music so simple
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We've got a lot to talk about

meet our 7th & 8th year students!

3/7/2021

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This week, we are recognizing these students for 7 & 8 years of music study! Congratulations! Special awards will be given in May!

McKenna

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What grade are you in?
6th

Current &/or Past Teacher(s):
Ms. Nevill

What do you like most about playing your instrument?
When you get to know a song really well, it sticks with you and it’s fun!
What's your favorite piece you have played?
"Spanish Cabellero", "Ice Skaters", and  "Try Everything". 
What keeps you going with lessons (and interested)?
my improvement!
What's your favorite subject in school?
Math
What other activities do you do outside of school?
Chinese, Spanish, plays tennis, and Kumon
What's your favorite movie &/or TV show?
"Murder Mystery" on netflix.
What's your favorite color?
white,  green, & blue
What is the best thing about YOU and why?
I can make people smile, I’m really good at cheering people up. 
What are YOU really good at?
Tennis!
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in lessons?
it will be hard but then when you get the hang of it, it will be fun!
What do you love about MSS?
The way they teach so it doesn’t get confusing
What else would we like to know about YOU?
I am starting to play baseball
​Anything you would like to say to your teacher?
I’m a little bit of a slow learner but I get the hang of things!" 

Anna

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What grade are you in?
7th
Current &/or Past Teacher(s):
Ms. Stathia
What do you like most about playing your instrument?
YesI sit down to start playing and I can't stop.

What's your favorite piece you have played?
Frankie & Johnny AND Dream a Little Dream of Me
What keeps you going with lessons (and interested)?
I get to see Ms Stathia.
What's your favorite subject in school?
Advanced Theater Arts
What other activities do you do outside of school?
Dance
What's your favorite movie &/or TV show?
Gilmore Girls and Clueless and Vampire Dairies
What's your favorite color?
Purple
Do you have any pets?
Toby (terrier mix) and Lulu (goldendoodle)

Do you have any siblings?
Yes-- a little sister
What is the best thing about YOU and why?
The best thing about me is that I am loyal by always being there for my friends and family. Also my hugs.
What are YOU really good at?
I am good at theater arts and writing
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in lessons?
To continue with lessons even if it is not your favorite, because it is something you can do for the rest of your life.
What do you love about MSS?
The relaxing and calm environment.
What else would we like to know about YOU?
I love food.
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Anything you would like to say to your teacher?
Thank you. Also, I practiced with my left hand!

Juliette

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​What grade are you in?
7th
Current &/or Past Teacher(s):
Mrs. Meredith, Ms. Herod, Mrs. Jenni, & Mrs. Stathia (aka: mom)
What do you like most about playing your instrument?
It’s fun
What keeps you going with lessons (and interested)?
My teachers
What's your favorite subject in school?
Social Studies
What other activities do you do outside of school?
Dance
What's your favorite movie &/or TV show?
His Dark Materials
What's your favorite color?
Purple
Do you have any pets?
Yes, lab- Cowboy, catahula leopard- Rider
Do you have any siblings?
Yes- Dominic, my older brother
What is the best thing about YOU and why?
I like to organize things because it keeps me clean and tidy
What are YOU really good at?
Dance
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in lessons?
Just take it day by day it is not going to come super fast
What do you love about MSS?
Everything
What else would we like to know about YOU?
I don’t like Mexican food
​Anything you would like to say to your teacher?
I’m happy!

Mischa

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What grade are you in?
7the
Student's Current &/or Past Teacher(s)
Ms. Lynne Nevill
What do you like most about playing your instrument?
​I love when I master a song and it sounds so good.
What's your favorite piece you have played?
My favorite piece was "Colors of the Wind".
What keeps you going with lessons (and interested)?
Playing songs for my friends
What's your favorite subject in school?
Math
What other activities do you do outside of school?
Lacrosse
What's your favorite movie &/or TV show?
Captain America Civil War
What's your favorite color?
Blue
Do you have any pets?
2 cats - jasmine and symba
Do you have any siblings?
Yes one sister
What is the best thing about YOU and why?
That I can always make people laugh and it’s good because it makes people feel better
What are YOU really good at?
I’m good at lacrosse
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in lessons?
Don’t give up and work your hardest
What do you love about MSS?
That all the teachers are so nice and always talk to me.
​Anything you would like to say to your teacher?
Thank you for teaching me for so many years

Sohum

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the thing you do to make you good

2/20/2021

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-Stathia Orwig

So, you've got your child in music lessons and now, you've got to figure out practice. Why? Well, they can't learn to play an instrument only by attending lessons. Practice is a must. I know, it's hard to fit in. I get it. I struggle with my kids every day, every week, and they are older! So, here are some pointers on how to get in practice.
  • make it part of the daily schedule. Do your kids come home and have a snack? Maybe once they have a snack, they can unwind by practicing before they dive into their homework. Or what about the mornng before school? Could he get up 15-20 minutes earlier to ft in practice? For some famiilies, this might work! Or, what about while mom/dad is getting dinner ready, he goes and does the practice? These are just ideas to connect practice. Once you decide what would work best, then stick to it and it will become part of the routine.
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  • practice right after your lesson while it's fresh on the mind. Teachers help with practice and new pieces in the lesson. If you go home and practice while it's still fresh, then in comes back easier even if it's just a few minutes!
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  • put the piano in a visible and inviting part of your home. We want to practice in a happy surrounding! And it definitely helps if it's in the part of the house where you will remember to play!
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  • just get to the instrument. Really, this is the hardest part! It's kind of like getting to the gym...once you get there, you are fine, You could even stay for a long time! 
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Once practice becomes part of the schedule, then it just gets easier and even more fun! Of course, we as teachers are always rewarding our students for practice with music bucks, contests, music ball, and honor roll. But the real fun, honestly, comes when they are confident & learning more repertoire! For more fun practice pointers, check out an past blog from the Old Pro.

Happy practicing!! Let us know what works for you!
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Ear Explorations #012

2/18/2021

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We are wanting to encourage our students to listen to different and important musical works. 

Your Assignment: Listen to the link below, share with your family, and add comments to let us know what you think! 

This one is Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro".
Time Period: ​Romantic Era, 1918

​This stage performance opens with Gianni Schicchi shouting, in resistance to the idea of his daughter marrying her love. Then his daughter pleads with him.

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We are famous!

2/7/2021

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-Stathia Orwig

​So, if you follow us on social media, you've probably already seen this. For those of you who have not- you're in for a real surprise! Music SO Simple was in the Richardson Community Impact!!! 

Basically, out of the blue, a reporter emailed the studio asking to set up an interview with me. After the interview was a hit, he came in to take pictures of the studio and me teaching, Little Miss Sophia, my student who I was teaching the evening he came in  felt like a star!! 

The article was about MSS, how we started, and how we were adapting to the coronavirus pandemic:
Music SO Simple was named after a philosophy that owner Stathia Orwig uses when teaching music gets overwhelming.

“Things just kind of started getting really busy,” Orwig said of a previous job at a music school. “I wanted to get back to just private lessons and just music.”

In addition, the two capital letters in the middle of the name are in honor of her initials, Orwig said.

After starting with just one other teacher in 2016, Music SO Simple now has 11 instructors. The business offers lessons in piano, flute, guitar, voice and violin out of the studio Orwig opened in Richardson’s Arapaho Station development on Plano Road in 2018. Orwig said she has been “really picky” in choosing her staff, noting that she wanted to make sure she hired people she knew and would trust teaching her own children.

Like many small businesses, Music SO Simple struggled through the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying stay-at-home orders. The business lost about 15 students who were not interested in virtual lessons; however, the remaining students ended up enjoying the virtual option, and Orwig said instructors conducted around 200 more lessons over the summer than they had in previous summers.

“[Virtual lessons] taught us—and it still teaches us, because about 50% of our students are still virtual—as teachers to really communicate what we are needing to do,” said Orwig, who also teaches piano at the school. “What’s great for the students is that we’ve learned to really get good at our directions, but they’ve had to get really good at listening.”

The school even hosted a pair of virtual recitals for its students in May and December. After the first concert proved to be stressful for some students, Orwig decided to keep the December recital simple.

“Some kids wore PJs; some invited family members to dance or play a simple instrument while they did their instrument,” she said. “We had a little contest, and we had over 200 votes. It was really fun.”
​Click here for the web story.
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Sophia signed a copy of the article that is now hanging in our studio. Please feel free to share the article with family and friends!! Thank you all for sharing your love of learning music and MSS!! We couldn't do this without you!!
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EAR Explorations #011

1/28/2021

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We are wanting to encourage our students to listen to different and important musical works. 

Your Assignment: Listen to the link below, share with your family, and add comments to let us know what you think! 

This one is Offenbach's Can-Can
Time Period: ​Romantic Era
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Here is a great performance from a youth orchestra in Slovenia!

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it's time for some Honor Roll!

1/22/2021

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-Stathia Orwig
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Well, it's the spring and it's time to get ready for Honor Roll 2021! I'm so excited!

As many of our students know, Honor Roll is a BIG deal around here. Mostly because it's HARD and the end result is amazing. We've changed up a few things this year. 

First, I want to say that making it on the Honor Roll is not easy. It's for the student who is ready to practice harder than ever before. If everyone was able to do it, it wouldn't be so amazing would it? Just like Honor Roll at school, those who rise to the occasion, practice hard, and complete all of their work each week will be on the Honor Roll and receive one of two prizes. 

Here at this year's requirements:
  • PRACTICE: individualized based on student’s fall “record”; add a day or 30 min to total from fall. Additionally, their practice log (assignment sheet) must be filled out to show their teacher.  This will earn up to 2 points each week.
  • 40 PIECE/PAGE CHALLENGE: students receive 1 point for each new piece added to their list. 
  • THEORY/TECHNIQUE: students receive 1 point for completed assigned theory &/or technique work. 
  • MATERIALS/ATTITUDE: students receive 1 point for all books and materials present at the lesson and great attitude brought to lesson

This year, we are giving our students an opportunity to get extra points. ​ Students are limited to 12 total points for the entire duration of Honor Roll.
  • Theory Test (2),
  • Achievement Auditions (3),
  • Memorize a piece (1),
  • Learn a piece on your own (1),
  • Other opportunities at teacher’s discretion.  ​

The 2 prizes are the composer bust for 65 points and higher. Those that get 50-64 points will receive the metal bookmark. Awards will be announced at the Spring Recital. 

Good luck!! Work hard! Let your teacher know if you have any questions!
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EAR Explorations #010

1/22/2021

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We are wanting to encourage our students to listen to different and important musical works. 

Your Assignment: Listen to the link below, share with your family, and add comments to let us know what you think! 

This one is Holst's The Planets: Jupiter
Time Period: ​1916
​
Picture a loud, jolly, kind, & generous king, feasting & dancing with his subjects at his castle.

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ear explorations #009

1/14/2021

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We are wanting to encourage our students to listen to different and important musical works. 

Your Assignment: Listen to the link below, share with your family, and add comments to let us know what you think! 

This one is Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
Time Period: ​1924
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Gershwin's original version for two pianos. This was immediately orchestrated -- for the premiere of the piece! -- by Ferde Grofé.

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ear explorations #008

1/12/2021

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We are wanting to encourage our students to listen to different and important musical works. 

Your Assignment: Listen to the link below, share with your family, and add comments to let us know what you think! 

This one is Chopin's Minute Waltz (Op. 64 no. 1)
Time Period: ​Romantic
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This famous waltz is NOT playable in one minute, though it is fairly brief! The legend is that a visitor challenged Chopin to write a song about Chopin's little dog, which was at that moment chasing its tail! Perhaps Chopin started improvising then & there, & then developed the full piece, later on.

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what does 2021 look like?

1/6/2021

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-Stathia Orwig

Well, I know I'm not alone when I say I'm a little hesitant in making big plans for 2021! Ha! But after the year, 2020, how can anyone blame us? Normally, I make my yearly goals and do what I can to make them happen. However, this year, I'm just going to be content with seeing how things go and using what I learned in 2020 to help me stay focused on the positives. 

In 2020, I had big plans! MSS was going very strong and I wanted to keep that going! However, our plans for the spring went splat. We had a full studio with full teacher schedules. Then, everything shut down. We had to go completely virtual. It was only going to be for a week or two, then a month, then 6 more weeks...looking around, small business were suffering and closing! ​I went in to overdrive last spring. There was not a chance that this virus was going to take out what I had spent years building. I know every small business was thinking the very same thing. We had some student who just completely stopped lessons because they wouldn't even try virtual. I'm not gonna lie, this made me very sad, and even angry. But, there was not a whole lot I could do about that, so I just kept moving forward. We did our first ever virtual recital and I think it was good and bad. It pushed our students on a very different level and some students recorded hundreds of times! The video thing was stressful! The good thing is that it taught them "how" to practice and all of those times of recording were "thoughtful" practicing. And I think it's great that these students wanted a great finished product! Also on the plus side is that we have a souvenir from COVID lessons. 
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The same thing happened through the summer, and yet it was different. Music lessons actually became more of a priority. We were not competing with camps, sports, or vacations. Because so many people were not traveling, they chose to do something they could do at home. Some signed up for the minimum number of summer lessons, but when this virus just kept spreading it's love, those people decided to stay home and take more lessons! How great is that? We may not have added as many students as we normally do during the summer, but we taught 200 more lessons than we did the summer before! I'm serious! Some started to come back in person, though many stayed virtual cause it was convenient AND it does work!

Fall 2020 had me a little worried as well. Many families decided that with their kids being virtual for school that music was just too much to add. That's a lot of screen time. I get it. However, others felt it was a good break from school. So, we added more students in October and November. Our holiday recital was a little different than the spring recital. We made it less stressful by adding holiday cheer and a "fun" contest. We wanted PJs and holiday decorations, and you could feel the positively-fun energy from so many of the videos. What a wonderful way of spreading musical cheer!
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So, what have we learned? No matter how overwhelmed I get with work and the business, I always come back to Music SO Simple. Simple. We've gotta keep things simple. We learned that music making IS a priority! And where in years past, private lessons are not as fun because it's not a "social" thing. Well, now, we have learned that this is a good thing (I mean, duh!)! It's something we can do on our own! As teachers, we have learned soooo much about how we communicate. No longer can we just pick up our students hands and put them in the correct place. Nope. We've got to talk through it. We are making our students work just a little harder. They have had to listen as well! But all in all, we have learned that music is just so important. 

So, for 2021, as we cannot "plan" like we have in the past, I want to keep it simple. I want to be grateful for these simple things we have learned in this past year. I want to spread as much musical joy as possible. I want to be inspired every day to keep going, and music helps me do that. My relationships with my students inspire me.  If you ask any teacher what they missed while things were shut down, you will hear that they missed their students. We love what we give to them and what they give to us. If we have learned anything this past year, it's that we can't control. We have learned about the simple things in life and we have adjusted. Cheers to our 2021. May it be everything you need it to be!
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MUSIC SO SIMPLE
469.778.2121
​
info@musicsosimple.com
​
1144 Plano Road, suite 142, richardson, texas 75081

  • Home
    • student/parent login
    • Student Gear
    • Blog
  • REGISTER
  • About
    • Our Studio
    • Our Policies
    • Teachers >
      • Stathia Orwig
      • Meredith Manley
      • Robin Coolidge
      • Logan Herod
      • Lauren Koszyk
      • Chiara La Ferla
      • James Landrum
      • David Large
      • Bailey Mason
      • Lynne Nevill
      • Giuseppe Sciuto
      • Elizabeth Smith
      • Eliana Yi
    • Testimonials
  • Lessons
    • Private Lessons
    • Studio Kids: Ensemble Piano
    • Yoga SO Simple
    • SUMMER 2021 >
      • Your Summer Options
    • Calendar
  • CONTACT