
The Playground
The Simply Music blog

The Great Courses: Creativity & Your Brain
The Great Courses: Creativity & Your Brain I’ve been a fan of The Great Courses for a long time. Typically designed as packages of ‘lectures’ that might mirror a semester of university study, these comprehensive courses cover topics as varied as your imagination. In my…
- Written by Gordon Harvey on Jan 12, 2023
- course review, Creativity, gordon harvey, Indre Viskontas, music, music education, piano, playing-based music education, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, simply music, the playground, University of San Francisco

12 Notes by Quincy Jones [Book Review]
Quincy Jones may well be music’s all-time greatest multitalent. From jazz trumpeter to band leader to arranger for the likes of Frank Sinatra, conductor, composer, Broadway and Academy Awards director, producer for the likes of Michael Jackson, record company executive, impresario, educator, activist and more,…
- Written by Gordon Harvey on Nov 30, 2022
- 12 Notes, book review, Creativity, gordon harvey, music, music education, piano, playing-based music education, Quincy Jones, simply music, the playground

The Molecule of More by Daniel Lieberman & Michael Long
Book Review By Katie Schmidt Welp, if I were a psychology professor, I would definitely make this book a requirement for all my students. Although I am not said professor, I do wish all of us would read this book. It gave me a much…
- Written by Guest Contributor on Oct 21, 2022
- book review, Creativity, Daniel Lieberman, katie schmidt, Love, Michael Long, music, music education, piano, simply music, the playground

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Book Review
Mihaly reading his book ‘Flow’ War is horrific. There’s no getting away from it. But sometimes out of the horror there’s a contribution to the world that wouldn’t be here otherwise. Such is the life’s work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The study of what he has…
- Written by Guest Contributor on Sep 23, 2022
- book review, Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, music, music education, piano, playing-based music education, simply music, the playground

I Found Your Keys – Interview with Laurie Richards & Neil Moore
I Found Your Keys Written by Laurie Richards Laurie Richards is an accomplished musician and music educator. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in the 1980s and worked as an Accountant for several years. During that time she also taught…
- Written by Allison Gray on Sep 8, 2022
- I Found Your Keys, interview, Laurie Richards, music, music education, piano, playing-based music education, simply music, the playground

A World Where Everyone Plays by Bernadette E. Ashby – Book Review
A World Where Everyone Plays is a collection of stories of how Simply Music has impacted people’s lives. Each chapter is written by a student, teacher or loved one. The stories vary from a ten-year-old student, to a professional circus clown, to a retired teacher,…
- Written by Allison Gray on Aug 8, 2022
- A world where everyone plays, Bernadette Ashby, book review, music, music education, piano, playing-based music education, simply music, the playground

How 2 songs became 1: Londonderry Air & Danny Boy
As most of us could agree Danny Boy is a legendary musical piece, possibly one of the most famous songs in the world. It is synonomous with all things Ireland and has made its way to being an unofficial Irish national song. But did you…
- Written by Gordon Harvey on Mar 17, 2021
- danny boy, england, folk music, History, ireland, londonderry air, lyric, music, music education, piano, popular songs, simply music, song history, the playground

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…
- Written by Guest Contributor on Mar 3, 2021
- blues licks piano tutorial, blues piano licks tutorial, blues piano pieces, blues piano riffs, blues projects, coaching, how to play blues licks on piano, Laurie Richards, lessons, music, piano, piano tutorial, player, simply music, simply music method, the playground, tutorial

How does music affect your brain?
Neil shared this video with the Simply Music teachers a few weeks ago but we wanted to share it with you too. In this episode of Tech Effects, we explore the impact of music on the brain and body. From listening to music to…
- Written by Gretta Dunn on Feb 4, 2021
- brain, music, music education, music research, piano, research, simply music, the playground, video

Have You Met Maddalena Casulana?
Have you met Maddalena Casulana? Born 1544 in Italy she was the first woman to publish her own musical compositions! Women’s roles in the early 1500s largely centred around domestic duties and a constrained societal existence with the expectation that they would live humble, demure…
- Written by Gretta Dunn on Jan 29, 2021
- composer, italy, madrigal, music, music education, piano, simply music, the playground, Women in Music