My Story

Joanna Bernat

Piano Teacher · Composer · Published Author

I graduated from the State Music School in the name of Wojciech Kilar in Dzierżoniów, Poland. Since 2006 I have been living in the UK, working as a music teacher and private tutor in and around Peterborough. I teach individuals and groups of children of all ages, with my main instruments being piano, guitar, ukulele and xylophone.

The SimplyNotes project was created with the intention of assisting parents and teachers of children who are learning to play the piano and xylophone. As a teacher, I require a vast amount of teaching materials to keep my students engaged and motivated during their practice sessions. Unfortunately, such resources are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

Whenever I purchase a new sheet music book, I hope to discover something superior and more engaging than what I already have. As a result, I create many of the musical resources myself — including musical miniatures, simple etudes, and short musical narratives — to use while teaching. Many of these pieces have become firm favourites among my students.

I am also an author of poems, short stories, fairy tales, songs and musical plays for children, as well as many original piano pieces. I cooperate with leading Polish publishers including WSiP, PWN and Aksjomat. The result of this cooperation is numerous publications developed for teachers and parents of children in preschool and primary school.

This website brings together my finest compositions, categorised by level and instrument, and presents them to anyone who is constantly seeking new and innovative music. I hope that all visitors will discover something of interest here — and I welcome your feedback on both the site's content and functionality.

"Music is not just something you learn — it is something you feel, something you live. My greatest joy is watching a student fall in love with a piece they thought was too hard."

The Pastel Dreams Series

My Pastel Dreams series — published on Amazon as both paperback and Kindle — has reached pianists worldwide. The three volumes take students from beginner through to intermediate level with 35 original solo pieces, all composed with a focus on accessibility, expressiveness and musical joy.

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