The Playground
The Simply Music blog
Recording Yourself, Part One – The Benefits
In the old days, music was an ephemeral thing – if you weren’t there at the performance, it was gone forever. Nowadays if you wanted to, you could chronicle your every moment at the instrument via video or audio and share it instantly with the…
Travelling Full Circle with Gordon Harvey
” can cast light into the darkest corners of the heart that nothing else can reach. It can illuminate feelings we might otherwise not even know that we have. In that way, it helps us to know ourselves better, and in ways that words…
Reading Music, Part Two – Learning At the Best Time, In the Best Way
Many people have the misconception that the Simply Music program doesn’t teach music reading, but as you may have gathered in my recent article asking how important is it to read music?, we consider music-reading a valuable and wonderful tool. However, that doesn’t mean that…
10 Tips to Making the Most of Yourself & Your Practice
Your Simply Music teacher will tell you that the real learning occurs more at home than in the lesson. As Neil Moore puts it, coming to a lesson is like a chef going to the market to buy his ingredients – of course that’s…
Conversing with the Creators of Simply Music Gateway
“We’re dealing very much with fully developed minds, but what we’re missing is that gateway, that opportunity, to walk down that path and create a new connection.” – Neil Moore Simply Music Founder Neil Moore and Arts for Healing Founder Karen Nisenson talk…
Story of a Song – Summertime
A lot of music unites people. Occasionally it divides people. With its contentious depiction of racial stereotypes, the opera Porgy and Bess seems to have experienced the ebb and flow of acceptance over the years, but even its cultural detractors will recognise it as one…
Sharing Music, the Digital Revolution & the Future of Community
Music has always been a social phenomenon. Whenever people have gathered together, music has usually been involved. In some cultures, the distinctions between music, dance and spoken language are blurred and music is part of almost every communication. In others, music might be shared more…
Are You a Musician?
I spend a lot of time investigating online articles about music and its role, and which examine our musicality. In many cases they may be discussing research, which usually serves to confirm that we are innately musical, but I often find the comments left by…
Playing for Others
Who likes to perform in front of others? I don’t see many hands up. It seems like there’s a rare breed of person who just loves an audience, and the rest of us recoil in terror at the prospect. You’ve probably experienced the feeling –…
The Musical Brain – Documentary Review & This is Your Brain on Music – Book Review
Documentary Review by Elizabeth Gaikwad The Musical Brain – Writer/director Christina Pochmursky, producer Vanessa Dylyn, Matter of Fact Media For me this is one of the most interesting documentaries made about the scientific evidence that music and emotions are fundamentally wired into the brains of…
