Simply Music

From Leanne Van Heerwaarden

Bradley is a Simply Music student who has acquired music as a life-long companion. He is a musician, a composer, an accompanist and an arranger – all by age 16. Bradley is also a very respectful, imaginative and dedicated student.

Bradley began simply music lessons in 2005 when he was 10 years old. He was one of the first students I started on Simply Music and is my longest learning SM student at present. It has been wonderful to watch him develop from a very beginner into a musician who has music as a friend for life.

Bradley began lessons in a group with several other students and stayed in that group for around 135 lessons, where they completed Level 7. He then continued on privately and has now had 266 lessons. He has a wonderful grasp of key, scale, transposing, dynamics and the functional use of music theory in the practical things he plays.

Over the years Bradley has been diligent in maintaining his playlist and putting in regular practise time each week. He has persevered through the ups and downs of a long term relationship and I cannot remember a time where we had to talk through motivation issues for him to remain learning. When I asked Brad’s mum if he had ever asked to quit she replied,  “In fact when he has, in earlier years, complained about not wanting to practise, I have given him the option of stopping lessons, and he has quietly decided to practise after all!!”

Bradley has absorbed all the wonderful things that Simply Music offers – playing blues, improvising, accompanying and arranging – to name a few –  and he has also drawn from other musical experiences that he is involved in. At age 14 Bradley began playing the trumpet and now plays in a local amateur orchestra with his mother who plays viola. Bradley is also doing Year 11 and 12 music at school and this has given him a great outlet for performing and utilising all his skills he has learnt in Simply Music.

In the school class setting, Bradley becomes the arranger – working out chord progressions for songs like Stairway to Heaven and My Immortal by ear – and then transposing them into a key that suits the others in the group. The school guitar teacher one day heard an electric guitar solo happening only to find that it was Brad on the keyboard. In piano class I can give Brad a melody, like Sibelius’s Finlandia, and he can work out what chords fit best with the melody and perform it.

As many students do, Bradley struggled with reading music from the notation at the beginning of the process. He persisted and today can look at a sheet of music, find the pitch, find the patterns and shapes and put the sheet music away. Earlier this year Bradley performed, for a school music concert, an arrangement of Bach’s Toccata in D minor. He received great responses and went home and pulled out his book of Classics, found them on YouTube to see what they sounded like and came back to class the following week having learnt Solfeggio by C.P.E. Bach.

In 2009, Perth teachers held a combined concert to record students for a You Tube representation of Simply Music. Bradley at 14 can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kixNBuVbBA playing Shadow from Level 8 and Church Song from Level 7 with his own added variations.

Bradley is presently in Level 11 – though we have deviated with many other additional projects this year. He is progressing through the Jazz programme and has completed Accompaniment 2. Bradley writes beautiful compositions and I have recorded and attached his most recent for you to listen to. It is called Redemption.

Listen to Bradley playing Redemption

From Jill Linton

I would like to introduce you to Khamis and Alam Buol, two talented and hardworking students I have had the privilege of teaching for the past eighteen months. They are aged 13 and 11 and are refugees from the Sudan. When we met, they had been in Australia for a couple of years after spending most of their lives in a refugee camp in Kenya.

Our association started by chance. I give lessons in a local primary school as well as at home, and one recess I was chatting with a lady who came in to support the refugee students. When she discovered that I taught piano, she was keen to find out if I could do something for Alam because she had noticed him gravitating towards the piano in his previous school and trying to pick out a tune. She also made it clear that little or no payment could be involved.

This was a chance for me to make a contribution with the skills I have. I just had to sort out a few issues, such as finding a keyboard for Alam to practise on, and deciding which method to teach him with. I can’t imagine thinking twice about it now, but back then I had just started teaching Simply Music and still had many students learning the traditional way. I was also thinking about the price of materials and whether I was prepared to give them away, and a traditional tutor book was much cheaper. My third problem was how to communicate with him, because he was reluctant to talk to me!

These things gradually resolved themselves. A keyboard was donated by another student who was upgrading to a digital piano, and teaching Alam traditionally failed miserably as he regularly forgot his book and obviously wasn’t interested in playing the simple tunes. The turning point came when he told me his older brother Khamis was teaching himself songs from the keyboard and wanted to have lessons too. So I decided to visit the family and do it properly and teach them with Simply Music. Luckily a Sudanese man was also visiting and he could interpret, so I offered lessons for the cost of the ed fee and a small amount for some second hand materials, on the condition that they turned up for lessons at my house and did the practice. After much incomprehensible discussion, their mother agreed, but I knew that there would not be any parental support or encouragement.

I started teaching the boys in a shared lesson, but Khamis came back to the second lesson with all of level one already learnt, so I had to think again about how to approach things! I could hear Neil saying “Learn slowly to progress quickly” and I felt a bit panicky about how to slow things down, but I also knew that it takes as long as it takes, and if it took hardly any time at all, what could I do? Fortunately arrangements and the accompaniment programme slowed Khamis down a bit, and Alam was going along at a very civilized speed so we settled into a good routine. As the next levels were needed, I asked the boys to do some work at my place to help pay for them, and I now have a painted fence and a lot fewer weeds in my garden. Piano was also an area where Alam could excel and be totally focussed when things at school were not going so easily.

I discovered that my contacts through piano teaching could help the family in other ways too. Parents of ex students were very involved in the local soccer club and they were able to find teams for the boys for no cost, and another student’s mother drove Alam to practices and games. The husband of a lady in my Ladies Piano Evening group took on the job of teaching the boys’ mother how to drive, and he now has a regular stream of refugees waiting for driving lessons. He also became the family’s Fix It Man. Another piano family has given Khamis and Alam their old piano on an indefinite loan.  I am very grateful to be part of this community of music lovers!

The boys are up to lesson 62 now and have had a half hour lesson each since the early days. One works with me while the other plays on my old digital piano with the headphones and has the option of recording his composition ideas on a floppy disk (better than nothing!) I love the way they are so at home on the piano and can spend half an hour playing continuously with no reference to books or music.

Khamis has nearly finished level 6 and I feel very confident that he will be an independent learner very soon. Right from the beginning he has had a particular affinity with classical music, which I find particularly interesting considering how little exposure he has had to it. Last week he started playing Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor, which he apparently heard on Karate Kid and looked up on You Tube. He tells me he wants to keep learning piano for as long as he can, and seems to need no repeating of the long term relationship conversation. Alam is almost up to level 5 and has many ideas for composition. He also wants to keep learning “to the end”.

The boys told me that before they started piano and soccer they had nothing to do but watch TV and get bored, and they are very happy to have these opportunities to develop some skills and to have a more interesting and satisfying life! In the future they both see themselves playing music for friends, entertaining people (maybe for money) and possibly teaching piano as well. Khamis is already on the path to earning his keep through his piano playing. The mother of one of his friends told me that he visits their place regularly before dinner and she tells him he can stay for the meal if he plays for her. So she is entertained while she cooks, and Khamis gets to eat!

Every week I am seeing evidence of their developing confidence and how the patterns they are learning in Simply Music are becoming a natural part of their playing and musical self expression. I am very grateful that I can give them a way of learning piano that offers so much more than the ability to read notes off a page.

Watch Khamis playing Last Week of Autumn and Alam playing Autumn Leaves Falling

A World Where Everyone Plays – A True Story by Bernadette Ashby

Jenna with her teacher Bernadette Ashby

Every week it’s the same.  This little girl greets me with a warm hug and then proceeds to feel everything on my body from head to toe.  And I let her.  “I’m wearing a green shirt and black boots.  Here’s a heart charm on my necklace,” I explain.  I take her hand in mine and we travel through the maze of familiar furniture until she reaches my piano.  Lessons commence.  “Jenna, that was fantastic!  You’re doing a great job.  Do it again.”  I smile as she pushes down the piano keys.  Jenna is my ten-year-old, blind, and deaf student.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself teaching such a delightful child (excerpt from A World Where Everyone Plays, released Jan. 2011, Efting Press).

… and it all began with her parents.  Her mom was in the back of the room quietly listening to my presentation about Simply Music.  She patiently waited to speak with me after all the other parents had left.  “I have a wonderful daughter who we’d like to give piano lessons to.  She’s blind and deaf and is amazing.  Can you teach her?”  she asked.  She spoke so highly of her.  I had taught students in the past who had learning challenges; Autism, ADHD, Asbergers, PDD, selective mutism, and auditory sensory issues.  But I had never taught anyone who was blind and deaf.  As a matter of fact, I had never known anyone who was blind or deaf.  The challenge piqued my interest.

I knew Simply Music was an incredible breakthrough piano method, but the question in mind was not so much about the method as it was about my ability to teach Jenna.  Could I deliver the results that we promote through Simply Music – a message that I so believed in, a world where everyone plays?

I’m never one to shy away from “climbing a mountain”.  Simply Music has taught me that.  I took Jenna on as a student and at first there was a learning curve.  For example, I lacked the language to teach her.  Through my sighted and hearing students, I took for granted that I used the words “see” and “hear”.  It was part of my vocabulary.  Now I was being reminded by her parents to use the word “feel”.  The kinesthetic sensory gateway was the key to teaching Jenna.  And so I adjusted.  Though Jenna is considered profoundly deaf, her right ear has a greater capacity to hear sounds thanks to a cochlear implant that she had when she was 2 ½.  Knowing that, I teach her from the right side.  One of the most favorite things that we do is when she places her fingers on mine and we play a song together.  She picks up the rhythm and beat this way.

Jenna really is no different than any of my students apart from her learning challenges.  She is a skilled swimmer, an established dancer – dancing with performance groups, and she parallel snow skis.  She is incredibly teachable.  Her mother warned me that she would be an easy student.  Jenna has learned how to sing with Simply Music.  Having listened to her sing “Amazing Grace”, I don’t think there is anything more beautiful.  It’s not the voice or sounds that we would normally hear, but the song is sung from the heart.  It brings tears to my eyes every time.  Her mother was right.  She is an amazing person.

What more can I say about her parents – incredibly supportive, committed to Jenna, and always at piano lessons.  They’ve even brought her grandparents, brothers, friends, aunties, and guide dog to class.  They’ve given me an education that all my educational theory in graduate school does not even compare to.  I’ve learned to appreciate every day through them.  There have also been moments of tenderness as we share Jenna’s life struggles and great joy as we celebrate her performances at her recitals.  Here are a few words from a mother’s heart:

Most recently, about a year ago, I wanted Jenna to learn about music. Knowing that she has rhythm, and she can “jam” when she dances, I thought she might do well at piano and possibly like it.  She’s had two recitals so far, and has loved every minute of it.  For Jenna, she is as good as her instructors.  We’ve been lucky.  Jenny Sanchez at Dance Attack, and Bernadette Ashby with Simply Music, have been exceptional.  They have opened up their hearts to a child they have had to teach and train completely differently than other children.  This is a gift to us being her mother and father, but most of all, to a little girl named Jenna.

I am a different teacher because of Jenna.  It’s a privilege to be a part of her story, to contribute to Jenna in such a way that would allow her to experience her musicianship.  Others would say it’s not possible.  I say that it’s a world where everyone plays.  Jenna is a shining example of this.

Watch Jenna Play Dreams Come True

From Joanne Jones

I have had the privilege and pleasure of sharing the Simply Music programme with the Wieske family for many years now.  They are a wonderful example of how effective and rewarding this method is when it is followed faithfully. Fundamentals like parent involvement in lessons and at home, regular practice sessions, following instructions, watching the DVD and processing slowly are studiously adhered to by all the family.

It is wonderful to hear them playing happily and confidently, both individually and with each other, and to see that what they have learned brings both an understanding of the structure of music and how to effectively learn music, and how that has impacted on their learning of the guitar and ukelele. Music truly is a companion in their daily lives – a testament to both their diligence and the Simply Music programme.

From Lisa Wieske

Our introduction to Simply Music began about 9 years ago when I attended a local Perth Homeschooling Conference.  While wandering through the myriad of tables and resources for sale, I spoke to Joanne Jones who was promoting a new way to learn music. It was called ‘Simply Music’.  I was interested, yet sceptical of a ‘new and better way’, so I took a brochure.  A year or so later, I had a conversation with an acquaintance, Lyndel Kennedy, who was a traditionally trained piano teacher and had recently changed to the Simply Music programme.  She was so enthusiastic about it her comments settled any concerns that I had and my husband and I decided to pursue this for our children.  We haven’t looked back!

Our two oldest children, Braden and Nathan, began learning in August 2004 when they were 8½ and almost 7.  Our youngest two children, Emily and Matthew, began in February 2007 when they were 7 and 6.  While Nathan maintained good progress and achieved his level 8 certificate, it was obvious that his heart was somewhere else in music.  My husband and I decided that he could stop piano lessons. That was mid 2009 after almost 5 years of lessons.  Similarly, Matthew was at the same stage at the end of 2010 and he also stopped lessons.  Both Nathan and Matthew have continued their musical learning with guitar.  What they learned in Simply Music has put them in an excellent position with their understanding of chords to go on and learn guitar.

Having been traditionally taught, I have been continually amazed at how and what Simply Music has taught our children.  They, of course, are oblivious to why I often exclaim with delight at what they are playing!  Our children have not only been able to play a variety of interesting, meaningful and fun music, they have also developed a good understanding of chord usage and overall musical structure.  That is something that I never understood.  Even now with my limited practice, my understanding and confidence with playing piano has certainly increased.  The Accompaniment Programme has provided a wonderful foundation from which a freedom in playing music can flourish but like anything worthwhile, the benefits gained directly correlate with the effort invested!

My husband plays acoustic guitar and Matthew has taught himself (via the internet) the ukulele. So, with pianists, guitarists and a uke player, we have the pleasure of more and more ‘jamming’ sessions.  There is something powerfully influential when both parents are actively promoting and encouraging the atmosphere to enjoy playing music. We all enjoy listening to a variety of musical styles but one of our family favourites is Christian Worship music, which we play and sing along with.  Most of this music includes chords so even early in our children’s musical learning they were able to simply, yet confidently join in the accompaniment of our singing with my husband on the guitar.  That was a powerful example of how quickly Simply Music allows a student to really make use of their learning.

An unexpected benefit of learning the ‘Simply Music way’ has been to observe a method of ‘how to learn’ that translates into many areas of life.  Simply Music emphasises that small, simple, stress free elements should be taught and mastered before adding any further information.  The learning becomes more solid, sure and enduring.  Going slower truly is a faster and more thorough way of learning.  The process also is a whole lot less stressful for everyone!  As a homeschooling mum, I am continually developing the methods I use to teach our children.  I have been able to implement this principle of learning not only with my children but also myself with great results.

As a family, we are truly grateful to our wonderful, caring, positive, encouraging, patient and inspirational teacher, Joanne Jones.  Her passion for the Simply Music programme is evident and has certainly borne wonderful results in our children.  Consequently, we are always quick to recommend and promote Simply Music as a superior and more enjoyable way to learn music!

Imagine a culture where people of all ages easily and readily acquire and maintain music as a lifelong companion…

This has been a dream come true for a student commencing her musical journey at the age of 71.

Teruko Bowen arrived to live in Perth, Western Australia from Japan in 1974 with her husband and two children.  In early 2008, while reading a local Perth newspaper, she was impressed by an editorial claiming that anyone from 7 -107 years of age could learn to play the piano with a revolutionary method called Simply Music.

An intrigued Teruko tentatively rang the teacher, Sonja Kay, and asked if being  70-plus  was too old to start, considering she had no prior learning experience. She shared that she had always secretly desired to play the piano from a young age, but never had the opportunity to just try.

In just two and half years of learning to play, Teruko has built a repertoire of an amazing 120 songs.  She has recently completed Level 7. She attends a shared lesson with another younger Japanese woman on a weekly basis.

Teruko’s favourite pieces are the classics – Fur Elise, Ballade, Sonata in C, Canon in D and Minuet in G. Being able to master all the chords through the accompaniment program and exploring the arrangement and composition programs has created skills she’d never imagined in all her years of dreaming to play. The journey of learning to read rhythm and notes the Simply Music way has opened up many possibilities. Her days are filled studying a wide variety of pieces.

As a student she is always so thrilled to take on pieces that have a lot of meaning personally for her. These include music from her Japanese culture, church hymns, and of course a number of classical and also folk songs from the 50’s and 60’s – songs such as Sukiyaki, Sakura, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Die Moldau, Scarborough fair, One Day at a Time, Marianne, Que Sera Sera, You Are My Sunshine, When the Saints Go Marching In.

A huge asset through learning with the Simply Music method has been the ability to see patterns and utilise the tools and strategies in unfolding new music scores. Teruko has become very adept at seeing and learning patterns and she loves her daily practice. She considers herself very fortunate to be able to have the time to study and play the piano at her stage in life.  She often comments how good it is to keep her brain active and she feels very happy about that.

Recently her teacher Sonja was invited to be guest speaker at The Ideas Place, a community based activity group in Perth. The presentation featured how easy it is to learn the piano using Simply Music’s playing-based method. And how this produced unprecedented results for people of all ages. The age group of the audience was between 50- 80 years.  Sonja invited Teruko to participate as living proof of what could be achieved. The audience was truly captivated by her ability to play without music, and so fluently considering she had only been learning a short time.  She inspired a number of people to take up lessons due to her example of what is possible for anyone willing to ‘give it a go’ for whatever reason.

By Anneka Hoorn (formerly Anneka Sparkes) with Gordon Harvey

Simply Music is all about music as a lifelong companion.  Not necessarily a calling or a career or a life-force, but occurring in a way that our musicality becomes an everyday friend, a natural part of how we express ourselves in the world.

Sometimes, though, a student will grab that newfound spirit and run with it until it’s something that’s truly their own.

Ronen started learning with me in a large group of 12 adults in a church hall in April 2006. From the beginning Ronen stood out as someone who had both a sharp mind for learning and an eagerness to commit to practice, as well as having an outstandingly beautiful artistic feel. Ronen had never learned the piano before, so I wanted to take him through the program right from the start and for him to have the opportunity to benefit from all the different backgrounds and learning styles of all the other students. In order to keep him adequately stimulated though, I encouraged him particularly to explore the Arrangements and Composition components of the Simply Music program. From early on Ronen started to contribute to the class little ideas of notes that sounded nice together, inspiring and impressing the other members not only with his talent, but also with his warmth, integrity and authentic modesty. One of his strengths that played out early was that he wasn’t scared of using the black notes. On the contrary, they often were his foundation, searching for the right white notes to piece them together.

Ronen has a very instinctive and physical learning and playing style, which is always a delight to watch. In class we sometimes watch him searching with his fingers over the piano to retrace the kinesthetic feel of his playing until he finds himself in familiar terrain, like a masseur searching until finding the knot in someone’s back. He may tilt his head to the side like a bird to tune in his ear better to the sounds that he is searching for, or look upwards as if in order to receive the divine music to ascend through his body, spilling out of his fingers into the piano keys.

We asked Ronen about his writing style to try to get a picture of how music occurs to him.

“It can start with a random chord, which I play either intentionally, by deciding to try it, or by coming unintentionally across a chord and finding that that sound grabs my attention – in other words, it just sounds nice.  In some cases I can then hear the next chord in my head so I just need to find it on the keys.  However, when I get stuck I need to wander around the keys until I find a chord which sounds good after the previous one.  Later on I tend to break up the chords into single notes, which to my ears makes it sound richer and more melodic.

“The phrases of the music usually ’form themselves’ according to the way the music develops. I can not say exactly how, but the music seems to ‘tell’ at what point a group of chords should be ended.

“About the rhythm: after I formulate the chord sequence, I sometimes come across the idea of a different rhythm which better fits a phrase or the whole piece. Again, it can come up intentionally or unintentionally (coming across a different rhythm while playing), when the new rhythm presents the harmonies better.”

As his musical vocabularly has increased over 160 lessons, and his understanding of chords, music structure and key signature has solidified, his compositions have matured to an astonishing melange of a unique complexity, yet organic perfection. I would love to think that sharing his piano playing here may lead to Ronen to finding more significant opportunities and applications to contribute his musical gifts to the world.

Wade Myers, San Jose, California
By Bernadette Ashby

“That was really good. Is there any way that I could buy the score for Constellation of Snow?” the mom asked after the student concert. She was a classically/traditionally trained musician. “Well, uh, no,” my girlfriend, another Simply Music Teacher, replied hesitantly. “That is his original composition.”

My journey with Wade began seven years ago when I became his Simply Music Teacher. It is amazing to me to think that Wade has come this far especially since I remembered him as a squirrelly strong-willed six year old boy who could barely follow instructions and sit at my piano bench. At that time, his music teacher at school told his mother that he was not ready for music instruction. But what his mother understood about Wade is that he would resist the standard course of music instruction. Looking for alternatives, they were so thankful to have found Simply Music.

Since then, I’ve seen so much growth in him. Today, he is still strong-willed but now uses his creativity and energy to pour into his music. Wade composes on a regular basis. He has taken the freedom and permission given to him to explore and discover music in his own terms – contributing his creative talent and compositions to the world. Even at the young age of thirteen! His next piece will be for his eighth grade graduation in June.

Wade, no doubt, has become a generative musician fulfilling one of the goals of Simply Music. He has taken the tools and strategies that he has gained through Simply Music and uses them constantly to be able to play a variety of songs in all musical genres, to read music, to write music, to compose/improvise music. He has the ability, for example, to take a piece of music that he loves and analyze it so he can break the concepts down to a manageable state in order to learn the music. Eventually, he puts the sheet music away and can play it anytime, anywhere, and anyplace. The song is his for keeps, it’s his for life. He entertains himself and he entertains others.

One of the most important things Wade loves about Simply Music is that it has given him freedom in expressing himself, not only musically but in many other ways. Musically, he’s developed his own style in the tradition of George Winston. As a result, this has given him great confidence and acceptance of self as he prepares to take on other challenges as a young adult. He understands what it means to experience success because he’s lived it by being a Simply Music student – walking away with a sense of victory at every lesson. Of course, over the years, there were the typical ups and downs of piano lessons but with unswerving commitment and the support of his loving parents at his side (and always at his piano lessons) I can assuredly say that music will be a companion to Wade for the rest of his life. What a gift!

Wade has developed into a fine musician. It has truly been a privilege to be his coach and teacher in his musical journey. I don’t know what the future will hold for Wade but I do know that music will always be a part of it. In the meantime, there is talk in his family that Wade should set up a website so he can begin to sell his music. If that is the case, I’ll be the first to purchase.