Music for Education & Wellbeing

In this episode, I talk with Katrina Damigos, head of teacher training at Music Masters. Their one-year Musicians of Change PGCEi  (level 7) trains musicians ‘committed to transforming music education’, to teach in any setting. 

In this episode, I talk with Nick Denham, who moved from Participation and Inclusion work at Hertfordshire Music Service into Public Health, where he’s now a Senior Knowledge Transfer Facilitator. We discuss Hertfordshire's Power of Music Centre of Excellence – training care staff as music champions for people living with dementia, and what listeners can learn from this work.

In this episode, I talk with Jason Goopy, internationally recognised music educator, lecturer and researcher at Edith Cowan University near Perth in Western Australia. We discuss what happens when music education is shaped by trauma-informed positive education – and what it can teach us about what music education could and should be for.  

In this episode, I talk with Claire McColl and Pili Lopez from Dorset Music Service, and Tenley Martin from Leeds Beckett University, about their music and wellbeing training for primary school Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs). It’s a great example of a music service thinking creatively about how to increase access to music, and raise awareness of its value.

In this episode, I talk with Graeme Smith, a research consultant and former head of music and arts at Croydon Council, former chair of Music Mark, and member of Arts Council England's hubs advisory group. We discuss his research to test what works to improve pupils’ emotional wellbeing through the arts in primary schools; the impact and progression framework that he’s developed; and it’s other application, in work to address serious youth violence.

In this podcast I’m talking with Kate McBain and Dan Tsu, researchers and authors of Industry Connect, a report commissioned by Youth Music. It explores the realities of moving from education into careers in music, particularly for young people from underrepresented backgrounds. We unpack the barriers mapped in the report and the solutions emerging from the work, including reframing how we talk about ‘the music industry’ ‘pathways’ and ‘pipelines’.   

In this episode I’m talking with the authors of a new book called Resonant Minds – the transformative power of music, which explores how we can use the powerful response that our brain has to music, with intention – to feel more, focus better, connect deeper and lead more resonant lives.  Sara Leila Sherman is a classical musician, educator and co-founder of Mozart for Munchkins, and her co author and father Mort Sherman has held senior positions in education in the States, and is a founding member of Public Schools for Tomorrow. He also serves on the Goldie Hawn Foundation board, a charity set up to equip children with social and emotional skills through education programmes. 

My first ever guest, and music education advocacy superstar, Dr Anita Collins, returns in the 50th episode of my podcast. Anita describes herself as an educator, researcher and writer in the field of brain development and music learning - but she is so much more than that. We discuss her work in advocating for music education, and focus in on practical ways to win hearts and minds for music. 

 In this episode I’m joined by some of the team at CUMIN – the contemporary urban music for inclusion network: Dr Pete Dale, Professor Pam Burnard, and Dr Raphael Travis from the universities of York, Cambridge and Texas State University. The network is for anyone working through music with young people in genres like hip-hop, grime, EDM, house and more. We discuss the challenges of measuring impact, the need for multiple and participant-led methods in evaluation. We also discuss the book 'Music for Inclusion and Healing in Schools and Beyond'. 

In this episode I talk with Jenny Young, Director and founder of Blue Cabin, a charity based in the north East of England that strengthen relationships between care-experienced individuals and the people in their lives through creative activities. We talk about how Blue Cabin has grown, touching on developing practitioners, growing income streams, working with local authorities and adoption/fostering agencies, and evaluation.