The Connection - A Publication of the Sacramento City Unified School District
July 15, 2001
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In the face of budget reductions that have cut many public schools' music programs, Casio, the consumer electronics company, and Simply Music have joined forces to provide an innovative music education program. Through a special pilot program, the Simply Music method has been introduced to the students and teaching staff at Sac City's Bowling Green Charter School. Many of the staff had no prior music-learning experience, and none had experience teaching piano or keyboard; yet they were given the opportunity to teach keyboard to their students in first through sixth grades. With just 32 weeks of classes, 130 elementary school students in the multi-age department learned to play. Teachers saw improvement in the students' grades and confidence levels during that short time.
Teachers have been impressed by both the students' musical advances and the changes that occurred in their behavior and attitude. Teachers cite examples of measurable improvements in areas such as math, reading, writing skills and self-esteem.
"Students who were having academic and motivation difficulties have found the program a key to realizing that they can be good in music, good in math, good in reading. They no longer think, 'all the other kids can do things that I can't,'" said Emily Saur, one of the school's educators.
"Music has been absent from schools for a long time, and it's such an important part of people's lives," said Dr. Dennis Mah, Bowling Green director. "Simply Music provides a great opportunity for teachers and students to actually have a positive, hands on experience with music."
"One of the key benefits of Simply Music is that students are playing great-sounding songs from the very beginning," said Neil Moore, founder and creator of Simply Music. "When results happen this quickly, students experience a sense of accomplishment. It's exactly the type of thing that impacts a child's self-image, and it stands to reason that this can help to improve focus, behavior in the classroom and academic performance."
In June, the school held its first keyboard concert showcasing 20 of its participating students. Following the performance, Casio donated 90 additional keyboards, stands and adapters to the school to assist with expanding the program to the intermediate and bilingual departments in the fall, and eventually the entire school.
Simply Music draws on students' existing visual, auditory, and physical skills and integrates these with their natural sense of music. Students learn to read music, but it is not introduced until they can play a substantial repertoire covering a variety of musical styles. The approach allows students to enjoy the pleasure that comes from immediately being able to play great-sounding music, without initially having to go through the tedious process of learning theory and music-reading techniques. The program is based on the sole premise that everybody is already naturally and profoundly musical.
"Our hearts beat to a rhythm, we walk to a rhythm, we talk to a rhythm - we're all inherently musical," said Moore. "Simply Music's vision is a world where everyone experiences music as a natural self-expression. Anyone can learn how to play music, and our focus is to begin making that opportunity available to everyone. As we being achieving this, we're going to see profound changes in the way we live, work, share and communicate," he added.
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