Simply Music

What is it about music?

As the half-way mark of 2013 fast approaches, I’m sitting here at home looking out of my window. It’s a beautiful morning and it’s very quiet. I’m thinking about what has happened this year.

So far, I’ve traveled throughout the USA. I’ve been to Germany and Canada, and next week I head off to Australia.  During my travels I’ve met with many people – music students, piano builders, college professors, private teachers, music therapists, heads of multi-national instrument manufacturers, studio engineers, software developers, specialists in autism and Alzheimers, technology experts, marketing veterans, publishing agents, attorneys, accountants, clergy, doctors, performing artists and entertainment industry heads.

The common denominator underscoring every encounter has been music. For every person mentioned above, music plays a significant and often critical role in their life. For some, it’s an important social activity. For many, it is the driving force in their life.

When I stand back and consider my travels and all of the people that I have met, I am struck by the ‘globalness’ of the shared love of music and its value. What is it about music that so impacts us?

Over time, I’ve considered the question – why does music make us cry? One thing is for sure, I have no definitive answer.  Try searching the internet for an answer and what you’ll find are opinions, postulations and explanations. Some are intuitive, some ethereal, others purely mathematical. No one answer leaves me with any real clarity. No one answer resonates as being definitively ‘true’. Frankly, I’m not really looking for answers. I am far less interested in ‘why’ music impacts us, and far more interested in ‘that’ it impacts us.

I look at my own experience and know in my heart that I’ve been profoundly touched by music. And while I have no real answer as to ‘why’ that is, I am nonetheless deeply grateful.  I love that I love music. I love its mystery, its art, it science. I love that I’m touched by its beauty and its intrigue. I love that its essence lives beyond words – no description of the Perfect 5th interval comes close to giving us the experience of its perfection.

About 12 years ago one of our teachers in Australia, Hilary Cook, said of Simply Music, “I love its simple complexity, or is it complex simplicity?” For me, Hilary was actually verbalizing one of the mysteries of music as a whole. How extraordinary it is that a small collection of pitches and rhythms can be organized into an infinite variety of musical expressions. How remarkable that these expressions, varying profoundly from culture to culture, can move us to laughter, tears and thoughtfulness, invoke memories, reignite physical and emotional experiences, and speak to the core of the beauty and privilege it is to be human.

How fortunate we are to have music, and how wonderful it is for music to have us to experience and appreciate it!

How fabulous it is that there are populations of people, all over the world, who play a role in continuing to have music be woven into the fabric of our lives. Regardless of the question “why does music make us cry?”, and regardless of whatever answers it evokes,  it’s clear that the essence of music and the nature of being human are a perfect harmony.

Neil Moore
Founder and Executive Director
The Simply Music Institute of Learning and Education

As a visual artist, Luke Jerram might appear to be an unlikely candidate for a discussion about music, but it turns out music and sound are favourite media for many of his sculpture projects and art installations.  His work Aeolus is a striking blend of visual beauty and eerie wind-driven drones, and his Sky Orchestra is an amazing touring event which supplies music to sleeping citizens from flotillas of hot-air balloons.  But we were especially interested to talk with him about Play Me, I’m Yours, his project bringing pianos en masse to public locations – street corners, parks, train stations, galleries and more – in selected cities around the world, allowing anyone to play and enjoy.  In this interview he shares stories with Leanne van Heerwaarden about the way this project has reached millions of people and changed lives.

His next Play Me, I’m Yours events are in Munich (May), Cleveland (July), Omaha (August) and Boston (September).  You can also learn more about Luke and some of his other works at his website.

With 60 years of teaching between them, the tight-knit team of Teachers in Australia’s capital are a classic example of the power of cooperation and shared support, not to mention laughter.  You can hear in this chat with Elizabeth Gaikwad how well they get along and their deep commitment to their students, their teaching and each other.

Hear Elizabeth speak with The Canberra Girls

By Sheri Reingold

My big fat Simply Music Playlist…how will I ever keep it all alive?!  Do you have a hard time managing this aspect of your piano lessons?  It’s fun to learn new pieces but sometimes it can seem like a lot of work to remember everything you’ve learned.   It’s important that you work with your teacher and your life coach to help you make sure this part of your Simply Music journey is running smoothly and efficiently.   Just as you haven’t ever forgotten any of the letters of the alphabet (if you did you wouldn’t be able to make sense of what you read and you wouldn’t be able to write), you will need to remember the songs on your playlist to help you with more advanced songs.

The centrality of a vibrant playlist supports the long-term goals Simply Music’s curriculum has for each and every student:  you will experience playing as a perfectly natural self-expression, you will be able to sit down at any piano, anywhere, and always be able to play at least 40 or 50 great-sounding songs of all different styles, and you will have the foundational tools and concepts to take with you in any future music learning you wish to pursue, including independently of a teacher, and you will get to feel great about yourself while learning and playing.  Moreover, your playlist will help you with the ultimate goal of having music as a companion for the rest of your life.  What a gift you are giving yourself while you are working to keep your playlist alive!

The most important thing you can do to ensure a growing and vibrant playlist is to keep track of your playing by marking your playlist every time you sit down to play. Just as you probably wouldn’t leave your house without putting your shoes on, get in the habit of not leaving your piano until you’ve marked your playlist.  Marking the playlist every time will support you each week in knowing what’s been played and what’s still left to play.

Once a song can be played easily and musically, you’ll want to play it often enough so that you never have to relearn it; it is frustrating to go back and learn a song you already learned once.  For some songs, that might mean every day, for others, every two or three days, some maybe once a week or even less.  You can talk more about frequency with your teacher (but don’t forget, new pieces should be played at least 5 or 6 days a week for the first few weeks before they are familiar enough to need less attention).

If you are using a pre-printed playlist it will be easier to stay organized–be sure to highlight your current songs to make it easier to immediately see what to play.  Ask for help from your life-coach with this if you think you need it.  Neglecting this easy task of highlighting and marking will lead to a playlist that erodes and degrades over time.  Your pieces will become less fluent and many will even be forgotten.  It will become increasingly difficult to move forward with a compromised playlist.

Maintaining a playlist is separate from your regular daily practice of current new material you are working on.  After about a year it might take an extra thirty to forty minutes a week to keep your playlist alive, apart from the 20 minutes of daily practice.  Your teacher will help you manage this aspect of your lessons.   It becomes much easier to keep the playlist alive when you have a system in place.

You might play all your Level 1 songs on Monday, Level 2 on Tuesday, and so on.  Or you might play all your blues one day, your classical another day, etc.  You might play your favorites first, play backwards through the levels, play the more challenging ones first, change the rhythms, add dynamics, play with the cd, etc.  Mix it up to keep it fun.  Do little mini-concerts for friends and family.  And to keep the songs from getting boring over the many months you’ll need to keep them alive, put your unique stamp on them with a bit of improvisation.

If you can play a piece on your very first try without thinking twice about it, then skip a day and see if you can do that again the next day.  If you can do it, try skipping two days, then three, and so on, up to a week maximum, until you can find the timing that works for keeping that piece alive.  Try to play everything at least once a week.

Did you know that maintaining a vibrant playlist is easier if your initial learning always includes using the three tools that are central to the Simply Music methodology?   Be sure, when you are first watching the DVD, to process the new material with your external speaker, your keypad and controlling the events.  Once you can play a piece easily on the keypad then take it to the piano. Taking the time to learn this way will go a long way to more easily managing a large repertoire.

And be sure you can still play your pieces on the keypad at any time after you have done the initial learning.  Good habits with these tools will ensure you are learning a way of learning that will end up assisting your full-on musicianship, including in the areas of reading but encompassing so much more, including freedom of playing without written music, whether a song you wrote, an improvisation of the moment, or someone else’s work.  Deeply knowing how to use these tools will make learning any new piece relatively fast and easy for the rest of your life so you can keep your playlist growing forever!

Have fun playing your big vibrant playlist!

By Katy Spenta

Gorgeous 12 year-old twins, Isabella & Maximillian Karelis have been learning Simply Music piano since Feb 2009 and are in Level 7.

They have successfully completed Accompaniment 1, Arrangements 1 and 2, Time for More Music, Reading 1 and Composition and Improvisation, and have composed a few great sounding pieces.  They have taken part in their respective school Eisteddfods at an intermediate level performing solo as well as in a brother and sister duet playing traditional pieces and also playing their own compositions.

Isabella was chosen by her Music School teacher to perform in front of younger children to encourage them to learn an instrument.

After performing in the Eisteddfod, Maximillian was approached by the Music department requesting permission to use his composition in the school Ensembles.

Isabella & Maximillian are my Star students and they have kept all their Simply Music songs alive and also endeavor to make time to compose their own songs.  When they come for their lesson they are always cheerful and excited to play their pieces with full gusto and complement each other by singing in their soprano voices.

As the years passed, Isabella & Maximillian’s parents could see their love of music being nurtured, and though in their early stages they couldn’t imagine their children would read music, I gave them full confidence to trust the program, and now see them pick any music piece and play it with confidence after processing the song the Simply Music way.

Here’s what Isabella & Maximillian say about the Simply Music program and their Teacher.

We enjoy doing Simply Music because it’s a fun and educational way of learning to play the piano.  Simply Music has a wide range of songs from classical to pop, jazz and blues, which is a perfect way to get your skills improving.

Katy, our teacher, is friendly and encouraging.  She is very committed and wants to teach her students the best way possible. She makes sure her students are enjoying as well as learning.

Watch Maximillian play Amazing Journey

Watch Isabella play Skipping A Stone

By Robin Keehn

This piece is hallmark and one of his most recognized pieces.  Originally written for a symphony, it has been played as a piano solo successfully and even arranged into a popular rock instrumental in the 1970s called “A Fifth of Beethoven” by Walter Murphy.  It was one of my favorite pieces to play when I visited my great grandma in the nursing home.  The residents loved it!

Today we are going to look at the first 30 or so measures.  In the next issue of The Playground we will continue with tools to master the next section.

This piece is written in the key of C minor, which means that any E will be flatted unless indicated otherwise.   If this piece is written around the I, IV and V chords, we can expect to hear C minor, F minor and G minor chords.   The flats in this piece are B, E and A.

To begin, we have a pattern of octaves in the left hand.  Place finger 5 on a G and finger 1 on the G above it.   Your right hand will have finger 5 on the G just above middle C.   We are going to play the G’s three times and then jump down to the Eb.

You will repeat this pattern but move down one note so you are playing the F octave in the left hand and F above middle C in the right hand and jump down to the D.

After the dramatic introduction, we move into the next section where the RH plays three notes followed by a two-note chord in the LH.  To make it easy, let’s play it like this.  RH position one:  Finger 1 on G, Finger 2 on Ab and Finger 5 on Eb.   LH will have Finger 1 and Finger 3 on the middle C and Eb above it.

We begin with the RH playing three notes followed by a 2 note chord in the LH: RH  GGG LH Cm.   From here, we just hold down those LH notes  – the rest of the action is all in the RH.  We continue through the remaining RH notes of the position, Ab and Eb, played three times followed by a single RH note, G after the Ab and C after the Eb.

Position 2:  RH Finger 1 on G, 2 on Ab and 5 on F above treble C.  In position 2, the LH will move down one note so the two-note chord is D and B natural (that’s right, on this occasion the B won’t be flatted).  Repeat the pattern that you played in position 1, except that the last RH note will be the D below the F on top.

Position 3:  Finger 5 on G above treble C.  The new pattern is 5543 coming down through G, F and Eb.  Play this same pattern again but this time play finger 2 on the D before playing the 5543 pattern again and ending on the D.

Let’s tackle the LH for position 3.    You may have noticed that in the right hand for position 3 the notes moved down.  In the left hand for position 3, the notes are going to move up.    In the C minor position with finger 5 on middle C, the pattern is C, Eb twice, then F and G.   When you play the G, play the B natural below it with finger 5 for a two-note chord.   Just like Fur Elise, the left hand comes in as the right hand finishes it’s sentence – meaning you play the LH C as you play RH Eb.  The D in the right hand is played with the LH chord (G and B natural).

The ending for position 3 is a series of chords.   Look at your ending position in your left hand.  Right now you should have Finger 5 on B natural and Finger 1 on G above middle C.   Keep that B, but put finger 1 on it and swing down so you have a B octave in your left hand.  Add the G in the middle.

In your right hand, you ended with a D just above treble C.   Keep the D but stretch out your hand and put a G above it and a G below it.   Play the G octave in your right hand together with the B octave in your left hand.  Do this twice.  The third time, bring Finger 5 in your right hand down one note to the F.

Keeping the RH G on the bottom, take the top two notes and bring them down to Eb and C  – an inverted C minor chord.   In your left hand, pivot up to a C octave, keeping G in the middle.

The right hand next chord will have a C octave with an F# in the middle while the left hand plays an Ab octave with a C in the middle.  The final chord in this section has both hands playing G octaves, with an added D in the LH and B in the RH, both played with Finger 3.

Just one more pattern in this section—and it is just like the first pattern that you played but now the notes are Ab and F – three times on the Ab and once on the F.  Play octaves in both hands for a big, dramatic sound.

Moving onto Measure 25, we have a new pattern.   Put your right hand Finger 5 on Ab.  The notes are Ab, F, D and B natural.   Your left hand is going play Ab then drop down a half step to G.    If you say, “One, two, three, LAND”, this will help you with the pattern.   Say “one, two, three” as you play the RH Ab three times, and then you “land” on the F.   The next “one, two three” are played by the D and you land on the B natural.   The next pattern is played by the left hand on the Ab and it lands on the G.   We finish by bringing the left hand down an octave to the next G, doing the “one, two, three” on that note and land on a C and G in the LH and C and Eb in the RH.

This pattern repeats but concludes with some bigger chords.   Do you remember the big G octave we made earlier with the right hand?    We are going to make that chord again but we are going to pull in Finger 5 so it is on F.  The notes are G, D and F and you will play that three times while the left hand plays the G octave with it.    Your last chord is C minor in both hands – C and G in the LH and G, C and Eb in the RH.

Watch Robin’s tutorial

Until next time!

By Daniel Kielman

The story of Detroit-born Sixto Rodriguez’s recent rise from obscurity seems the stuff that movies are made of.  Aptly so; the 2012 Academy Award-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man chronicled his rebirth from forgotten 1970s folk-rock musician to beloved icon of South Africa in wonderful detail, a chronicle of a rock star that has almost never been replicated.  Rodriguez recorded two albums, Cold Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971), and was quickly forgotten in his native United States.  His direct and brave commentary on the drug-fueled corners Rodriguez grew up at struck a chord in Australia and New Zealand almost a decade later, allowing him to mount an ambitious theater tour there in 1980, but the more ambitious success story for him laid in a much different part of the globe; a predominantly-white South Africa living in an extremely oppressed culture system where even television was deemed too corruptive for access in the country until 1976.  His album sold an impressive 60,000 copies over the years and he is considered more popular than Madonna or The Rolling Stones would be in that country.  South Africans eventually discovered that the rumored-dead Rodriguez was in fact alive and well living in Detroit working manual labor, which led to his first tour of the country, headlining sold-out arenas in the mid-90s.  It’s a heartfelt story that proves the power that music has to take form in our lives.

The two albums have aged well, timeless and preserved with their genuine criticism and corruptive commentary, sounding as fresh now as they did when they originally released.  Cold Fact is the better of the two, filled with psychedelic introspection by Rodriguez’s mesmerizing reverberating vocals layered above an arrangement of horns, guitar and xylophone, a unique sound now as it was ever.  The lyrics are to the point, each song a direct attack or revelation on the cold state of the world he was living in.  “Inner City Blues” shakes with enthusiasm with lyrics like “Crooked children, yellow chalk/writing on the concrete walk/Their king died/Drinking from Judas’ cup,” a rhyming structure unorthodox but entirely approachable.  Coming From Reality is more experimental, on some tracks Rodriguez taking on a more direct-singing style to the listener.  It doesn’t work completely, “A Most Disgusting Song” perhaps too on the nose, but he finds better success when he layers his outlook underneath a beautiful guitar melody and simplicity like on “I Think of You,” with a flamenco-influence and melodramatic refrain.

The success of the documentary has made Rodriguez more popular than ever, finally finding success in his native land and selling out larger venues, piquing public interest like never before.  It’s a welcome change of pace from the all-too-familiar story of the artist that burns out too quickly or retracts from the spotlight entirely; instead it’s a rare story of an artist who never knew what his music was doing in the world and is able to reap the success while still around.  Ultimately Rodriguez’s story shows the eternal impact music holds on us, inspiring movements one can never conceive of, captivating the listener and bringing them to a world that engages and affects whoever takes the time to listen.

By Katie Schmidt (aka Katie Knipp, artist and maiden name)

So, you’ve just spent hundreds of “man hours” writing, recording, mixing, mastering, and stressing!  Now what?  Now, my friends, the real work begins.  There is a certain order to releasing a song, and having released 4 CDs myself, there are lots of things I’ve learned along the way.  Protect yourself first and foremost by making sure you copyright and publish your work.  If you are going to have the song pressed onto a CD, make sure to go through a reputable company that can also provide a barcode.  If you like to play live, I recommend not even booking your CD release party date until the physical, shiny, shrink-wrapped CDs are actually in your hands.  Too many bands make the mistake of setting the big date and paying for a tonne of publicity, only to tell their audience at the show it’s not ready yet.

Before calling all of your friends, family, newspaper, facebooking, etc, there are many steps to take.  First, make your song digitally available for sale on the main mediums such as iTunes, amazon, google, and any others you come across that pay.  In order to make things less overwhelming, there are great places that can be a “one stop shop” for distributing through all the digital mediums.  I like to use CD Baby, as they do both physical and digital distribution without my having to sign up with each individual website. Whatever company you choose, just make sure you are getting paid a fair percentage.  Once you can actually see your music is for sale on iTunes, upload sound clips of your song onto your website.  You should have an actual website of your own to use as an attractive online storefront.  There are lots of easy web hosts out there that make managing a website easy and affordable.  I personally like to use Hostbaby.

Now that your music is officially released online, this is your time to pounce!  Ask yourself what your goals are for this release. Make a marketing plan/to-do list based on your goals, then break it down into a timeline.  Although we are in the digital age, don’t forget to pound the pavement as well!  Are there record stores still in your town?  Most of them are happy to consign local artists therefore giving you an opportunity to promote their business on your website (“support your local record store!  CDs can be found at Joe’s, Moe’s, and Curly’s shops downtown!”).  Submit your music to internet radio stations.  Simply googling “how to submit to ___” will give you plenty of easy to follow directions.  Submit to any kind of songwriting competitions you find appealing.  Along with internet radio, television and movies are very much the new platform for artists to get major attention.  Music supervisors are the key players in this area.  Although they can be as hard to contact as record labels (happy to report you don’t need a record label these days!), they are the people to contact with a professional one-sheet (described in the next paragraph), and unwrapped (don’t make them work hard to listen) CD.

A one-sheet is a simple press release.  It is essential because it is what you will use to accompany your mailed CD or song to radio stations, music business associates, music supervisors, newspapers, magazines, and whomever else you are soliciting.  It should include the barcode of your CD, a picture of you and/or the CD cover, some press quotes and clear descriptions of your style that emphasize why the consumer should want to buy your product.  Yes, I said product, but I’m assuming you’re reading this because you would like people to purchase your song, correct?  Marketing hats on then!

Let the world know about your product right away using your fan email list, Facebook, and by soliciting press individually.  I can guarantee you a lot more success getting press by personally emailing each journalist separately.  Take a few minutes to research exactly who you are requesting a review from.  Is it the local newspaper?  A magazine?  A blog?  Find out what you can about that publication and authors by reading a recent copy and/or visiting their website.  Avoid a mass email blast addressed to no one in particular.  It is amazing what you can get when you ask nicely, and take an interest in them with a personalized request/message. Before you even have your barcoded CD in hand, be a collector of contacts along the way.  Include these in your marketing plan.

Post videos to Youtube live videos of your song from a either live performance, a fancy video (if you have the budget), or, my current favorite medium, cartoons!  Yes, I just made a cartoon video and had a blast.  I think it cost me $15.  Goanimate.com is very user-friendly and it took me a few hours to do something creative with my song.  When posting your video to Youtube, it is vital to tag it correctly.  Use tag words similar to your style.  In the description, write your website information on where they can click to purchase the song.  The bottom line here is you want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy your music without having to jump through any hoops.

Finally, don’t give up if you aren’t getting mass attention immediately.  Give it a few weeks or months and try new tactics.  Ask artists you admire what they are doing.  Try giving first.  For example, you could do a “buy one get one free”, or a discount for the first 100 likes to your Facebook page (you need a page for your music, not just the personal profile).  My personal favorite is donating a percentage of sales to charities you care about.

This is all based on my own experience, and I hope you’ve found it valuable.  Happy music distributing!

Katie

Should you have any questions, click the contact tab from my website below:

http://www.katieknipp.com/

Do we reap what we sow?

Do we reap what we sow? I’ve been thinking about this and want to talk about a recent experience.  A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a 17 year-old young woman called Maira Ramirez. Maira asked if I would be willing to be of assistance in helping her complete her final, senior-year project.  I agreed to talk further and the following week I sat down at our offices and met with Maira and her lovely father. Soon after the meeting began, I learned more about Maira and her connection to Simply Music.  Let me step back in time a little and give you some background.

In 2001, I was approached by a teacher from a local elementary school – Bowling Green Academy. The teacher, Emily Gallo, explained that Bowling Green was one of California’s charter schools. A charter school is a publicly funded, independent school that is established by teachers, parents, or community groups, and operates under the terms of a charter with a national authority. In the case of Bowling Green, the school had a multi-age department, where many of the students came from families that struggled with significant behavioral, financial or educational issues.

Bowling Green had never had a music program in its curriculum, nor did it have a budget to do so. What they did have was a committed leader in Emily Gallo, as well as several teachers who were willing to stand behind her and collectively give of themselves in order to find a way to bring music into the school, and into the multi-age department. I decided to support their commitment.

To help bring the project to fruition I approached Casio Corporation, and they agreed to donate 50 keyboards to the school.  I provided the educational videos, audio-recordings and printed materials. I also had one of our senior-most educators, Kerry Hanley, conduct a training intensive with several of the teachers at the school (none of whom had any experience whatsoever in teaching music!!).

Less than ten weeks later, Bowling Green had their first-ever music concert and, in front of a packed audience, every child in the program performed one or more pieces. A member from the Sacramento Board of Education was present, and it was a complete success – a very powerful experience.

About a year or so later, I received a call from Emily Gallo. She told me that one particular student at Bowling Green had been of tremendous assistance to her. She explained that this student had gone through the Simply Music program at the school, and had become an “assistant teacher” to her, helping many of the other students progress through the program. She also informed me that this girl had an enormous personal commitment to music but, given the limited nature of the curriculum that was being presented at the school, she had no means of being able to continue further with the program. In response to this, I offered to pay for this girl to have a year of private lessons with one of our Simply Music teachers, Heather Matsumoto. Frankly, I was happy to do this, and happy to contribute. I never actually met the student concerned and, as the weeks and months passed, I got caught up in Simply Music’s growth and expansion and never really gave the matter a further moment’s thought.

Now, here I was in a meeting with a young woman, thinking that I’m just there to consider helping her with a senior-year project, and what I discovered was that this was the very same girl that Emily had talked to me about years before. This was the very same girl that I had sponsored into private lessons. This was the very same girl, as it turns out, who continued to develop herself as a musician, continued to play daily, and who had become the regular pianist at her church.  What a fantastic discovery for me! I was seeing the events of the past come full-circle into the experiences of the present!

Maira explained to me that her Bowling Green experience had been deeply moving and very important to her. Music had become a part of her life. And now, she wanted to give others the chance to have music woven into the fabric of their day-to-day lives.  She wanted to take on re-introducing the Simply Music program into her former elementary school. She would need instruments, instructional materials and mentoring support. She would also need the support of other teachers at the school. Most importantly, she would need the permission and support of the principal.

As Maira continued to speak, I became more and more impressed by her foresight, action and tenacity. She had already gone to the school and discovered that the keyboards were still there, packed away in a storage room. Perfect!  She had enlisted the support of teachers at the school as well. Furthermore, she had already approached the principal at the school (which is now known as Chacon Academy), and had enrolled the principal into agreeing to re-introduce the Simply Music program. Maira had organized her schedule so that she could attend the school twice weekly and oversee instruction in the classroom. All was a green light. The only thing needed was all of the educational materials and, of course, I was perfectly happy to provide those. In addition, as before, I enlisted the support of one of our senior educators, Diane Correia, to coach Maira on a weekly basis in whatever was needed to assist her in successfully introducing the program.  So, last week, students at Chacon Academy began learning and playing music. How fabulous!

And there you have it. An opportunity, from 12 years ago, contributed to a group of students who otherwise may never have had the opportunity to have music in their lives. And from this, Maira emerges – still developing her musicianship, still playing, still contributing music to others. And now she is taking her love of music back to where it began for her. She now gets to further contribute music to the lives of others.  And what may come of that? Who knows?

I know that my piano teacher, Frank Forbes, died long before he had the chance to see that his contribution had directly impacted the creating and proliferation of Simply Music around the world. When we share music with someone, when we support a child in having lessons, when we encourage somebody to do something that can have powerful lasting value, we often never see the outcome.

I’m thrilled that I had a chance to meet and speak with Maira. I know that others will be impacted by what she has to contribute. And so it is for every music teacher out in the world. Every lesson you teach is like a seed. And with every student you teach, you plant that seed. You do so having no idea of what future impact it will have. One thing is for sure, as far as I am concerned, I garner great value in the validity of believing that we reap what we sow.

Click here to watch a brief ABC Los Angeles News segment on Simply Music and the Bowling Green music project.

Neil Moore

Founder and Executive Director

Simply Music