Introduction

Here is the Crescendo Music Education Podcast – Episode 137.

This podcast is being recorded on the lands of the Turrbal people. I acknowledge them as the traditional owners of the land and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. They were the first music makers on this land.

About ‘Read the Episode’: Sometimes, we would rather skim visually than listen to a podcast! That’s a great way to learn too!
The transcript of episode 137 of The Crescendo Music Education Podcast is below.

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Debbie O’Shea 

Alright, we’re up to the challenge bit. You know, we don’t want to be negative Nancy, but we know that all of us are facing certain challenges. So what do you think is your biggest challenge as a music educator and how do you address it?

Claire’s Biggest Challenge

Claire Hornagold 

Time. Which I don’t think I’m alone in saying that. I think it’s time from a 30 minute perspective, although to be honest, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at that. So as mentioned in my bio, this year I’m going to be teaching a Year Two class one day a week, which I asked to do as an extra challenge. Again wanting to extend myself and then be able to teach students as students. But also because I do strongly believe in the linking up between subjects and between student learning.

So I’m really curious to see what it is that they’re learning in Year Two, that I can then help with music to support that, or that music can help to work on with what they’re doing in their classroom. So I’m looking forward to that, but for me, actually my biggest challenge there is I don’t just have 30 minutes, I have a day and how is that going to be different?

So, yeah, from that perspective, the time feels a little bit different, going that way. But from a music point of view, the time of trying to fit things in the 30 minutes and I think trying to keep classes at the same point as well. So if I have 10 classes but one class is five minutes late, or one class there’s a fire drill or another class we get in this discussion talking about Pangea Oh, we need to come back to what we’re doing, so trying to make sure that all the classes can keep at that same learning and the same point and the same understanding.

Another one I find is really hard is assessment and then the time that’s given in lessons to do assessment, but also then having to catch students up. So that’s probably the biggest one, is when students are away and they might be away for the catch up lesson too. So it might be that whatever the assessment is, we’ve happened to have two lessons, plus there’s a catch up lesson. If they’re then away that catch up lesson, it’s then I have to use my non contact time to go and get them, which I’m happy to do. But it can take a lot of time when you’ve got a lot of classes like that. So it’s Yeah, again, that ongoing me trying to find ways to improve.

Like, how can I make things better, particularly around assessment, to make sure I’m not spending, I’m not using as much time as I sometimes do, but still keeping it really, I suppose keeping the integrity and keeping it authentic and I don’t want to dumb down or water down what they’re doing just to make it easier for me.

So I’m always wanting to do the right thing by the students and so if I then have to give up extra time for it, I’m happy to do it if it works for the students. So it’s that fine balance between the time for me and making sure I can get all my things done, but also the validity of what they’re doing and trying to make sure that both of those things match up. And I don’t think I will ever get there completely. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. But again, I take those little wins.

So like, if there’s some Year Two tasks that I’ve come across that are really easy to mark and so anything like that, I take that little win, like, great. Okay, it’s going to take 15 minutes of class to mark something rather than 30 minutes. So, yeah, it’s trying to find those little bits along the way, always trying something different. If I’m not happy with something, I will make some little change and see if that makes things better. And so hopefully, over time, I will get better at managing all of the time.

Debbie O’Shea 

Yes, I know. Everybody listening now, if they’re on the treadmill, they’re doing this, they’re nodding. If they’re in the car, they’re going, yes. So much of what you said, that’s just the life of a music teacher, isn’t it? But it’s certainly been my goal over the last few years is to really consider my workload as well as what I’m giving to the children and hopefully that’s coming through with the things that I share, because you have to consider yourself but still keep it authentic and reasonable for them as well. And I do think the catch ups is a real problem and the last school that I was in that I have just recently left, it’s difficult to actually get children to come in your non contact time because that’s during spelling mastery and they can’t be released, because everybody is guarding their time.

Everyone is feeling time poor. So even if you’re willing to give up your time to do catch ups and I think everyone knows what I mean by catch ups on the assessment, sometimes you can’t even do that, even lunch breaks. No, you can’t take the children’s lunch break. They need a break. Oh, even if I really have to do this assessment, no, you can’t. So it’s a real problem and I think you have to think about that before you even start the assessment, don’t you? So absolutely the biggest challenge, I’m with you there. What about a teaching moment that completely changed the way you think about music education?

Claire’s Changing Moment

Claire Hornagold 

This would also tie into students being little people, a moment for me. So it was a few years ago when I first got to the school I’m at now, in Year One we were doing responding as their assessment. It was about music they listened to, so my end goal was we’re going to listen to In the Hall of the Mountain King and then I’m going to give them some choices of what the song is about and they’re going to be able to tell me it’s about a boy running because it starts walking slow, like you can hear it slow, like he’s walking and then he ends up running because he’s going fast, because he’s being chased.

So I think I had found it like a little cartoon picture of a boy being chased by a dog. So that was in my head. Okay, that’s where we’re going. So backwards, mapping from that. Alright, let’s have some practices with some other songs. And then I played them the song Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks from Pictures at an Exhibition, which is really high yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Like, really cutesy. Like the little chickens jumping around. And so I then had some pictures on the board for them. So there was a picture of a chicken, there was an owl and there was a snake. I was blown away by the answers the students gave me that they said, Oh well, it sounds like it’s an owl because the music’s really high and owls fly high and their hooting sound is high.

It sounds like a snake, because snakes are really fast and I can hear it slithering fast to try and get its food. I was in my head thinking, I’m going to get chicken sounds because it sounds like a chicken. But not only are they giving me what I would call wrong answers, they’re completely justifying why they think that. That, for me, was a really big moment in that I don’t have all the answers and what I think might be right, but they also have other ideas that are right too. Another time, again Year One, but it was a lesson that I left for a replacement teacher to do, but we did The Wheels on the Bus. And so I then had drawn some of the like graphic notation symbols.

So might be like an X starting small and then getting bigger, for the baby crying getting louder. And so I then gave them all those options. I had the answer sheet. But then when I ended up teaching that lesson one time, the students came up, most of them came up with different things that still matched. So I went to tell them, No, that’s not right. This is the baby crying because this and then I looked and said, Oh, they’ve done like a squiggly line is the baby crying and they’ve got egg shakers and they’re shaking it.

And it’s like, actually, that works too. So for me, then it became about, not what I think it’s about ,Well, what do you think, but tell me why. So I’ll always explain to them, especially when we’re doing responding practice, or if I’m looking at the A level, is often that justifying thing. So I can tell them that you can think something and someone else can think something completely different, but as long as you both say why, you’re both right. So yes from that moment, I’ve pulled back on what I give them as options.

So like now with the Year Ones listening to In the Hall of Mountain King, I actually said to them, Okay let’s imagine you’re a director of a movie and you can make the movie about whatever you like, but this song’s in the movie. What would you choose? And so they could then draw a picture or write about it and then tell me what they thought the song was about. So rather than me saying, Okay, well, choose from these three options and then tell me.

Okay, well what ideas do you have in your head, in your brain? And then tell me why you think that. So I think for me realising that if I trust them to come up with the ideas, it’s not about me telling them and it’s going to go my way. It’s nearly a case of, okay, well this is kind of my question, what do you think the answer is, we had some really great discussions out of that. So I try and do that as much as I can, even from Prep working up.

Debbie O’Shea 

I love it. I love it. And it’s something to remind everybody of I think. What about something funny or unexpected that’s happened in one of your lessons?

Claire’s Funniest Moment

Claire Hornagold 

I would go back to my first lesson with a Year Two class. It’s not so much about the music teaching, but it was just really fun. I was trying to get to know everyone’s name, so it was in a circle and then we were going around with their names and then I just came up with the idea of, Okay I want you to tell me something that starts with the same letter as your name and then that’s how I’m going to refer to you for the rest of the lesson. And I said, actually, that’s how all of us are going to refer to you, because they knew each other already. So for example there was a boy called Nathan and he said Nathan nuts.

So for the whole lesson we all called him Nathan nuts. And so even if they went “Nathan said” it was like No, no, that’s not his name. And then the kids started picking up, no, no, he’s Nathan nuts remember? And then I had a boy called Noah and a girl called Mia and they chose each other’s names. And so I still remember that, they’re Year Six now, but yeah it was Mia Noah and Noah Mia. And then I had a boy whose name was Tommy and he was Tim Tam Tommy. So just things like that and they had so much fun. And it was really fun for me, but it was also great for getting to know the names, because I had that extra mindset, Tim Tam Tommy.

Okay, then I didn’t even have to remember his name was Tommy. If I just remember Tim Tams, then I knew, Oh, his name starts with T, it has to be Tim Tam Tommy. Or also, it was then a nice way of being able to ask them, Oh, what was your word that you came up with? Nuts. Oh, okay, that must mean you’re Nathan, so then basically, if they’re telling me their word was nuts, I know their name starts with N. So it made it easier from that point of view to do that, but it became really fun.

And then I would even sometimes do that at the beginning of each year, like that first lesson, like, Okay, I want you to choose something. I’d go through the role. And so it was really good. I would start at the top of the role, tell me something that starts with your name. And then we would all try to refer to that person with that name for the lesson. And sometimes they’d ask for it in following lessons as well. So yeah, it became a very entertaining way of getting to know everyone.

Debbie O’Shea 

I love that. That does sound like it could be quite fun and funny and you are building a personal connection to that child. I have a child in the school I’ve just left that I taught from Prep to the end of Year Six and when he was in Prep, I’m not using his name so I hope he doesn’t mind, he’s a very special student. He’s fabulous. And he had this thing about cats at the time, right? So he would come up to me and go meow. He wouldn’t say hello. He didn’t actually say much in the lessons at all. But would go meow and so I would go, of course, meow back to him. That is the way we greeted each other for seven years.

He ended up being quite a tall boy, very, quite a bit taller than me. I would meet him anywhere, like outside the senior toilets or in a performance or whatever. But no matter what and believe me, he’d stop being obsessed by cats and going meow all over the place. But he and I still could do meow. And that little connection though it may seem silly, that’s what works for kids, and that’s what you’re doing when they’re choosing a word and that’s a little special connection with you so they feel seen and understood. It’s all to do with relationship.

Claire Hornagold 

Absolutely and I think that’s a really important part of anything, anything to do with people, and especially with teaching. When you were giving that story about seeing that student out around the school, reminded me that there’s a family of a few students, but I’d never actually taught the older boy, but I taught the two younger girls.

But then the older boy, when he saw me would always say, Hi Mrs. Hornagold and I say hello name and it wouldn’t matter where we were, he’d be in the middle of a conversation with his friends or walking somewhere else, he’d always say hello, because I think that his sisters really valued that connection and I put the time into working with them and I’d always say hello to him too, I could tell he was related to the girls that I taught.

So it was easy to remember his name. And I think then just students, as you say, feeling seen or feeling heard and like they’re noticed and valued as a person. It’s not just a number in the school, but they are actually someone as a person that, yeah, other people do appreciate. Yeah, that’s all anyone wants to feel valued. And so it’s great to be able to do that with students we teach or with other students and then do it in music, but also out of that music lesson as well.

Debbie O’Shea 

Taking the term teaching tool very loosely, what’s your favourite teaching tool?

Teaching Tools

Claire Hornagold 

I love using those show me mini whiteboards in lessons and I find that it’s so quick, it’s so easy. I haven’t gone down the path of scrapbooks, because the schools I’m at haven’t had them. And then photocopying and glue, like trying to get say Preps or Year Ones to glue things into books. For me, doesn’t sound like a way I want to spend my lesson, great for those people who do. But I find other ways that I want to get things done.

So I find those mini whiteboards are really helpful for them being able to draw things and then rub it out. Oh, actually, one thing that I was thinking of like lessons that did go creatively and go well, was using those mini whiteboards with Year Twos, getting them to practice drawing their notes properly, but I also got them to draw them incorrectly. So I’d say, right, we’re going to draw a ta. So we’ve got our coloured in note and we add a stem on the right?

Great. Okay. And then I would draw it up on the board. It’s like, is that right? And so I draw an example, a non example, or something that was wrong, and they’d say, No, it’s not right. I’m like, Well, yeah, it is, because I think it’s a ta and it looks like a ta. Like, no, but you haven’t coloured it in. And so, oh, okay, so I have to colour it in. It’s like, I want you now to draw a ta wrong? So then I would often have a different coloured pen. And so it would be okay, you might have a black pen to start, draw a proper ta. Now, swap with the person next to you.

Draw a ta that’s wrong. And so I put some other examples it might be you make it look like a lollipop, or you add a flag or something like that. And they loved it and I think it was because, again, they’re being creative, but they’re also reinforcing their understanding of what actually does a ta need to be a ta, but then they can also rub it out if they made a mistake and for those students who are worried about getting it right the first time, they could then rub it out with their rubbers.

But also they’re then seeing other examples, so they might have drawn their top not coloured in thinking it was right, but then when they see the other people have it like that, or they can then hear the discussions about, oh no, that’s not right because, they could then adjust it themselves. So I find it’s great for also being able to take photos of things that students have done. So if they’ve done something, quickly Oh, come here. I take a photo. You hold up your mini whiteboard, photo on the iPad.

Okay, go rub it off. Then I’ve got that record of what they’ve done and I can print out those photos and put them up as well. So, yeah, I find just the mini whiteboards is great for being able to get students be able to show what they can do, where they don’t feel worried about the pencil on the paper. It’s also great for when I’m finishing off assessment with students as well. I’ve been able to get them to write out new words of a song, or here are the steps of how to draw a treble clef. Let’s have a practice with things like that.

Claire Hornagold 

The other teaching tool I was thinking about is actually something I use for choir. So there’s a website called wheelofnames.com and I have found this was a game changer for me with choir and getting students to come along religiously to rehearsals. So what I do is I have two different wheel spinners for the choir. My first one is just a general You turn up to choir, you get your name on the wheel spinner and I will enter their name as many times as they’ve come to choir in that term. So if they came to choir four times in the term, Debbie from 2A is up there four times.

So Debbie 2A, Debbie 2A, Debbie 2A, Debbie 2A, I just copy and paste. If Trisha from 2B has come to nine rehearsals, it’ll say Trisha 2B nine times. So it takes a lot to put it in, to enter it and I only do it the week before. So basically I do at the end of week nine, because it’s much quicker to type a name once and then copy it eight times, but then I put it up on the wheel and then we spin the wheel and I have a little music pencil for whichever name gets chosen and they loved it.

So the first time that happened, I had lots of kids like, Oh, but I was at more rehearsals and that, well not according to the role and then the following term it just skyrocketed with how many were there. And then the other thing I do is for 100% attendance. So if they have been to choir every time they’ve been at school, so if they’re away from school that’s fine, they can still have 100% attendance. But basically, if they haven’t skipped choir their name goes on a different wheel spinner and then I spin the wheel again and again I found that’s where a big change was because then suddenly you get the students going, Oh, I don’t feel like going to choir today and let’s skip it. Suddenly they don’t skip it anymore because they want their name on that wheel spinner.

So I found doing that just made it really engaging as well, like you could then even as behaviour management, get ready to start choir, I just put the wheel spinner up on the board and they all get excited because they’re looking at names and then they’re like, oh, okay, let’s find out who’s going to win. So yeah, I found just doing that, it was actually really surprising how well it worked and just how much fun it was for the students and getting them back and then once they’re there, that’s when you can have all the fun in the world with choir. But yeah, especially for starting off choirs, or where attendance wasn’t working as well, I found that something that was gold for me.

Debbie O’Shea 

I love it. I think many people listening know about the wheel of names, but I will certainly put the link in the show notes as well because I think it’s handy to have it there in case people don’t know about it, though they are fabulous tools both of those. All right, what advice would you give to a graduate Claire?

Advice for Graduate Claire

Claire Hornagold 

I would say you will have so much fun. Actually, since I was just talking about choir, I used to not enjoy choir rehearsals. I did choir at school but not a lot and I did a lot of bands. I was a clarinet player so I was comfortable with bands, but with choir I didn’t really feel like I knew what I was doing.

So my advice to graduate Claire would be, you will actually love choir. Stick with it. Put that time into it and you will really enjoy it. Like now it’s one of the highlights of my week, getting to take choirs. So that would be from a choir point of view, you’re going to love it. But I think from a teaching point of view, it’s going to be lots of fun. You’re going to learn along the way. I don’t know if I would have any advice for myself.

I think because I am a lifelong learner and I am a bit of a perfectionist, like I am always aiming to try and do the best I can. So my other bit of advice would be about writing notes to myself, as I mentioned earlier, just about that reflection of, oh this went really well, or this didn’t, or I didn’t get to that activity. I’ve often found that helpful in terms of time, I used to plan too many activities and I still do. I was a bit worried about having that extra time and nothing planned. But I then realised over time, having that extra time for Oh, we’ve got four minutes left.

Oh, what game would you like to play? And again, leaving it up to them where they can have some input, I think, yeah, not trying to be so prescriptive with everything right from the start. So yeah, just being kind to myself, notes about what worked and what didn’t. You’re going to end up loving choir, keeping that positive attitude, that finding those little successes, being able to enjoy your job, like find ways to enjoy the unenjoyable.

So even parent emails, or having to come along to staff meetings that don’t interest you, or those extra boring tasks like writing names on marking guides. Actually, what I found really helpful is like listening to the Crescendo podcasts or other videos and things like that while I write names on marking guides. Then finding those little jobs where if it’s highlighting things. So I used to like highlight, because we have to have marking guides for each student, I would highlight on the marking guide as I marked it.

But sometimes it’s easier just to mark it first and then later on, go and highlight it. And again you can then do something else. It could be a bit mindless while you do that, so you’re just finding those little hacks of being able to make your job a little bit easier. Yeah, I think if I could have found some of those a bit earlier on, it would make life easier for me now, but I also know that I will keep finding them, so in 5, 10, 20 years down the track, I’m going to be in a better place then than I am now.

Debbie O’Shea 

Yes, I think that’s great advice, advice that you actually really don’t need because you are going through that learning process anyway. I hear you. Alright. What do you wish more people understood about being a music teacher?

Understanding Music Teachers

Claire Hornagold 

I wish they knew how fulfilling it can be. And I think because most teachers are the general class teachers that have their 25 or 28 students and they get to know them really well. And that is one thing I find with teaching music is we know students at a superficial level in comparison to a class teacher. So they know those students really well. But the number of times they say to me, I don’t know how you remember so many names, because that’s just part of what we do because we teach so many students. And then also the other comment I get is, I don’t know how you do it in 30 minutes, like that’s hardly any time. So I suppose they kind of realise the difficulties of we don’t have much time but we have a lot of students.

But I would like for other people to know it can be really rewarding. I actually love knowing that many students and having that connection. Being able to walk around the school and name all or most of the students. And as I mentioned before, like our school is so big that I only teach Prep to Year Three, but because I teach that younger grade by like this year’s Year Sixes, I taught them all in Year Two when I arrived. So I will know every student, apart from those couple of new students that came in, but I’ll be able to walk around the school and name 95% of the students. And so I actually really like that and it feels like I’m connected to those students and to the school as well.

So I think it would be nice for other teachers to know that we all get to find our own ways of giving to the students. I’m really fortunate the school that I’m at and most of the schools that I’ve been at, the teachers do value me as a teacher and I’m not just there as a provider of non contact time for them, which I know a lot of specialist music teachers don’t have that privilege. Unfortunately, they do feel like they are, well you take my students so I can do other stuff and I get them back and I don’t really care what happens.

So my teachers I work with are really great at valuing what we do and knowing that music does fit in with everyone else, but I also do make that effort to make those connections with those teachers. So I’m not just in my own little silo.

I go and find out what they’re doing in the classroom and Year Twos are doing poetry like great. Okay, well, when we learn tika tika let’s find some four syllable words that go with tika tika and then let’s make that into little sentences and that’s actually their composition that they do, they get to write an eight beat rhythm composition and put words with it because that ties in with poetry. So yeah, finding those little connections and things like that. So we can help to develop those students as a whole. It’s not just about what we do in music or what they do in the classroom. It’s about we can all work together and even with our 30 minutes of music a week, if we’re lucky enough to have that, we can then still make a difference for the students as a whole.

Debbie O’Shea 

Thank you. That’s wonderful. Before we do the rapid fire questions, I just want to thank you for giving up your time. I know I’ve learnt a lot listening to you and you’ve made me think about a lot of things, which is the whole idea of this Real Teachers, Real Stories. And I know that all of my listeners will be in the same place, going, Oh, what a great idea. So thank you so much for giving up your time.

Claire Hornagold 

Thank you. It’s been a pleasure being able to be on here and thank you to you Debbie and what you do with Crescendo and the podcast, but also for giving teachers that opportunity to be able to share what they do. I find it really valuable to be able to hear from other teachers on the ground doing it, as opposed to, say someone in a department who taught 10 years ago telling us, oh, this is the best way to do it.

Whereas, if you actually hear from someone This is what I did last week, or my six year olds love this, or Year Sixes really respond to blah, whatever it is I find that, yeah, being able to listen to all those different teachers and people, whenever we can share with other people, I think that’s a great way of being able to do it. So thank you for providing that opportunity for us.

Debbie O’Shea 

My pleasure, because obviously that’s important to me, that sharing is just vital. It feeds our soul as well as our practice.

Claire Hornagold 

And we can get other ideas as well that we can’t come up with on our own, because otherwise you can come up with all the great ideas yourself, but unless you hear from someone else, then you’re only ever going to think what you and your experience will think, whereas if you get to hear from someone else, then, oh, actually, that’s a good idea. And I could do it like that. Or it’s like, Oh, that makes me think I could do  something else different. So yes, there’s only benefits to be gained from sharing like that.

Debbie O’Shea 

Thank you. That’s a great thought to finish on. I love it. So here we go. Five questions. We’ll hear your answers. Are you ready?

Five Quick Questions

Claire Hornagold 

I’m ready.

Debbie O’Shea 

Number one, what’s the most underrated instrument?

Claire Hornagold 

Bassoon. Do you want? Do you want a why or just an answer?

Debbie O’Shea 

Oh, you can give us a why.

Claire Hornagold 

Yeah, I think it’s because it’s the buffoon of the orchestra. And I used to play clarinet and I actually really liked listening to the bassoon and I think it can offer so much more. For example the Rite of Spring solo, one of Stravinsky’s ballets, that just starts with bassoon at the beginning. And I think then there’s so much that it can be apart from the grandfather in Peter and the Wolf. So it’s not just that bom bom bom bom, yeah, there’s lots more it can do and I think, yeah, being able to learn more about what it’s capable of would be great.

Debbie O’Shea 

Love it. Two who’s your musical hero and how have they influenced you?

Claire Hornagold 

I have a few. The first one that came to mind was Stravinsky. I came across his music when I was in uni and I had never heard any of it before and I just fell in love with everything he’d written and so like that might be part of why I mentioned the bassoon with Rite of Spring. Petrushka is another one of his ballets. That’s probably my favourite Stravinsky piece. I just found that the way he could write for music and write for instruments and just get different sounds and different emotions and very quickly evoke certain feels. That was really cool with, yeah, how he was able to do that.

Then it gave that focus as a player trying to sort of do the best by what he’d written. But then thinking about that question again as cheesy as it is, I would actually say all of the music teachers that I’ve had, because in some way, they’ve helped shape who I was or am as a musician and also as a music teacher. So I’ve been inspired by all of them for different reasons and they’ve all helped lead me to where I am today.

Debbie O’Shea 

Wonderful. Did you want to name any of them or are you afraid you’ll miss someone else.

Claire Hornagold 

Probably, I think I could name, I should be able to name them all, but just in case. But even starting with my Year One music teacher that her name is Mrs Toussis, since she’s no longer with us anymore, but being able to go from her up to the teachers that I had at my high school and at university, my clarinet teachers, my piano teachers, had singing lessons for a while, they’ve all done something in some way to help me to have that love of music and love of being a musician, but then also love of being able to give back as a teacher. Because when I was at uni, I didn’t want to be a teacher, I wanted to be a musician, but I ended up teaching off the side to get some extra money and found actually I really enjoyed it.

And so that’s how I got into teaching. So even through school, it was all about, well, I wanted to be the best musician I could, but I suppose looking back and thinking that in their job as a teacher they helped me realise my potential, that’s what I really appreciate. About what they were able to do. So it was more about them helping me. So I think I was inspired by that. So then now I want to do that for other students and you can get just as much satisfaction from helping a student achieve their musical potential as you can from doing it yourself. So yes, it’s thank you to all of those teachers for doing that.

Debbie O’Shea 

Number three, what’s a song or piece of music you wish you’d written?

Claire Hornagold 

I really like the tune of Danny Boy, the Irish song, so I would probably say that. Although also thinking about it I would also say Happy Birthday, not because I want the fame of it, but because of that connections with others and again music being such an important part of bringing people together. And so it’ll be really cool to be able to just quietly to someone say I wrote that. It’s just known by so many people, used so much. It’s not about the shiny, oh, look what I did, but about being able to have that impact and make a difference to just general everyday people, not just the students, but just yet people in general.

Debbie O’Shea 

That’s fascinating. I love it. Number four, if you could perform a duet with any musician living or dead, who would it be?

Claire Hornagold 

I would say Mozart and I would love to see him in his improvising, composing element. So being able to have him sit down at harpsichord or whatever and watch him play something and then try and keep up. That would be really cool.  I’d be on my toes doing it, but I would really enjoy doing that.

Debbie O’Shea 

Oh my goodness, I would be terrified, but I’m glad that excites you. I mean, it would be amazing but terrifying.

Claire Hornagold 

It would, yeah. Growing up I loved listening to Mozart music. I would find that I could try and look at how we’d written things and think, oh, okay, how could I use that if I was nine year old Claire composing songs. So I suppose, yeah, just being able to actually see that live and see it for real it would be, yeah, pretty cool.

Debbie O’Shea 

Wow. Alright. Last question, if music teachers had a theme song, what do you think it should be?

Claire Hornagold 

I know it’s corny, but I would say, Thank You for The Music by Abba, because it kind of sums up everything.

Debbie O’Shea 

I love it. I think that’s a perfect place to finish. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast Claire.

Claire Hornagold 

Thank you for having me Debbie, it was a real pleasure.

Sign-Off

Thank you for joining me for this podcast. Don’t forget, you’ll find the show notes and transcript and all sorts of information on crescendo.com.au. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast or found it valuable, you might like to rate it on your podcast player and leave a review. I’d really appreciate it if you did. All I can be as the best version of me. All you can do is be the best you. Until next time, bye.

Just for Laughs

As we know, laughter relieves stress, don’t lose sight of the funny side of life.
Some people pick their nose. I don’t agree. I think they were just born with it.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

📜 Crescendo Music Education Podcast | Episode 137

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