This week, I came across a great article that explains some different ways our brains react to music. Almost every part of our brain reacts when we make or listen to music! If you've ever been curious about the benefits of music study, you can see some specifics here. The web page includes a diagram of the brain, showing how music affects each specific area. One interesting highlight: since music engages the part of our brain that regulates coordination and rhythm, Parkinson's patients who need help getting around can be prescribed music as a treatment! Explore more for yourself here. 
 - Emily McMullin

I've been hearing from parents lately about their child not really getting into practice and if I have suggestions. I do!!

#1: Try and make practice part of the schedule. It could be the same time each day or just part of the daily flow. Do you usually eat dinner around the same time each night? When whoever is cooking, maybe that's the time to remind your student to go practice! Or, maybe it's in the middle of homework and your student needs a break. Physically get up from homework (at the proper stopping point) and switching that part of the brain off to work on practice helps tremendously. Not only will practice be a welcome thought, but also when practice is done, your student will be ready and fresh again for homework! If your evenings are crazy, how about practice first thing in the morning before jetting off to school?

#2: Remember WHY you are doing this! Why do you feel music is good for your student? If there's no practice (or very little) your student is going to get discouraged. Keep the momentum going at the beginning establishes that habit of practice. Even if it's only for 5 minutes. I often think getting TO the instrument is the hardest part. It's kind of like working out, once you get to your mat or to the gym, you feel better working out! Just get to your instrument- make the effort, and the rewards will show themselves. 

#3: Need a little incentive? This is part of the reason we begin Music Ball when we do!! (we are kinda smart sometimes). We like to wait a few weeks in and then throw in the super fun, competitive game of Music Ball. Students are put on teams according to their teacher and then we "play" against each other. Honestly, all you will have to say at home is "How's your team doing?", "Make sure you mark your practice so your teacher can see it!" , and I promise your student might go running to their instrument!! Then, check out the weekly newsletter each week- save the URL for Music Ball (only available to students) and check in on it at the beginning of each week. Viola! You're golden! Bonus point for not even saying "go practice!".

Many of my students this semester are brand new to piano. Several are the very first in their family to ever try playing an instrument! I love seeing the fresh waves of excitement that are always sparked at the beginning of a musical journey, and I’m not surprised that parents love seeing it too.

If you’re a parent with children in music lessons, you probably remember the nervous energy, beaming post-lesson faces, and growing self-assurance of the early days. You may be in that phase yourself! My goal today is to answer some questions I’ve heard recently from new-to-music parents.

How often should my child practice?
Throughout the journey of playing an instrument, consistency is vital to the learning process. At the very beginning, your child is learning a habit of daily practice that will be essential to their progress later. Practicing every day is a good goal – your teacher can give you a realistic expectation for daily practice session length.

Should I buy a real piano?
This is a tricky one, since every family’s situation is different. The best option for piano practice is an acoustic piano. If your family has access to one, your child should be practicing on it. If you don’t have one, consider making the investment. Pianos can be cheaper than you think, and there’s nothing wrong with purchasing a used piano! Talk with your teacher if you have questions about purchasing a piano that’s right for your budget.
If an acoustic piano is simply not an option, beginning students can still progress while practicing on an electric keyboard. The ideal keyboard will be as similar to an acoustic piano as possible – look for one with weighted keys. However, as your child progresses further, they will need to begin practicing on an acoustic piano.

My child doesn’t seem to be getting better lately. Should we keep taking lessons?
I’ve heard so many variations of this question, and it’s completely understandable. Playing an instrument requires a blend of so many different physical and mental skills. Every child acquires these skills at totally different rates! This means that progress happens slowly and then more quickly in cycles over time.
If your child is practicing consistently and still doesn’t seem to be making progress, don’t quit! They are probably in the process of incorporating a new mental or physical skill into their playing. Given time, those skills will “click” and a new era of progression will begin. It may also be that your child needs a new practice strategy. What works well in one season of growth may not always transfer perfectly to the next. Talk to your teacher about progression – no one knows more about your child’s musical growth than their teacher!

I’m not a musician. What’s the best way for me to support my child taking lessons?
I love hearing this question. It’s a sincere reminder of how deeply parents care about their children’s success. If you are asking this question, you’ve already got the right attitude!
One of the best ways parents can help their children is by giving gentle practice reminders. Young children can often forget to practice, and parents are in a great position to give reminders until the habit is established. Framing practice as an exciting after-school activity can keep children from dreading it as a chore.
Every child is different, and every parent can support their child in different ways. Specific encouragements or rewards could be great for one child and useless for another. Talk to your teacher about your child’s practice habits and overall attitude towards the instrument. You both can work out a strategy that’s right for your child’s temperament and experience level.

What questions did you have when your child first started lessons? Let us know in the comments!

-Stathia Orwig

In the spring of 2022, we threw out a huge campaign to get feedback on teachers and how parents/students were doing at Music SO Simple. I will say that most of the answers were right on point and I expected our feedback. For the most part, all of it was amazing!! I won't lie (and you know me better than that anyways), there were some things we needed to improve on. But, isn't that normal? We had about half of the families answer the survey. Below are the results.

When asked these questions, here is the percentage of the highest answer:

My child's teacher begins & ends on time for his/her lessons. 85.2% said yes

My child and teacher have a good relationship and work well together. 93.4% said yes

My child’s teacher is able to meet the particular learning needs of my child. 80.3% said yes

I believe my teacher has a high level of professionalism. 88.5% said yes

I feel like Music So Simple has a good reputation. 89.1% said yes

Here are some areas we want to improve on according to the survey:

• student assignments & knowing what to work on when at home
• having clear expectations from the teacher
• my teacher does a good job of making my child aware of Student of the Week, Music Ball, Honor Roll, music bucks & prize weeks. (I honestly believe this has a lot to do with the teacher, and I have made some changes to this over the summer. A few of our teachers were not doing these activities and are no longer with us now. This is a very important area for us and is what unites all of our students.)

What do you feel are your teacher’s strengths? Here are some awesome responses:

• He makes it easy/fun for the girls to learn
• Teaches to the level of each student. Changes with each student's strengths and what they need to work on. This is tough to do and Ms. Stathia does it amazingly well.
• Very friendly and approachable
• Ms. Logan is patient and kind and she listens to what my child has to say.
• Organization, motivation, varying lessons
• Rapport with students, technique, motivation
• Enthusiastic teacher. Always in a good mood and ready to teach
• Logan is fun, positive, motivating and encouraging!
• Knowledge of music
• She creates a great environment for my chid that makes it comfortable for him to learn.
• She encourages their love of music
• Logan’s positivity is contagious and she really knows how to connect with her students.
• Patience and great teaching techniques
• Everything - Miss Meredith is perfection.
• Very personable, happy
• Cares about my child as a person
• Passionate, encouraging, attentive.
• Logan is patient and knows how to redirect his attention back to the lesson well. She is also great at correcting in a very positive and encouraging way.
• Mrs. Lynne works really well with the girls and keeps them motivated and wanting to play piano.
• Mrs Meredith is kind and does a great job engaging our preschooler in this introduction to music. We love her!
• Ms. Logan has an extremely positive attitude with her students. She is very creative in her lessons and motivates her students to learn music while having lots of fun! Ms. Logan works alongside her students so it appears to be a collaboration between teacher and student which is encouraging for the shy students.
• Chiara has such passion for piano and makes the lessons fun. He especially enjoys the ear training and learning new composers and songs. She focuses on the dynamics and other details that make his pieces the best the can be. She has her set repertoire for him but also lets him suggest pieces he would like to learn in the summer and when time allows which is very nice and makes him happier practicing :)
• I am constantly amazed at her ability to relate, teach, motivate, and accommodate all ages of students!​​

Lastly, on the survey were 5 important questions. I have copied and pasted them here!!

We LOVE that everyone refers friends!! That's honestly where we want new students to come from!!

One of my summer projects was to update our Music SO Simple School Policies. We had created our policies when we had 40 students 7 years ago. Needless to say, we are at a little over 200 students currently and they needed a freshening up!

I have attached a link to our new policy below, but I'm going to bullet point some of the main things to remember and let you know what has changed.

• A one time registration fee of $50 is charged for all new private lesson students. This includes a new student binder,  bag, and first set of method books. (we started this a while back, but it's official now)

 

• We have a no make-up lesson policy for parent/student initiated cancellations. Please make sure that the day and time you are setting for lessons at the beginning of the school year is set in your calendar. If a lesson is missed, you always have the option of sending your teacher a video for feedback. Please talk with your teacher about this. (this is new. we need lessons to be a priority and you are paying for a spot in the teacher's schedule. we will also be offering monthly group classes to help get in extra practice)

 

• Regular attendance is expected and necessary for progress. Teachers reserve the right to withhold students from special events who have missed too many lessons or are not adequately prepared. Additionally, the teacher has a right to drop a student for too many missed lessons. (we started this a while back, but it's official now)

 

• Commitment to lessons should be very important to parents, students, and teacher. If for any reason you can not fulfill your commitment, you will be financially responsible for the remainder of the semester. (we have no more drop policy because of our mission of commitment to lessons and we have bi-yearly recitals)

 

• Current students: In order to save your spot for summer lessons, a $50 non-refundable deposit is required by April 1.  The remaining balance will be billed June 1. (we are encouraging more commitment when signing up for summer lessons)

 

• New students: will be accepted for summer lessons beginning April 15 based on availability. A registration fee of  $50 is charged at time of registration. Summer lesson fees will be billed June 1.

 

• Current students: In order to reserve your spot for the fall, returning students must pay a $250 fee.  If the student takes at least 6 summer lessons, this fee is waived. (we are bringing back to reserve your spot fee for those who cannot take summer lessons!)

Our policies will need to be signed along with our photo release by August 31. This form will need to be filled out for all students before they can attend their first lesson of the school year! Access it below:

Borrowed from an online group- these are absolutely the best things about teaching music to our children!

"One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kid to play the piano”? Well I have a confession to make; I don't pay for my kid to play the piano. Personally, I couldn't care less about what instrument they play.

So, what am I paying for?

• I pay for those moments when my kid becomes so tired they want to quit but don't.
• I pay for those days when my kid comes home from school and is "too tired" to do to their lesson but they go anyway.
• I pay for my kid to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.
• I pay for my kid to learn to take care of her body and instrument.
• I pay for my kid to learn to work with others and to be a good teammate, gracious in failure, and humble in success.
• I pay for my kid to learn to deal with disappointment when she doesn’t get that recognition she’d hoped for, but still she goes back week after week giving it her best shot.
• I pay for my kid to learn to make and accomplish goals.
• I pay for my kid to respect, not only themselves, but their teachers and fellow young musicians.
• I pay for my kid to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice to play beautifully and that success does not happen overnight.
• I pay for my kid to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.
• I pay for the opportunity my kid has and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of her achievements as I am.
• I pay so that my kid can be creating something beautiful instead of sitting in front of a screen.

I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for piano playing; I pay for the opportunities that learning to play provides my kid with to develop attributes that will serve her well throughout her life and give her the opportunity to bless the lives of others.

From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!"

We always begin each new year with new goals or resolutions. The past couple of years, we really have just been trying to survive and "keep normal" as much as possible. And, have you counted how many times you  have said, "I'm over it!" in a week? We all are. This pandemic just keeps throwing us curve balls- once we feel like we are reaching some sort of "normal", another wave comes through.  It's nice to be making history, but I think I've had enough. So,  I'm going to make some goals that force me to think further than just a few weeks out. Are you ready? Ha, me too.

• Get back to blogging. I started blogging (with Meredith) 6 years ago. I've taken a little bit of a break in the last 6 months. I'd like to get back on track to 2 blogs a month. 

• Get our name out there & build up community relationships. More and more families are beginning to know the "Music SO Simple" name and we couldn't be more excited about this. How about getting into newspapers or d magazine?

• Keep our two LIVE recitals on schedule. God-willing, we will be able to hold normal, in-person recitals because I think it is so important for our students. 

• Grow our baby and preschool classes to reach more kiddos with music.

• Grow our studio space with a couple more music studios and small recital space for monthly performance classes. (Maybe even add in some more colorful pianos? Ha!)

• This one is a more personal one, but maybe it's on a lot of peoples minds? I need to keep my family a priority and want to work towards a better work/home balance. I've been called a workaholic before, and I truly love what I do, but the past 2 years have thrown me into overdrive. However, as my kids get older, I need to make sure they know they are a priority. 

• Keep volunteering and helping the music community. I've been DallasMTA president for the past 3 1/2 years. In June, that will come to an end. I'm also chairing my daughter's school auction, which will be done by the end of February. Volunteering gives me a way of giving back and a way of connecting with others. 

-Stathia Orwig

Here's my crazy story on my blue piano. 

One night, I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a Steinway & Sons post about a special Boston upright that was designed my Alicia Keys. I was stunned and all googlie eyes at this piano!! It was simply stunning. Well, it was simply stunning. I found myself thinking about it for a while- like a year. When you think about things for that long...well, maybe you need to do something about it?

So, keep in mind, we are in the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic. But, things are going really well at the studio. By February, a lot of our students are moving away from virtual lessons and starting to come back into the studio. But we were starting to be out of room. The smartest thing for me to do is to add another piano room. The only place we really had room to use was my office, and I was not really excited about that. In the past, I had taught where I worked and I would look over at my pile on my desk and think about the work I needed to do while I was teaching. I liked the separation of leaving my office to go into another space to teach. I wasn't sure how I was going to make this work, but knew I would be willing to if it was a cool piano.

So, I thought, maybe a Steinway upright? This would be all mine. How cool would that be? But, as beautiful as those were, I couldn't get the Alicia Keys piano out of my mind. I think I wanted something with a little more pop!

After talking with the guys at Steinway Hall- Dallas, they had a guy who painted pianos for them. He's not just a normal painter, like he really knew what he was doing to paint a piano. So, I got to work on picking out colors and putting things in motion.

​Once I got swatches, I took them to my office to check out the color scheme:

So, I anticipated having this piano by the beginning of April. We began moving things around at the studio. Ms. Gayle needed to have a space to work at in the front of the studio rather than in my office where I would be teaching. 

The feeling of seeing the Steinway delivery truck in the parking lot was so amazing!!

It seems absolutely crazy that I am this excited about a blue piano. But, we have learned a lot from this pandemic. We appreciate the little things. This piano is so fun to play and it puts off such a fun energy with my students. They absolutely LOVE playing it!! Their faces light up! I'm so thrilled with this new addition and very grateful for being able to buy a blue piano. I'm in love and I'm beyond blessed!

for a little more on the colors and the "pop", check out the video below. I didn't have much of a voice when I filmed this, but I was so excited!!

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 Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words: Spring Song
Time Period: ​Romantic, 1844
​
Originally written for solo piano, here is a lovely version with clarinet playing the melody. The second link is a solo piano version. Can you imagine lots of birds, butterflies, bees, & flowers swaying in the breeze?