Who We Are - Simply Music
| Simply Music is the largest playing-based music education institution in the world. Beginning with the original Simply Music piano and keyboard program developed by Australian Educator Neil Moore, we have grown into a worldwide organization dedicated to developing innovative programs, promising a world where everyone plays. There are now 700 Licensed Educators teaching the Simply Music or Play-a-Story programs throughout the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. |
What is 'Playing-based'? |
 Each of us is deeply, profoundly musical. We see this in the way we walk down the street, the way we talk, the way we rock and sing to a baby. And just as a baby naturally learns skills like speaking before it learns to read and spell, music can be learned by harnessing our inbuilt, natural gifts. |
| The traditional approach in which playing music is accessed via the page has given us great treasures for centuries. Countless wonderful musicians have kept rich traditions alive and maintained music's importance in our culture. The culture, however, has moved forward. The character of work and leisure have become more unpredictable and changeable. Creativity is valued more highly. The approaches and means of learning in many spheres are unrecognisable from even 20 years ago. Our programs view music learning via a new lens that suits the large proportion of the population who seek an all-embracing environment of creational music-making. Everything a Simply Music student learns emerges from the deep wellspring of their innate musicality. We teach students to play the piano by immersing them in the actual experience of playing, and providing a subtle balance between guidance, discovery and direct ‘hands-on’ experience. Students of our programs experience musical self-expression as a given, being guided from the very beginning to explore their own music. In the same way that when we speak we communicate naturally in the moment, Simply Music treats improvisation and composition as a natural part of what we do, from the beginning, alongside learning the compositions of others. Our world is moving from a predictive to a more creative way of operating. Music has a unique capacity to prepare us for this change. To that end, we offer a new educational platform, through an array of programs that explore playing-based music, from birth through the whole of life. |
The Simply Music Piano and Keyboard Program for Children and Adults |
 Simply Music students get to experience the absolute joy and satisfaction that comes from immediately acquiring a huge repertoire of great-sounding music.The Simply Music program temporarily delays the music reading process, and begins by distilling each new piece into a fascinating array of special concepts that unfold directly onto the keyboard. Beginning students, with no need to have their attention on the page, are free to relate directly to the piano. Within months, they experience a real freedom with their playing and develop a deep connection to their instrument. The approach is tactile, experiential and multi-sensory, with students being physically, visually and aurally absorbed. After building a repertoire of 35 to 50 pieces covering contemporary, classical, blues, jazz and accompaniment pieces, students go on to learn Simply Music’s unique approach to reading music, as well as develop a powerful foundation for learning the more formal aspects of music education. |
For more detailed information about how Simply Music was created, you can click to download the Curriculum Overview listed on the left hand side of this page. |
The Play-a-Story Program for 4-6 Year-olds |
 Play-a-Story is a musical journey in which you and your child travel through a storybook world. It uses the piano as its mode of travel, creating sounds, melodies, harmonies and rhythms to express the story... literally, students create their own musical soundtrack. Using the piano, students learn to interpret mood, color and nuance as the story unfolds. Play-a-Story teaches this by providing a foundational, systematic and creative experience that harnesses children’s intuitive, musical appreciation and interpretation.In the world of Play-a-Story, every imaginative thought, every emotion and every dream is an opportunity to express ourselves musically. In this world, musical self-expression is our language... a language far more profound, intuitive and descriptive, far more meaningful and pure than any other. |
| Find out more about Play-a-Story here |
The Simply Music Rhapsody Program |
 Developed by internationally renowned music educator Lynn Kleiner, this early childhood music program is based on the Orff Schulwerk philosophy. Designed specifically for infants through five year olds, Simply Music Rhapsody immerses children in a musical world that stimulates their musicality. It incorporates pieces from, and is designed to transition seamlessly into, the Simply Music piano program.We are currently enrolling teachers into the first Teacher Training programs for Simply Music Rhapsody. If you think teaching this wonderful program might be for you, please contact us. |
| Find out more about Simply Music Rhapsody here |
