, our foundation for achieving results, and the thrust of our efforts, are directed towards the following goals for you as a student:
- Having the ability to play a huge repertoire covering classical, popular, blues, jazz and accompaniments;
- Experiencing playing as a natural self-expression;
- Having a highly positive, self-affirming experience with music learning;
- Developing the ability to self-generate, i.e., the ability to progress independently. This includes developing a strong foundation in music reading and theory.
How It Works
“Expecting students to read music before they’ve learned how to play is like expecting children to read & spell before they’ve learned how to talk.”
–Neil Moore, Simply Music founder
Simply Music achieves its breakthrough results because it takes advantage of the natural way that people learn. Children learn to talk and do so fluently for years before they learn to read and spell. It is many years later still before they understand the rules of language such as grammar and syntax. Walking, tying our shoes, riding a bike, driving a car and most other things we learn how to do come most naturally when we learn by doing, experiencing them directly instead of first referring to notes or studying the theory behind how and why they work. Traditionally, music lessons have involved learning the theory, notes and math right from the beginning, often making it very difficult for the vast majority of students to learn how to play.
Simply Music, by contrast, seeks to replicate a more natural approach to learning. By doing so, we are able to harness the natural musicality that is inside every one us. It’s there when our hearts beat and when our feet walk to a steady rhythm. It’s there in our conversations full of complex rhythms and intricately changing pitch and tone. Tapping into this natural sense of rhythm and melody we all have, Simply Music is able to immerse our students in the actual process of playing right from the beginning. They are free to relate directly to the piano, and in turn develop a natural feel for the instrument, quickly building a repertoire of several dozen sophisticated songs from across varied musical styles. They experience the joy of playing immediately. The repertoire and the ease of performance then serve as the best possible basis for learning reading, theory and other advanced topics - just like we learn to talk before we read and spell.
More About the Method
The Simply Music website is an excellent resource to learn more about the program. Feel free to browse and explore. Highlights include:
- Curriculum Overview — This brochure provides a lot of great information on how the Simply Music program helps so many people have such a great experience learning to play the piano.
- Who We Are — Learn something about the method and how it was created, including a video.
- Learn With a Teacher — Learn about taking lessons, including a video. This is also an opportunity to hear a number of the fantastic-sounding songs learned by beginning students — see the links at the left side of the page.
Also feel free to contact us with any additional questions you may have.