Simply Piano Review: How a Brooklyn Homeschool Family Finally Made Music Lessons Work

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From Keyboard Stickers to a Marshall Amp in the Kitchen: Our Music Education Story

Back in 2012, I wrote my first post about teaching my then-toddler Isabella how to play piano using a program called Soft Mozart. She was two and a half years old, obsessed with a Fisher-Price toy piano, and I was a Brooklyn mom determined to give her something I never had growing up: real music education, without the price tag of private lessons.

Soft Mozart was genuinely impressive for what it was. It used color-coded solfeggio stickers on the keyboard keys and a computer program to guide young learners through the basics of music and sight-reading. Isabella loved it. My son AJ used it too, around age two or three. Both kids grew up with it. We used it seriously across nearly a decade.

But here is the honest truth about why we stopped: it required a full setup every single time. Stickers on the keys, a laptop running alongside the keyboard, a dedicated space. In a Brooklyn apartment where every inch of floor space is negotiated daily, that setup became a barrier. About four or five years ago, consistency fell apart, and the keyboard got tucked into a corner. Music lessons kept landing on the list and never quite made it to the top.

Then I tested the full Simply suite with my family. What happened on the first night is what I want to tell you about.

What Is Simply Piano?

Simply Piano is an app by Simply (formerly JoyTunes) that teaches piano and keyboard through structured, self-paced lessons with real-time feedback. The app listens through your device’s microphone as your child plays and gives instant note-by-note feedback. No teacher required. No complicated setup. You prop your phone or tablet on the music stand and start.

Simply Piano works with any piano or keyboard, acoustic or electric. We use a Casio CT-X700 electric keyboard, and the app works beautifully with it using just the microphone. You can also connect a compatible keyboard via MIDI cable for even more precise feedback.

The app is available on iOS and Android and is part of a broader suite from Simply that includes Simply Guitar, Simply Draw, and Simply Sing. A family subscription covers up to five learner profiles, and depending on the plan you choose, access to the full suite is included.

Start learning with Simply Piano

What Happened When We Opened the App

When AJ set up his profile in Simply Piano, the app did not start him with scales or Twinkle Twinkle. It asked him to choose the first song he wanted to learn.

His options: Let It Go from Frozen, Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5, and Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes.

He is twelve. He looked at that screen for about four seconds and picked one. That was it. He was in.

This one design decision tells you everything about how Simply Piano thinks about learning. Traditional music education starts with what teachers need to teach. Simply Piano starts with what the student wants to play, then builds the structure to get them there. For homeschool families, who know better than anyone that intrinsic motivation is everything, this is not a small thing.

AJ moved into Piano Basics, which maps out a clear visual course progression: Intro, First 3 Notes, Learn Middle C and D, Finger Numbers, Adding the Note E, F and G, Right Hand Practice, and more. Each node shows exactly where he is and what comes next.

Within his first session, AJ had progressed to 36% completion in Piano Basics. The app was asking him “Would you like to practice this lesson again?” and he was choosing to keep going.

Inside the Lessons: Real-Time Feedback in Action

During active lessons, the on-screen keyboard highlights the key to press in yellow. When the note is correct, the app confirms it and moves forward. The ear training section includes leveled exercises where the app plays a melody and the learner identifies the note by ear, starting with C and D and building from there.

The 5-Minute Workouts menu is one of the most practical features in the app for busy homeschool families. It includes Your Daily Practice, Name the Note, Ear Training, Flashcards, and Video Tips.

Name the Note asks learners to identify notes on a staff with multiple choice options, real sight-reading practice. Ear Training plays a melody and asks the learner to identify it by ear. Flashcards reinforce note names. Video Tips give targeted technique guidance.

On a day when there is no time for a full lesson, this keeps the practice going without the pressure of a complete session. For a homeschool day that sometimes goes sideways by 2 pm, that flexibility is not optional. It is essential.

The Guitar in the Kitchen

Simply Piano includes access to Simply Guitar, and both of my kids wanted to try it. AJ grabbed the electric guitar, propped the tablet on a folding table next to the Marshall amp, and opened Guitar Basics I.

Guitar Basics I walks learners through Getting Started, Strings and Frets, Your First Song, the Em chord, the A9 chord, strumming, and then the first full song: The Journey by JoyTunes, building toward Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley in Guitar Basics II.

The app also walked through tuning the guitar using a built-in tuner that shows each string on a real-time pitch meter. No separate tuning app needed.

Isabella tried it too. Both kids, one subscription, two instruments, a Casio keyboard and an electric guitar, no music room, no teacher, no scheduled lesson time. Just two kids and two apps on a Sunday night in Brooklyn.

And Then There Was Simply Draw

AJ opened Simply Draw and worked through the Animals Chapter 1 course. The lessons follow the same structure as the music apps: a visual course map, step-by-step guided lessons, and a Journal feature where completed drawings are saved.

AJ drew a fish. He titled it “Fish.” He saved it to his journal, decorated the page with stickers, and I left a comment that said “Love it, Mom.” That comment is still there in the app, dated.

Simply Draw teaches foundational drawing skills through timed, guided lessons. The Panda lesson, for example, breaks into Outline (5 minutes 15 seconds), Shading (6 minutes 44 seconds), and Creative Choice, where the learner adds their own interpretation. A Textures 101 lesson unlocks after the Animals Chapter 1 is complete.

For a homeschool family that treats arts education as seriously as academic subjects, this is a meaningful addition to the subscription.

Simply Sing: The One I Tried Myself

I want to be honest: I did not expect to open Simply Sing. But I did.

The app detects your vocal range when you set up your profile. Mine came back as Alto. My Master Songs queue included Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid and Bye Bye Bye by NSYNC, both at 30% progress after one session.

Simply Sing teaches vocal technique and music reading through interactive singing lessons. The Daily Warmup feature offers focused 3-minute sessions. The Master Songs section lets you work on real songs at your current level, with simplified arrangements that build toward the full version as your skills grow.

I am a homeschool mom in Brooklyn, and I spent part of a Sunday night working on ‘Part of Your World’. I’m not sure what else to tell you except that the app is genuinely fun, the song library is real, and the daily warmup took exactly three minutes.

For families who want to add vocal music to their homeschool without a separate choir program or voice teacher, Simply Sing is worth exploring.

Simply Piano vs. a Private Music Teacher: The Honest Comparison

Private piano lessons in New York City typically run $80 to $150 per hour per student. For two students at once-weekly lessons, that is $160 to $300 per month at minimum, and $1,920 to $3,600 annually before recital fees, books, or materials.

Simply Piano’s subscription plans run roughly $60 to $120, depending on the plan length, with up to five profiles on a family plan and access to the full Simply suite. If you do not already own a keyboard, a quality beginner option like the Casio CT-X700 runs about $230 to $360. Your first full year of music education for the entire family comes in well under $300 total.

For a solo homeschool mom running a household in Brooklyn, that math is not a minor detail. It is the whole conversation.

Does Simply Piano replace an excellent private teacher? No, and it does not claim to. A skilled teacher brings physical correction of posture and hand position, the mentorship relationship, and years of musical intuition that an app cannot replicate. If your child discovers through Simply that they are genuinely passionate about an instrument, a private teacher is a natural next step.

But Simply Piano is an exceptional starting point and a genuinely effective practice tool for learners at any level.

Extension Activities: Connecting Simply to Your Homeschool

One of my signature moves with every tool we use is finding ways to extend the learning beyond the screen. Here are six ways to weave the Simply apps into your broader homeschool:

1. Music History Connections When your child learns a song in the app, spend 15 minutes on the artist or composer. AJ is working toward The Scientist by Coldplay. That conversation about a song written during a breakup opened up a whole discussion about what music actually communicates and why it matters.

2. Music Theory Journaling After each session, have your learner write down the new notes or chords they practiced and sketch the hand position or chord shape. Over weeks, this becomes a personal music reference notebook they built themselves.

3. Ear Training Extension The Simply Piano ear training feature is a strong start. Extend it offline: play a note on the keyboard without looking and ask your child whether it is higher or lower than the last one. This builds auditory skills that complement the visual learning the app provides.

4. Song Analysis for Older Learners. For tweens and teens, take any song they are learning and pull it apart. How many measures are in the verse? Does the chorus repeat? What key is it in? This is real music theory applied to music they already care about.

5. Artist or Composer Unit Study: Build a one-week mini-unit around any artist or composer in the app’s library. Biography reading, a listening journal, a timeline, and a drawing activity for younger learners. The Simply Draw app can anchor the visual arts component.

6. Family Creative Night Once a month, everyone shares what they have been working on across all the apps: a piano piece, a chord progression, a drawing from the journal, a song from Simply Sing. Low pressure, just sharing. This builds creative confidence in a way no solo practice session can.

Free Download: The Homeschool Music Companion

Because we are doing this in our own home with my own kids, I built a free printable to go with it: The Homeschool Music Companion, a practice planner and progress tracker you can use no matter which instrument or app your family is learning with.

Inside, you will find a musician profile page, four weekly practice planners, a song wish list, an instrument progress tracker, an ear training and theory log, a family concert night planner, a music journal, and a goal-setting page. It works whether you use Simply Piano or not, but it pairs especially well with the self-paced rhythm of the Simply apps.

Who Is Simply Piano For?

Simply Piano is a strong fit for your homeschool if:

Your child has asked about a piano or keyboard, but you are not ready to commit to the cost of private lessons yet.

You have more than one child and want a single subscription that meets each of them where they are, at their own pace.

Your schedule does not allow for fixed weekly lesson times, and you need maximum flexibility.

You are working with a neurodivergent learner who benefits from visual cues, immediate feedback, and the ability to repeat a lesson as many times as needed without social pressure.

You live in an urban environment where private teachers are expensive, music rooms are not a reality, but a keyboard and a tablet absolutely are.

You want to add a legitimate music or arts credit to a middle or high school transcript without enrolling in an outside program.

The Bottom Line

More than a decade ago, I taped solfeggio stickers onto a keyboard in our Brooklyn apartment and hoped my two-year-old daughter would fall in love with music. She did. Then her little brother did too. Life happened, the setup became unsustainable, and structured music learning slipped away.

On a Sunday night in May 2026, my two kids and I all opened the Simply app. AJ drew a fish, and I commented, “Love it, Mom.” Isabella tuned a guitar string. I sang Part of Your World and found out I am an Alto. AJ identified note D on a staff. Nobody needed me to set anything up.

That is the whole story. That is what Simply Piano actually delivers.

Start your Simply Piano journey here