Early-career secondary school music teachers often take time to settle into the profession, developing their professional identity, classroom competence (Day & Gu, 2007) and sense of belonging. For those nearing the end of their teaching careers (labelled in this research as super veterans), the impetus to leave a legacy is common.The focus of this study was to reveal factors that affect Australian secondary school music teachers in their work, exploring motivation, value, challenge and career commitment. Utilising Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy, a key feature of his social cognitive theory as a theoretical framework (Bandura, 1997), the exploratory study employed quantitative and qualitative methods, comprising a national survey (n=269) and interviews (n=40) of Australian secondary school music teachers across all career stages. The national survey captured 59 responses from early-career music teachers and 32 from those classified as super veterans (more than 30 years teaching experience).From the survey, eleven early-career and eight super veteran secondary school music teachers were selected for interview from a cross-section of Australian states and territories, gender, school locations (metropolitan, regional, remote) and school types (Government, Catholic/Systemic, Independent and Other). The interviews contained ten questions, focussing on motivation, value, challenge, stress, curriculum implementation, professional development and career forecast.The impact of mentoring was highlighted as a motivational factor for early-career music teachers. Where learning was exchanged, connection was increased between mentors and mentees. Often, mentoring was being facilitated between those in early-career and super veterans. In addition, the impetus of super veteran music teachers to leave a legacy, often led to focussed interest in those starting in the profession. The bridges built across career stages, with novice teachers being supported through collaboration with experienced colleagues was evident.This research highlights the rich collaborative dynamic that is already present within many Australian secondary schools and offers suggestions on how to build these connections further. It also adds to the literature on the value of mentoring, legacy and career stage connection for music teachers in Australian secondary schools.