Teaching Beyond the Notes
At Hobsonville Point Secondary School, music classrooms are about more than rehearsal and performance - they are spaces where students connect, explore, and grow.
Jeni Little, the school’s Music Specialist and Head of Performing Arts, has spent 39 years teaching across early childhood, secondary, and tertiary education in Aotearoa. A finalist in the Music Teacher of the Year Awards 2021, she also serves on the New Zealand Music Commission Trust Board.
For Jeni, music is a connector. “It’s cultural currency,” she says. “It’s how students express themselves and relate to others.”
The current generation of students, she notes, face particular challenges. Many have experienced disruptions due to lockdowns, weather events, and strikes.
“Teaching has become more challenging,” Jeni acknowledges. “Students behave very differently now to how they did, say, 15 years ago. There’s more anxiety. Some have missed key social experiences.”
In that environment, she believes music offers a useful point of connection.
Music, she says, acts as an equaliser.
“Students with different skills, backgrounds, and interests come together in ways they might not elsewhere.”
Jeni recalls a recent example where a student band needed a bass player. In one of her classes was a capable bassist who wasn’t part of the band’s friendship group. She suggested they meet and try rehearsing together.
“There was some hesitation at first,” she says. “They didn’t really know each other.”
The collaboration worked. The band gained a new member; the bassist found a wider circle. For Jeni, it was a simple but telling reminder of how music can bridge social divides.
Neuroscience educator Kathryn Berkett says Jeni’s approach to teaching ignites a release of good chemicals in the brain.
“When we engage in music in a fun, collective, safe way – the brain activates endorphins. These chemicals enhance the development of learning pathways in the brain during the exercise, but also for a time afterwards,” she says.
Over the years, Jeni has found a flexible approach to teaching works best for her students. “It’s student-led; I’m guided by what each student’s interest or passion lies.”
In Jeni’s classes, students work in groups, experiment with instruments, compose music, or explore sound production depending on their strengths and goals.
Central to her teaching is what she calls ‘recognising the moment where a student can grow’.
“Sometimes you see that a student could achieve NCEA Excellence, and you work alongside them towards that goal,” she says. And while she taught students such as Liam Finn and Chaii who have gone on to have illustrious musical careers, Jeni says some of the best moments have been when she has worked with a student who doubts themselves go on to get an Achieved.
She describes working with a small group of five students who had struggled with behaviour and engagement in other classes. Rather than focusing on discipline, she encouraged them to collaborate on writing and recording an original song, supported by a mentor.
“They had ownership,” she says. “They were working towards something tangible.”
Over time, their attendance and behaviour improved. Other teachers noticed the change. While she is careful not to overstate music’s role, Jeni says creative projects can give students a sense of competence and responsibility that carries into other areas.
“With a neuroscience lens, it is known that when we feel more in control within our environment, the brain-body system feels safer. This sense of safety allows the upper, learning areas of the brain to engage in more empathic and cognitive tasks, rather than focus on survival,” says Kathryn.
“Jeni’s example of the five students lends itself well to demonstrating this theory in practice,” she adds.
Music also provides a structured way to process emotion. Students learn to write lyrics, compose melodies or channel energy into performance. For some, that outlet becomes important during difficult periods.
“Music gives them a place to put things,” Jeni says. “Sometimes it’s easier to express something in a song than in a conversation.”
Her emphasis on safety and respect is deliberate. Through her involvement with MENZA’s ‘Safer Spaces in Music Education’ initiative, Jeni advocates for inclusive classrooms where students feel secure enough to participate, and for those spaces to respect that touch is off limits.
“You can’t expect creativity if students don’t feel safe,” she says.”
Jeni’s own musical journey has shaped her openness and versatility. Classically trained initially on the double bass, she expanded into contemporary music and ethnomusicology, observing music’s role in everyday life in the Cook Islands. These experiences reinforced her belief that music should be accessible, inclusive, and relevant to students’ own cultural and personal identities.
She tries to replicate that sense of accessibility at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. Students learn to read notation, but they also play by ear, experiment with digital production software and collaborate in bands. Technical skill is important, she says, but so is participation.
In a school environment where academic pressure can be high, music can offer a different measure of success. A student who struggles in written exams may excel in live performance. Another may discover aptitude in production or composition.
For Jeni, the impact of teaching music goes beyond marks or awards. It’s about fostering connection, collaboration, and growth. It’s about helping students find their voice, take creative risks, and discover that they are capable of more than they might have imagined.
Written by Penny Hartill.