Sept. 28, 2026

The Sound of Gold with The Fun Music Company with Januce Tuck.

Show Notes
Transcript

Who said music theory is boring? Tune in today, where we focus on learning music with fun in the title! If you are a student of music or a music teacher, let's have fun learning and teaching. Tune in today to learn a newer perspective on learning how to read and understand music theory.

The Sound of Gold is broadcast live Mondays at 4PM ET / 1PM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). The Sound of Gold TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

The Sound of Gold Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-sound-of-gold--6696013/support.

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This program is designed to provide general information with regards

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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with

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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station

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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal, medical, financial, legal, counseling,

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professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services

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of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.

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Hi there. Welcome to the Sound of Gold. It is

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so great to be back on the show with you.

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And I am here in my home studio in Palm

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Beach Gardens, Florida. It is presently Monday afternoon, whether you're

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watching this live or watching this recorded. And I'm also

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sitting here with my cat Callie. So if by chance

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you see me like waving my hand, I'm just sometimes

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there's cat hair and that's just how it goes. So

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if you have a cat, I know you understand. And

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if you don't, That's that's just how it goes. So,

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you know, we I love doing this show. And in

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addition to this, I'm also a piano music teacher and

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I'm also a composer. And being that it's Monday afternoon

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after for some of us, a very relaxing weekend or

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a very busy weekend, sometimes a Monday or any day

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can be a little bit overwhelming sometimes. And so I

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invite you, before I get into my guests and talking

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more about music, I invite you to sit back and

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relax just for a couple minutes while I play a

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Monday melody, a little Sonatina.

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Sonatina Thank you for watching. Thank you for watching.

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Thank you. Thank you for listening. And that was just

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a Monday afternoon melody from me. And yeah, you know,

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I think not only think, but I know and I

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feel that music touches us no matter where we are

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in the world. Music unites us. And whether you play

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an instrument or thinking about playing an instrument, whether you

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teach music, no matter where you are, When it comes

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to music, music is always all around. And sound is music.

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We take it for granted. We go outside. We hear

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the birds. We hear the leaves blow in the wind.

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We hear the tapping of the twinkling of the rain.

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And it is all so healing. And it is just

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such a privilege to have this radio show and to

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focus on music and how it heals us and how

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we inspire each other. I have personally been playing piano

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for over 45 years, not to give my age away.

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I started when I was five. And I've been teaching

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music for over 20 years and teaching music theory, piano.

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And it is truly an honor and a blessing to

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have wonderful connections in the industry when it comes to music.

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And we inspire each other. We're always... No matter how

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many years I've learned or I've played music, I'm still

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taking lessons. And I still believe being the student as

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well as the teacher. And today I would like to

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introduce my very special guest who is tuning in. I'm

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here in Florida, United States. My guest today is tuning

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in all the way from South Australia, Miss Janice Tuck.

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Please join me.

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Hello Lisa, it's so lovely to be with you today

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and thank you so much for having me on your show.

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I'm so honoured to be here.

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Absolutely, absolutely. And for those that are tuning in live

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and watching us, it is presently Monday where it is

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presently Tuesday morning there.

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It is very early and it's a wonderful, wonderful time

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of the morning here in Australia. We've got the beautiful

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sunrise and I got to hear your beautiful music to

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the sunrise.

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Thank you.

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Gorgeous and so bright.

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Now, is it a different season there right now? What

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season is it?

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It's spring, so I love spring, don't you? Yes. And

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our students are in spring too, so it's a beautiful

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time of life as well as a time of the season, right?

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Yes, it has new beginnings. Spring represents.

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Yes, yes. I've had many mentors in my life andâ

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And seasons of life are such an amazing part.

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It is. And here we are on the East Coast.

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We're in fall. Yes. And I don't know, maybe going

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too deep, but in reflection to what you say, yeah,

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life has its seasons. And we as humans, we go

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through our seasons. And it's lovely to have themes and

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it's lovely to, look at our seasons from a different,

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different perspective as far as not just the weather changing,

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but really how we're changing and how music changes and,

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and how color changes. And it's just beautiful, but set

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that aside. I'm so sorry.

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Absolutely. Sorry, Lisa. We have, I'm so.

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Excited to have you on the show. I was, there's

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so many questions I have for you. And before even,

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get into those questions just share with our audience again

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there are those that are listening to us there are

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those that are watching us share with us a little

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bit about your musical journey and what you bring to

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the table as far as what you share worldwide oh.

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Thank you so much lisa you know it was about

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i suppose 10 years into my teaching and you know

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at the time i thought i would had it all

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together i thought i was doing well you know how

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life hits us and um And the challenges come from nowhere. Well,

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I was one of those people that said, I can

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do it all. I can do it all myself. You know,

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the whole shebang, the whole thing. And I thought everything

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was going so great. But then one day out of

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the blue, the playground, it was the end of a

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school day and I was just waving goodbye to all

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the students. And this really lovely, well-meaning parent, the most

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beautiful lady who you wouldn't expect. And she said, Janice,

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are you okay? you look really tired. Are you okay?

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And at the time, I kind of just brushed it

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off and I thought everything was fine. But it really,

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really made me think and to the point that I

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went back home and looked at the mirror and I realised, actually,

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are you fine, Janice?

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Yeah.

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And we do this self-talk to ourselves sometimes, don't we?

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And we don't even realise it's crept up on us.

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And so then I started thinking, well, maybe I'm not

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as fine as I think I am. And it was

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only a few months later that I actually went to

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the doctor and the truth was that not everything was

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as fine as I thought. I wasn't as in control

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as I thought, you know, challenges did come. And I

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had to make a few changes. And that means I

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had to put things in place that meant I didn't

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have to do it all myself anymore. I had to

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have prepared things and resources that might not have been

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exactly how I wanted, but it certainly did mean that

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I had a foundation to work from. And that meant

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I could take the time every night away from school

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and I could refresh and, you know, I could rebuild.

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I could recompose myself. Yes. I could come back feeling

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like I'm thriving rather than declining. Okay.

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Well, first of all, for my audience, I have cats.

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And so it seems like every time I have a show,

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I have an orange tabby who you may not see.

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But my orange tabby feels like it's time for him

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to talk. So if you hear meowing in the background,

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he's just walking around complaining.

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Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way, Lisa. That's

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a beautiful thing. It makes our life so much more natural,

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doesn't it? It does. Because that's exactly what we allâ

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I think every great woman has a cat in her life.

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Yes, I agree. I agree. So I have questions. So

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before you were teaching, Janice, being that our focus is music. Yes.

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Were youâ did you have a childhoodâ growing up with

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music and family and playing music?

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Well, my favourite people in the world are music teachers.

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They were so kind to me. And I have no

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music in my family. I'm the only musician and I'm

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so proud of that. I have a go-getter dad. Yes.

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And he is a wonderful inspiration and he was a

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very big businessman. And so I had to find something different.

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And so music was my thing. And it was wonderful

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because he would learn from me. And now I hope

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my daughter can do that for me. Yes, yes. I'm

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learning from her all the time, yes.

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And so you....

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So music was my place that I went to to

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be me.

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Music.

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And I had so many mentors along the way. You

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know how they say... When the student is ready, the

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teacher will emerge.

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Yes.

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That's exactly how things worked for me in my life.

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As I was ready, the right teacher came at the

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right time and the kindness came at the right time.

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And I'm just so grateful for every time I've had

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that opportunity.

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Sounds beautiful.

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I'm so sorry. He feels the need to chat with you.

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He's so lovely. I don't know the hell series. He's

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a character.

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Yeah.

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So people often say to me, Janice, what are you

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really into? And I say, like, what I'm really into

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with all this and what I've learned over the years

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and what I would love to teach myself to say

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to my younger self now as that little girl growing

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up and going through school and going through music. I mean,

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music was the place that I could go to for,

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getting out of school, you know. Yes. So I could

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go to the special concert and we could go on

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the special camp and all those things. And I say

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these days, you know, we have to learn to look

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after ourselves. Music teachers give so much of themselves. And

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the one thing that we need to have and the

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one thing I've witnessed and the reason why I do

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what I do now is because I want to preserve health.

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Yes.

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Health. I'm in the health business here, you know, because

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health is, is so important alongside time of course I'm

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obsessed by time as well sure we all are.

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And it doesn't seem like.

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But it's the mental and physical health um and that's

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that's what we're really talking about here and so you

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know I ran around for years and I went okay

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let's find out you know driven Janice yes what what

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are those um things that you know top performers such

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as yourself Lisa what what do they do to thrive

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and and so I went through this stage where I

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interviewed everyone I could and and learned and I became

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this treasure hunter and I wanted idea after idea and

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and what I found is it comes down to five

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things you know top performers and coaches and mentors that

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I've met through the years it came down to five

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things and since I had that time they're the five

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things that I've tried to practice every single thing every

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single day um just I know that.

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You do as well um you know, we're lifelong learners, right?

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Yes. And so, you know, things like number one, daily celebration.

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If we can't celebrate our wins, what have we got

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in life? And also, a life worth living is a

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life worth documenting, right? And I'm so inspired by your

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books and the way you document. So I know that

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you practice that too. And I think that's something we

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learn from each other as music teachers, isn't it? And

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the second thing is move your body daily. If you

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don't move, you can't move that lift. You can't get well.

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So it's about moving to grow and to replenish ourselves.

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Third thing was to prioritise. And this was really hard

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for me because I was not a sleeper. But to

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prioritise good sleep has been a massive win for me.

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And please, everyone, make sure. that, you know, you get

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good bedding so you can sleep properly. It's been a

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huge development in my life and it's worth every dollar

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spent on it. Far more money spent on that for

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me than any sleep, than anything else. And that's saying

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something because I spend a lot of money on books

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and reading and learning from others.

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Yeah.

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The other thing is practicing mindfulness. I mean, if we

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can't be present with this moment to understand the beauty

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of this in all of imperfection, right? Yes. All of

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us in perfection. What else can we do?

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That's so cute.

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And for me, I'm a clarinet player, so breathing comes

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hand in hand with that for me as well. And

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the fifth thing is dedicating that time for personal learning.

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You say it all the time, Lisa. You say, I'm

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a lifelong student, and I think As teachers, that's a

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mission for us, isn't it? We are role models. Whether

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we like to do so or not, we are role models.

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And if we don't practice that ourselves, how can we

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pass that on to us?

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Yes.

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So, you know, there's some of the things that I've

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learned out of that younger Janice story. And I think

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they're very powerful.

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Yes. I agree. I agree. You know, there's so much

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about you and there's so much that you give.

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Yes.

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Again, I have so many questions, so I'm trying to

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ask them in order. Okay, so start off. For those

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of our audience that are listening to us, they cannot

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see us. There are those that can see us.

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Yes.

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And on the bottom of our scroll on our view,

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we have funmusiccompany.com that is scrolling. And I would love

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for you to share a little bit about the development

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of the becoming of that.

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Oh, yes.

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Where we are with that today because you just I

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just you give so much it's like I sometimes I

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feel like oh my gosh I missed it I missed

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that part or I.

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Missed this part and it's yeah yeah and this is

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how the world comes to us isn't it it's so

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fast and so many things yes and I was in

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that spring of my life like I talked to you

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about before and um there was one time that I

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started in this school with a brand-new program. And, you know,

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about the only thing I had in common with this

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job was the fact that I had a degree.

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Yeah.

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There was nothing else. I didn't know what my point

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was going to be. And I met the previous teacher

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who was transferring to this other department and she said

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to me, Janice, it's okay. You know, you've got this.

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I'm leaving you with my whole filing cabinet.

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My filing cabinet, right?

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Filing cabinet full of resources and I know that she

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was a great teacher and she had this and she'd

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been doing this for years but you know to tell

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you the truth I opened that filing cabinet and I

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looked through all of those documents and I had no

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you're talking about overwhelm oh my goodness I had three

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levels of overwhelm sitting there I had no idea where

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to start and I didn't even know what any of

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it meant and she had it down and so I

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had to go home that night And even though I

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was starting the job, I was starting from scratch.

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Sure.

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And so I thought, you know, I wasn't even able

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to understand one idea, let alone a lesson plan.

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Yeah.

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And so, you know, I thought, well, if I'm feeling

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like this and, you know, I was, especially when I

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was added on to that 160-page document on top, I

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just thought, well, if I'm feeling like this, maybe other

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people are as well. And so that was the moment,

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even though it was 20 years before the start of

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the Fun Music Company, it was the moment that the

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vision really was created because I said to myself, what

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if we could do this at the touch of a button?

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What if we could? Because I was in the outback

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of South Australia and it was three hours to my

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closest library where I could sit and plan a lesson

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outside of school. And I thought, I can't do it

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every day. So the Fun Music Company materials really are

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researched and they're sequenced, they're planned, and they're planned over

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that entire curriculum. So over the years, you know, I

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went through that stage for 20 years after that. I

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really did become that treasure hunter. Yes. I was like

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everyone else and we were looking for that idea and

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this idea. But what I've worked out is that an

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idea is a dime a dozen. Anyone, we can all

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come up with ideas. We can all do that. What

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makes a difference is the progression because our students go

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from A to Z, don't they? And the journey is

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never straight.

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No.

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You know, there's cliffs and there's sharks and there's challenge

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after challenge after challenge. And what I say to everyone

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I ever talk to is the challenges never go away.

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They just change.

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They change. Absolutely.

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They change with the season, don't they? They do.

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They do. And you had what you have on your website,

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the Fun Music Company, and please correct me, you focus

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what I saw. I briefly looked again today and I

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saw the focus on elementary, like K through 12. I

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forgot how sixth grade or I don't know how high,

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but yes.

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High to six. Yes. Yeah. I, you know, I don't,

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for all.

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The years that I've played, the more elementary you can

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continue to teach me, the easier it is to learn.

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So it doesn't matter what, what level any musician is

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at or any teachers at, because you have so much

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to share. Can you tell us a little bit about

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what you do offer as far as focusing on the

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elementary level?

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Absolutely. Well, I mean, I think the thing I offer

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most is that I think I can reach the, because

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I've been, I started high school and moved my way down.

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I think what I would like for people to take

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is that you don't have to have all the skills

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in place to be able to teach something really successfully.

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You don't have to be the expert in every area.

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I mean, we all develop our expertise and our things,

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our inspirations, but You know, you don't have to have

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all the skills to teach everything. You can't in music.

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It's so much. So, you know, so that's why, especially

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in the levels of K and building up, we do

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a little bit of support with video because I was

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that teacher in that classroom with the filing cabinet without

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that support and I needed a few cues. as a specialist,

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I was told that I was a specialist, but I

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didn't feel like one at that time. And, uh, and

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what we found over the years is that it's not

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just beginner teachers that need these sorts of materials. It's

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actually better teachers who have been doing it for a long,

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long time. That really surprised us. You never lose surprise

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in life, do you?

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No, no, we don't.

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So the video is there to support and, um, if

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you're not confident in what the lesson's about, you just

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quickly overview yourself and then you can do it in

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your own words or you can use it to support

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you in the classroom. You know, many teachers say that

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they can't talk that day or they haven't got time

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to overview, so they show it in the classroom. It's

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just there to support and guide and, you know, we're

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here to pull each other up, not bring each other down.

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That's just one of those supports we can offer.

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It's so true and, you know, you say... You know,

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at some point we think we're supposed to know it all.

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And I think for me personally, as a teacher, and

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I've been, I mean, I've been teaching since high school,

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but music specifically for over 20 years, I realized because

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I've gotten involved in other music groups here in my community,

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I realized no matter what degree somebody has, we can

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never stop learning.

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Yeah.

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And we like you said, we kind of help each other,

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inspire each other. And I think it was a breaking

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point for me to really say, oh, well, you know,

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if I don't have my master's degree like so and so,

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then I'm not good enough. But that's not true because

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we all bring something so special and so unique to

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the table. And then that's how we learn from each

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other and grow as as teachers to our students. Yes, yes.

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And that's really what it's about is just sharing. We

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can get caught up in so many different things in

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schools and there's so much going on that people don't

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The Sound of Gold with The Fun Music Company with Januce Tuck.

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