Ep. 26 - Interview with Special Guest Bryson Tarbet

Thanks for joining us for Episode 26 of the Welcome to Music Podcast! In this episode, Susie chats with Bryson Tarbet — passionate music educator, founder of That Music Teacher, and creator of the Elementary Music Summit in the USA. Bryson is dedicated to creating more accessible music classrooms, drawing on his own experience as a neurodiverse individual. Much of his work centres around supporting teachers through professional development and coaching, particularly in building systems that simplify lesson planning, unpack pedagogical concepts from repertoire, and bring more joy to both teaching and learning.

This inspiring conversation follows Bryson’s professional journey and how it led him to working full-time in his business. He shares practical strategies for making classrooms more inclusive — from offering noise-cancelling headphones and fidgets, to being mindful of environmental factors like fluorescent lighting. Bryson also highlights valuable resources including the Purposeful Pathways series by Beth Ann Hepburn and Roger Sams, a lesson plan template, and a free Music Without Barriers Guide for inclusive teaching. Plus, he gives us a sneak peek into the upcoming Elementary Music Summit — a five-day online professional learning event for music educators happening in mid-July.

And excitingly, Susie will be presenting a session at the Summit titled Sing It, Say It, Dance It, Play It — an Orff-based approach that integrates speech, song, story, body percussion, movement, and percussion instruments. More details coming soon!

You won’t want to miss this inspiring and insightful episode — it’s full of practical ideas you can use right away in your music classroom.

Go to welcometomusicpodcast.net/ to listen to the podcast and find a summary as part of the blog. You can also find the podcast on Apple Music, Spotify and the streaming services.

To view the blog notes for this episode, click here!