452: Meet Dr Anita Collins – TopMusicLive Keynote Speaker

Hey listeners, it's Tim here. Just a quick note to invite you to join us live in Sydney for our in-person 2-day Top Music Live Conference over the 15th and 16th of April, 2026. I am so excited to finally be putting together another dynamic, inspirational, life-changing experience for music teachers after the success of our Piano Pivot Live Conference in 2020. You'll enjoy thought-provoking keynotes, live teaching demonstrations, interactive workshops, fun movement, roundtable masterminds, and our famous implementation sessions to make sure everyone gets most from their investment. Early bird ticket pricing is now available and it includes all catering. Head over to topmusiclive.com for all the details. Prices increase really, really soon. I can't wait to see you there.

It's like the world has shifted. Absolutely. How are we going to shift with it to make it work for us? And I think that's where music sits with it. But I also think understanding it, having come— so many of our teachers who are of a generation or 2 generations you know, older than the students we're teaching, it's a real mind shift to go, what do our students need now from us that we would never have thought of in the way we were taught or the way we learned?

You're listening to the TopCast, the original podcast for growth-minded instrumental music and voice teachers since 2015, with your host, Tim Topham. Our mission at Top Music is to empower instrumental music and voice teachers to find and nurture their innate creativity so that they can teach lessons that are innovative, integrated, and inspiring, and that will have a positive lifelong impact on their students. Join us each week as we interview teachers and creators from around the world and unpack fun and exciting ideas to maximize your teaching and studio business success. G'day teachers, welcome back to the TopCast. So great to be spending a little bit of time with you again this week. How's your teaching going? Hope things are ticking along wherever you are in the world and whatever you are up to. Now, with this month, as you know, on both this podcast and the Top Music Piano Podcast, we've been focused on neurodivergent teaching and how to support our neurodivergent students. We've been getting great feedback, particularly about the spotlight that we ran a couple of weeks ago. That's of course available to all our members inside Top Music Pro, and also the incredible course that we've been mentioning too, our course called Unfazed by Selena Pistaresi, including the incredible Milestone Method, which is a method book that she's created for neurodivergent students. All of that our members are thoroughly enjoying inside Top Music Pro. We've been getting great feedback on the course modules, people answering, asking questions, making comments. Uh, it's just been fantastic to watch. And so we're really grateful to everyone who's contributed to this month, and we hope it's been really helpful for you. Today we're taking a little look ahead to April because, as you know, we are running our live event in April, April 15th and 16th. Top Music Live is back. After a 5-year break, and we cannot be more excited about what we're putting together for you. Today on the show, you get to meet our opening keynote speaker. It's the amazing Dr. Anita Collins. Dr. Collins is an internationally recognized educator, researcher, writer, and consultant who bridges the gap between cutting-edge brain science and everyday teaching practice. Best known for her expertise in music learning and brain development, She uses this powerful lens to address broader educational challenges, including student engagement, parent advocacy, and system-wide innovation. Anita's presentations inspire new possibilities. Her consulting transforms how schools and organizations think and act, and her pragmatic strategies ensure change is both achievable and lasting. I am delighted to welcome our 2026 opening keynote speaker, Dr. Anita Collins, to talk about what she's going to be presenting to us in April. Here we go. Anita Collins, so great to hang out with you again. Thanks for coming on the show.

Oh, it's so nice to be back.

And you've just rearranged your room so that it looks pretty.

I know, I was saying like an hour ago, this was all taken apart and I was like, where am I going to put things? I'm moving things around. I dismantled furniture. I did everything.

Well, you're looking super calm and cool considering that's all just happened. So, look, for those who maybe don't know you so well, your quick Quick self-intro and then we'll get into what we're talking about today.

Okay. I am a music teacher. I have a very big interest in music learning and brain development, and I did a PhD in it. And I am still fascinated every single day about how the brain is changed, enhanced, improved, made more effective by when we learn music. But also, it's teaching me every single day about the music learning process and all the real intricacies that sit in that.

Yeah. And the way I describe you to other teachers is you take all this incredibly complex research we don't understand and you distill it for music teachers to understand. And you do that brilliantly.

That's my plan.

So I am so, so excited that you are coming to join us at Top Music Live in Sydney in April this year as one of our keynote speakers.

It's going to be incredible. It's just— I'm buzzing about it already.

I'm just super pumped. You were a part of our 2020, our first conference.

Well, was I?

Yeah, well, just— you were— I know you were stuck. You couldn't make it down to Canberra— to Melbourne from Canberra at the last minute. Anyway, we made it work and everyone raved about the presentation that you gave. But this time we're talking something different because a lot has changed in 5 years. And I think one of those big issues that we're all up against at the moment, and perhaps you can just elaborate a little bit on what's actually going on, is that kids' brains are changing. And this idea of having to put long-term effort in to get a reward is a real battle for a lot of kids.

Absolutely. We all would have noticed it. COVID really like supercharged it. But now we're, we're out of that, and we've been out of it for a while. But it's really about understanding that the, the generation of students that we're teaching are now quite different. They've grown up through a different process and different experiences. And devices and now AI are affecting all of the, the aspects where we put effort in and where— what we get back from putting effort in. Everything is perceived to need to be easy, to never stretch us too far to feel uncomfortable, to, yeah, just make sure that we, we don't put too much effort in. It's not too hard. It's what everything's Progressive. And while I absolutely understand that, and that's where we as humans feel comfortable, where our brains actually grow is when we're presented with a challenge that we're not absolutely positive we can do. And the brain goes, all right, I'm not positive we can do this, but if I did have to do it, what would I have to change and how would I have to develop to make this happen? And that's when growth occurs. And in the music world, and when we, when we learn music, we take those leaps all the time. We take the leap as soon as we turn the page onto the next piece that we're going to do, which is just that little bit harder than the last piece was. But it's always a measurable leap, and we can do that leap with help from our teachers, which is why our teachers are so important in that process. There's a way of thinking about this, that music teachers keep children in the zone of proximal development, that place where I can do it with help for longer than anybody else, and that's the point where the brain actually grows and changes and solves problems for itself and really becomes, in the end, persistent and resilient. Now we're in a place where we're not— the leaps we're taking, as far as the way I look at it, the leaps we're asking students to take are too small. We're too worried. We don't want them to be anxious about something. We want them to feel comfortable all the time, and the problem is As humans in development, we weren't meant to feel comfortable all the time. We're actually meant to feel uncomfortable a lot of the time. And this is where I think music learning is why we're coming up against it going students who are really much more reticent and don't have the skills to take that leap. And also while we're finding that their learning is not necessarily slowing down, but there's more barriers that are coming up against it. But as I said, in this world of ease and this world of AI, which is a really emerging part of this, music learning's never been more important than it is now because we have to keep our brains in as great a shape as possible. And music learning is going to do that.

Yeah. I mean, it does feel hard, harder than it's been teaching music to students because, yes, there is this, you know, you know, flip I'll watch a video for 1 second, 2 seconds. I see my kids doing it. It's like they can't even— we get in the car, they can't listen to a full song. It's like, oh, next song, next song. I'm like, can we just listen to one song, please? This is all pervasive in the kids that we teach these days. And so, teachers, I think we all have to learn from someone like you who understands what's going on in the brain, knows the research to go, okay, well, what can we actually do? And I don't want you to answer that question because that's what we're going to be talking about at the conference. But to set the scene, there has been scientific changes, as I understand, in this loss of resilience, kids perhaps even not being as intelligent as they once were. Is that true? Are we able to— this is terrifying to say this, but—

Terrifying, but ever so interesting. So basically every single year, I can't remember the starting year, but it was very early 1900s. Where we started having IQ tests and they were sort of more done globally. And we could basically say globally our IQ is at this particular point. Where is average? So in theory, you know, average is 100. In some countries it sits at 103, in some countries it sits at 94, something like that. And then we've been able to measure it in every generation. Now, of course, with the changes in Lifestyle, changes in schooling, changes in technology, all sorts of things. Every single generation we've seen IQ rise until now. So we've reached a point where the most recent generation, which is Generation Z, have— their intelligence, their IQ has dipped. It's the first time we've ever seen it. But it's so interesting to think about, well, why is this so? What's happened, what's changed. Now, if we look at what's happened in the life of this generation, you know, they've— we've got screens, we've got the internet in our pocket, we've got the internet, and then we've got it.

Yeah.

Um, we have made this thing which activates our dopamine receptors incredibly often and quickly. And this is why kids can't— they don't want to listen to a whole song because there's— they can change it, as opposed to, you know, if we were listening to the radio, it's like you can't change the song, you have to wait So the radio changes the song. There's a whole bunch of things. They've been given so much choice in their lives that that choice is actually starting to have an impact on how their brain grows. And it's— I think it's a wonderful statistic because it means it's time. It's time to change. These devices and the way we interact with the world is not going to change. We have to change to work with it. And interestingly enough, I think that's where music learning is going to be a really important step to be not about every, you know, if you're interested in music, let's learn. No, it's actually a really important point that every child needs to learn music for their cognitive health and their well-being. And I think that, that sort of, that IQ bit is there, but also the, the lack of the ability to feel comfortable with discomfort. The biggest thing we've seen in Western first world countries is just kids unable to sit, and adults unable to sit in discomfort. Um, and alternatively having ways that we can escape discomfort. So behaviors, drugs, all sorts of things, and they're getting stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger. So we're in this such an interesting time. It's like the world has shifted, absolutely. How are we going to shift with it to make it work for us? And I think that's where music sits with it. But I also think understanding it, having come— so many of our teachers who are of a generation or 2 generations You know, older than the students we're teaching, it's a real mind shift to go, what do our students need now from us that we would never have thought of in the way we were taught or the way we learned?

Yeah, there you go. You've heard it first from Dr. Anita Collins. We need to change. The world has moved. We've got to keep moving and we've got to keep adapting and changing. We didn't, as music teachers, I mean, for those listening who perhaps are even older than me, They wouldn't have had to change much about their teaching for many decades and would have been quite successful. I think I would be right in saying. And I think— but now, yes, we're at this point where actually you unfortunately are going to be left behind. You will lose students very quickly if you don't start adapting. And so that's what this talk is all about. And I would love to invite you all to come and join Anita and me at Top Music Live. April 15th and 16th in Sydney. We're meeting at the Roslyn Packer Theatre, which is part of Sydney Theatre Company. It's right on the wharves. It's a stunning spot. And Anita's topic, you've just had a little bit of a taste of what she's been talking about, really talking about the struggle is real for students and hard things matter. And what do we do? How do we turn that frustration into fuel? What do they need from us? How do we adapt? That is what Anita is going to be sharing with us. It's going to be really interactive. We're probably going to be discussing things. I can just tell you're going to be taking away Anita, thanks so much for giving us a little quick taste of what we have coming up. Is there anything else you wanted to just add before we hopefully see people in April?

No, I just, I can't express how excited I am and how exciting it is to have this big conversation. We don't do it enough. We're fantastic at, you know, step by step, all the music learning, all the, you know, all the business things that we do as well as part of our teaching. But this is really the big stuff that we should be thinking about and will actually supercharge our own teaching. So I cannot wait. I cannot wait to rise to the challenge that you've, you've given me of talking about this topic.

Thank you so much, Anita. You can see Anita, she'll be first up on our Wednesday morning as our keynote speaker and will set the scene for the whole conference. Thank you so much, Anita. I can't wait to see you then.

Thanks.

Well, I hope that has inspired you to consider coming along to Top Music Live. In Sydney, if you haven't already got your ticket. So the event details are it's on the 15th and 16th of April, and we're running this in Sydney, as I mentioned, at the amazing Roslyn Packer Theatre. This is part of the Sydney Theatre Company Wharf Theatres. This is like literally on the harbour. Harbour Bridge views are not very far away at all, and this venue is stunning. Incredible catering is all included for both lunches and morning and afternoon teas, and Dr. Anita Collins is just one of our amazing speakers. Coming up soon on the podcast, I'm going to introduce you to Samantha Coates, notes. We also have Mark Matthews, we have Paul Myatt, there's me of course, there's Elisa Milne who hasn't spoken on stage for quite some time. She's a composer and very well-known Australian pedagogue. We've also got Laura Kaha, Bec Stewart. I mean, this is just the lineup made in heaven and I can't wait to bring this to you, but you need to get your tickets. So early bird, super, our super early bird pricing is running out at the end of February. And then the price will increase. So if you haven't got your ticket, please make sure you grab it ASAP at topmusiclive.com. I think if you're listening to this episode as it goes live, I think you're going to have about 1 week in order to grab your early, super early bird ticket. We've already got delegates flying in from all over Australia, so you will be really well looked after. And I know it's going to be quite a party because on the Wednesday night as well, if you want to, you can join our 10th birthday anniversary dinner. Now this, this kind of milestone doesn't come along very often. And I've got to be honest with you, many of you have been listening to this podcast for 10 years or more. Back when I started, I really didn't expect that I would still be here and celebrating a 10th birthday party for Top Music Pro membership in Sydney as part of this conference. I mean, this is just super cool. So it's going to be a really special event for delegates, sponsors, speakers, and friends of Top Music. And I really hope you can join us. That'll be on the Wednesday night. More details will be coming out to that about that to our delegates. Once you have your ticket, make sure you go and grab your ticket. Find out more. Find out the speaker lineup. Uh, the schedule is now live as well. All the details, topmusiclive.com, and I will see you in Sydney. How do you keep up to date with all the latest trends and research into music education? How do you connect with other teachers around the world and make sure your teaching stays fresh and relevant for students of all ages and stages, both now and into the future? I created our Top Music Pro membership to be the one-stop shop for music teaching resources, training, support, and community And I'd love for you to come and join us inside. With over 40 comprehensive training courses, hundreds of teaching demonstrations and lesson plans, free monthly sheet music discounts, and all the business and pedagogy support you could ever need, Top Music Pro is the community you've been looking for. If you're ready to level up your learning from the podcast and join thousands of other teachers in our global network, head over to topmusicpro.com today. If you enjoy this show and want to hear more of our work, be sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening today. For links and resources mentioned in this episode, visit us at toppmusic.co/podcast or check out the show notes. I'm Tim Topham. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy your week ahead, and I'll catch you next time.