What Parenting Taught Me About Teaching Music

As a parent of two young boys, one of the trickiest things to achieve is… a tidy house.

They are walking hurricanes.

Lego migrates.
Socks appear in mysterious locations.
Entire ecosystems of small plastic objects develop overnight.

Getting them to tidy up? Where do you even begin?

Then I saw something on Instagram that completely changed the game.

Instead of asking them to tidy up… I challenged them.

“I bet I can tidy more Lego than you two can!”

Suddenly, it wasn’t a chore.
It was a mission.
A competition.
A team effort — against me.

Within minutes, the room looked human again.

And it got me thinking…

Could this transfer to the classroom?

Spoiler alert: it can.

The Glockenspiel Problem

Recently I was working with a Year 8 class playing glockenspiels — one of the dream moments of the job.

But there was a problem.

They were technically playing the notes…

…but with the subtlety of a demolition crew.

If you’ve ever handed 30 teenagers a set of beaters, you’ll understand.

I could have said:

• “Be quieter.”

• “Play more gently.”

• “Show more control.”

But instead, I tried something different.

I challenged them.

“I bet I can play this passage more musically than you.”

Instant focus.

They leaned in.
They listened.
They tried again.

And suddenly — without a lecture about dynamics or sensitivity — the performance transformed.

Not because I told them what to do.

Because I invited them into a challenge.

Why It Works

Challenge shifts energy.

It creates:

• Attention

• Investment

• Ownership

• A clear, immediate goal

And crucially — it removes the nagging tone.

It’s not:
“Stop doing that.”

It becomes:
“Let’s see what you can do.”

The psychology is simple:
People rise to challenges faster than they respond to correction.

Children especially.

Try It This Week

Next time something isn’t quite landing in your lesson, resist the instinct to correct.

Instead, try:

• “I don’t think you can do that more precisely than me.”

• “Let’s see if you can beat my version.”

• “I’m not convinced you can make that smoother…”

Make it playful.
Make it warm.
Make it musical.

You might be surprised at the result.

And if it works with Lego hurricanes…

…it can work with glockenspiels too.

Adam