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.”