Simpedia

Maureen K., California

Two of my students emailed me asking about the new Chord Drills program before I had seen the SM email myself! I looked through my emails and the SM website and forum to see if there was info from the teachers’ perspective, but I couldn’t find anything. So I downloaded the program and skimmed it. In case it helps others:

1. It is the newest SM offering, developed by Australia teacher Elizabeth Gaikwad.
2. It is, as far as I can tell, a workbook of sorts that works alongside Accompaniment 1.
3. The teacher version costs the same as the student version.
4. The teacher materials have a brief Read Me First pdf and completion certificates. The rest of the materials are the same that the students get. The program is designed so students can use it without teacher guidance if necessary.
5. There are structured worksheets and flash cards to help students memorize and drill all of the chords and chord qualities taught in Accompaniment 1, as well as the 9th and dim7 chords, common chords which are missing from Accompaniment 1.
6. The whole program is laid out in a series of videos and a pdf transcription of the videos which I appreciate! I prefer to read quickly than watch a video most of the time. It allows people to access the material in their preferred format.

It looks very helpful. I plan to use it to help students truly memorize all the Accompaniment 1 chords and get them into their hands. I hope my summary helps some of you who may have the same questions I had.