Musical medicine: 'Simply' made its music-learning apps accessible to everyone in Israel
The startup Simply (formerly JoyTunes) opened its self-learning apps - Simply Piano, Simply Guitar, Simply Sing and Simply Draw for free use in Israel, donated dozens of musical instruments to soldiers and evacuated communities, for whom they are now building permanent music rooms – a project for which they are looking for strategic partners who want to join the effort
Lior Avisar
Creative hobbies have been linked directly to improved mental health in many studies.
This connection has been heightened in Israel in the past two months, after so many people lost family members, suffered injuries, or lost their homes during the war. If, in routine, it's pleasurable to play music, sing, or play the piano, then when things get chaotic, playing the piano or painting becomes even more meaningful and essential.
Therefore, the startup Simply (formerly JoyTunes), which has millions of learners worldwide, makes music (and drawing) accessible through interactive learning with dedicated apps (Simply Piano, Simply Guitar, Simply Sing, and Simply Draw), thought about how they can directly help and “bring back the music", as they put it.
In the first stage, immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities, the company opened all four of its apps for free use in Israel for six months.
"We realized that the most important thing we could do was to help everyone we can with what we do best. Those who were displaced, children who were suddenly at home without a school framework, people who were grieving and looking for respite can all benefit from a quiet moment of music and creativity. . We quickly opened our apps to everyone in Israel and translated Simply Piano into Hebrew so children can also learn and play and use their time at home well. We’ve also added, and continue to add, multiple songs in Hebrew."
After translating and opening the applications, the company identified the extensive use of the applications and decided to take the initiative one step further. "We understood that with all the trauma people went through, many don’t have access to their musical instruments that were left behind or destroyed. So we reached out to communities of evacuees, reservists, and hospitals and donated dozens of musical instruments to those who wanted them."
Under this insight, Simply quickly contacted evacuee communities, kindergartens, and reserve battalions and purchased musical instruments for them as a donation, which will remain with the community. They chose to purchase musical instruments, especially from a small business belonging to one of the evacuees, to support him during this difficult time.
The next step was to connect with musicians. The company emphasizes evacuees who themselves are music teachers or music therapists and has helped them support their community through music—for example, public singing evenings for the elderly or music activities for children. In various communities, for example, in the Gaza Envelope evacuees community, children who had started playing before the war connected them to musicians working at Simply. For the past two months, they have met once a week and taught the children how to play.
In the midst of all this work, Simply has not forgotten the music teachers, who have also suffered during this period. Many teachers are unable to hold classes, have students whose lives have been uprooted or are forced to teach remotely. The company has offered them their technology as a pedagogical aid. These apps allow students to maintain a continuum of learning even during such a period when it is not possible to meet teachers face-to-face.
The company is now looking for business partners to establish community music rooms.
"Working with the displaced communities, we realized that there is a real need for a long term solution and a more permanent anchoring of music support. We are now working to establish music rooms for communities which will contain both musical instruments and the support of a music teacher and music therapist that will be available to them in a meaningful way over time. ," explains Noa, the project manager.
Relevant communities in need of a music room, and business partners looking to make a positive impact through music and creativity, are welcome to contact Simply by email: noa@hellosimply.com
