Welcome To The Music Room Podcast with Mark Leehy

10/09/19 • 5 min

Welcome to the first episode of The Music Room Podcast where each week I, Mark Leehy, will be interviewing music education experts, practising teachers, and pretty much anyone who has something to tell us, or teach us, about the many facets of this amazing space.

The purpose of The Music Room Podcast
ABC’s documentary series Don't Stop The Music
The impact of Don’t Stop The Music, including 5,000 instruments donated for use in underprivileged schools
Bushfire Press’ Music Room programme.
Twinkle Twinkle Rock Guitar (by Rob Fairbairn) and Guy Sebastian team up
The Music Room Podcast is born to help keep the music going
Music is more than songs and instruments
It's also teaching approaches and techniques, goals and strategies, curriculum and cross curriculum possibilities and tips and tricks
The Music Room Community facebook page is a forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion
Bushfire Press has an open community Facebook page (see link below) and also some closed specialty groups.
These are ideal places to ask questions, express and discuss opinions, and share information and tips and tricks.
This podcast will cover a diverse set of topics including approaches and techniques such as ORFF and Kodály, vocal and choral and instrumental techniques, including the recorder and ukulele, boomwhackers and xylophones, and all manner of percussion, to name a few
We'll also be addressing technology in the music room and following tertiary training, networking, and research
We want your tips and tricks, and your suggestions for guests to interview, including you! Email me at [email protected].
You might like to record your thoughts, your tips or your tricks on your phone or even film them. If so, simply send the files to the same email address [email protected].
So please help us keep the music going by subscribing and sharing the podcast with your network.
With each episode, we'll also give you a free recipe from a famous musician or composer for your dining pleasure
We'll be kicking things off in episode two with Debbie O’Shea from Crescendo Music Education about music teacher networks.

Useful Links:
[email protected]
Bushfire Press website - https://www.bushfirepress.com.au/
Mark Leehy LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-leehy-5b061b13/
Bushfire Press Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bushfirepress.community/
Bushfire Press Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/bushfirepress
Bushfire Press Twitter - https://twitter.com/bushfirepress

The purpose of The Music Room Podcast
ABC’s documentary series Don't Stop The Music
The impact of Don’t Stop The Music, including 5,000 instruments donated for use in underprivileged schools
Bushfire Press’ Music Room programme.
Twinkle Twinkle Rock Guitar (by Rob Fairbairn) and Guy Sebastian team up
The Music Room Podcast is born to help keep the music going
Music is more than songs and instruments
It's also teaching approaches and techniques, goals and strategies, curriculum and cross curriculum possibilities and tips and tricks
The Music Room Community facebook page is a forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion
Bushfire Press has an open community Facebook page (see link below) and also some closed specialty groups.
These are ideal places to ask questions, express and discuss opinions, and share information and tips and tricks.
This podcast will cover a diverse set of topics including approaches and techniques such as ORFF and Kodály, vocal and choral and instrumental techniques, including the recorder and ukulele, boomwhackers and xylophones, and all manner of percussion, to name a few
We'll also be addressing technology in the music room and following tertiary training, networking, and research
We want your tips and tricks, and your suggestions for guests to interview, including you! Email me at [email protected].
You might like to record your thoughts, your tips or your tricks on your phone or even film them. If so, simply send the files to the same email address [email protected].
So please help us keep the music going by subscribing and sharing the podcast with your network.
With each episode, we'll also give you a free recipe from a famous musician or composer for your dining pleasure
We'll be kicking things off in episode two with Debbie O’Shea from Crescendo Music Education about music teacher networks.

Next Episode

Debbie O’Shea - The Music Networking Queen

Music teachers thrive most when they network with other music teacher and share their challenges, experiences, tips and stories. One teacher who knows this better than most is Debbie O’Shea, a self-professed ‘Networking Queen’.

Debbie is a Brisbane-based music teacher and the founder of Crescendo Music Education. After almost 40 years in the profession, Debbie says you can never stop learning. She doesn’t pretend to have all the answers and loves being a resource to help others find out what they need to know on their music teaching journey.

Debbie shared why networking among music teachers is a great way to share, support and inspire each other. She also shared some of her favourite networking tips and ideas.

Debbie had five reasons for becoming the Networking Queen but has since developed two more...

Reason # 1 - Meeting the need to be sociable and to connect. This reduces feelings of isolation and creates opportunities to: find work (professional and voluntary); advance your career; find performance opportunities for yourself and/or your students; make contact with composers and/or conductors. You never know where connections might lead.
Reason #2 - Create a sense of belonging or ‘tribe’. This creates and builds relationships, both professional and personal.
Reason #3 - Support. Networking allows you to find mentors and peers to help find solutions to specific problems.
Reason #4 - Teaching ideas can be found and learned through networking with others.
Reason #5 - Being in the company of others leads to increased motivation and inspiration

Then she added a couple of extra reasons ...

Reason #6 - Personal development benefits arising from being with others include: Improved communications skills; discovery of relevant research; discovery of new areas to study; tolerance and patience; and vulnerability.
Reason #7 - Networking provides opportunities to give through sharing and ‘paying forward’ which in turn can lead to collaboration opportunities.

Debbie also shared her top ten tips for networking.
Which you can listen to on the podcast.
Useful Links
Crescendo Music - https://crescendo.com.au
Crescendo on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/CrescendoMusicEd
Debbie O’Shea on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-o-shea-62a3741b/
Crescendo Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/CrescendoMusicEd/
Crescendo on Twitter - https://twitter.com/crescendomusic
Professional Associations
KMEIA http://www.kodaly.org.au/membership/
ASME http://www.asme.edu.au/
ORFF http://www.ancos.org.au/
Dalcroze https://www.dalcroze.org.au/
ANCA https://anca.org.au/
Facebook Groups and Pages
Crescendo Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crescendocommunity/
KMEIA QLD Page https://kodaly.org.au
KMEIA QLD Discussion Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/32111233720/
Music Teachers Group (over 30,000 members) https://www.facebook.com/groups/m