I grew up with the sound of my mother playing the piano and it's an instrument I've always wanted to learn to play. Fifteen years ago we bought an upright piano and my oldest two and I enrolled in piano lessons. A few months into lessons I developed severe morning sickness and could not continue with my lessons. Recently the
Homeschool Review Crew were presented the opportunity to review the
Music & Creativity - Foundation Course by
Simply Music sparked the desire to learn to play the piano again.
The
Music & Creativity Course is an on line course presented by Neil Moore the Founder and Executive Director of Simply Music. Neil developed the Simply Music program and has been teaching music for over twenty seven years. Simply Music uses a playing based education to teach playing the piano.
What we received
Enrolment into the Music & Creativity Program Level One. This level is FREE for anyone to enrol and use. Simply Music have made this in celebration of all the students that have learnt to play the piano with them.
It included:
- Reference Books
- Practise PDF
- All backing Soundtracks - these can be downloaded or streamed for use as you practise and learn.
- Music and the Art of Long-Term Relationships
Enrolling in the Music & Creativity Program is so easy. I didn't need to enter any payment details. All they asked for were my name, email address and password. Within minutes I received my welcome email and immediate access to the program.
How It Works
While using Simply Music approach the pieces of music are from a variety
of genre's such as contemporary, classical, gospel, blues, improvisation,
accompaniment. You learn from the beginning to play with both hands.
Upon logging in you are taken to the Music and Creativity Program home page. Here you can see at a glance which course you are currently enrolled in and how far you have progressed through the program as well as available courses to purchase in order to continue your piano music education.
At present there are two courses available: Foundation Course and Foundation Enhancement. There are four Development levels and four Special Courses (Accompaniment, Composition & Improvisation, Arrangements and Blues & Improvisation) being developed.
The course home page contains the option of downloading the PDF practise and reference books as well as a ZIP file containing the Soundtracks. Below that you can see the Course Content.
There are 19 lessons and a Quick start lesson. Upon completing a lesson you mark it complete and the system will auto track the where you are. A no entry sign indicates that the lesson is not unlocked due to the previous lesson remaining incomplete.
Once you click through to your lesson you are taken to a page with an embedded video lesson where Neil teaches the lesson and takes you step by step through different pieces of music. He does a great job of explaining step by step the notes, your hands and how to play the piece of music and how you are to practise.
You then practise what you have learnt using the sound track for that weeks lessons. You can re-watch the lesson as many times as you would like. Once you have reached a level that you are happy and comfortable with you manually mark the lesson complete. The system will then unlock the next lesson for you to begin and take you there.
You can watch the lessons on any Internet connected device. I have watched them on my computer, a tablet and my phone.
This is my favourite piece of advice from Neil. He is an encouraging
teacher and puts no pressure on you the student. He recognises that
some learn slower and others learn faster and the most important thing
is to learn at your OWN UNIQUE pace.
He explains to the students that every single time you sit down to practise you are learning and if you rush and practise wrong you will have to unlearn the mistake and relearn correctly and it is therefore prudent to SLOW down and teach yourself correctly the first time.
Simply Music Methodology
Neil explains - "The usual entry into learning piano is a 'reading-based' approach. In
other words, students are first required to learn how to read music as
the means of learning how to play. Although some students succeed with
this approach, for the vast majority the reading process can feel
unnatural and slow and end with the feeling that "music is not for me"
or, "it's hard" or, "It takes a long time" or, "I don't have any musical
talent or ability" etc.
Our 'playing-based' approach is based on
a different premise. We say that everybody, without exception, is
profoundly musical. Pretty much everything that we all do, on a
moment-by-moment, day-to-day basis, is underscored by our musicality -
this includes the rhythm of our heartbeat and our breathing, the
perfectly smooth and even rhythm of our walking, as well as our ability
to talk. In fact, conversation consists of spoken sentences and phrases
of astonishing musical complexity, yet speaking comes easily and
naturally to us all. In fact, it's our innate connection to musicality
that gives us the ability to talk.
The Simply Music Method draws
on and nurtures the natural sense of music we all possess; it teaches
students to play the piano by immersing them in the actual process of
playing. In the early stages of learning with Simply Music, music-reading is delayed. "
Important Notes/Format
This is an on line product, including video-based instruction, down loadable soundtracks, and three pdf documents.
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If you would prefer face to face lessons with a teacher Simply Music has many trained teachers in 12 different countries around the world using their system of teaching music. Find a teacher near you via the
Simply Music Educator Location page.
Neil
recently shared that Simply Music currently has students enrolled from a 100 countries around the
world.
Overall
This program is very different from any program I have ever tried. Neil is both the developer and the presenter of the program. He is encouraging and clearly communicates each step of the course and helps you to understand the how and why of what he is doing. You can learn more about the philosophy and the beginnings of Simply Music
on their site as well as meet the staff who are working to support you on line.
I am looking forward to continuing my lessons and have encouraged Paul to begin lessons with Neil.
To find out what my fellow home educating Mom's and their families thought be sure to
take a look at more reviews at the Homeschool Review Crew.
PS: Did you know
the piano contains over 12,000 parts?
