Notable Values : Change Your Tune

Notable Values : Change Your Tune Redesigning how to learn and earn in classical music.

What one thing would I change about classical music culture?A great closing question from Associate Professor Margaret O...
10/06/2026

What one thing would I change about classical music culture?

A great closing question from Associate Professor Margaret Osborne.

Thank you to the Australian Music & Psychology Society for the opportunity to discuss something I care deeply about: the idea that human wellbeing is not separate from artistic excellence.

I'm firm on my belief that it's a condition that makes excellence possible and sustainable.

In this conversation with a dear friend and respected colleague, we explore how:

• Psychological safety is a performance issue, not just a wellbeing issue
• Feedback is a skill that can be learned, not an interaction to be feared
• Relational intelligence protects both people and performance

And my answer to that final question?

If I could wave a magic wand, I would help people resist using judgmental language about themselves and others.

Because I rarely hear positive judgment. I mostly hear criticism.

That habit shapes how we relate, and how healthy our workplaces become.

Thank you, Margaret, for such a thoughtful conversation and for creating space to explore these issues with curiosity, rigour, and hope.

🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALYNcJ4_9UQ&rco=1

NEW EPISODE. Every orchestra has a bridge between musicians and staff. What fascinates me is who gets to see both sides....
08/06/2026

NEW EPISODE. Every orchestra has a bridge between musicians and staff. What fascinates me is who gets to see both sides.

I've been thinking about assistant conductors lately because they often occupy a rare position (oh and I'm married to one!). They spend time on both sides of the bridge, close enough to understand the realities of performance and close enough to understand the realities of running an organisation.

The more time I spend partnering with orchestras, the more I think many of our tensions and misunderstandings are the result of different vantage points.

From a distance, it can seem as though musicians and staff inhabit very different worlds.

I'm not sure they do.

We train people to become exceptional musicians. We train people to become skilled administrators, fundraisers, marketers and leaders. What we don't often do is help people understand the pressures, constraints and responsibilities carried by those working on the other side of the organisation.

Recently, Martin and I were reflecting on this. Neither of us came to orchestras through a traditional pathway. Ingrid has worked as an emergency doctor and a school music teacher. Before orchestras, I founded and led a technology consultancy.

What strikes us is how familiar these dynamics are.

Different sectors. Different language. Different structures.

The same challenge.

People doing important work under pressure, trying to make good decisions with finite resources and incomplete information.

Perhaps the bridge between musicians and staff is strong enough.

What seems to be in shorter supply is perspective.

🎧️ https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/change-your-tune/id1577500832

Thank you League of American Orchestras for 3 inspiring days in Baltimore. Choosing which sessions to attend felt a bit ...
04/06/2026

Thank you League of American Orchestras for 3 inspiring days in Baltimore. Choosing which sessions to attend felt a bit like being asked to pick a favourite ice cream flavour — impossible, because I wanted them all!

Special thanks to Catherine Beeson for the invitation to co-design “When the Culture Feels ‘Not Okay’: Small Steps Musicians Can Take”. Besson brilliantly set the tone for an honest discussion, which was backed up with practical tools. Thank you Caen Thomason-Redus and Sam Andrew for supportin this musician constituency session.

It's no surprise that people and their behaviour at work is my focus, so highlights were:

Creating Healthy Orchestral Work Environments with Jane Booth and Professor Virginia Bratton. Ginny's presentation on contest culture and Jane's presentation on behaviour change were 🤯

Tools for Challenging Conversations with Jessica Schmidt. Jessica's explanation of the curiosity curve and the connection to psychological safety also 🤯

Building Equitable Practices in Auditions and Tenure with John Clapp, Chief Orchestra and Production Officer, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Such detailed, thoughtful, person centred process design. I was whooping and hollering on the inside about this work. The mic drop moment was a change in their wording from "Tenure" ➡️ "Process of integration".

Diversifying Earned Revenue with Anthony D. Meyers, facilitated by Zak Vassar also delivered on people centricity with a participant (I'm sorry I didn't catch your name) sharing their free child care model for performances! If I captured it correctly, the U3s have standard child minding while ages 4+ experience a music immersion and education experience while the performance is live streamed to a screen in the same room so they're also watching the concert. 🤯🤯🤯

Here's to 2027 in Atlanta.

Another thing that comes up quite often is people acting earlier than they used to.They describe saying things sooner, n...
01/06/2026

Another thing that comes up quite often is people acting earlier than they used to.

They describe saying things sooner, not holding onto concerns for as long, or stepping into something rather than waiting for more certainty before doing it.

It is rarely described as a big behavioural change. It is more about timing.

And that shift in timing seems to reduce how much builds up in the background of work, where small things start to accumulate without being addressed.

If any of this resonates and you’re working with similar dynamics, I’m always open to a no-obligation conversation about what this could look like in your context. DM or [email protected]

You know it’s going to be a sophisticated and nuanced discussion when Ingrid drops the word “nebulous” in the intro.“Art...
25/05/2026

You know it’s going to be a sophisticated and nuanced discussion when Ingrid drops the word “nebulous” in the intro.

“Artistic Excellence.”

We hear and use the phrase in many ways:

– a justification for decisions
– a way of protecting the status quo against examination
– sometimes even a slur against those we disagree with

We unpack this from two perspectives, my lens of human health and Ingrid’s lens of musical artistry.

You’ll also hear our first on-air “pushback” ;)

In this episode we explore:

• Why “I’ll know it when I hear it” is not enough
• How preparing for conflicting opinions can help groups move toward unity
• The risk of confusing technical precision with expression

🎧️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-your-tune/id1577500832

A really consistent theme in participant feedback is how differently feedback lands after the programme.The content is n...
25/05/2026

A really consistent theme in participant feedback is how differently feedback lands after the programme.

The content is not necessarily different. What changes is what people do with it internally.

They describe being able to hear things without immediately turning it into something about themselves in the same way. There is less tendency to move straight into defence or withdrawal.

And they often talk about staying in the conversation longer than they would have before, even when something is uncomfortable or not what they were expecting to hear.

That ability to stay with it seems to change what becomes possible next in those interactions.

If this connects with the work you’re doing, I’m happy to have a no-obligation conversation to explore whether something like this could be useful in your context. DM or [email protected]

People often describe something quite simple happening in the moment when things feel charged or fast moving.They pause ...
18/05/2026

People often describe something quite simple happening in the moment when things feel charged or fast moving.

They pause more.

Not in a deliberate or formal way, more like there is a bit more space between something happening and the response that would normally follow.

In their reflections they talk about noticing defensiveness or reaction as it is starting to happen and not immediately going with it.

What they tend to describe afterwards is that the conversation doesn’t escalate in the same way it might have before. There is a bit more room for it to stay usable.

If this connects with the work you’re doing, I’m happy to have a no-obligation conversation to explore whether something like this could be useful in your context. DM or [email protected]

I’ve just wrapped up the first 12-month program with two orchestras, working with musicians and staff through workshops ...
11/05/2026

I’ve just wrapped up the first 12-month program with two orchestras, working with musicians and staff through workshops and coaching.

With permission, I’m sharing a few of the things people have been describing afterwards.

Something that keeps coming back in the follow-up is how people describe their communication shifting when they are back in rehearsals and meetings.

They talk about saying things more directly, without as much building around it. Less feeling like they have to prepare the sentence fully before they speak.

And what they notice is not that the conversations change in some dramatic way, but that there is less confusion afterwards. Less time spent unpicking what was meant, or going back over things to clarify intent.

It’s subtle, but it shows up consistently in how people describe using the tools in real situations.

If this connects with the work you’re doing, I’m always open to a no-obligation conversation about what this could look like in your context. Drop me a DM or email susan@notablevalues

NEW EPISODE Conducting isn’t a one-way top-down flow of communication. It depends on feedback loops working inside syste...
11/05/2026

NEW EPISODE Conducting isn’t a one-way top-down flow of communication. It depends on feedback loops working inside systems shaped by hierarchy, history, and power.

In this episode, Ingrid and I talk about conducting as something that develops through feedback, not something you either have or don’t when you step onto the podium.

But orchestral systems aren’t really set up for that.

Musicians and staff are expected to give feedback, but there is rarely much structure around what that actually means in practice. People are reading the room as much as they are responding to the music. That shapes what gets said, and what doesn’t.

And when formal feedback does move, it rarely moves cleanly. It arrives late. It gets softened. It comes through layers of people who are also managing risk, reputation, and timing.

By the time it reaches a conductor, it is often already out of sync with the moment it refers to.

There is also a tension built into conducting itself. The expectation is to lead with certainty while staying open enough to change direction when needed. That doesn’t resolve neatly. It just has to be lived with.

And it only really works when feedback is timely, specific, and actually part of the working structure, not something that happens around it.

If we want to take conductor development seriously, feedback can’t sit in the informal space between rehearsals, or in corridor conversations after the fact. It has to be designed into the work itself.

Otherwise you end up with early-career conductors getting useful feedback months later, in the wrong room, about a moment everyone has already moved on from.

A lot of what gets called “impact” at work is actually irritation.Not genuine disruption to work, not risk, just irritat...
07/05/2026

A lot of what gets called “impact” at work is actually irritation.

Not genuine disruption to work, not risk, just irritation.

In coaching I often ask: is this affecting your ability to do your job, or is it just hard to tolerate?

People realise they’ve been treating those as the same thing. Once you separate them, things get simpler. Not everything needs action. Some things just don’t.

What I see is irritation being labelled as “impact” and then treated as something that needs a response.

And then time and attention get spent on something that was never actually limiting performance.

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