I've been teaching the Simply Music piano course now for about 3 months. It's radical, engaging, and the results are a bit mystifying. As a previously traditional teacher, I would be expecting students to still be playing very simple, probably one-hand, pieces at this point. I now have about 8 students finishing up level 1 and they know 11+, two-hand pieces from memory that would be a hit at any party. This takes some getting used to. I also feel I need to remind my new students that have not experienced any other method that this is quite unusual and amazing.
One of my adult students almost ready for level 2 said that we're really doing all the activities to achieve our goal, which is to be able to pick up a piece of music and enjoy playing it. I agree. Another exciting aspect that I'm seeing is that they will never be "tied" to the printed music page. I've known many excellent musicians who become clueless about what to do when the printed music is taken away from them or when they have just the melody and chord symbols. If they memorize a piece, they memorize only from the printed page (more on that later).
I can see why Simply Music teachers and students say that it's a "freeing" experience. I think my students would agree.
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