Contra Costa Magazine - January 2007
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When my then seven-year-old daughter announced a year and a half ago that she wanted to learn to play the piano, I inwardly cringed. My repressed childhood memories of endless hours playing scales, the gnarled fingers of my ancient musty-smelling piano teacher, and the hours of missed play time came flooding back. How could I subject my precious angel to this? Yet, how could I tell her "no piano"?? I hoped that the world of music had progressed, but I had my doubts. We interviewed perhaps 8 potential instructors in the West County area (California) on the phone, and visited 3 in person. Fully prepared to give up, the last place we visited was Laura Cheung Lee in Hercules. From the minute we walked in the door, I felt we were finally in the right place. She's young, beautiful, talented, smart (double B.A. from Cal in Music and Molecular Cell Biology!) and enthusiastic. And, her methodology makes learning to play the piano a joy.
Although those that read my ramblings on a regular basis know I'm not a fan of chains by a long shot, her methodology is Simply Music, an Australian-based program started by Neil Moore in 1987. He himself had been playing the piano since he was seven, yet didn't read music until he was thirty. His founding moment was teaching an 8 year old blind boy to play the piano - no reading music, no theory, just playing. His secret? He taught the way he himself learned. With an early success with his first "playing-based" student, then a control group of 120 to hone his concept, the program as we know it today was conceived.
How this all "plays" out is through small group, 1/2 hour classes with a teacher (private and semi-private lessons area available, too), then sections of a video to view as homework (starring Neil himself), and of course, daily practice. With modern brain research proving on almost a daily basis that the key to learning is in movement, this methodology is well ahead of the game. Based on a unique multi-sensory, didactic program, beginning students quickly play real music with both hands from the start. The key? This program understands and incorporates the brain's innate ability to "see" patterns, and integrates movement, one of the most effective avenues to memory retention and learning. It's a bit unusual, but I can see first-hand how effective it is. The result is that songs are more akin to being "absorbed" than sight-read from printed music. As some of their own materials refer to, (essentially) "we don't learn to read and spell before we learn to talk". Same with learning to play the piano. Reading music is learned eventually, after building up a repertoire of 30 or so songs, but what is most important is the sense of mastery and self-confidence. My daughter plays the piano for fun, and loves doing it! Instead of plucking out "twinkle, twinkle little star", my now eight-year-old is playing classical pieces, popular songs and belting out the blues with panache!
Carol Thompson is a mom, a graphic designer, a freelance writer and the founder of Kids Creek Fest, an environmental fair for children.
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