South Coast Music Partnership Conference

An early Sondheim obsession shaped Lucy’s approach to composition and storytelling. Her work is eclectic and theatrical and juxtaposes contrasting musical ideas and grooves to create visceral, gestural sound worlds. Lucy enjoys working closely with individual artists and often finds inspiration for her music in the unique characteristics of an ensemble, or a performer’s musical voice.  

Using composition as a creative tool for outreach and education is an important part of Lucy’s practice. She has led participation and learning projects with the London Sinfonietta and songwriting projects with the Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra and RNCM Engage. Lucy’s collaborative project with Kate Pearson and RNCM Engage was nominated for a Times Higher Education Award in 2018.

Kwame Bakoji-Hume is a leading expert on Akan culture and folklore. While the Artist in Residence at Ghana's National Centre for Culture in Kumasi, his work centred the folklore, proverbs, and symbolic art of the Akan people. Kwame is the founder and Creative Director of African Activities CIC, dedicated to promoting cultural education through creative workshops. His work empowers teachers to bring the rich traditions of African storytelling and reflective learning into their classrooms, enhancing cultural understanding and student engagement.

Singer Songwriter, Vocal Leader and Workshop Facilitator

Emily currently works with a variety of organisations, leading workshops, projects and composing and co-creating large scale works that have been performed by thousands of young people. These include Sing Up, Trinity College, BrittenPears Arts, West Sussex Music, Norfolk Music Hub, The Philharmonia Orchestra, ABRSM, Blackheath Prep School, The Benedetti Foundation and many other Music Education Hubs and establishments around the country.

A love of harmony singing and a desire to bring contemporary, accessible choral singing to the masses has led Emily to establish several community choirs under the umbrella of West Sussex Sings.

Emily also sings as part of acapella quartet Oaken, who are regularly running workshops and performing at gigs and festivals across the UK.

Emily runs workshops and courses for singers/songwriters as well as composition and song-writing training sessions for teachers, choral leaders and people working with young voices. Helping unlock the creativity of others and inspiring young people to find their own compositional voice is one of Emily’s greatest joys.

Rob Bradley is a world champion rapper, poet, and songwriter from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Known for his storytelling skills, meaningful lyrics, and freestyle ability, he has performed globally, from New York clubs to European festivals. He started writing poetry at age 8 and discovered rap at 12, quickly becoming passionate about it.

Rob believes everyone has a story but not always a way to tell it, which inspired him to start The Rap School. Since 2017, he has been delivering workshops in various educational settings and community projects both in and out of the UK, working with thousands of students every year. Rob has delivered TED talks, published poetry, and continually releases music (under the pseudonym Jack Flash). His love for rap and performance stems from its endless creativity and the constant opportunity to inspire people.

Matt is the Inclusion Lead for South Coast Music Partnership, Inclusion and Development Manager at SIOW Music, and a lecturer in music production at Solent University. He leads the South West Coastal Hub Youth Voice Network, and chairs the South West EDI Working Group.

Jen Flatman has had an exciting career in music education as a professional musician, peripatetic teacher along the south coast and in this current role. 

Jen graduated with a degree in Music from University College, Chichester and a PGCE from Portsmouth University. Her teaching career has led her to working as a peripatetic teacher for over 20 years in schools in the South East both in the independent sector and as a coach for county ensembles. Jen also manages to still perform regularly as a freelance musician in pop orchestras around the UK as well as working in her current role at Trinity where she is able to share her passion for Trinity's approach to music and the arts on a daily basis.

Jane comes with a wealth of specialist Early Years music experience and knowledge, as a project coordinator, an educator and a researcher practitioner with very young children. She firmly believes we should recognise in all our work and resources that everyone is born creative.

Having completed an MA in Early Childhood Music Education, Jane possesses both a deep theoretical knowledge and practical understanding of current issues in the Early Years sector. As well as Early Years Music Educator on Take Art’s ‘The SoundWaves Network South West’ (a Youth Music Early Years Music Programme) Jane is also Course Director and one of the tutors on the Certificate for Music Educators (CME): Early Childhood course based at CREC (Centre for Research in Early Childhood) in Birmingham.

Jacqui is an honorary Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education at the University of Sussex, co-director of the Autism Community Research Network (ACORNS) and a freelance disability inclusion consultant.  She was responsible for training primary and secondary teachers in special needs and inclusion in education at Sussex, and her PhD thesis was on autism and the transition from school to further / higher education.  She is currently working on international disability inclusion teacher training projects for Sightsavers International as well as running training on autism and learning disability across the education, health and care sectors. Jacqui also has 20 years’ lived experience with her son Luke, who has autism and severe learning difficulties.

David Stanley | The Music Man Project UK

David Stanley BEM is a disability rights campaigner, musical director, teacher, composer and concert producer. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, King’s College London, the Royal Academy of Music and the Institute of Education. David holds a Master’s Degree in Musical Analysis, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education and the National Professional Qualification for Secondary School Headship (NPQH). 

David established The Music Man Project as a national charity to meet growing national and international demand for his accessible music service, not just for the learning-disabled community, but for other vulnerable groups too. David campaigns for the equal rights of disabled people to perform at the most prestigious and aspirational venues in the world. He trains his students to become valued musicians in society and composes original music for them to perform.

Jason Thornton is the Music Director of Bath Philharmonia. He has conducted orchestras throughout the UK, Europe, America and the Far East, including the RPO, London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Jykasyla Sinfonia (Finland) and the Kaposvar Symphony Orchestra (Hungary).

After working as a classroom music teacher for 5 years, Jason retrained as a community music leader nearly twenty years ago. Since then he has led numerous projects particularly in the areas of merged SEN and mainstream participation. More recently, Jason has become a specialist in open access inclusive delivery in school and community settings. He has worked with many Music Hubs, Schools, Community Groups, Orchestras, Venues and Festivals across the UK and in Europe. For the last ten years, he has been leading all the Young Carer projects for Bath Philharmonia and he also founded and led the Community Music module at Bath Spa University, leading its delivery from 2009 to 2017. During lockdown Jason has led 60 online sessions for Young Carers from across the south west as well as developing and writing Go-Compose, a resource and digital tool for classroom composition for non-specialist teachers at Key Stage 2 as well as music teachers at Key Stage 3 for the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Music Hub Soundstorm. Jason frequently leads workforce training sessions with both musicians and teachers focusing on inclusive delivery.

JJ Wheeler, a Royal Academy of Music graduate, has a distinguished background in music education and performance. He has performed at iconic venues like Wembley Stadium and the Royal Albert Hall and contributed to prime-time TV and commercial recordings in Pop and Jazz.

Driven by a passion for teaching, JJ has taught in a wide range of settings. He has also led workshops, masterclasses, and developed content for the UK Drum Show’s education zone. In 2018-19 he completed two successful Masterclass tours in Southeast Asia.

In 2014, JJ became an examiner at Trinity College London, quickly advancing to consultant roles, including Interim Lead Examiner for Rock & Pop. Currently, he is the National Business Development Manager for the UK & Ireland.

JJ has a strong background in special needs education and extensive experience in delivering music provision for diverse needs, including a tenure at Henshaws College for the Blind.