Music Teacher Turned Edtech Founder
Ross Garrod is on a mission to disrupt music education as we know it
Imagine for a moment a music teacher on the floor of a crowded Delhi airport. He’s scribbling out his vision for a software product that could change the future of music education forever. Ross Garrod is a music teacher at his core. For nearly
20 years, he has dedicated his life to helping budding musicians – percussionists in particular – fall and stay in love with learning music. This journey has taken Ross around the country and even the world (his work as an international music examiner with Trinity College London is what brought him to the airport in India in the first place).
But throughout his teaching career, Ross grew increasingly frustrated over the obstacles he saw deterring music students from reaching their full potential – the result, it seemed, of a growing view that music education was no longer as important as it used to be.
Students were giving up on learning their instruments because the process often felt more like schoolwork than a fun, captivating activity. Schools were prioritising other departments, namely sport, due to a growing view of music education as ‘optional’ or ‘extracurricular,’ leaving their music programmes to languish. In addition, parents were valuing other academic subjects like science and maths over music out of a well intentioned but misguided belief that one is better for a child’s development than the other.
‘There is so much we can’t fix in this crazy world of ours,’ Ross reflects. ‘But something as fixable as how we approach music education does not deserve to stay broken.’
It was with this optimism and drive for change that Ross took a leap of faith from teaching to Edtech to found Practice Pal, a suite of dedicated tools that transform how schools, teachers, parents, and students move through music education together.
According to Ross, the state of music education in the UK is wounded – but not too far gone to save. Music teachers lack the tools and resources they need to succeed in a modern learning environment. And they are also woefully undervalued. ‘I know fellow music teachers who have broken down into tears over it all,’ Ross recounts. ‘I thought, if only I could invent something that could save these teachers a scrap of time. Something that would remind people why music education matters.’
Ross is on a mission with Practice Pal to completely change the face of music education. A key part of this is removing all the barriers to engaging with music for everyone involved. For Ross, ‘empowering students on their artistic journeys in every way we can starts with being the most ordered department in school, and continues with cultivating a love for music learning that lasts a lifetime.’