What do you say when you get that call? Johnny is finding lessons too hard, practice is a struggle, and he wants to quit. How do you convince that parent to stick it out when things get hard?

Anita Collins is a music teacher, who got curious and turned to the field of neuroscience to find out what effect music education has on the brain. She started looking at the work of neuroscientists and applying a music teacher’s perspective to the studies. Her talk at Ted Ed (and many other talks worldwide) takes this work and make it understandable the non-neuroscientists, so we can see some of the amazing effects music has on the brain.

Anita has so many fascinating insights into why students quit, the value of music education, motivation and practice. She not only shares this wisdom with fellow music educators, but with parents and also with students. Allowing students and their parents to understand why they’re having a tough time, can help them to stick it out.

Take a listen to today’s podcast to arm yourself with the science to stop students quitting.

See also a full transcription below.

Transcript Download:

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How music education makes kids smarter
• Why some teenagers get overwhelmed and quit
• Why Anita believes some extrinsic motivation is good
• What to say when a parent calls you to quit your studio
• Why today’s kids lack grit and determination
• How to educate parents so their children can get the most out of lessons
• How Anita is helping her students to prioritise effective practice
• Why students need to understand that sometimes learning is uncomfortable

Items mentioned in this podcast:

• How playing an instrument benefits your brain
• What if every child had access to music education
• Anita Collins’s website
• Bigger Better Brains Facebook community

Thank you for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, and I’m grateful that you’ve chosen mine.

Being a full-time teacher myself, I know how busy teachers are and how much time, effort and passion we put into our students. Sometimes, the last thing we want to do in our time off is listen to more piano teaching stuff! So, well done for using this time for self-improvement.

Whether you’re at the gym, on the bike or in the car, I know that you and your students will get lots out of what you learn in the long run. Just make sure you try out some of the ideas before they get lost in the business of your next lessons.

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What fact were you most surprised by in today’s episode?

Will you try using some of this information to talk parents out of quitting?