The Spark for Music Teachers

Eat, sleep, teach music, repeat…For most this is the treadmill of teaching life we start to settle into at this time of the year!  But when was the last time you looked at what’s ACTUALLY working? Especially with behaviour management? 

In this episode, I’m breaking down the philosophy of the three S’s you need to ask yourself to determine if you’re stuck in your comfort zone or if you’re trying to change.  

And , If you’re struggling with keeping your music classes under control or seeking a fresh start, this episode of the Music Teachers Spark is a must-listen for you!

PLUS, I’ll give you tangible tips on how to break free from all the predictable obstacles and get you enjoying your LOUDEST classes. Click play now – just by listening, you’re one step further on your journey toward impactful music teaching.

If you enjoy this podcast, please give us a five-star rating and review on iTunes, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and invite your friends and colleagues to join us

Here are the all  links discussed in today’s podcast: 

2024 is here, and I am soooo excited about what it has in store for all of us. 

And what better way to start the new year than with a set of simple philosophies and techniques to help us RESET, breathe again and create so much MORE with much less time, effort, money and stress as we head into teaching again in January. 

These 3 simple philosophies are some of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned in my years of working with the top mentors, coaches and experts in the self-development and teaching industry and now I can share and pass it all on to our readers and listeners. These are the areas to continually GROW and improve in so that you can start the New teaching Year with fresh perspective, intent and creativity.  

Are you ready?

Let’s dive in.

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00.00)

Are you starting the year half full or half empty? (01:48) 

The attitude of gratitude and creating good habits in music teaching (04:54)

How to Focus on what you want for 2024 (07:17)

Powerful Story time Visualisation technique to start the year (09:22)

Additional Resources: 

Further reading Optimist vs Pessimist article links:


We’ve all heard the saying, “use it or lose it,” especially when it comes to learning and teaching. 

And you know what they say?!?… If you want to succeed with teaching music, you need more variety, more skills, more time, more ideas, more lessons, more personality, more qualifications, more training, more instruments, more services, more youtube videos, more information, more money, more meetings, more admin, more prep, more concerts …. more, more, more! 

But what if I told you that these widely held beliefs might be misguided? What if, in fact, the key to growth, success, learning, results and personal fulfilment in music teaching doesn't just lie in piling more of everything on everyday? 

Today I’m going to share a new perspective from the ‘talent code’ mentality that unexpectedly infiltrated my life over the past 20+ years in music teaching and publishing. What I’ve noticed is that there is  a compounding nature to learning music, associated with exposure and consistency. … and it starts when you slow things down into a learning zone called deep practice. 

Today, I’m going to introduce you to the mindset and science that happens when you allow ONE small yet simple, carefully crafted musical skill to build upon another with no gaps or interruptions in between, and how it produces exponential results quickly and with less effort. 

Are you ready to challenge the notion that more of everything is always better? 

If you are, then let's dive into this exploration of WHY and then HOW this phenomenon of exponential learning works. Sometimes, small yet consistent and simple, focused steps are the keys to reaching your music teaching goals. Stick around, because by the end of this episode, you might just find yourself questioning your own approach to teaching and life!

If you enjoy this podcast, please give us a five-star rating and review on iTunes, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and invite your friends and colleagues to join us.

Here are the all  links to the six step lesson resource discussed in today’s podcast: 

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I can’t do this” or “I’m not expert enough at this” or “I don’t deserve to be doing this” and then proceeded to melt into a puddle of self-doubt …You’re not alone!  ‍Many music teachers question whether they are prepared to do the work they do. Here’s how to overcome that feeling, recognize your strengths and take that awful feeling and turn it into a positive motivating force. In today’s Spark Podcast you’ll learn two simple techniques to turn self doubt into your secret superpower.

If you enjoy this podcast, please give us a five-star rating and review on iTunes, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and invite your friends and colleagues to join us

As music teachers, we all tend to get “too busy” doing things . But being busy doesn't actually mean we’re being productive. The most successful music teachers I know have figured out how to use their time and make it as productive as possible. 

We all get the same 24 hours in a day, and YOU get to decide how you want to use those hours.You can fill your time with lots of after hours preparation...Or you can be productive with your time, and use small amounts of time to get the best results!  

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

A few days ago, I stumbled into a show called comedians in cars getting coffee. It didn’t take long while watching it to realize that even though comedians look effortless on stage, they actually have to work really hard behind the scenes to come up with new material that people will laugh at!

What I didn’t know was that there is a specific process comedians use to get the best jokes and materials to their audiences via testing.

There’s no doubt about it.. These are changing times! And music curricula are changing. Here’s the thing: creating an upgraded music curriculum can be incredibly confusing and frustrating

So it’s no wonder you might  feel overwhelmed and overworked just thinking about curriculum and how to implement it into the classroom!

So today I thought I’d share with you some insights which were gained from our work here at the Fun Music Company as we analyse and look at all the different curriculum documents that come across our desks. We look at them all from our home country of Australia of course, plus the international ones as well.

In this podcast I want to share with you three GIFTS that any curriculum document will give you, as well as three challenges that can be associated with them.

This is because I really am a firm believer that everything in life has two sides. Its yin & yang, day & night and there is always two sides of a coin! 

Psychologist Carl Jung is quoted as saying "Wisdom accepts that all things have two sides"

Let's awaken our confidence about working with a new curricula by looking at both sides to take that overwhelm away,  so we’ll be ready to implement and upgrade to the next level. We’re getting you SET today! 

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

A long time ago, it occurred to me that music teaching is like going on a big treasure hunt. Always looking for that next tip, that next idea, that next nugget of gold, that next piece of the puzzle…but really all that time I was asking myself a question :

“What formula or steps do you take to get students from where you find them now to where they need to be?”

Everyone has one of these formulas, although they don’t always realise what it is. I now call them “frameworks”. It’s worth thinking about, so that you can share what you do with your students and colleagues and share it with intention so they’ll better understand. Life is full of questions and the most successful teachers are always solving the answers to the questions they ask! NOW is the time to get started!

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Have you ever been in that season of “something needs to change here”?

It’s that feeling of balancing where you are now with climbing that “great teacher” mountain. It’s balancing that reality of what’s really going on right now with what you truly want. It’s about all the things you have to do to get there, the overwhelm and taking those first steps towards making that dream come true.

That’s exactly what happened to me, and truthfully that feeling could have kept me in a music teacher “slump” forever. Instead I had to  learn some of  the most important lessons that I still implement into our programs, even today over a decade later … The power of doing and personally evolving teaching practices into the NEW. That's what we’re diving into in this latest conversation on the podcast.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

If the thought of getting through the last few weeks of school, new curriculum updates or starting from scratch again next term gives you a rash just thinking about it, I don’t blame you. Teaching can be “stress city”. Instead I’ve pulled together some resources that will get you to re-focus, so you can show up next term to re-invent your program from a happy and balanced space. 

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Can you remember when you were filled with thoughts, dreams and ambitions about the impact you’d create when you started teaching?

That’s how most of us live our early lives - until the real world brings us back to reality and we start teaching in a school where we hit major obstacles.  Whether your students or parents don’t like you; your principal doesn’t want to rehire you; you’re teaching on a cart and it’s hard or Sally doesn’t have a hand but wants to play the violin… These are all challenges that every music teacher faces and being able to navigate them can mean the difference between having a fulfilling career or quitting!

What if you could stand on a foundation of wisdom and experience and combine what you have now with what you want? That would be an incredible career wouldn’t it?

Wait. It’s possible!

All you have to do is “Mind the Gap”. I’ll show you how in today’s conversation.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

I love being efficient, but beyond efficiency, I love it when I find HARD things and make them EASY to achieve ahead of time. Time is my obsession, it’s something that we can’t earn more of and yet we often need to fit more in. So if there are ways to not only save my time but spend it in the right places - I'm all in! 

That’s why I’m obsessed with creating simple tech -free strategies like the one I’m sharing today.  Once you know it, it will help you tell yourself “that was easy!”...It’s funny that once I reminded myself of it this week,  I realised I had already been doing it and was actually one of our biggest core underlying principles we incorporate into just about every lesson we create!

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

If you think that music teaching comes down to you and teaching the students and that’s where it begins and ends, this episode is for you.

I’m sharing the four keys to focus on so that you can teach to your full capacity, with total enthusiasm, so that you can take back your joy in 2022 and focus on routines and practices for showing up in a way that FEELS good. Let’s explore this idea that music teaching is more than just showing up and being there for the kids, and instead lean into what it means to serve with practices that are strategic, yet easy to fit into an already busy life to make music teaching so much more fulfilling.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

So you’re looking ahead at your calendar and the date keeps getting closer. The first term of teaching for 2022 you’ve been preparing for is coming at you full steam ahead, and just thinking of it makes you feel uncertain and anxious.

What will happen when that first school bell finally rings? What changes will be about to take place for the 2022 teaching year? How will you focus amidst the pressure and nerves?

Since it’s a new year with new goals, visions and plans I thought it was the perfect time to introduce you to what I’ve learned about the gift of certainty. With this sorted, you can have certainty in the classroom (or in hybrid, remote or in person teaching ) and therefore get certainty in your live. So the question is how do we create certainty in ourselves? … How do you create that feeling like you can make it all happen despite what’s happening around you… because when you create that “I can do this NO Matter what”  feeling, the truth is you can do the job to the best of your ability,.. and you’ll thrive because of it.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Being happy in the school workplace especially at this busy time of the year is critical to your longevity, happiness and success in teaching, and by extension the happiness and success of your students”. But often as the end of year approaches, we’re left with the feeling of not being able to do anything right or being able to make anyone happy and are instead faced with criticism after criticism. If you have ever encountered criticism, or if you just want to create a culture of happiness in your classroom, this conversation is for you.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Have you ever had a time where you just wake up and you don’t know how to do what you’re supposed to do and teach your classes? Or have beyond just one day, have you ever experienced a period of time where it feels like motivation left the building or you’re a bit lost, or something has happened and you’re left wondering how the heck you’re going to be able to face your music classes or your day-to-day ever again?

If you're feeling stuck and unmotivated, tired or sad let’s walk through a solution that might help you troubleshoot and get back on track! My hope is that this one action will be the thing you take on board so you can always return to the classroom anytime you’re feeling stressed, uninspired, overwhelmed, burnt out, overtired, depressed or unmotivated in general and will help you step up and serve your students, even in the hardest times!

After listening let me know your biggest takeaways, by writing a review or comment...I can’t wait to read it!

Rekindling the passion for teaching music can mean hundreds of different things to different people- for It might be taking a moment to breathe, booking a dinner out, learning a new instrument, it might be taking time out or it might simply be sharing your wins! Whatever it is, it’s more about the “how” in making sure you do it regularly so that it creates lasting memories and impact leaving you feeling fulfilled and happy about your career. Do you want to know: The system I’ve learned for rekindling the passion used by the best teachers and coaches? How to make it a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly routine? If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to pause and celebrate.. I’ll share with you a framework for celebrating both small and big wins, because these things truly matter!

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

It doesn’t matter what area of music we’re teaching- instruments, theory, curriculum or something new- there is a non-negotiable that is essential and helps save us from all the stress, fear and nerves about teaching music! This non-negotiable allows us to go through each lesson with confidence, creativity and strategy. Let’s dive into what my 3 super simple examples of systems and plans look like!

You might already have strategies for behaviour management - some passive, some active and some which might be rewards based. But what do you do with those naughty kids who can’t seem to be reached?.. oppositional kids who are non- compliant, unsafe, disrespectful and walking out of the room. Why do they continue to act out and miscommunicate? What  are your back-up options for when most strategies don’t  work.  Whether you’re a veteran or a first year teacher, I want to help you think outside the box to start working on your perception to boost your fulfilment as a music teacher.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

If you watch any successful music teacher in action and ask them how they got that way, it boils down to these three things:

1) They act, sound and feel confident about the content they deliver.

2) They believe in themselves and in the skills they’ve developed.

3) They know what they want from any lesson or situation and know why they want it.

I suppose if I said it another way, it’s like they tap into a natural “superpower” and they appear to have this magical charm or charisma with their students’. The thing to know here is that it's not just something unique to them, in fact it’s something we all have inside ourselves- certainty. All we have to do is learn how to tap into it!

When you say “Yes” to learning about this, you're choosing to be the captain of your own ship and not trust luck, fate or someone else's opinion. Making choices and doing these 3 empowering daily habits give you the edge in your day-to-day teaching and life.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Feel like you want to pursue other interests outside of teaching? Conflicted about what you really want? Before you hold your hands up and resign to it all being “too hard” I’ve got a secret to share with you for you to improve your efficiency so you’ll be able to do more with less. If you think you’re ready to take your music teaching to the next level, let this episode be your guide. From “time centred planning” to building a flexible program for the long haul, here’s what you need to consider as you venture back into music teaching and prepping for a new term.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Before we started the Fun Music Co, I taught in schools with little or no budget, and schools which went through “budget cuts”. Then when we started our own music school, there was no funding!! We just had to find a way to bootstrap ourselves to success. These days, we still get no outside funding and it’s such a positive because we know our programs work and that’s why teachers use them. Yet we still lean on our tried and tested strategies from over all these years, and have incorporated new ones to run with more ease. Here’s what I’ve learned about funding cuts after all these years and as I unpack our six best strategies from our toolbox!

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

We’re going to dig deep into how just two little words we say everyday can stop you in your tracks and stop you from being the impactful role model you deserve to be. I’m going to challenge you to listen with an open mind, do a little self discovery and turn this episode off with three tips to creating a stimulating learning environment based on your positive role modelling.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Whether you’ve ever been involved in a conflict that leaves you feeling like you want to quit your teaching job or someone lashes out at you for seemingly nothing, these moments can serve as triggers for blame and feeling unworthy. This episode is about redefining the meaning we give to those moments.

Rather than seeing conflict as a NEGATIVE… I hope I can leave you feeling that you’ll be able to give compassion in these difficult situations. Let’s talk about some simple strategies and understandings you can use for never needing to take offense again ... and how we can easily change the way we cope, feel and therefore the meaning we give to any situation.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Change. How do you cope with it? Or maybe the question should be how many people do YOU know who don’t cope with change too well?

How in the world can you actually cope with teaching and life, without things crumbling down while in the middle of a BIG challenge or change? Let’s talk about how to strategically position yourself and your mindset for the win! What's the ONE THING you need to look for and focus on while preserving your well being AND keeping your teaching and skills up to date through inevitable change.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Have you ever been given teaching advice that just hasn’t worked for you and wondered why?

Everyone needs to focus on their own truth and make sure they are being their authentic self. It makes you feel so good to be teaching congruently to living your real life. But how?!?

This is how to be comfortable with yours, because people outside of your own experience don’t always know your own truth.

Enjoy & Let me know your thoughts!

Tweet Me! @funmusicco

Today’s podcast is about attention.

How do you get it, and how do you keep it?

There are many tools that we can access and use as teachers to gain our students attention, and this episode is about sharing one of them, which is totally learnable - and that is the power of humour.

Today I’ve also got a story for you about how a wonderful band director I knew engaged their band, however this episode isn’t just for band directors. This session is useful for anyone teaching ... just about anything! The lessons learned are useful in any situation.

Here at the Fun Music Company we’re committed to helping music teachers make their lessons more fun and engaging, so over the next few months we will be publishing lots of music jokes and other tools for making music lessons fun.

We are even starting a new email list very soon with a “joke of the day” for music teachers. It isn't available just yet, but will be very soon.

We’re going to dive into my go to methods for building a music curriculum system from scratch plus the mindset behind it all .. All for free. No resources, no huge music budget while using what you’ve got, okay? For me it’s always been about finding simple ways to grow, to better serve and foster the students' needs which is based around heart-centred strategies.

Whether you’re just hopping into teaching for the first time - first off welcome!- or you’ve been teaching for a while, you’re sure to hit a bit of stagnancy at some point. Let’s talk about some fun and different ways to help you reclaim that energy back over the break. These three ideas don’t take a lot of effort, time or money and they can really help you get your work life balance back in check so you can grow and be ready for your next term showing up for your students with more focus, joy and enthusiasm.

Progress and perfection do not mean the same things. One is much more important than the other.

In this episode Janice explains why making progress on your skills in music are more important than the perfection of having completed that course or obtaining mastery in a specific area.

We’ve all heard of the phrase”Time flies when you’re having fun!” but what does it really mean to be a Fun Music Teacher?

Over the years, my husband Kevin and I have been able to shift our music teaching mindsets in a positive way! And it’s transformed so many aspects of our teaching and publishing life. I feel like we’ve learned that being a fun music teacher is much more than just being a superficial “happy” person all the time.

This podcast isn’t created to lessen the importance of working hard and the disciplines required of any music or teaching practice. But I do hope it helps you look at what it means to be a music teacher through a different lens and invites more happiness and understanding in your life and career for the role fun plays in it.

Here's a motivational idea: What if you were to give out sweets to every child who came to your class. Would that work?

You probably know already that giving out sweets is what is called an extrinsic motivator - it's when you're trying to motivate another person from the outside.

The other type of motivation is intrinsic motivation - the motivation that comes from within someone.

That is what the subject of this episode is all about. How you can take advantage of the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators in your teaching, and an idea for a wonderful intrinsic motivator we have as music teachers, that other teachers just don't have.

If you're looking for new and different ideas for music education to capture some of your students attention, then check out some of the following pages for more information on each of these areas:

What do you when challenges come up? Everyone has challenges, some big, some small. How we deal with challenges is more important than the challenge itself in many cases.

This week Janice shares a story of one of the challenges that has come up for her in the past few weeks, and details a technique of how to get over the negative feelings associated with a challenge, and move forward with confidence.

In this episode of the Weekly Spark for Music Teachers, Janice Tuck talks about what it takes to have a breakthrough in life, whether it be a breakthrough in our own lives, a breakthrough in our teaching, or a breakthrough in our students.

Recently Janice ran a marathon for the very first time, and so in this episode she shares what she learned in the process of building up to it, and her long journey leading up to it.

In this episode Janice Tuck talks about how one simple change to what you say in response to the default question of “how are you” can radically change how you feel and how others respond to you.

Whenever we see a friend or a colleague for the first time in a day,  "how are you" is a natural thing to say.  It flows off the tongue like we don’t even know we’re doing it! Sometimes it becomes such an ingrained greeting that we say it without even really listening to the response!

However how we respond to it, what we say in answer to that question - that is something that we are always 100% in control of! This is something that can really change how you feel in a moment, and how others respond.

This episode is a special tribute to the wonderful speaker and inspirational educational mentor, Sir Ken Robinson, who passed away recently at the age of 70 after a battle with cancer.

In this episode Janice Tuck talks about how the message in Sir Ken’s famous TED talk of 2016 resonated with her and her team when creating the Fun Music Company curriculum program, and how this shaped the direction of the COMPOSE section of the program.

In this episode Janice Tuck puts her music advocacy hat on once again, to talk about one of the most important gifts that we give our students.

Music Advocacy is really important for anyone who teaches music - the ability to share information about the benefits of learning music with students and parents is something that we all need as teachers. 

As teachers we need these little bite-sized nuggets of information, in order to sell the benefits of learning music to our students and parent in an ongoing way.

There are many, many benefits and none are more important than the one that will be discussed in this episode - the key skill of focus.

In this episode of the weekly spark for Music Teachers, Janice Tuck addresses the issue of what music teachers can do in lessons when they’re told that they can’t sing or play any instruments due to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive effect on all teachers, but particularly music teachers, as we’re being asked to change everything we do, and teach without using some of the most important things we do: singing and playing.

Here are some resources that are mentioned during the podcast:

1. Music Theory

In this episode of the Weekly Spark for Music Teachers, Janice Tuck talks about one thing that we all can control - and that is our mindset.

We’re not in control of a lot of things in our life - our students, our school administrators, and things that happen to us from day to day.  However one thing we are in control of is our mindset and our attitude. 


How do we react when someone asks us to do something?

Are you a “glass half full” kind of person… or a “glass half empty” kind of person?
We might joke about that, but actually this mindset - whether we choose to be positive or be negative about something makes a major difference to our life.

So in this podcast Janice offers three simple ideas for how we can nurture a positive mindset in our life. These are simple, applicable ideas that anyone can use to think more positively in their world.

In this episode Janice Tuck talks about the mindset needed to get more of what you want, and less of what you don’t want.

Despite the challenges that we are all facing right now, there are those who are doing well, even in such challenging times. Despite the challenges of COVID-19 - some people are responding well and growing this year … and how are they doing that?

In this episode Janice talks about a key part of this - the idea of doing more of what you love, and less of what you don’t enjoy.

In this episode Janice gets excited about assessment!

At the Fun Music Company we are working hard on a new product at the moment for Ukulele, and we’ve been putting together a series of assessments for this new program.

This led us to think about the language that we use on rubrics and assessments - where we are always encouraging and positive about the student, even if they are really struggling or even failing the subject.

So the question is.. why do we not assess ourselves in the same way?

By assessing ourselves - we’re not talking about formal assessments or evaluations, but rather the internal self-talk that we say to ourselves every day.

Every day we say things to ourselves about our own performance, and the things we say to ourselves - our internal self-talk really affects how we go about our day.

So here Janice talks about the idea of taking the positive style of language that we write for students, and applying it to our own lives.