Starting Tune Toolkit
Found in: Composition & Improvisation
Susan M., Canada
Would you recommend starting Tune Toolkit 1 with these students? Brother/sister, identified gifted ages 11 and 12. Both had traditional lessons prior, and are very switched on. They seem to enjoy composing, and have used arrangement ideas to create pieces. Yet I’m at a point where I’m wondering what direction to go to for more projects. I gave them a poem last week to create something. They are in Level 3. Would it be beneficial to start the Tune Toolkit 1 now?
Rochelle G., California
Yes. I have an adult student with tons of previous experience, improvises and composes with ease, even her five steps of sound sounds like a melody when she plays it, can read music, plays for church…yet she came to me for Simply Music lessons because she wanted something more. She is now finishing her compositions (before lessons she just started a lot) and the SM method is plugging holes and giving her the other musical learning tools she was seeking. I started Tune Toolkit with her. At first she wondered why she needed to do ti, but now she says she is gleaning good things from it. You can spend as much or as little time in class as you desire. The SHMs cover everything in depth. As with all things Simply Music, it starts out simply, with the power to change your world!
Karen D., Canada
Yes! For sure! It’s great!
Gordon Harvey, Australia
Definitely. One of the great things about Tune Toolkit is you can adjust the dosage according to the student’s interests and capacities. You could give them a new task just about every week for as long as they are able to process them. There’s also some opportunity to hover a little in a particular level and explore it more deeply.
Mark M., New York
I also always like to stress that every tool in the program has aesthetic possibilities that can be worth exploring even by more experienced students. Creating music isn’t just or even mainly about physical skill/sophistication. It’s about self-expression, which naturally involves subjectivity and aesthetics, and even the program’s simplest projects can open up worthwhile possibilities in those ways.