"Singing is infectious"

My workshops are about bringing people together in a relaxed and safe environment.

My objective is to fulfil the following criteria.

Inspire and empower the participants to sing in unison, in harmony and as soloists.

Find creative ways of liberating the client from the fear of expressing themselves.

Challenge the participants to take risks with their voices.

Give the participants hope by providing a repertoire of inspirational songs. Build self esteem.

Build a singing community.

To laugh and have fun.

I will go anywhere to share my workshops and work with anyone who is open enough to have a go. So far my workshops have taken me:

1. Into the business community in the City. I started running workshops In Canary Wharf for an innovative Arts officer named Bill Gee who was based in Canary Wharf. We started a lunch time workshop series that gave City workers an opportunity to come and sing with me for one liberating hour a week. These workshops culminated in a series of performances. I continued this model in the City - Liverpool Street and after two and a half years I now have an established City Choir who perform professionally.

Their latest performances include Greenwich International Festivals July 01 and more recently in October in Trafalgar Square for Ken Livingstons London for Londoners celebration. My collaborations have included the Bishopsgate Institute, the Tower of London, Canary Wharf Management Group and Greenwich International Festival. Last Summer I ran a successful workshop in Oxford for Firmenich and I have on going liasons with the company. I also ran a series of workshops at an SFE Conference in Bristol for Heads of Departments and teachers in all faculties of art. In November 2000 I contributed to a conference held in Ascot by Silverline and more recently I ran a workshop in Oxford for Credit Suisse. In Febuary I will be running a voice expressive workshop for Summit Events who will be conducting a People development conference in Brussels.

2. Into schools and Education Establishments I was a Choral Animateur working in and around Tower Hamlets from 1992 - 1995. Working alongside Music specialists Di Warne and Sally Manser, The British Federation of Young Choirs and other specialist advisers I was able to aquire new skills as I worked for concentrated periods of time in all areas of the British education system. I worked in well over 25 schools and colleges in the borough developing creative voice expressive workshops in the following areas: 1. Primary schools aged students from nursey to 11 year olds, 2. 12 - 16's in Secondary education. 3. 18 - 25 year olds in further education in the Borough

3.In Prisons and mental institutions I have been given and taken numerous opportunities to visit Prisons and run workshops in that environment. Challenging but rewarding both for my clients inside and for my own personal growth. In mental Institutions the aim as in Prisons and dare I say In the city, is to raise the self esteem of the client group by knocking down walls of lack of self esteem and negative thought processes and through singing and game playing explore ways of building new ways of thinking and behaving. The workshops challenge the individual and help him/ her to function both as a soloist and as a group / team member.

4. Twilight sessions for teachers on how to look after their own spiritual and mental well being in their demanding roles as educators with present day challenges in todays society.

5. Courses for non music specialist who are required to teach singing as part of their work brief advising them on how to find suitable repertoire for the classroom and to empower them with ideas and the necessary tools to successfully achieve this. In 1997 I was invited by Philip Litchfield, Musical Director at Southampton Music Services to pilot a choral animateur project in Southampton. The aim was to spend a six month period working as an animateur in Southampton, visiting schools and inspiring a desire for singing. I worked in delegated schools for a set period of time, during which the classroom teacher and I decided what the aims and objectives were and set about finding ways of achieving them together.

Over a six month period using the model in Tower Hamlets as a reference point, I was able to run a series of self esteem building workshops, and performance based projects. I also ran specialist workshops that focused on how to explore issues that come up in the school environment like bullying in the playground, looking at history through song.

My work as a workshop facilitator has taken me to Australia, East Africa, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Northen Ireland, Jersey, America and Israel.

Current Collaborations

For the past year I have been able to formulate a wonderful working relationship with a music school in Italy. Fabio Mini, a wonderful composer, teacher and performer invited me to run an inspirational singing workshop in his music school. As a result of the success of this workshop we have not only programmed more workshops (so that the ethos can permeate other areas within the local community) but also a series of performances. I have been privilaged to perform his compositions and some of my own works with his Trio. See the Movie done in Italy (.mov 1.4 MB) to get an insight into my ethos.