Episode 26 Blog Notes: Interview with Special Guest Bryson Tarbet
Introduction
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.
Let’s start at the very beginning…
Hello everyone, and it's so nice to have you here at the Welcome to Music podcast for music and classroom educators in Early Childhood and Primary/Elementary schools, music therapists, studio music teachers, parents, and anyone who uses music with kids to support their well-being and development from zero to 12 years. My name is Susie Davies-Splitter, and I've been teaching music to all ages in early childhood, schools and universities over many years. With my husband Phil, we run Welcome to Music where we create music resources, we have a membership community, and present training and programs for kids and educators. Our goal is to help build confidence and creativity and enrich lives through the joy of music. I hope that this podcast can support and inspire you and maybe even make your job a little easier through sharing tips, chats, lesson plans, interviews and great quality music resources to use with your children. I use an inclusive, multi-modal, multi-sensory, and Orff-based approach to help make the learning stick. Please enjoy the Welcome to Music podcast and find us at www.welcometomusic.net
Bryson's Bio
Bryson Tarbet, a passionate advocate for inclusive music education, transitioned from a career as a PreK-6th grade general music teacher to full-time instructional coach. With a Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of Music in Music Education with a Kodály emphasis from Capital University, Bryson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his work.
During his tenure as an educator, Bryson spent a transformative year as part of an elementary school intervention team, where he discovered his passion for working with students with disabilities. Drawing from this experience and his personal journey as a neurodiverse individual, Bryson advocates strongly for creating sensory and emotionally-inclusive classrooms.
Now the founder of That Music Teacher, LLC, Bryson channels his dedication to music education into sharing diverse perspectives on issues relevant to educators nationwide. He hosts the popular That Music Podcast, catering specifically to elementary music teachers, and spearheads the Elementary Music Summit®, a platform for professional development and community-building.
Questions
- How were you involved in music as a child and was there a family influence?
- What and who are your greatest musical influences?
- Tell us about your musical journey and how you got to where you are now?
- How do you think Music education can help kids develop skills and why is it important?
- Share some resources with us
- How do we change the typical thinking about music and the arts?
- What is the Elementary Music Summit?
- If you had a super power - what would it be and what would you do with it?
- Elevator Pitch - what is an important musical message you'd like to leave us with?
- How to make our classrooms more accessible for all?
Bryson shared the following resources and events
‘Elementary Music Summit’
This 5 day online event takes place between the 7th and 11th of July. I’m looking forward to presenting a session called ‘Sing It, Say It, Dance It, Play It’- an Orff based approach integrating speech, song, story, body percussion, movement and percussion instruments. Easy and appealing music that is immediately accessible and filled with fun. Have your children jumping for joy with material that inspires them to sing, move, dance, listen, create and play instruments. More info will be coming soon.
Purposeful Pathways (4 books)
By Beth Ann Hepburn and Roger Sams – Music is Elementary - Possibilities for the Elementary Music Classroom including Literacy, Ensemble, Movement, Improvisation, Composition https://musiciselementary.com/purposefulpathways/?srsltid=AfmBOoqfCTJcWLOuyBlO3eXpUbmZKnPDt3m0WOyQxYB4TZWuBFzdqZPG
How to contact Bryson
- Via his website: https://www.thatmusicteacher.com
Free Music Without Barriers Guide for Inclusive Teaching
- Take the first step towards better serving the students with disabilities in your classroom.
Kodály-Inspired Lesson Plan template
WELCOME TO MUSIC MEMBERSHIP
Imagine having a treasure trove of resources designed to make your teaching journey a breeze. The Welcome to Music membership is your ultimate toolkit for primary/elementary music educators, early childhood teachers, music therapists and anyone that uses music with children 0-12 years. Here’s what is inside:
✨ 90+ Hours of PD Certificates: Dive into our extensive library of on-demand courses and webinar replays, earning professional development certificates at your own pace.
🎤 Library of Webinars and Workshops: Unlimited access to our complete collection of webinars and workshops, packed with resources including topics such as: Bucket Drumming, Instruments in the Classroom, Games, Performance Ideas, Indigenous songs, Lilting lullabies & tranquil tunes, Story Songs, Folk Dances, World Music and many more, all with PD certificates
📚 Ready-Made Resource Kits: Over 250 lesson plans, activity sheets, and teaching resources to save you hours of prep time, including complete music notation with songs, dances, choral music, percussion arrangements, recorder pieces, ukulele accompaniments, music reading worksheets, arts and crafts, links to the curriculum and assessment and much more
💻 On-Demand Courses: Interactive courses covering everything from Music with Babies & Tots, Early Childhood Music to Advanced Ukulele!
👨🏫 Exclusive, Community Forum and member-only private Facebook group: Connect with a vibrant community of educators, share ideas, and receive continuous support from Susie, Phil, and the team.
💡 Always Fresh Content: New resources added regularly, and all webinars available shortly after they go live!
🦘 Lots of Aussie Content: A huge and growing collection of Susie and Phil’s original and traditional songs with added resources and instructional videos alongside resources from other notable Australian music and movement educators
🈹 25% Member Discount off Welcome to Music products: All members receive 25% off any physical or digital products (excluding Black Belt Ukulele products) in the Welcome to Music Store! https://welcometomusic.net/
Become a member of the Welcome to Music community today and enjoy all these fantastic benefits. Visit our Membership Page
Closing
This podcast has been brought to you by Welcome to Music – building confidence, creativity and enriching lives through the joy of music. In the show notes, you'll find links to a summary of this episode and our social media platforms. In the blog, you will find all the notes and links to this episode.
Our goal is to help make teaching and learning music easy and fun for all. I use an inclusive, multi-modal, multi-sensory and Orff-based approach to help make the learning stick.
- Find us at https://welcometomusic.net/
We would love you to subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can find almost 200 videos for kids – from lyric, play-along, instructional and animation videos www.youtube.com/c/WelcometoMusicSP
- Find 100’s of our songs on streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music – just search for Susie Davies-Splitter & Phil Splitter or the song title
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Episode 25 Blog Notes: Call and Response Songs, Part 3
