Simply Music (A REVIEW)

Learning the piano has always been a dream of mine. I did a lot of self-teaching as a child, just playing around mostly, and learning simple songs like mary had a little lamb. The most I've had for lessons are video games, beginner piano books on my own, or music theory classes in college. I am thrilled that we have so many more ways to learn music online and from other great musicians now which is why I was happy to try out the Music & Creativity - Foundation Course from Simply Music. This free online piano course is for kids or adults and has the student playing great music very quickly, like 2-handed songs by lesson 3!

Simply Music Homepage

The flexibility of online learning just can't be beaten for a busy homeschool family. With these online piano lessons the student can log in anywhere there is an internet connection, and work any time of the day. To begin our lessons I simply created a free account did a little looking around, and jumped right in.

Simply Music Lesson page for Foundation Course

Once I logged in I had access to all the Foundation Course lessons (there are 19), and as I completed each lesson I could mark it complete. The lessons are all video-based, meaning he teaches through a series of videos. There are some printables for reference and a book called Music and The Art of Long-term relationships (a PDF file). With the lessons all done through streaming video it means that I had to have something near me to view the lessons while at the piano like a laptop or tablet, or some other device. I just set up the laptop on my piano so I could have it almost in front of me.

How I viewed the lessons as I was at the piano. I've also used the iPad on the music stand for my kids.

As I mentioned earlier, there are some printable things available. I printed up the Foundation reference book which includes notes of things that are taught in the lessons. This is useful for practicing.

Foundation course reference book. I printed this up to use for practicing.

I didn't have any binding on the reference book, but I realized that it worked just fine without the binding as it would sit open nicely on the music stand on the piano.

Since none of my kids were interested in doing piano right now, I decided to use this program for myself. Even as an adult I still want to learn to play, but I'm not really wanting to take formal piano lessons from someone. This is the perfect fit for me as a busy mom. I can do the lessons in the evening, or whenever I can fit it in, and I don't have to leave the house!

I really enjoy learning the piano through Simply Music. The videos are good quality, he speaks clearly, and it doesn't move too fast. I felt accomplished playing a nice song called "Dreams Come True" with two hands after only a few lessons. I like that he explains things thoroughly and really gets to the why and how of getting our brains to think about music so that our fingers can follow.

If you've always wanted to play, give it a try! The Foundation Course is free and worth a try.

Read the crew reviews to see what others had to say: