Neil Moore didn’t follow the traditional path to piano teaching. He never read music in his own piano lessons.
So when he had the opportunity to teach a visually impaired student, he wondered how he could teach him the way he learned. He started to explore teaching using patterns, and gradually developed the Simply Music program.
There are now Simply Music teachers all over the world teaching using this playing first approach. Teaching reading is delayed in favour of getting students creating great music right from the start. Simply Music is extremely pattern based, and I see a lot of parallels between it and the Music Learning Theory ideas.
If you want to see a completely different approach to music education, take a listen to today’s podcast to find out the how and why of Simply Music.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The journey that lead Neil to create the Simply Music program
- How Simply Music gives students a playing rich experience
- How the teacher licensing works
- What Simply Music can do for piano teachers
- The use of rote and pattern based learning in Simply Music
- How Simply Music approaches chord teaching
- Why Neil wants to create a “whole of life” music program
Items mentioned in this podcast:
Thank you for Tuning In!
There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, and I’m grateful that you’ve chosen mine.
Being a full-time teacher myself, I know how busy teachers are and how much time, effort and passion we put into our students. Sometimes, the last thing we want to do in our time off is listen to more piano teaching stuff! So, well done for using this time for self-improvement.
Whether you’re at the gym, on the bike or in the car, I know that you and your students will get lots out of what you learn in the long run. Just make sure you try out some of the ideas before they get lost in the business of your next lessons.
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What appeals to you about the Simply Music program?
Did anything about this style of teaching strike a chord with you? Was there an aspect of Simply Music that surprised you?
Do you teach some things in a similar way to Neil?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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2 Comments
Okay – so I’m totally listening to this series out of order. Oh well. I really enjoyed hearing this interview. I had one student come to an interview with me who had lessons with Simply Music. I didn’t end up taking her on. Their goals for their daughter (learn to read music – and basically do nothing else) and her goals: keep doing what she’s doing, didn’t align. at all. It would have been a nightmare scenario. I was quite impressed with how musically she played for how short a time she’d been playing.
AND – I’m SO excited that you’re going to be doing a month on teaching special needs. This is an area close to my heart. I, and 2 of my brothers, took piano lessons. My oldest brother, with many physical and mental disabilities, so badly wanted to take piano lessons too, but there was no one to teach him. I always did what I could, but felt so inadequate. I’ve studied a bit about teaching special needs, and it’s definitely an area I may pursue more in the future! So can’t wait for this one!
Hey Mary Beth! Thanks for your comments. I’m just about to start recording the podcasts for next month – I’m really looking forward to sharing more great ideas. Sad to hear about your brother – I think times have changed now 🙂