 I recently listened to a podcast about intentional living, and it struck me how deeply that idea connects to my work. From the very beginning, Music SO Simple has been built on clear intentions and strong ethics: creating a place where students love making music in a professional, caring environment. For us, intentional teaching means more than just learning notes on a page. Our students—mostly children—spend one-on-one or small group time with their teachers every week. That teacher becomes not just an instructor, but a role model. To truly help students progress, motivate them, and understand how they learn best, teachers must also build trust and connection. Students thrive when they feel safe, valued, and comfortable with their teacher.  At the same time, balance matters. Too much chatting in lessons slows progress; too little personal connection leaves students feeling unseen. At MSS, we emphasize both: strong relationships and steady growth. This is what intentional teaching looks like in practice. Behind the scenes, this balance starts long before lessons even begin. I personally interview and thoroughly background-check every teacher we hire. They don’t need to be concert performers—they need to love teaching, respect their students, and be genuine team players. Our goal is to provide families with teachers you can trust, both musically and personally. That’s what intentional teaching means to us. When you entrust your child to Music SO Simple, you can feel confident that they’re not only learning music, but also growing in an environment shaped by care, professionalism, and purpose. 
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-Stathia Orwig  I am beyond grateful that September is here! For me, August is always a busy month, but this one was one that I would never want to repeat. It came after spending 4 weeks of much needed family time in Greece. Together with my parents, my husband, and kids, we had the best time reconnecting and relaxing as we soaked up the Greek beach, food and lifestyle. All this to say, it probably gave me the energy boost I needed to get through August! As we all try to regroup and fit practice into our new fall schedules, it's important for us to give ourselves a chance to evaluate what's important in our lives today. A new school year brings tougher classes, new friendships, sports, and extracurriculars. How in the world do we fit it all in? We've all been at it for about a month now and we might finally starting to come up for air!? Honestly, I love September because it does feel like a fresh start- in a way, just like January! But we get both September AND January! So how do we fit practice for the lessons we have committed to? First figure out all that you have going on. I like to ask my students to use practice as a break in their homework. Most of our students have at least a little homework or an afternoon routine. If the afternoon is not a good time to practice, then look at carving out time before school. Try connecting "practice" with another constant in your routine:
Whatever you choose, stick with it! Try it for 3 weeks and then reevaluate. Does the schedule need to be tweaked? That's okay! Nothing needs to be set in stone, and things are always changing. If you miss a day, be sure to get back at it ASAP. You know, the longer you go, the harder it is to get back! For me, I've been focusing on my workouts and morning ritual. I find that when I begin my day with mediation and exercise, the better prepared I am for my day. It helps me to juggle whatever gets thrown my way. I've been out of my practice routine as well. I love to sit down at the piano and just play. But sometimes after teaching all day, the last thing I want to do is sit at the piano. On the weekends or on a night I get home at a decent hour, I will sit down at the piano and just concentrate on learning a new piece, not my phone, email, work, laundry...the list could go on! Focusing on learning a new piece- all of the notes, dynamics, & parts, is it's own form of meditation. It makes us be completely present and in the moment. Our brain is getting something completely different! It's the perfect reset. I hope that you get into the new rhythm of your fall and that this has helped. We are all in this together, so if you have more ideas, please throw them my way! As I end my first blog of this school year, I hope you continue to gain wisdom, guidance, and joy from your music lessons and our teachers. I pray we receive strength to face challenges, clarity in learning, and continue to thrive in a positive environment that fosters growth and a love for music.  -Stathia Orwig  It's 2 weeks before our recital. You've been practicing. Your piece is finally memorized. Grandparents have been called. What do you wear? With my kids, I usually started thinking about this a few weeks ahead of time. They dreaded the time when I would ask them to look through their closet to see what they had. Then I would ask them to try it on. Of course, it wouldn't always fit. Grrrrr. There's honestly nothing worse than freaking out the day of (or even the night before) trying to figure out what to wear. And honestly, recitals are already a lot! So, here are a few pointers that have helped me make the recital day a little less chaotic.
 -Stathia Orwig Are you curious to know where your student is compared to others? Well, I really love keeping things on an individual basis. However, there are 2 metrics I found interesting! Below, I grabbed a screen shot of what our students we planning to participate in this school year. Did you know how many events we plan for our students? Check this out!  The other data I love looking at is how our students practice- we all know how much they practice- but are they making good progress? Are we as teachers explaining how to practice- and then are our students progressing? Take a look at this!  So, I would say that our students are doing a great job or know what to practice and making good progress!! That says a lot about our teachers and our students need to give themselves a great pat on the back for following practice guidelines!!
 Dear Friends of Music SO Simple, As you know, Music SO Simple is a growing music education studio dedicated to fostering a lifelong love of music in students of all ages. Since we began in 2016, we have been committed to providing exceptional learning experiences, nurturing creativity, and inspiring passion in each of our students. I keep my vision and expectations very high for MSS. We have just completed a wonderful expansion which has allowed us to see more students, add more instruments and even host small recitals in our big room! With this recital room, we are embarking on an exciting journey to elevate the quality of piano education we provide by acquiring a Steinway Spirio R piano. This extraordinary instrument is not only a masterpiece in craftsmanship and sound, but also an innovative tool that combines artistry with technology, offering unique features, like recording directly from the piano, that can enrich our students' learning experiences. As we have been working on preparing our students for an upcoming festival, this piano has proven to be a very valuable resource in helping prepare our students; We have been able to easily record their playing on the piano during a lesson, watch as it’s played back to us, learn from what we have heard and watched, and then make necessary adjustments to improve our playing. I can’t express how much this has helped students improve in such little time! The addition of the Spirio R will allow our students to explore new dimensions of music-making, including being able to easily record pieces, send them audio files, and interactive performance opportunities. With this instrument at our studio, Music SO Simple will be even more equipped to inspire & educate our students in ways that were previously unimaginable. It truly is an amazing instrument and we have already seen such phenomenal results using it with our students! I realize that I am dreaming BIG! To achieve this vision, we are seeking sponsorship and support from individuals and organizations who share our passion for music education and our belief in its transformative power. Your sponsorship will directly contribute to the purchase of this incredible piano, ensuring that it becomes a cornerstone of our expanded studio and a legacy for the students of today and tomorrow. Not only will it be accessible to all students at Music SO Simple, but it will also be available to students in the surrounding communities. In recognition of your generosity, we would be honored to acknowledge your contribution through a commemorative plaque in the Spirio’s room, recognition on our website, and recognition in all recital programs. More information and updates to contributions can be found at musicsosimple.com/spiriobound. Thank you for considering this opportunity to invest in the future of music education. If you would like to discuss this initiative further and explore how we can collaborate to make this dream a reality, feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected]. With heartfelt gratitude, Stathia Orwig Founder & Director   This year, we were able to have a continuous, on-going recital in our big, new room at MSS! We decorated for Halloween and had our students dress up like their piece. Students were assigned a time frame to play for family and friends. After playing, students were able to Trick or Treat through the hallways of MSS.  Once outside, we had popcorn from The Popcorn Shack and fun games. Of course it helped that it was such a beautiful day to be outside! Yeah for October! -Stathia Orwig This past weekend, we had the pleasure of taking our students to Lindan Park Rehabilitation Center. It was so wonderful to see such joy on the residents faces as our students played for them. We even had one student play the Ukulele and one in his Mandalorian costume! Overall, what a wonderful experience and way to give back to our community.  Advertising can be such a tricky thing. However, I have always chosen to keep it as simple as possible. 95% of our advertising is word of mouth from our families! This is the first way we advertise and in my opinion, one of the best. And great families refer other great families. And, we love giving our families referral credits. It the gift that keeps on giving. The only "real" advertising we do is an ad in the Richardson Community Impact. Each year, our list of giving to schools gets larger and larger. And to be honest, I love it! This is our way of giving back to the school, helping to donate to the things that they need. In addition, it supports the school our students go to. At the moment, our list of giving to are:
If you don't see your school on this list & want to, please send me a donation form. Giving is important to me, even in a small capacity. And, it helps us spread the word of our amazing Music SO Simple music school.  -Stathia Orwig  On June 1st, we turned 8 years old!! And, we just finished our expansion...so, I think that calls for a celebration! Hopefully, by now, you have heard about our Open House on Saturday, August 24th from 1:00-4:00pm To celebrate, we will have student performances, teacher performances, tours, a presentation from Steinway, & a Music Together® sample class.  Soon, the schedule for the day will be publiished, so definitley keep your eye on the Open House page. If you're reading this, make sure you come by between 2:30-3:30pm as a special truck might just be swinging by for some treats!  While you are partying with us, don't forget to put your name in the raffle box. Raffle items will be: MSS gift certificate MSS water bottle MSS bag filled with instruments we use in Music Together class MSS sweatshirt  We hope you bring your family and friends by for what is sure to be a fun afternoon! Thank you for helping make MSS the best music school in Richardson!
-Stathia Orwig A year ago, our five year lease was coming to an end soon and we were running out of room. To think Music SO Simple started with 2 teachers teaching out of our homes and travel teaching to then renting a room at a nearby church to a commercial space with 6 rooms! All in 6 years! And now, 8 years later we needed more space. This is a story about our expansion and the vision I have for Music SO Simple. We did look around at moving for about a year prior. Honestly, my moving radius was SMALL! I love where we are and it feels very central to our families. So, ultimately when I was able to secure the deal to expand into the empty space next to us, it was a done deal. Our current layout was 6 teaching rooms (with one being my office), 2 waiting areas, and our teacher workroom. I, somehow convinced my brother, Dimitrios, to be the lead contractor. Together, we designed a layout that fit in the rooms I needed. He drew up the plans and we were able to get started.  The space on the left is our existing space, adding in the 4 rooms on the right with the hallway. THE CHANGES: We moved our teacher workroom to the back of the studio. The old teacher workroom was renamed "crescendo" and is now our Music Together & Merry Musicians room. The shape of this room is perfect for both of these classes and is allowing us to add more of them since they have their own dedicated space. The mood of the room is also wonderful since it's super preschool friendly with the carpet & art on the walls!  My office is now "our office". This allows me a space to work and Gayle, a space to get quite work in & phone calls!  The keyboards have been moved to the front of the studio into a slightly larger room. We have been able to make room for all 6(!!) digital keyboards AND a table for students to work on written assignments. In addition to Studio Kids ensemble classes, we are adding a new curriculum called Piano Express, which is a wonderful group piano program! We are planning to offer classes throughout the week!  Most full-time teachers now have their own spaces to teach in & each picked a musical name assigned to a room. It was super fun to involve everyone in the naming of the rooms! Ms. Lynne--> Rubato with her own Petrof grand piano Ms. Emily--> Vivace with the Boston grand piano Ms. Jean--> Dolce with the Boston upright piano Ms. Logan--> Rhapsody with the blue Boston upright Ms. Meredith--> Treble with the Steinway grand Mr. Large--> Largo (which is very appropriate, don't you think?) with all of the string instruments The old keyboard room is now for guitar and has been named "Bass". Even the restrooms have a name!! RESTrooms...and they each have their own artt, thanks to one of my talented students, Susu, who brought my vision to life! Look closely for the rests... In the front on the new side, we now have a bigger room, named Glissando, which will be used for teaching, but also recital prep classes, small recitals, meetings, and small yoga classes. My dream was to have a Steinway Spirio in this space. It's a Steinway grand that also plays by itself & records. Imagine being able to have our students listen to amazing artists from all over the world play right in our own school! And, we can make recordings of our students and be able to edit. Thanks to Steinway Hall- Dallas, this dream has come true! More coming on that later!! Lastly, we have some amazing custom touches to our space, thanks to Dimitrios. Not only did he share my vision of MSS and what we bring to the community, he put in his own creative touches which have literally blown me away. In the back waiting area, we have an old grand piano turned into an amazing bookshelf! And in the front waiting area, he made a coffee table. I want to thank a few key people: To my team of teachers: Thank you for covering pianos, dealing with dust, things being out of place, going with the flow, and making things work. Your patience and excitement helped propel me forward into this dream becoming our reality. To Casey: Thank you for all that you and Steinway Hall do...for helping us teach on the best instruments and for making my dream a reality. You seriously are the best. To Gayle: Thank you for being at MSS when I couldn't be, for letting in workers, cleaning up after workers, moving pianos, covering up pianos, moving pianos back, changing the room schedules endlessly, coming up with alternative ideas when I couldn't see clearly, and listening to me. You are irreplaceable. To Dimitrios: Thank you for your honesty, your sarcasm, & your humor. You answered most of my phone calls & texts, and you treated MSS like your own. Thank you for the electricity & plumbing- all of the stuff we needed but can't see. And for all of the things we can see: the finishes, the cameras, tvs, bookshelf, and coffee table. Your work is truly amazing. Love you so much and I owe you more than I could ever pay back. To Brian, my biggest cheerleader: I could have never done this without your help, wisdom, guidance, and patience. Thank you for the late nights and weekends at MSS. You're the best tech support and checkbook ever!! lol And lastly, to our students, parents, families & friends who have all cheered us on, dealt with the mess, shared the excitement, & helped decorate...thank you!! And...join us as we celebrate our 8th birthday and expansion on Saturday, August 24, 2024  |
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