The Belief that's Costing Most Music Teachers their Weekends (and how the best ones let it go) Most music teachers I know all do this one thing, and most people assume it means the opposite of what it does. I've spent over twenty years working alongside music teachers. I've watched the ones who

How to Save Time by Using What's Already Inside Your Music Curriculum A little while ago, I took a short online course in something I thought I already knew pretty well. What I didn't know was that what I discovered in that course would completely change the way I work — and make

What Does a Good K–6 Music Curriculum Actually Look Like? 3 Things That Most Documents Get Wrong Opening a government lesson resource is the most brutal confidence hit you didn't ask for, and I'm not even talking about the 160 pages. I'm talking about the version of yourself that starts to believe

Getting Motivated After The Holidays Ideas and strategies for Music Teachers January. New year. Fresh start... and you're already counting down to Easter break. Sound familiar? You love teaching. You had the break. But walking back into that classroom feels like returning to a treadmill you can't get off. Here's what nobody

How to Reclaim the Joy in Music Teaching (even when nobody seems to care) "Feeling so defeated. The kids have been completely wild and out of control lately. I feel so swamped with everything I want to do, the rehearsing we NEED to do, the assessments I had planned on doing... How do you

The Pop Culture Problem Sabotaging Music Education Today Have you ever wondered why students can't seem to tell the difference between a beat, rhythm or track anymore? We've all been there—asking students to "clap along with the beat" and watching them look completely lost. It's frustrating, it's discouraging, and it can make you

Are your music students resistant, distracted, or disengaged despite your best efforts?  In this eye-opening episode, I reveal the critical mistake that's sabotaging music classrooms everywhere—and the simple shift that transforms reluctant learners into enthusiastic musicians. You'll discover why even the most creative lesson plans fail without this foundational step, and learn the exact moment-by-moment

Are Your Beliefs Secretly Sabotaging Your Music Teaching? In this episode of The Spark for Music Teachers, host Janice Tuck explores how our deeply-held beliefs can sometimes work against us without us even realising it. From outdated ideas about technology and resources to limiting beliefs about what makes a "good" music teacher, Janice

Three Sneaky Assumptions... Have you ever heard this quote supposedly said about the invention of the telephone? “This thing is unnecessary, it’s intrusive, and frankly, we have better ways of communication!” Sounds ridiculous now, right? But at the time, it reflected a real hesitation—people assumed something new meant something bad. That it would

Why intentional listening matters in music education Guess what?! One of your most valuable teaching activities that is making a difference for today's post-covid generation … is INTENTIONAL LISTENING. Intentional listening enables children to sit, focus, and truly absorb what's being shared! Think about it- Right now, we're seeing a generation of children