Simply Music

From Mel Karajas

Since her beginnings as a Simply Music student, Eliette Boumeester has grown and expanded her musical horizons in multiple directions, including becoming a singer-songwriter and one of the youngest ever Simply Music Teachers, much of it happening under the cloud of serious illness. She tells her story to Mel Karajas and shares a song reflecting her journey.

Can you please let us know a little  background about your musical development?

Music has always been a huge part of my life really.  When I was little, my parents sat me down and said “you need to learn a musical instrument”. I began playing violin but we moved from Canberra to Melbourne when I was 5 so my lessons didn’t continue. I started playing piano with David Bremner then with Gordon Harvey when I was 6. My Dad has always played piano, he’s a really talented Jazz player, so I have grown up with piano in the house and loved it so that was where I started.

You started playing at such a young age. What was it that had you stick with music?

Music for me has been always been a way to express myself. My Dad had cancer when I was 9 so it was almost an escape for me. It was a way I could express my feelings like if I was angry or upset. Music is so important in people’s lives … it’s therapeutic. Whether it’s teaching music or playing it, I get something out of it that I can’t find anywhere else.

You are one of the youngest Simply Music teachers. What made you take the leap from learning Simply Music to teaching it?

I was 14 when I started teaching. It got to the time when I was 12 or 13 where I questioned how far music was going to take me … was it going to be a career choice? I needed something more than school, sport and music lessons. I knew I loved kids and teaching so I thought about piano teaching but wasn’t sure how to get started. My Dad suggested teaching Simply Music and because I already loved the method where I didn’t have to learn scales or do exams I went from there and haven’t looked back. It’s been fantastic.

As a person and as a musician, how do you think the teaching has developed you?

I definitely think I’ve grown as a player and as a teacher. You get so much out of teaching so you learn as you go. I’ve always struggled with the theory side of things. When I sit down with my students and they ask me questions about major or minor chords or keys, I can explain it and it makes sense but if I need to write it down it doesn’t. I guess it’s like teaching Mathematics. When you are saying it out loud it becomes more clear than when you would just be trying to figure it out in your head. Having these conversations with my students helps me ‘say it out loud’ so I learn with them. It’s a really cool two way street.

As a person, teaching has helped me mature as well. Just having to arrange schedules and speak with parents it was all really daunting at first. I really wasn’t sure how I’d do it, especially marketing myself. Now I see how much fun it is and how much I get out of it emotionally, physically and musically. It’s really amazing.

You had a health scare a sometime ago, can you tell us a little about that?

Sure. I got a virus called the Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Basically, I got a cold then a week later my hands and feet were going numb and I was very dizzy. Normally when I have a cold I’d say ‘oh well, life goes on’ and I don’t worry about it because I’m so busy and don’t have time to slow down just for a cold. It got really bad so I took a day off school and just slept. My hands and feet went numb again but I thought maybe I’d just slept on my side for too long. I went to the doctors and he gave me antibiotics for blocked ears and sinus infection. The next day (Thursday), I was dehydrated and vomiting so went to the doctor again that night and was sent to hospital. ER ran all sorts of scans and tests as they thought there may have been something wrong in my brain. The following night (Friday) they moved me to the ward and let me know I had Guillain-Barre and that meant that my body was basically shutting down because I didn’t have enough white blood cells to fight that bacteria. I had to have a blood transfusion to try and slow it down but the reality was I would be paralysed and lose my ability to walk. That night I couldn’t breathe anymore so the Saturday morning I was moved to ICU as the doctors said the disease wasn’t meant to progress this fast. I had to be put in an induced coma for the doctors to get on top of it. My family came in to tell me everything was going to be OK but I had no feeling below my knees and my arms barely had any strength to brush my teeth. I woke up Monday morning and couldn’t move or open my eyes. If you were to touch my shoulder I couldn’t tell you if you were hot or cold but I could hear everything that was going on around me and was aware if you were in the room. They moved me into another hospital, in an adults ward, where I was on a lot of medication so don’t really remember much of that week. I had to relearn how to do everything again. How to breathe, walk and feed myself. You have to relearn how to use your muscles again as the sheath around your nerves is damaged. Every nerve in your body is kind of disconnected then has to grow back. So it is something you can come back from which was always a positive but we weren’t sure to what extent. The results vary by age so being 16 was a big advantage. There was another girl who was 19, had Guillain-Barre and after 8 months was still in a wheelchair. My recovery happened really fast, in 3 months I had walked out of rehab on crutches. My Dad was surprised as he thought any sort of recovery would be at least 6 months away. Learning to breathe again was incredible. You have different levels of Life Support and pressure support that helps you breathe. Then you have the CPap machine and after 2 minutes on that I thought I was going to suffocate. The nurses kept me going by pushing me to do more all the time. I was in the ward for about 2 weeks and had been told by a students’ parent who worked there that I would be there for 6-8 months which got me really upset.  A wheelchair had been sitting in my room all of this time and the nurses wanted to get me up and moving. After desperately not wanting to be in the chair, they lifted me in and wheeled me around. I still remember being taken to a window where it was bright and sunny and seeing a woman walking her dog. It made me realise that I had gotten comfortable not doing anything and that I didn’t want to live my life this way. I am only 16 and want to travel next year and be energetic. In time, I was taken off my breathing machine, my nerves repaired so I now had feeling and there were still more ups and downs where you had to push the boundaries of what you think you can do. Playing the piano again after such a long time was just an amazing feeling. There was always music going on in my room which was an incredible environment to recover in. It kept my mind busy and motivated which was really important.  My friends constantly visited and kept my room decorated so all of this was really positive in keeping my spirits up and recovery fast.

On the ward, I made sure I went to the piano once a day. That was really scary. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to play again as I had to retrain my hands to move and my fingers weren’t working. The hardest thing to face was not being able to play as I did before. I was determined to make sure I could. Playing was a really good way to keep motivated as I couldn’t walk just yet so it gave me something else to focus on. I even wrote a song on the ward to get a few things out of my system which really helped.

Can you tell us a little more about the song and where it’s taken you?

Sure. I entered my song into a secondary school competition throughout New Zealand. I applied last year and made the top 50 and was able to achieve the same this year. They gave me some money to professionally record and I got on their CD. It’s been amazing but also quite scary to write a song then record it and have people listen to and judge it. To send it in to a competition and have very important people in the music industry give their opinion about it is quite daunting. It got some really great feedback though which is reassuring.

Would you recommend the experience to someone else or encourage your students to enter their songs into a competition?

Definitely. Unless you put yourself out there, you’ll never be heard. It’s  a career path I want to go down so I’m always jotting things down in my note book. I even ask my students to write me a song as there is always a great story behind it. Music is such a diverse language that no matter who you are or where you are in the world you connect with it. It comes with so much emotion and feeling. You might not be able to sit down with someone and tell them how you feel but when you are writing a song or singing it, you can. I did a research project this year on music therapy as I was just so fascinated on how much music was a part of me getting better. It was on all the time from when I woke up to when I went to sleep at night. There was an experiment in America on kids with cancer. They got them to write songs and encourage song writing. These kids couldn’t communicate with doctors as to what was making them sick, what was adding to their pain or if they were scared. They were really closed off. There was a girl who was quite musical who bcame the face of a recording device that they bring into the hospital in a bus. The kids came up with really amazing songs about how they were feeling. Things that they couldn’t talk to anyone about, talking about doctors or treatment or being sad and upset. This is why I think if you write a song you should share it. I can understand why people would see sharing your private thoughts as daunting but the other thing is that other people relate to it. Everyone feels a little shut off or embarrassed and thinks they shouldn’t feel how they feel but in reality there are millions of people in the world that feel exactly the same.

What a wonderful perpective to have as a teacher knowing that this is what your students will go through.

Exactly. Sometimes they will come to me with songs that they write and I’ll ask them what they were feeling when they wrote them or what is the story behind it? Sometimes they are willing to share and others there is more to it than they want to share. But the fact that they can write lyrics about it or put their feelings on the keys is incredible. I’m not a great poet but if I put it to music then it is something completely different for me.

We’ve included the song you spoke about here but have you created any other work?

Yeah I have. My dad had stage 4 cancer when I was 9 so song writing has been a big thing for me since I was small as a way to get everything out. I have written quite a lot of songs and have gone to music school the last 2 years for song writing courses. Sometimes I get stumped on how to put my feelings into words so some songs take longer than others where other times I feel like just putting absolutely everything into it. I think simplicity of songs is so important. If you have a message don’t make it complicated … it doesn’t need to be. My organic songs are always better than the ones where I’m consciously trying to get across a specific message. In this song I wanted to get the message across that if you believe enough in something it will happen … absolutely. I could easily have sat in my room for 3 months being angry at the world and depressed about my situation but the reality is there was nothing to blame for this, it just happened. If I had’ve caused this then would have been something to be angry about but this was nobody’s fault, it was just life. So I just kept setting goals and saying that I would walk again and I will be out of here by Christmas. That happened. I was out a month earlier than that and on crutches when most people thought I might be home for Christmas and if I was it would be in a wheelchair. It’s all about your mindset. If you are committed to the idea that you can make it happen then you will and I strongly believe that. If you want to lie down and take life’s down side nothing good will come of it.  In this song I really wanted to tell my friends how much help they were and that I didn’t have much to say but we fought and got through it together. The first verse opens with ‘I feel cold, I feel numb, I feel nothing’. This song took me about 5 months to write and figure out where I wanted to start. That line really summed up where I was at in the beginning and physically as well … I really didn’t feel anyting. It’s a very emotional song for people that know the message behind it. I’m working on a music video for it at the moment and was asked ‘do you want to incorporate the illness and real story into it or do you want to people to subtley figure it out for themselves?’ I could do a hospital theme or empty bed theme but I didn’t want the video to be too heavy. The other 2 verses are quite light where the second verse says ‘I love the way that you kiss, you kiss my hand’. The third verse is about my friends and how they pulled me though. The bridge is about a ghost calling me into the darkness. It was a hard song to write but I’m really glad I wrote it. It really helped me get my head around everything that happened and what I wanted to remember.

You have a fantastic mind set and are physically healthy again. Where do you see yourself going with this? Is music a big part of your future

Definitely, I want to make music my career. Whether it’s performing or teaching or directing and producing I’m not sure yet. I want to come to Australia and study. I’m planning on going to the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney which is a huge goal of mine. Really I have nothing to lose and if you picture yourself doing something in the future you just need to work hard and be committed then it’s yours. It’s about building my confidence up now and launching into the big wide world. I can’t wait to learn from the important people in my life. I really just want to instill into people that no matter what trouble comes your way, when you are positive and surround yourself with great energy, you really can accomplish anything.

Listen to Eliette’s song Believe

Believe

From Gordon Harvey

Ray Nelson is a great example of getting back what you give.  As a pioneer of Simply Music in the Midwest, as a highly successful teacher, as a mentor to the community of teachers he helped grow, as a Senior Teacher Trainer, and now starting all over again as a pioneer across the globe in New Zealand, Ray has thrown himself into the fray and seen the benefits of an all-or-nothing attitude.  As his colleague Lois Anderton says: “I have followed his suggestions and I am making my studio one of “no regrets.”

Gordon: Tell us about your musical background, how you heard about Simply Music and how you got on to teaching the program.

Ray: I started piano lessons at the age of 7 and so music was a big part of my upbringing and I pretty much played piano all the way through school, and was in some church bands and had a chance to play other instruments.  In high school I also played French horn in the marching band and the concert band and I played piano in the jazz band.

I pursued a music degree after high school, and graduated from Northwest University in the Seattle area.  I was involved for several years with my home church directing musical choirs and programs, as well as teaching a number of piano students.   A few years later, I joined YWAM, a Christian missions organization, where I met my wife, while on staff at the University of the Nations in Hawaii, in the School of Worship.  We were both a part of developing/training musical teams in churches across the world.

After my years with YWAM, we moved to Oregon and were involved in youth ministry for several years. In 1997 we moved to Kansas City to do further biblical studies, and I began teaching music at a local piano store, which soon developed into a full-time music studio.  We started a family, and I continued to teach over the next 13 years, at several performing arts academies – “The Culture House” and “Trilogy Cultural Arts Centre”, the latter which I became the musical director..

Over several years I continued building my studio to around 70 students, and was teaching six days a week most of the year, all in private traditional lessons.  I began to experience burnout, and was at the point of seriously considering giving up teaching all together, as I had lost my passion for teaching.   I was so tired of seeing students quitting and giving up on music, and finding the traditional methods boring and difficult.  I was ready to just throw the towel in and give up teaching music as a profession. Around 2006, while on vacation, I came across an advertisement in a local paper for a free informational session on Simply Music.  I looked into it, but didn’t act on anything until a few months later, at the urging of my wife (and desperate for some other way to teach music!)  I took a serious look into Simply Music.

After talking to Neil Moore and several other teachers, I became convinced that Simply Music was for real, and not just a quick fix scheme to learning the piano, but a totally new approach to music education. I made the decision to switch my whole traditional studio over into Simply Music, and became Licensed in early 2007..

It’s quite a leap of faith isn’t it? If you’ve been doing something with so many students in a particular way and all of a sudden this brand new radical thing comes along.

I was looking for something else out there to put my energy into and that would really make a difference in the way my students felt about their music and the way they learned.  I really wanted to find something that would be different and that I believed in and that would reignite my passion for teaching music again.  My wife was my big encourager.  She said, “Ray, you really need to do this, it looks great, and you’re just getting burnt out as a teacher, you need to find something else that is going to revitalize your teaching”.   So I did that and I haven’t looked back.  It was a big head transplant as you can imagine, taking a whole traditional studio, and some of these kids I had been teaching for 10 years, and moving them into the Simply Music program.

G: How did you deal with that transition with your students?

R: well I had 98% of my studio that went with me, which was great!  I had to have several meetings with the parents and the students as to why we were doing this, that it’s a new language, and we are not moving backwards, we are moving sideways.  We are going to be picking up a lot more tools that you don’t know.  Obviously those groups that had a lot more traditional experience went faster, so they were more accelerated, but they loved it, they really loved it. They could see there were a lot of things that were benefiting what they were doing.  My first year of teaching Simply Music I taught just private lessons, because that ‘s what I had done up to that point.  So I decided to do this in stages.  I moved my whole studio into Simply Music and l kept the private environment.

I think towards the end of that year I had a few shared lessons and I loved it, so in my second year of teaching Simply Music I decided to switch my studio all over into groups. I had to have a lot more conversations with parents and families, and several more meetings, as to why I felt the group environment was a superior learning environment.  I continued teaching six days a week.  A while later I enrolled in several mentoring programs, that Simply Music offers to teachers:  “Teaching From the Future” and  the “Reinventing Expression and Leadership” programs, As a direct result of what I learned from these two outstanding programs, I decided to cut down to four teaching days and kept my studio enrollment around 110 students!   I would say that those 2 programs are the key to where I am today as a teacher and leader, and have had a profound impact on me making the decision to move to New Zealand, as well as learning to take better care of myself as a teacher.  Today I run a requirement-based group run studio, with fantastic results!

I was the first Simply Music teacher in the Kansas City area.  After teaching Simply Music for several years, I had grown my studio from 70 to 110 weekly students, and decided that I need more teachers to cope with the demand!

And I was still the only music teacher at that point in Kansas City.  We really needed to start bringing up some other teachers because I can’t handle all this, Kansas City is a little town of you know 2 million, so there’s plenty of other students out there.  So I started promoting it in the teaching community.  A lot of it was just through people I knew or people I knew that knew other people, and in about another 2 years time we had a bunch of other teachers on board, so I formed a local Kansas City Simply Music Teachers Association.  We now have about 16 members, all within the Kansas City metro area.

And I was kind of able to work myself out of a job when a year ago the opportunity came up to move to New Zealand.  My wife is from New Zealand, and so we always knew we’d be here some day again but we didn’t know when, and so when we felt like it was the right time I had enough teachers in place where I could sell my studio, which I did, to 5 different instructors in Kansas City.  The timing was right.  I had enough teachers on board, as well as several upper level instructors to take my more advanced students.

Now Kansas City is having its first conference this month!  I am so excited to see how this group of teachers has developed, and their enthusiasm and passion for teaching and sense of community.   I feel so lucky to have had the privilege of working with this high quality group of teachers.  If I could have hand picked them I would have!

There’s something about the kind of standard you establish from the beginning, whoever is the first person in an area sets the precedent for everyone else’s standards.  So it seems to me that you’ve probably set that up for yourself, you attract the right kind of people because you’ve created that high standard and high quality of teaching.

I’ve got a quote from Marty Simmons “I run my studio very much like Ray runs his studio”.   I think that’s evidence of that. I think it’s really important in an area like that that whoever takes up the mantle of leader creates the kind of standard that other people can rise to.

Yes, I agree. If you’re a level 5 leader, 5 being strong, you want to attract other level 5 leaders rather than just level 2 or level 1.

Marty’s great.  She’s actually taken over the leadership for me of the Kansas  Simply Music Teachers’ Association.  She was one of my Moms – I taught her daughter who had never had piano before, up thru level 7 as a Simply Music student.

I think that also teaching Simply Music has given me a love and a passion for mentoring, and so part of my goal in moving to New Zealand is not just to teach, I want to mentor other teachers.  I love to train and coach and share ideas together as teachers.  And so in the next season, I want to be a part of that next level as well.

In New Zealand here I hope to help other teachers get off the ground and see them be successful in their studios too. And so teaching Simply Music has given me my passion for teaching again.

The whole group dynamic, I never thought that it would have worked the way it has worked, I’m a huge advocate of it!  I just love being a part of this international body of teachers where you don’t feel like you’re on your own.  In traditional environments you’re teaching pretty much the same methods as everyone else out there but you just feel like you’re on your own and like everybody’s competing against each other. So I really love the support and non-competitive attitude that SM teachers have.

Its been encouraging to see here in New Zealand the openness to this method, you know at first I didn’t know walking in, I always say it’s an Australian developed method and there’s somebody coming from North America, what are they going to think, some big American guy’s got some great idea or something.

It’s been neat to see older folk have a renewed passion for music that they never thought they could learn. I have a lot of retired people that I teach now.  It’s neat to see kids find an avenue to learn music in a way that’s not frustrating them. They get frustrated when they learn music at school here, and it’s okay but it just doesn’t tickle them much, it doesn’t do much for them.  In New Zealand its very big to get music tuition at school.

So with me being set up down here and offering something that’s totally different to that it’s been good to see the response so far.  People realizing there’s’ another way to learn, and you don’t have to go through that channel of grades and exams and auditions.

Here in New Zealand I have my studio location in a commercial space, and that’s a new experience for me, I’m downtown, very visible and representing my own business, and its been a good experience for me to connect into the business community and be a part of several business chapters, which is a great way to connect with people.

It’s hard work any time you make a change and start over again, but it’s been worth it.

It sounds like you’ve had the opportunity with Simply Music to contribute some of your own particular skills and your own particular interests.  I attended a blues presentation you did at one of the symposium, and also of course you were involved with a worship program using Simply Music technology. Obviously these are things that are part of your background and it’s great that you have the opportunity to share some of your particular expertise with the wider public.

Yes I would love to be a part of curriculum development.  Ernest Amstalden and I are going to be teaching a worship workshop in Kansas City this month and we have talked about developing a worship accompaniment program for Simply Music.   I also have a real passion for the blues and improvisation, and to see that also developed further into a multi-level blues program for Simply Music.  The whole area of improvisation and contemporary worship styles has been a big part of my musical journey over the years.  Coming from a traditional musical background as a kid, and developing into the creative areas of my musical playing today has been a great journey, and I would love to be able to pass that on to teachers and students alike.  I would love to be able to help Simply Music teachers have the freedom that I’ve learned in my playing, both in the context of playing in bands and groups over the years.  I have really enjoyed having the opportunities over the past several years, to teach at the SM symposiums, and of course I always learn so much myself from all the teachers, and the community that we all share together.  That is a real gift that we as teachers can share in together.  I enjoy giving in that way cause I receive so much back as well, and am a better teacher for that.

With so much of what you’ve done with your background and your interests, your background in church music for example, and your interest in sharing your skills and your experience in making that change from private students into groups and how much you’ve loved the groups, that sense of community is coming through.  I get the sense that community music making or sharing music on a community level is important to you.

Yes it is. I play a lot in groups and bands and that’s a community right there, and being able to share that with your classes, that whole sense of community. Music is an individual thing, but it’s really to be shared with others in a shared context. And I love that about music in general and the more we can share together the more I feel like the learning curve goes up.  That’s what I’ve learned the most over the years when I’ve played with other musicians. That’s where I’ve been challenged the most.

To me there is a 3^rd dimension added, playing with others.  It’s greater that the sum of its parts.  To me that’s what’s exploited the least in music education.

There’s such a shortage out there of piano players that can accompany.  Can you accompany the singer that’s going to sing a song tonight?  Oh no, I need my music and I’m only used to playing the melody, you know. And I think one of my passions also is to mentor the next generation of piano players.  The way music is done out there in the real world you’ve got to have freedom to express yourself and improvise and follow and listen with other musicians. I think Simply Music is a great context to do that thanks to the tools you have.  My heart’s in the worship and the blues and just to help kids to get those skills that they can use. And it might be a hobby for them but they’ll be able to go so far with it and do so many things with it if they have the ability to accompany and to play.

Have you had the opportunity in New Zealand to share music with others?

I have.  I play at the church I’m part of, I play in a worship band, and my wife’s family’s very musical, one of her brothers is the worship pastor of the church we go to, one of her other brothers is a semi professional guitarist here in New Zealand, who also teaches, a lot of her relatives are musicians in their own right so we’ll get together for a family reunion, we might have five keyboardists, two guitarists and four drummers in the room.

So how do you envision a world where everyone plays, as we say here, what would a world like that look like?

It would look like this: what if we had a open market on a Sunday, which they do here in Cambridge and businesses are welcome to put out little booths, or people can come in with their produce but it’s like an open market.  What if we had a keyboard set up outside of my shop and students would feel totally comfortable playing in front of people they don’t know as people walk by, they wouldn’t be self conscious, and not only kids but 65, 70 year old adults, not be self conscious, just to sit down and play on the spot not worried if there’s one person watching or 50 people watching.  To me a world where everyone plays is where people know how to play piano lets say, are comfortable whether they are at a family reunion playing in front of people that they know or they’re on the street playing at a market venue playing in front of people they don’t know and they can play comfortably anywhere any time they want to and for all ages.

So a world where everyone plays is where we, so to speak, get on the rugby field and participate, nobody’s on the sidelines saying I wish I could play.  Everyone is able to get into the game.  No grades, no theory tests, no exams, we’re not being graded on our performance, we’re just playing.

That spontaneity, nobody’s self-conscious, they are just having fun, and that’s what I like about the shared group environment too, you can really begin to break down the walls of being self conscious about playing. You get used to playing in front of people every week you know so again, music I believe is to be shared with the world, not to keep it to yourself.

I love music.  I have a passion to see other people enjoy music. I have a passion to see other teachers enjoy teaching and I just really enjoy seeing people from all backgrounds and cultures, expressing their musical gifts and having fun sharing that experience together!

From Gordon Harvey

“Bernie, you can do it.  You can climb this mountain.”  Bernadette Ashby has had plenty of people repeat those words to her, but when you give yourself enough mountains to climb, you develop plenty of supporters.  Bernie has never let apparent limitations stop her from climbing mountains, from building a busy studio despite being an adult beginner  to creating a book about Simply Music with no prior publishing experience.  By her willingness to take the plunge, Bernie inspires that same quality in her students and fellow teachers.  You can read about one of those students in this issue of the newsletter, but here we ask Bernie herself about the trials and triumphs of climbing life’s mountains.

How did you get involved with SM?

I’m a lurker.  It takes a few times for me to warm up to an idea.  So when I met Kerry Hanley, from Australia, at a homeschool conference booth, it wasn’t until the end of the day.  By that time, she told me that there was a money back guarantee if I wasn’t satisfied with Simply Music.   I circled the booth numerous times, observing her over my shoulder, demonstrating the method to other parents.  She was making some incredible claims.  I was intrigued.  All my life I wanted to play the piano.  Growing up, I quit three times just trying to learn.  I had no idea that that day would change my life.  It’s been ten years and today I call myself a musician, composer, and an educator.  It’s been an amazing journey of self-fulfillment and joy.

You freely acknowledge your limited musical background, but that hasn’t stopped you becoming a very successful teacher.  Many people would be nervous in your role.  What was the scariest thing about taking on the challenge of teaching without the usual extensive music background?  How do students respond when they hear about your background?

It’s important to know that I began to play the piano at age 37.  I had an intense drive to be musical.  This desire got me over the hump of my insecurities in becoming a teacher.  There is no way I would have ever taken this route had there been a Simply Music teacher in my area.  There were none.  And I was driven to play.  I’m glad that I took the plunge and became a teacher.

Talk about scared!  I was staring straight up at the looming ‘Mt. Everest’.  I had so many feelings swirling inside of me – feelings of overwhelm and yet exhilaration at the same time.  Asking questions like, “What in the world did I get myself into?  What will people think of me?  How can I do this?”  I think the scariest thing for me has been to actually tell people that I didn’t have a traditional background in music.  However, this was more of a perception I had because of the fear of rejection.  I thought people wouldn’t sign up because of my lack of experience.  But for the most part, this hasn’t been the case.  As a matter of fact, they never ask me about my background.  These days I’m very up front.  I tell parents that I am only an adult-trained musician through Simply Music.  I let them know that I love this program, the founder of Simply Music is my mentor, and that I CAN teach them and their children how to play the piano.  Mostly, I share my passion through how I communicate.  Parents and students pick up on this and they are excited along with me.

What was the biggest thing that inspired you to keep going through the early days of establishing a studio?

This journey has had its ups and downs.  Often times, I felt discouraged and wanted to ‘throw in the towel’.  But there were people behind me shouting, “Bernie, you can do it.  You can climb this mountain.”  My husband, Myron, is one of them; Cathy Hirata, a fellow Simply Music teacher, is another; and Neil Moore, the founder of Simply Music.  I am indebted to them.  I would say that a support team or accountability is critical to success.

How many students do you have nowadays?

Over sixty students.

What do you love the most about teaching?

Besides the fact that I work with the most incredible parents and students, what I love the most about teaching is the platform with which to speak into their lives.  When new parents and students come into my studio, they think I’m going to teach them about piano, which I am.  But there are so many other “life” things we talk about.  Things like:  integrity, discipline, responsibility, honoring your parents…  The satisfaction goes deep for me – the bonding between my students and I are strong.  My longest standing student of nine years is like a son to me.  He’s spent most of his life having me as a mentor, coach.  He never leaves lesson without giving me a hug.

What do you like about teaching and being involved with Simply Music?

Easy answer – the teacher body.  I have met some of the amazing people on this face of this earth through Simply Music – friends I will have for life.  I have so much respect for my colleagues.  Not only for their musical intelligence, but for what they contribute to me as a person.  They are inspirational, encouraging, creative, entrepreneurial, to say the least.

You have been a wonderful support in various ways within the Simply Music community.  Tell us about some of the work you’ve done.

Well, let’s see.  One of my favorite things to do is to give back to the teacher community through sharing what I know.  I’ve led chat sessions on various topics for teachers and organized an annual Simply Music International Symposium for training purposes.  I’ve been involved in recruitment events and the most recent activity is contributing to a Radio Blog Talk about Simply Music.  But the largest project to date is the completion of a book on Simply Music.

You’re obviously talking there about your book ‘A World Where Everyone Plays’.  It’s a very comprehensive look at Simply Music and some of the ways it has contributed to people.  It was obviously a huge undertaking, and again an adventure into a world you didn’t have much experience of.  What inspired you to take on that huge task?

Funny, I never considered myself a writer.  All through my educational career, I struggled with English classes.  I made straight A’s in all my other subjects.  In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would write a book.  But I so believed in the message of Simply Music.  As an educator, I knew that it was critically important to let as many people know about Simply Music and this ‘New Way of Learning’.  If all people had an opportunity to access their musicianship, it could open up avenues of creativity and ingenuity in an unprecedented way, effectively changing the world.  This message was my motivation.  So once again, I found myself breaking ground in new territory – another mountain was before me.  But I knew what it was like to climb a mountain, thanks to Simply Music.  It took two years to write and edit the book.  To date, close to 2000 books have been sold.  5000 is considered a bestseller so I’m pretty happy about the results.  Ultimately, the message about Simply Music is getting out.

You talk frequently about a world where everyone plays, in fact that’s the title of your book.  How do you see that music education can make a difference?  What would a world where everyone plays look like?

There are so many fine points to music education that are taken for granted.  The tragedy is that it is being removed from the schools and devalued to an extra-curricular activity.  Without music, we deny ourselves a fundamental expression to be human.  I realize that this is a strong statement to make but it is consistent with the idea, a world where everyone plays. If we truly understood and ‘unpacked’ all that music contributes to a person, as a culture we would be chasing after this kind of education with tenacity.  Music changes a person in character, intelligence, discipline, and in spirit.  A world where everyone plays looks like a world where we can be all that we can be, living up to our full potential, and through Simply Music, using music as an open door to reach out to everyone with this goal.  It’s about creating a more musical world, therefore a more beautiful world.  It’s possible.  It’s happening now, one student at a time.

What’s the music you love the most?  What’s the role of music in your everyday life?

I love any kind of music that is uplifting.  It doesn’t matter what genre it is.  It could be jazz, country, Christian, classical, as long as it’s excellent and encouraging.  I’ll make a confession here.  I’ve struggled with moments of depression.  In these times, when I listen to music, it transforms my mind, heart, soul, and spirit.  It soothes me, relaxes me, and brings me joy in the midst of life’s trials.  It is such a gift.  Playing the piano does the same thing for me too.   It takes me to ‘another world’.  I like that.  I make it a goal to listen to good music and play the piano every day.

Visit Bernadette’s website

From Gordon Harvey

When you talk to Janita Pavelka, it’s hard not to get swept away by the rapid-fire enthusiasm she applies to everything.  If she were a musical term, it might be ‘allegro’: with speed and joy.  Everything is an adventure and everything is communicated in a way that leaves you enthused and inspired. It’s no wonder she’s such a successful and well loved teacher, mentor and leader, in music, her family and her community.

In her home state of Nebraska, Janita has been the head of a very bright comet, pioneering what is now a large and very active community of teachers, who are much admired in the SM world as an example of the value of organization and shared support.  When she’s not teaching piano to a substantial studio of students, conducting teacher conference calls or guiding people along the path of teaching, she’s otherwise busy homeschooling her own four children, coaching kids in entrepreneurship and contributing to her church community.

I grew up in a musical family, nothing extraordinary, but it definitely valued music education.   Neither of my parents were college educated – my Dad is a farmer, my Mom is  a farm wife – but my Mom’s desire for her children to be musically self-expressed stemmed from her childhood   piano lessons experience.  She had a strict piano teacher with a ruler who sat on her left side because her left hand made more mistakes.  Of course after numerous whacks, my mom cried & cried, so my grandma let her quit, which left a deep void in my mom’s life.  She always wanted to play piano as my grandpa played by ear and she loved hearing his music.  Both she and my dad sang in the choir and played in the school band, but that wasn’t what she craved.  My mom had all four of her children play a band instrument and had three out of four of us play piano. She was very adamant about having us practice, and her rule was, “You live in our house, you eat supper, you play piano until you leave for college”.  There was no option to quit, for which I’m very thankful now because it made me a better person.  I took piano lessons for eleven years in the traditional world, but hit a wall with music reading skills.     My brother plays and reads music really well, as he thrived on the reading-based approach, but I always felt like I lived in his shadow. (I would have blossomed on the Simply Music method as a child!)  I just wasn’t as good as him, or so many other people I could name, so I did not major in music at college, even though I scored high in music and arts on interest tests.  My first profession was a mental health social worker and then an elementary teacher.   But all along I was teaching music at church, or playing piano for church, or teaching music at a summer camp, etc.

After I married and had children, I started teaching traditional piano lessons. After a few short years of teaching traditionally, I was discouraged and ready to ‘throw in the towel’.     I talked to a friend whose son was a student of Cathy Hirata’s in California who said,  ”You know, you really should teach Simply Music”.  ”What?  Sinfully Music?”  I asked. That conversation was in January of ’03, but I dismissed it as a California thing, and didn’t think of it again until June of 03 when I saw an actual ad in a homeschooling magazine and that’s when I called Neil.  He made my head spin because the things he was saying I knew were true, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.  I knew only one way for thirty years and I was skeptical!   I said,  ”OK Neil, I would like to speak to three real teachers.   One of them, Lynn Frank, hopped on the piano and said,  ”These are the songs they are playing in Level 1″.  I said, “You’re kidding me, that’s great- sounding music”. First of all, I could stand to listen to that as a teacher, and as a parent!    Being a conservative Midwesterner, I had to know that I know that I know…    I called Neil back and said,  ”Neil, I’ll tell you what, I’ll sign up with Simply Music, but I’m only going to teach my children for the first three months”.  I loved it.  They loved it and at the end of the school year,  I converted my studio to  Simply Music.Since then, I’ve taught the Simply Music program for thousands of hours and to scores of students over the last eight years.

Were you the first teacher in the Omaha area?

Yes, I began in the summer of 2003 and Laurie Richards soon joined me in 2004. Laurie and I worked well together as our strengths really complemented one another.  We embraced everything Simply Music had to offer; the SM philosophy and how it can change a person’s life, not only musically but in every way.   Our studios doubled almost over night as we had a local TV station’s consumer reporter challenge our statement,  ”We can teach you to play piano in 12 weeks.” He said, “Oh, really?”  The station taped him before he started, mid-term, and when he played live on TV at the end.  We had over 120 calls, which catapulted our studios into large numbers, and brought on more teachers in the Omaha area.

It really seems like you’ve done a lot not just to attract students for yourself, but also to attract teachers to the program.  It’s like you’ve been just as interested in building Simply Music as you’ve been in building your studio.

I believe that the more teachers we have in the program, the more students will be able to experience Simply Music and there are enough students for everyone.  The Omaha area could never be saturated; even here in rural Nebraska we need more teachers, because first comes the teachers and then come the students.  The teachers are the key in growing Simply Music.  Yes, I love talking to potential teachers, because it can change their life on many levels.   Musically, I feel “reborn” as a musician.   When I started Simply Music, I could play nothing without the written page.    I was your typical small church musician.  I couldn’t play off a lead sheet or chord chart; through the Simply Music Accompaniment program my chording skills have come alive!   I had no repertoire – I didn’t know any blues, jazz, I couldn’t transpose, compose, improvise, make arrangements, do variations – I am just not the same musician now as I was eight years ago.

There were three reasons I went into Simply Music: Firstly, because I felt like musically there was so much more inside me I couldn’t access.  A reading-based approach comes from without, you’re always sourcing your material from the page, but Simply Music is mainly sourced from within.  Of course we’re all musical beings, but this approach is so much more creative.  The second reason was for my children.  I wanted my children to be above and beyond what I ever dreamed of as musicians, and they are; they can play circles around me!  All four of them play two instruments and they also play by ear.  This morning one was figuring out a blues version of “This Little Light of Mine”. They listen to iTunes and figure out their favorite song and what key it’s in and they all have a repertoire.  And the third reason was for my students.  I want my students to not quit piano and to have music as a lifelong companion.

You’re also involved with going into the public school system and doing continuing education courses for music educators.

I am energized by a bigger picture of Simply Music and how we can have a whole world playing music. In Nebraska we have professional development workshops which our public school teachers attend to keep their skills sharp.  I have presented Simply Music Workshops to various music teachers and have had a fantastic response.  It has been like giving a cool drink to one in a dry and thirsty land.   It is a six hour workshop where I use the Simply Music Workshop material which teaches a contemporary, blues, accompaniment and classical song, along with composition, improvisation, arrangements and variations skills.  The goal of the Workshop is to train the music teachers how to teach a classroom of students how to play the piano. There was one music teacher who wrote in the evaluation,  ”I have not played both hands together in 30 years on piano”.  My other reason of course, besides getting these students hooked on piano, is recruiting teachers.

You’re also starting workshops on praise songs, is that correct?

Yes, we held a Worship Workshop in Omaha in March which stemmed from a conversation with Missy Murphy, a teacher in Omaha, as she had this vision of teaching teenagers the Accompaniment program for a praise & worship band in a Christian school.   Ernest Amstalden’s heart is in raising the next generation of worship leaders, along with Ray Nelson’s.  What we were planning on was 25 teachers, but we had 50 teachers and 35 students. We had Simply Music teachers from all over the US and one couple from Canada.  My vision is seeing 50 Worship Workshops across the US from the teachers who attended in the next year.

You also contributed to the recent book about Simply Music.  One of the things I appreciated from that was what you said about the value of service.  I know for example you have your students regularly go out to nursing homes and play for the residents.  What do you think is so important about giving music back to the community?

Service is so important as children need to be trained to think of others. The elderly love having children visit, their music and the company at the assisted nursing centers. It is a win-win situation because the students benefit – they have to come prepared, they learn to play in public, they develop self-confidence, they hear the good feedback and the praise, to the point that they’d like to experience that success again. Simply Music is built for public performance in that the proof is in the playing.   We also played for the Salvation Army, background music, outside festivals, and more.

What’s the thing you love most about teaching and being involved with Simply Music?

What I love most about teaching Simply Music is picturing a special future for my students and for fellow (or future) teachers. One day in a new Level One class, I played a Dreams Come True arrangement and my students looked at me like I was an amazing  pianist, and I said,  ”If  you stick with Simply Music, you will  be playing circles around me”.  I love being able to picture a special future for my students, whether they are children or adults. I also like the fact that someone who wants to teach Simply Music can have a value-added business which can change their life and their students’ lives.  And if we can make a difference in our own world to help people be musically self-expressed then that will eventually change the world.

Laurie Richards adds: “When I began teaching Simply Music, Janita was the only other teacher in the Omaha NE area.  She was an amazing support to me as we met regularly to talk about students, curriculum, marketing, and pooling our resources to reach more people.  Janita was the one who said, “We’ve got to recruit more teachers!”  I jumped on the bandwagon with her, and over the next several years our teacher base grew to around 15 teachers.  The Omaha area became known as the “cooperative teacher” area because of Janita’s vision and influence.  She has a way of uniting people.

“When I was in a serious car accident in 2006, Janita was the one who told the other two (at that time) teachers, “We’ve got to help Laurie out and teach her classes for her while she’s recuperating”.  These teachers taught all of my 60 students at my home studio for two months without asking for a dime in compensation.

“We Omaha teachers were understandably heartbroken when Janita announced that she would be moving to Central Nebraska, away from our region.  But on the flip side, we were elated because we knew that Simply Music was about to infiltrate another region of the state!  Sure enough, since Janita moved to her farm in Oxford, NE, at least six new teachers have been trained and licensed to teach Simply Music in central NE.  It is impossible not to catch her enthusiasm and passion for this method.

“Janita used to start her days off by exercising while watching Neil Moore on her teacher training videos.  She would do this almost every day.  One day her husband came into the room during her exercise/training video time and said, ‘I’m going to have to start wearing a blue sweater vest!’ and turned on his heels and left!

Class one starts with a student who has refused to demonstrate at home that he can actually play at all, but then surprises everyone by playing both hands together perfectly for his teacher.  Class two is a breakthrough because a non-verbal student has said his first sentence.  Class three features a student with severe echolalia who had not been able to express his needs but when asked, makes eye contact and says “yes”.  A student in class four has moved the majority of his songs to his “independent list” and proudly displays that he no longer needs his mother’s assistance.   Welcome to a typical working day for Cathy Hirata, Simply Music teacher and maker of musical miracles.

Cathy’s down-to-earth manner hides a strong formal musical background, including high-level classical voice and piano training and performing with the San Jose Symphony and San Jose Opera throughout the U.S. and Canada.  A scholarship recipient and graduate of San Jose State University, she has a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance, and has taught music in both elementary and high school music programs.  She is currently completing her certification in autism studies with the University of California Davis Mind Institute.

In addition to being a Senior Associate Simply Music Teacher, she is a Certified Signing Smart Educator and is the music director for Autism Tree Project Foundation in San Diego.  Cathy is a Kindermusik Maestro recognized for her work with children with special needs.  Her studio was nominated for Heroes of Hope and she has won several awards for Best Music Studio in the East Bay Area.

We asked Cathy to tell us a little about her teaching life.

What do you think drew you to pursuing a career in music?

My family has a long history of music teachers, performers, singers and college professors.  My great-aunt was a pianist for the silent movies.  My ambition was to be a classical concert pianist so I studied for years to that level.  It’s not an easy thing to do, I remember long 6-10 hour days of rehearsals.  It’s like being an Olympic athlete.  I was also an accompanist for many shows in the Bay Area as well.  But I was a better singer, so I turned to opera, which I was better at and enjoyed more, but I could tell it still wasn’t a passion.  Believe it or not, for me it became a choice of becoming a chef (a hobby I still enjoy) or a music teacher.  Once I started my student teaching in college I became absolutely clear that performance was not something I wanted to do – it didn’t make me feel whole or complete, but when I was teaching, I felt at home, like I didn’t have a job.  I knew it was what I was supposed to do.

My sister introduced me to Simply Music.  Her son was taking lessons and I clearly remember her showing the program to me and immediately dismissing it because “they don’t learn to read”.  She kept pushing me and I finally relented and said “okay, I’ll look into it”.  I ended up buying the Learn at Home Program for my son.  He called me about 3 hours later and said “Mom, this is exactly what I wanted to do-listen”.  He played almost every song in the book.  I was completely baffled.  I had to know more.  Now what I realize is how much I missed.  When you learn classically you are so restricted and so limited.  I had had no exposure to blues or jazz.  I now enjoy playing even more than I did before.

I love seeing the results in my students, knowing that I can have a long lasting effect on them and make a difference.  Watching them grow and be successful in performance and their day-to-day lives.

You have a particular interest in working with students with special needs.  How did that interest come about?

Honestly?  They came to me.  But as I look back on my life, I understand the reasons why things occurred the way they did for me.  When I first started teaching Simply Music, I would get calls from parents who thought it would work for their children, so I thought why not?

What was disturbing was the stories parents would tell about how traditional teachers would refuse their children because they had some sort of disability or their IQ wasn’t high enough.  Or because they couldn’t talk there was no way for them to understand the instructions.   I was embarrassed and could not believe that my colleagues would discount the education of an individual because they were missing a hand, were blind, had autism or some other developmental disability.   When did we get to be so arrogant?  Clearly they had forgotten the research done on the long-term effect of music education and the brain.  Everyone deserves the opportunity to play an instrument, learn about music and just have fun.  Just because someone can’t speak doesn’t mean they can’t learn.  It’s as simple as that. That’s all it took for me.  I felt driven.

Even though I have a mixed studio of students, over time people kept telling me this was my calling and I needed to pursue it further, which is what I’m in the process of doing right now with my expansion.  It feels right – my vision is very clear now.

What do you most enjoy about working with special needs students?  What’s unique about them?

Knowing that with Simply Music I can and do make a difference.  I know traditional methods very well.  Most students struggle with them, let alone those with concrete thinking patterns.  Seeing students talk for the first time, seeing the connections made that affect their lives in all areas is really a gift for me.

And it makes me happy to see the results I can get from these children.  Parents who were inquiring about lessons would cry on the phone saying, “My child just wants to learn.  Will you please try?”  Or out of sheer desperation, they would lie about their child’s condition, then bring the child in for an assessment, apparently thinking I would not notice.

Having a child who is severely hearing impaired, this really hit home for me.  I could easily empathize with these parents.  I made it my mission to make sure that I was educated, and understand the learning ability of each student so I could go to the core of their needs and help them progress in a way that was clear and concise to them.  I relied on books, internet, movies, whatever it took, including discussions with other parents to help my understanding of how to move forward.  I had to because even the founder of Simply Music had no knowledge of working with autism.  It was up to me.

Unique?   There really is nothing unique.  They are as varied as typical children.  Each and every child/student is unique in their own way.

How much do you need to ‘tailor’ the program to the needs of each student?

That depends on the student and what their learning abilities are.  Sometimes I tailor it a little, sometimes I just start with getting their fingers moving, or doing rhythm, dance, some exercises, whatever it takes to reach the student.

What does music provide for special needs students?

The ability to do something they are often told they can’t do.  As strange as that may sound, here anyway, life is black and white in special ed classes.  They are right or wrong.  There is no freedom of expression, so often children will come in to class afraid to try.  Once they understand that’s it’s okay to enjoy piano, lessons become fun and engaging.   But I think more than anything I see confidence, socialization, motor skills, increase in abstract thought processes, language, all of the modalities of learning presented in single thought processes.

How does it make a difference for parents?

When I have parents say to me, “please just take my child, all he wants to do is learn” it’s really heartbreaking.  I have a hard time telling parents I don’t have times available.  Parents actively participate and create their own diagrams, learn in class, understand what’s going on, will ask me do you think this is okay to try?  It’s great to see their participation.  Some have formed somewhat of a bond supporting newer parents and talking about what works for their students etc.  It’s great!  But more importantly, my studio is all-inclusive.  Parents want their children treated in the same way as others.   Parents really appreciate this and they tell me frequently.

Can you tell us about a few of your students?

The first story that always comes to mind for me was a particular Saturday.   This student has autism, speaks only in broken words and has a lot of echolalia (repeats tv commercials etc).  He was thumbing through a Disney book while his mom and I were talking.  He found a song called “Someday” he wanted to learn.  He put in on the music stand took my hand and put it on top of his, pointed to the song with his other hand and said “Teacher help me.”

I recall another time when I had a student who hated music as a child, refused to listen to it or hear his mom sing.  At his first recital his mom was very nervous, but I knew he could do it.   After finishing The Pipes he jumped up and down exclaiming, “I did it, I did it!”

I recently started a 5 year old with autism who only talks when he wants.  His mom said to me that he never responds to his teachers at school.  But he immediately started talking to me at his first lesson.  His mom and dad couldn’t believe it.  He repeats instructions, sings songs, calls himself silly and says I’m silly.

Another student, Casey, has been with me for about 5 years.  She has autism, is 16 years old and a straight A student, and has been composing music since age 3.  Her mom had tried traditional lessons but they didn’t work.  Casey immediately began to vary the Simply Music pieces to her liking.  In fact in 2008 when she met Neil, she played Sit By My Side for him.  She asked him if he could tell where she changed it.  He said yes and asked her why she changed the piece.  She said “because I like mine better.”   She has had difficulty expressing her needs and communication can be difficult for us when discussing abstract subjects.  She never liked to perform in public but does now without any fear.  She is an amazing composer and can complete a 5-7 min piece in about 1 1/2 hours.  Her songs have always been complex.  She just completed a piece called “The Haunting” and was runner up in her school music contest.  Casey is currently writing a book for children about Simply Music and her experiences taking lessons.

One of my students with autism has severe echolalia.  Before playing he would say “and now a musical interlude.”  He was verbally unresponsive but I would occasionally get him to look me in the eye.  For the first time a few months ago I explained a hand position to him and he said “pinky on C.”  He now requests practice time at home and asks to go to lessons.

After two months of lessons another student played and sang Dreams Come True at a recital for an audience of approximately 700 people, and brought tears to many eyes.   He stood up after and applauded himself because he was so proud.

Many students with autism suffer from high anxiety disorders.  When one of my students first started with me, she was afraid to touch the keys of the piano, spoke very little, and apologized constantly.  She has since asked her parents to not sit in lessons anymore because she wants that time for herself.  She has also performed in recital.  I was recently given the gift of her singing Over the Rainbow to me in class.  This was a huge accomplishment for her and a moment  I will always cherish.  And this past January she stood up in front of all the Simply Music teachers at Symposium and said “No Woo Hoo’s but clapping is ok”.   During a school field trip to a local hotel he asked to play the piano and played his entire repertoire.  But the most startling revelation to me was when his mother said that he was now teaching his sister how to play.

Some students show remarkable abilities in the area of composition.  One of my students is quite advanced in this area, wanting to own a studio and write the background music for movies.  Her mother had told me that there was no way traditional piano lessons would work for her due to the anxiety it was causing from having to study multiple concepts simultaneously.  In the five years I’ve had her as a student, she has composed over 40 pieces in various forms, all musically complex.

Another 7-year-old student with autism after three months of piano decided he wanted to play in a talent show at school.  In front of his peers and all their parents he chose to play and sing Dreams Come True.  Upon walking onto the stage he turned to the audience and said, “Quiet please.”  He then played and sang his song, stood up said ” I love you all” and left.

Another student, Jaegar, was asked to perform at an autism fundraising event.  To our great surprise he was asked to accompany and sing with Grammy Award Winner Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child.  At the time of his performance, Jaegar had had 27 lessons and never accompanied anyone.  In addition, this was his first public performance ever with over 200 people in attendance.  I couldn’t have been more proud.  He was absolutely perfect.

You also teach Kindermusik and sign language classes.  How do you juggle these responsibilities?  Do you do any other work (as if that wasn’t enough)?

Due my expansion right now Kindermusik and American Sign Language are on hold.  I hope to bring them back to the studio in the spring.  The way it has worked in the past?  My daughter Lindy, who is also a Simply Music teacher, is my ASL instructor.  She runs an ASL program for hearing infants & toddlers.  This has been very successful, and the results she has had with apraxic students is remarkable.  She also teaches Kindermusik and I have had a Kindermusik teacher work for me in the past.  My focus has to be on Simply Music right now due to my expansion.  I have just hired new teachers and have just opened my new location in San Diego.

I’m also the co-chair of the International Simply Music Teacher Symposium which I do each year with my pal Bernadette Ashby – we love putting on this event for the teachers. But the most exciting thing is that I am working on a collaborative study with Arizona State University and Simply Music and will measure the effects of Simply Music and autism.  That study is due to launch in January 2011.

From Gordon Harvey

When your teacher has been a choir accompanist, singer, classically-trained pianist, conductor, classical piano teacher, singing coach, guitarist, violist, flautist, trumpeter and Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College alumnus, you know your musical voyage will be an adventure.

Jy initially learned piano from age six “as a way of escaping nightly kitchen duty”, but quickly discovered a deeper love of music, studying classical piano in Oxford, England, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and UCLA, at the same time participating in high school musicals, supporting herself through college and beyond playing guitar and singing, performing in various theatrical endeavours, as well as  teaching and coaching musicians and singers.

But it was Jy’s classical background that really framed her view of “proper” piano lessons, and made her skeptical of anything that wasn’t steeped in the traditional values of proper classical technique and reading as the basis of learning to play.  At the same time Jy’s image of a piano teacher as “a housewife producing a second income for the family by teaching about ten students” didn’t fit with her own self-image.  She taught students on the side, but never felt she fitted in with a profession that she now realises she was “too proud” to truly embrace.  She had always felt a strong drive to share her passion for music and the transformation that can bring, but never found a role that inspired her enough to really immerse herself in.

Instead she threw herself into almost every other work you can imagine, from fixing tractors to running corporate retreats, never seriously considering using her musical gifts as a teacher as anything more than a sideline.

So she was surprised to say the least when her sister Sheri, having had just a few years of lessons as a child, without Jy’s manifest success, began teaching a new method that produced hordes of happy players and was fun for her as well.  Initially she was very doubtful about Sheri’s new venture, but the more satisfied, self-expressed students she saw emerge from her sister’s studio, the more intrigued she became.  Then, after meeting Neil Moore, she began to get a sense of the bigger picture, and what was possible for her and for music education.  She could see how this new approach could finally collapse the myth that not everyone was musical, and open up musical doors for all, and at the same time help her find the kind of lifestyle her other ventures had never quite provided.

So, in typical style, she went for teaching in a big way, determined to share Simply Music with as many students as she could, talking to anybody and everybody about her new mission.  Working tirelessly, Jy built her studio over the next few years to 250 students, the largest Simply Music studio in the world, employing several teachers.  She explains “It was exciting to discover a career whereby I would be not only emotionally fulfilled, mentally challenged and artistically stimulated and but also be economically rewarded”.

These days, rather than employing teachers, she shares a large commercial location with multiple other Simply Music teachers.  She still teaches a large body of students herself, and her studio is always buzzing, but this doesn’t obscure her obvious care for every one of her students.  She deals with the day-to-day duties of running a business by staying in touch with her original commitment – to spread the word and share the joy of music.  It’s all about the difference musical self-expression can make in the lives of each individual, and Jy does whatever it takes to ensure that every student gets to take home a serving of her musical passion.  She’s discovered she’s a natural teacher.  ”I’ve always been drawn to teaching.  Anything I learn I want to teach.  If if gives me joy, I just love to share that.  I want everybody to feel that joy!”

Jy has been teaching Simply Music to large numbers of students for six and a half years.  Does the prospect of teaching Ode to Joy for the umpteenth time to yet another group of beginners induce terminal ennui?  Not at all.  ”It’s really funny because it never does – it’s not so much about the music.  It’s much more about who am I teaching – who do I get to relate to and who do I get to try to connect with and have them connect with the project I’m asking them to do this time?”   Her students relate stories like her singing and playing on their answering machine for their birthday.

Jy’s spirit is a restless one, and change is built into her character.  Luckily, she’s been able to experience a great deal of change through the time of her teaching, creating projects, seeing how far she can take her studio, how else she can contribute to the vision.  She’s already planning the next major step for her studio.  ”I’ve always needed to make changes – it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, there’s a point that I get to where I just need a change.  What’s nice is that I don’t need to leave Simply Music to change.  This is such a great program and so exciting as an opportunity that if you’re looking at it that way, there’s no limit, really.  It’s about learning my own limits and pushing them a bit more and seeing what I can create.”

Perhaps we should let one of her students’ parents, Tina Zachariou, have the last word:   ”Jy has been the most extroadinary piano teacher Natalie has ever had. Jy is a caring and empathetic teacher who understands and listens to her students. She has tirelessy helped Natalie overcome difficulties even after hours, over the phone or at the studio. Jy’s love and passion for music comes across clearly in her teaching which is fresh, fun and inspiring. She relates well to her students and is always supportive and encouraging of their individual piano learning/playing styles. Thank you Jy!”

Kerry Hanley, Melbourne, Australia

My name is Kerry Hanley (nee Halbert) and I am a Senior Associate Teacher and a Senior Teacher Trainer with Simply Music. I have had the privilege of working with Neil Moore since 1992, longer than anyone else in the Simply Music organization. I was one of the two people who introduced Neil’s Simply Music program into Australia (with Gordon Harvey) and I believe I am the only teacher to have taught the program on two continents!

I have been involved with music for most of my life. I studied classical piano as a child and have also studied both voice and double bass. I have a Certificate of Music (in Jazz) from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and have been teaching piano for more than twenty years – I taught a more traditional approach for nine years and have been teaching Simply Music since it’s inception in 1998.

I consider myself fortunate to have been born to a family in which music was an enormous part of our lives. We lived on a farm outside a very small country town called Cunderdin, in the wheatbelt of Western Australia.

Both my parents loved to sing and had beautiful voices. My late mother was an accomplished pianist/organist, and played for the local church, directed the church choir and put on musicals in the town. Her church singing group released an album and performed around the state – many of the songs she composed. My father still sings in a choir.

I am the eldest of five children who all sing. We all had to learn the piano and ended up learning at least one other instrument each. My parents often had visitors on weekends and typically, everyone would end up gathering around for a sing-along while my Mum played the piano – sometimes assisted by one or more of us on guitar, double-bass, flute, violin or trumpet.

I did traditional piano lessons from the age of eight, but mostly hated it. Piano teachers didn’t stay long in the country, and I had seven different teachers in nine years. Each new teacher wanted me to review what I had been doing and I would end up spending 18 months on the same six songs and some scales! I was bored out of my mind, but I wanted to be able to play like my Mum and that was what kept me going. Apparently, I used to say to her, ‘there must be an easier way to learn this!’

On weekends, I would spend hours at the piano – not practicing what I was ‘supposed’ to, but poring over the hardest music I could find in my Mum’s music collection and painstakingly working out 4-note chords, note-by-note. In High School, I told my teacher I was going to quit lessons if I had to continue doing exams, and if I couldn’t learn what I wanted to learn. She reluctantly agreed. I chose much more advanced songs and a wider variety of styles and began to enjoy it.

The goal of Simply Music is to ‘maximize the likelihood of students having music as a lifelong companion’. It has definitely been that for me. I remember as a teenager going through times of anger and frustration with my parents, and how being able to sit down at the piano and just play, helped me through it. I had a very dramatic piece of music that I loved to play, and within seconds, all my anger was gone and I was lost in the music. I played when I was happy, sad, angry, lonely and depressed. The music always filled me up so much that it felt as if my heart would almost burst with joy! And it still does.

Piano was a great foundation for other musical pursuits and I participated in singing groups and bands (double bass) and ‘busked’ (street performing) in London Underground Train Stations while I lived there in 1984, and subsequently in Perth.

I began teaching piano in 1989. For nine years, I taught a more traditional approach. In 1992, I met Neil Moore, when he joined the organization I was with. We worked together from opposite sides of the country and then from opposite sides of the world, after he and his wife and children moved to the US in 1994. When Neil started developing Simply Music and I heard of the results he was achieving, I wanted to do the same. I traveled to the US with Gordon Harvey, (who had been working with us also), and participated in the first official Teacher Training for Simply Music at the beginning of 1998. Gordon and I returned to Australia and started Simply Music in our respective cities. I had around 70 students at the time and changed them all over to the Simply Music method. I saw results, unlike anything I’d ever witnessed previously. I had never loved teaching so much and my students had never loved learning so much.

After setting up a network of teachers in Perth, an opportunity arose for me to move to the US and work in the Simply Music Global Headquarters in Sacramento, to help with growing the organization there. Neil called me one morning in September 1999 and said that an investor had come on board and that they would be commencing filming of an infomercial and new Teacher Training and Student Home Materials in 10 days time, and that if I wanted to come over and participate, I would need to be there by then. I handed over my 70 students to the other teachers in Perth, packed up, sold belongings and left!

My years in the US were incredibly exciting and also some of the most challenging in my life. I learned so much about myself, made many mistakes and (I hope!) grew an enormous amount. I made some wonderful friends and had some incredible experiences.

However, after four years and much deliberation, I decided to move back to Australia to be nearer to family. I moved to Melbourne, Victoria – on the eastern side of Australia – where I felt I would meet the man of my dreams, which I did in 2005 and married him six months later! I have become a stepmother to my husband Michael’s three teenage daughters.

I teach from commercial premises in North Balwyn, in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Currently, over half of my students are adults. From time to time, I conduct workshops for Simply Music teachers and offer private coaching sessions for teachers.

I love this program! I want my students to experience the joy of playing music. I want to pass on the gift that was given to me by my Mother, using the vessel that was given to us by Neil Moore. I share the dream of a world where everyone plays music, and where people learn in a way that’s fun, simple and gets great results quickly, and I love supporting teachers in achieving this with their students. After more than twelve years, I am still thrilled to be a part of this organization and its huge vision, and I am excited about what the future holds. I look forward to being involved and contributing in whatever way I can, long into the future.