Simpedia

Shanta H., Minnesota

I have a Waldorf student (whose mom is also my daughter’s preschool teacher) and we had some initial confusion as to whether the video was included in the “media” that was prohibited for school nights. Once we clarified that it was not only an exception, but a necessity for the program, it was fine. This particular student is very quick and is probably less dependent on the video than some others, but even he forgets the song by next week if he doesn’t watch it. The music gets so advanced so quickly that students need it to keep up.

One way to think about it is that an instrumental lesson isn’t something you can reinforce with a book, particularly since we aren’t reading music for about a year. We’re learning to play by watching interactively, so you need to reinforce it with something you can watch interactively. The ideal would be to take Neil home with you, but since we can’t clone him, we have to rely on the lessons he has recorded on the videos for us.

Krystelle, Utah

I teach Waldorf Education as well, and the philosophy of no media is most strict until age 7. My personal experience has been the children learning Simply Music do not need to watch it before age 7. They are so connected at that age with what is going on around them and the lesson, that I haven’t had any problem needing them to watch the video at that early age. That’s just my experience. If there are some questions that come up about the piece they are learning, you just review it the next week.

I think it will go furthest in your business to respect the wishes of the parents and Waldorf school as students progress just fine from the experience I’ve seen. If there is a problem, I would recommend the parent (coach) watch it and then teach it to the child. The child doesn’t need to watch the video as the parent/coach can do it for them.

Sheri R., California

If the Waldorf philosophy is sacrosanct, even with instructional material, I still wouldn’t rule out teaching them. Just know that these students likely will not progress as quickly through the foundation material but they will still progress and have great results if you make sure to have a few things in place. Granted, I haven’t done this before, but I think I can offer you something.

Learning the foundation pieces will more likely resemble learning the arrangements pieces, that is, they will have to rely more on their own memories. I would still have them listen to the audio and use the diagrams to help them. In fact, by requiring the audio every week (if you don’t with your other students) they may develop other abilities faster than your other students. I would be especially careful that they can always explain the strategies and diagrams for each piece at the preliminary lesson and at follow-up lessons so you know they aren’t simply relying on their ear and they are understanding the core principles of the strategies and diagrams.

Also, be sure there is lots of observatory learning (not everyone has a keypad in class so they are trading off in mentor groups). They won’t have the observatory experience with the video, so while that is always crucial in a lesson, it becomes even more so without video support.

I definitely would err on the side of ‘less is more’, because as a teacher you won’t be able to rely on skimming any of the material in the lesson (for example, “here’s the rhythmic exchange of the tail of NS but go home and learn it from the video”)–you will really need to look at each piece myriad ways so that the material really sticks and even as they get the material quickly in the lesson it will be harder to retain if you give them too much. So whatever amount you usually give students who use the video, I would give these students less.

I require video use. If students come in not knowing foundation pieces I rarely take time in the class to re-teach–it doesn’t serve them and it’s not fair to students who do watch the video–I expect them to develop a great relationship with the video, and if students know every week they can get help at the lesson that they easily could have gotten at home they will grow to rarely use the video. I want my students to know it’s their job to watch the video after I’ve taught the material once. Anything else I will go over as much as necessary (accompaniment, arrangements, etc.)

Have fun and just know it will be different! (Blind students don’t watch videos, either!) By the way, Neil once said something was lost when the videos were created, and that is one of the reasons he created the arrangements program without video, to gain back what was lost. Obviously something huge was gained when videos were made available too! But there is always a trade-off. The good thing is that in this case, not a long-term trade-off (of students losing the opportunity to learn how to rely on their memories) because Neil figured out how to capture that back with the arrangements program.

Tracy G., California

I am a mom of three Waldorf students AND the music director at a Waldorf K-8 school (250 students). I have definitely encountered the video issue.

What I’ve realized is every family is different. Of all the families who have approached me about private lessons, only two ruled out SM because they are completely opposed to “screen time.” And ironically, I was just told this week (hearsay, but still…) they are both frustrated with their children’s progress (my SM students bound from piano to piano at school, sharing original comps and duetting Foundation pieces).

My experience has been the younger ones have much less actual need for the video–they learn so well by imitation. And the older ones know exactly how to use the video because, having not been brought up on screens, their brains don’t go into hibernate mode when the screen comes on.

SM is totally “Waldorfy,” as my kids put it. In fact, at my school I realized people are actually mistaking SM for a part of the Waldorf method.

This topic might make for a good conference call, as Waldorf schools are really popping up all over…

Sue B., Australia

My Waldorf parents have not refused to use it – my students are all 9 years old and over so that may be the reason.

I really like Shanta’s way of explaining the importance of it – I will use it myself in future to alleviate any potential concerns.

I think the learning would be slower without the video. The students and parents would have to rely more on all the other teaching tools: the foundation notes and the audio – and practice pointing to the fingers, using the keypad, saying instructions out loud more diligently, both in the lesson and at home.

I don’t know if you’d want to include those comments in an Introductory Session though!

It’s definitely more fun to have Neil helping out at home even if he is on video!

Shelly W., California

Thank you for all your words of wisdom!  I had an intro last week with some Waldorf families, and I was so grateful to be able to say that I had been in touch with Simply Music teachers who are also Waldorf teachers. I could see there was a sense of credibility and trust that came from saying that.

I had to laugh inside because although I anticipated the question of concern over the SHM video, I did not at all expect what happened at the intro — these families didn’t even want to me to put on the testimonial video with their kids in the room! I got a little nervous when they said, “We’d like to pass on the testimonials,” because in my experience that’s the part of the intro that really knocks it out of the park, so to speak. So I already got a taste of Simply Music without the support of a video 🙂 Ironically, I still got 100% enrollment from that intro, which was a good lesson for me – even without the testimonials, the program speaks for itself in the intro that Neil so eloquently and thoroughly created for us.

The question came up of what happens when a group member is sick. Usually this would be the moment to talk about how wonderful the video is, and how you can catch up by watching what was covered in the missed lesson, etc. Thanks to Krystelle I was able to suggest the idea of the parent watching the video and then teaching it to the child. The moms nodded in agreement that this would be acceptable. Phew!!

I realized that my main concern in bringing Simply Music to the Waldorf/Steiner community is that by the very fact that we promote the use of digital media, they might be turned off from the approach altogether…which would be tragic, since Tracy mentioned how “Waldorfy” Simply Music really is. It occurred to me that the high degree of presence, the quality of cognitive awareness, and the familiarity with memorization in these Waldorf students (along with the stable and earnest presence of their parents), will be to their advantage. My guess is that if anyone can learn without using the video, Waldorf kids can!