Mountain View Piano

Greetings and welcome to Mountain View Piano.  My name is Amanda Griffith.  Mountain View Piano is my private music studio where I teach piano, flute and voice to both children and adults.  I use a breakthrough music method called “Simply Music”, which has students playing songs with both hands from their very first lessons.

Call Today for our Free Introductory Session.

Call 650-964-1552 today for a Free Introductory Session to learn more about my approach and to get started on your musical journey.

Mountain View Piano is an independent music studio offering private, shared and workshop-based piano, voice and flute lessons for adults and children using the “Simply Music” Method.

Simply Music provides a breakthrough “playing-based” curriculum of contemporary, jazz, classical and accompaniment songs.  We introduce students to theory naturally in the context of playing a variety of musical styles and a large repertoire of songs.

If you are new to music, or have studied in the past but sense that there must be a more natural way to play, please call for a Free Introductory Session today!

Call 650-964-1552 Today!

Jazz Keys

Music of the Hemispheres

“Even though listening to Mozart won’t make you smarter, a growing body of evidence suggests that playing his music will. Musical training doesn’t just make you a better musician — the acquired skills seem to transfer to other areas, various studies have found. And research focused on the brain’s particular relationship with music and language suggests that engaging the mind with musical training could remedy language impairments such as dyslexia.”

See full article at Science News:  Music of the Hemispheres

In this interview, Neil Moore talks with two-time GRAMMY Nominated jazz pianist, Taylor Eigsti. Regarded by many as a child prodigy, Taylor began studying piano at the age of four, and by age eight he was performing with internationally renowned jazz artists. At age 15 he joined the teaching staff at the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University. In this informal dialog, Taylor talks about his earliest experiences of learning music, as well as his thoughts on the future of music education.

To listen to interview, click here.

Amanda Griffith, Accredited Simply Music Teacher

This August, I attended the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University and had the opportunity to participate in Master Classes provided by some of the leading musicians in the world, including:

George Cables – Piano
Taylor Eigsti – Piano
Victor Lin – Jazz Ensemble
Joshua Redman – Woodwinds
Andrew Speight – Woodwinds
John Calloway – Flute
Dave Douglas – Composition
Rebecca Martin – Songwriting
Nicholas Payton – The Music Business

Thanks to all of the fine instructors and students – it was a wonderful week!

On December 8th, 2009 I had the opportunity to interview Daniel Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind:  Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, along with Patrick Tedjamulia, co-founder of the International Mentoring Networking Organization.

See http://imno.org/articles.asp?qid=298&sid=3

Check out this great video clip of Anne Heche teaching Regis Philbin the first song in the Simply Music Curriculum on the nationally broadcast “Regis and Kelly”.

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus”, from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009

World Science Festival

I’ve been enjoying a great book by Norman Doidge called The Brain That Changes Itself.  Though not specifically focused on music, this book outlines new theory in neuroscience that indicates that our brains continue to develop throughout our lives, as opposed to some theories that assume that development ends after childhood.

A great summer read, and there are some interesting passages on the benefits of music in enhancing brain function.

For more on this interesting book, see: