The Playground
The Simply Music blog
So You Want to Play in a Band (Part Two)
Written by: Page Stegner It is not as intimidating as one might think! 15-year-old level 3 Simply Music student Antoine ROCKED the house when he jammed for the first time with my band ‘the Smokin’ Rats’. As Antoine stepped through the front door his eyes grew…
So You Want to Play in a Band (Part One)
Written by: Ray Nelson “I can’t count how many times over my teaching career I have heard students say this. There is such an interest out there to be able to play in a band together with other musicians and yet I have often wondered…
Developing Your Musical Expression [Part Two]
Connection, Awareness & Practice If you’re not telling a story with your playing, not conveying an emotion, you might even say it’s not music at all. Last month Simply Music Senior Teacher Laurie Richards wrote about the importance of musical expression. That article was very…
Having the ‘Blues’ Never Felt So Good – Piano Tutorial
From their earliest lessons, Simply Music students know how fun and easy it is to get into real, authentic-sounding blues piano pieces.They also learn that there are lots of ways to vary and develop their first blues projects with cool extra touches. Actually, if you…
Mr Bojangles – Story (and Study) of a Song
Jerry Jeff Walker, who passed away recently at the age of 78, is remembered as one of the artists who brought country music out of the backwoods and into the mainstream. He was very prolific but he will always be remembered for one song: Mr…
Teaching Chords & Accompaniment – A Video from Neil Moore
Chords are one of the most fundamental building blocks of all music and, taught in a particular way, they are incredibly simple to learn on piano. It’s amazing how much is opened up by an easily-developed grasp of chords. Neil describes here, for both students…
Teaching the Melody of a Classical Piece – A Video from Neil Moore
Let’s talk about a famous classical piece, by Beethoven, and give you a taste of how we break the melody of this song into a simple ‘Melody Diagram’ that will have you instantly remember how to play it. We’ll also show you the left hand…
Pride of Place – Songs We Share for National Celebrations
Credit: college.usatoday.com We hope all our Teachers and Students in the United States are enjoying 4th of July celebrations. But why not spread the national pride further afield? We enlisted the help of the wonderful Elizabeth Gaikwad to create some simple accompaniment versions, using the key…
Musical Tricks & Treats For Halloween
Halloween is just around the corner, so we thought we’d share some musical tricks and treats to get you in the spirit 😉 How about some ghoulish new lyrics to Night Storm? Here are some ideas from Katie Knipp: “Rolling pumpkins, witches gather, isn’t it…
‘Tis the Season to be Playing
Usually at this time of year in The Playground, we like to provide some playing projects for festive season songs. This time around, we thought we could continue the conversation about sharing your music by discussing some of the ways you might find yourself playing…
