Speakers and session leaders 2025

Keynote speakers

Dr Jim Frankel

Dr. Jim Frankel is the Founder and President of MusicFirst. Previously, he was the Managing Director of SoundTree, and before that he was the instrumental and general music teacher for 15 years in New Jersey Public Schools, and taught graduate courses at Columbia University for 25 years. Jim is a widely published author in various state, national and international journals of music education. He is the author of The Teachers Guide to Music, Media & Copyright Law, co-author of YouTube in Music Education, contributing author for Critical Issues in Music Education and co-author of Making Music with GarageBand & Mixcraft. In addition to his writing, Jim is a highly sought-after clinician and keynote speaker in the local, national and international music education community.

 

Mark De Lisser

Mark De-Lisser is one of the most sought after choral directors and vocal coaches in the UK.

He has worked with some of today’s top vocal talent, including Ariana Grande, Jessie J and Beverley Knight, and on some of the UK’s most watched TV shows, including BBC’s BAFTA nominated Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure, Songs of Praise and ITV’s award winning The Masked Singer.

Driven to inspire and motivate everybody to succeed, Mark helps to increase confidence and self-awareness, whilst improving technique and delivery. Anybody who is fortunate to work with Mark is left feeling uplifted and invigorated.

Mark is perhaps best known for his arrangement of Stand by Me, performed by the Kingdom Choir at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, which has now been streamed more than 4 million times on Spotify and has over 10 million views on YouTube.

 

Session participants

Mark Aitchison

Lecturer in Music Education and Music Teacher

Mark currently teaches in a High School in Worcestershire, whilst also lecturing in Music Education at the University of Reading. At UoR Mark is lead tutor for the PGCE Secondary Music programme, and teaches across the Primary Education programmes. He is also currently studying for a PhD in Music Education.

Mark Armstrong

Jazz Professor, Royal College of Music

Eiron Bailey

Headteacher, Trinity Academy

Eiron is Headteacher at Trinity Academy Bristol, having previously held the post of Director of Music Specialism and Assistant Principal at Bristol Cathedral Choir School, and was a Senior Education Adviser to Bristol Plays Music. He chaired the Heads of Music forum for Bristol and has been a keynote speaker at a number of conferences and training events. He has worked in five very different schools across the UK and is also a very busy music conductor and performer. Eiron was appointed as Musical Director of the Bristol Youth Orchestra in 2013.

Catherine Barker

Head of Music and Performing Arts, United Learning

Catherine is the Head of Music and Performing Arts in United Learning, the largest national schools’ group. Alongside supporting teachers with training and group-wide curriculum, she also leads national performance events and the Singing Champions programme. Alongside her work in the trust she is a school LGB Chair, a member of the Sheffield Music Hub advisory board and has been President of the Music Teachers’ Association since May 2023. Prior to joining United Learning, Catherine led faculties in outstanding inner London schools, where she began her career in the inaugural Teach First cohort.

Kirsty Barry

Charles Bequignon-MacDougall

Dr Charles MacDougall is an award-winning singer, choral director, vocal coach, and music education consultant with a career spanning solo vocal and choral performance, coaching, musical direction, music education, training, mentoring, strategy, and ambassadorial roles. As Choral Director at Voices Foundation, Charles has led on the development of the charity’s choral programme and pedagogy. In 2018 Charles was part of the team that received the Music and Drama Education Award for Excellence in Primary/Early Years for creation and delivery of the VF/DRET Singing Schools pilot programme and in 2020 he helped devise and deliver the daily VF Virtual Sing for children and teachers during lockdown. In 2021 he wrote the first volume of Inside Singing, a choral resource for primary school choir leaders, shortlisted for Outstanding Music Education Resource in the Music and Drama Education Awards 2023.

In addition to this work with Voices Foundation, he is a Chorus Director for Gabrieli ROAR and directs four choirs in London, among other roles. He is extremely active as a workshop leader, presenting sessions for the BBC Singers, UK Choir Festival, Association of British Choral Directors, LSO, and Stay at Home Choir.

A passionate advocate for the importance of music and music education, he is an Ambassador for Britten-Pears Arts, a Trustee of IntoOpera, and a Director and Trustee of the Choral Foundation, Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace.

Rebecca Berkley

Associate Professor in Music Education, SFHEA

Rebecca Berkley is an Associate Professor in Music Education at the University of Reading, and Director of Internationalisation and Global Engagement.  She teaches music education on undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes at Reading, specialising in classroom musicianship, choral education, and leadership. She is the founder of Universal Voices, a free, children’s community choir at the University.  Universal Voices offers high quality choral education for children and opportunities for student conductors to learn to conduct by working with the choir.  Rebecca also works with the British Kodály Academy and Sing for Pleasure as a musicianship tutor.

Asha Bishop

Director of Music, Charnwood College

Asha Bishop has been working in state school Music Education for the last 18 years. She began her teaching career in Essex, becoming the Director of Music at a Church of England School with over 400 students taking instrumental lessons and 200 students taking part in Music tours abroad. In Leicester, Asha was the Director of Music at a Catholic School and for the twenty-two schools across the Trust. In September 2023, Asha took on the position of Director of Music at Charnwood College, Loughborough, where she has been building a department from scratch. So far, the number of students having instrumental lessons has risen from 30-145 and an increased work force of 3 to 10 visiting music teachers and a part-time Musician in Residence.

Having benefited from the music provision from Leicestershire Arts from a young age, Asha believes that music provision is a right for all young people, regardless of their background and that a rich and vibrant curriculum that stimulates musical understanding and curiosity should be a universal offer that sparks a love of music for a lifetime.

Nicky Bouckley

Director of Music, Loughborough Schools Foundation

In 2010, Nicky moved to the Loughborough Schools Foundation where she took up the role of Deputy Director of Music. In 2016, she added Head of Academic Music to her profile and in 2020 was appointed Foundation Director of Music. This all-encompassing role oversees music for the whole Foundation, offering specialist music teaching to children from 6 weeks to 18 years, supporting young musicians all the way from EYFS to those successfully applying for places at conservatoire and top universities.

Alongside her teaching roles, Nicky also worked for AQA for over 20 years, not only moderating and examining but also working on the senior team writing papers and specifications, and latterly as Principal Examiner for the written paper at AS Music.

As a regular performer, she is a key member of the award-winning Leicestershire Chorale, who have recently worked with the period ensembles including the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Fretwork and Concert Trombone Quartette. They are also proud sponsors of New Music and have most recently performed Gareth Treseder’s Five Passion Carols to great acclaim.

Naomi Charatan

Head of Music and Performing Arts, Trinity Academy

Naomi Charatan is the founding head of music and performing arts at Trinity Academy, a music specialism school in one of the most deprived areas of Bristol. The school runs a significantly subsidised instrumental programme for wind and brass instruments and weekly KS3 choir singing. The department has substantial GCSE cohorts and an active, high profile co-curricular programme. Before moving to Bristol, Naomi was a head of music at an ARK school in North London, and co-created and recorded lessons for OAK National Academy in 2020. Prior to this, she spent two years teaching English (and doing as much music as possible) in rural Japan.

Richard Croughan

Richard is Primary Music Lead for Bristol and works at the Music Education Hub, Bristol Beacon. After working in theatre and live events for eleven years, Richard trained as a classroom teacher in 2014. He was music and drama subject lead / classroom teacher for Ashley Down Schools Federation for 8 years, where he led on successful programmes including the Paul Hamlyn funded ‘Light Up School Learning’, with Travelling Light theatre. Richard took up post at Bristol Beacon in 2022. He is currently part of a small team of content creators writing the Primary Music Curriculum for Oak National Academy.

Kirsten Cunningham

Liz Dunbar

Creator and curator of musicdepartmentresources.com

Liz is a Music Education Specialist with 32 years experience of leading state secondary school Music departments.  She has an unwavering belief in providing high quality learning opportunities for all students regardless of their starting point or background.  Her approach to curriculum design has led to a number of collaborations with multi academy trusts, individual schools and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Liz is a Music Teachers’ Association committee member and regular contributor to the MTA magazine ‘Ensemble’. She also writes for Music Teacher Magazine and her chapter in the book ‘Huh’, published by John Catt Educational, offers an insight into the thinking and processes that shape a meaningful secondary music curriculum.

After 20 years at Huntington School in York (@huntschoolmusic), she left full time teaching, in order to develop her consultation work and launch a new secondary music teaching resources website: musicdepartmentresources.com

Lewis Edney

Director of Music, Bishop Wordsworth’s Grammar School

Lewis Edney is Director of Music at Bishop Wordsworth’s Grammar School in Salisbury. Previously a freelance trombonist, he entered teaching and became Head of Department within two years when the opportunity arose at his school. Having been thrown in the deep end early in his career, he relied on a great deal of support from other music teachers, particularly those in the MTA, and a large amount of instinct, and trial & error. Lewis believes in the power of performance opportunities and collaboration between all and any musical group

Marina Gall

Tim Garrard

Director of Music, Westminster School

Tim Garrard is Partnerships Lead for the Music Teachers Association. He is Director of Music at Westminster School and a trustee of Tri-borough Music Trust, the charitable arm of the Tri-borough Music Hub which works across three West London boroughs to help transform young lives through the power of music. Tim read Music at Cambridge, where he was the senior choral scholar of the Choir of King’s College and the recipient of the College’s Gollin Prize. As MTA Partnerships Lead, Tim worked with Music Mark and ISM as part of the CanDoMusic campaign, and he co-established HMC’s first ever official partnership with another association with the HMC-MTA partnership. In 2023, Tim directed the Vivat acclamations in Parry’s I Was Glad at the Coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey.

Don Gillthorpe

Director of Music, Pangbourne College

Since January 2025, Don has been Director of Music at Pangbourne College in Berkshire. Prior to this, Don ran two highly successful state school music departments, establishing thriving communities with a culture of music making as an integral part of school life, before serving as an Assistant Headteacher for five years. Don is a conductor, composer, and music education consultant, with expertise in leading singing in educational and liturgical settings. Outside school, Don’s experience extends to conducting both amateur and professional choirs and orchestras in a wide variety of contexts.

Don’s Jazz Missa Brevis and other works are published by Sing for Pleasure, while his pieces From East to West and If we shadows, alongside several hymns, are published with Choral Music Publishing, the publishing house he co-founded with fellow composer Oliver Tarney. Don is a former President of the Music Teachers’ Association (2021–2023) and he currently serves as Head of Publications for Sing for Pleasure, teaches on SfP conducting courses, and is Director of Music for the Morland Choristers’ Camp.

Liz Gleed

David Gray

MusicwithMrGray

David Gray is a primary music teacher in Devon and creator of the YouTube Channel, MusicwithMrGray. The YouTube channel consists of play alongs for typical primary school instruments including Ukulele, Recorder, Boomwhacker, Tuned Percussion and Guitar. David loves to create resources and recently wrote over 30 lessons for ABRSM’s Classroom200 Resource, as well as continued work with the Devon Music HUB.

Alexander L’estrange

James Manwaring

Director of Music, Windsor Learning Partnership

James Manwaring is Director of Music for Windsor Learning Partnership where he works across five schools in Windsor. He became President Elect for the MTA in May 2023, and has a passion for supporting music department development – supporting teachers to get the most out of their department. James also writes his own Music Education blog and is a keen runner.

Karen Marshall

Karen Marshall is a classroom, visiting and private music teacher with over 30 years’ experience. Widely published, including the best-selling Get Set! series of piano method books, she specialises in working with neurodivergent students in mainstream education. A member of the British Dyslexia Association’s Music Committee, Karen excels in music curriculum design that is accessible for all.

Karen was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 38.

James McEvoy-Stevenson

Mimi Munro

Mimi is Head of Music at Channing Junior School and the National Advisor for IAPS (Independent Association of Prep Schools). She previously led the Junior School Music Department at Dulwich College Singapore, was a Lead Teacher for Cheshire West and Chester Music Service, and taught for Service Children’s Education in Germany. Passionate about holistic curriculum design, she ensures her music room is hands-on and genre-diverse, with a strong focus on digital composition. She holds a BA in Jazz Studies, an MA in Primary Education, and a BA in Music Production and Sound Design.

James Olsen

Society for Music Analysis

Dr James Olsen is College Teaching Associate in music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and an Affiliated Lecturer within the Faculty of Music. His research interests include the theory and analysis of music from the eighteenth century to the present, hermeneutics, critical theory, and music education.He is also a composer, and his works have been performed by, amongst others, the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin. He is the Widening Participation and Outreach Officer at the Society for Music Analysis, and the founder of Olsen Verlag, a social enterprise whose purpose is to bring Western art music to wider audiences.

Mike Simpson

Inspire-Works

Mike Simpson is the co-founder and musical director of Inspire-Works where he oversees at team of 18 facilitators from 12 countries who have led workshops with over 1 million participants. He is the author of Rhinegold Education’s Teach & Play series of teaching resources (Teach & Play African Drums, Teach & Play Samba, Teach & Play Gamelan, Teach & Play Steel Pans) and a music examiner for Trinity College London. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and with Tjokorda Raka Suastika of Ubud Royal Palace in Bali.

Mike was the leader and organiser of both of Inspire-Works’ successful Guinness World Records for the Largest Samba Band and the Largest Drumming Lesson. Using his experience as a trained HealthRHYTHMS facilitator, Mental Health First Aider and associate of the Royal Society for Public Health, he developed the #BodyPercussion #RecoveryCurriculum using funding from Arts Council England during the Covid pandemic which has helped over 200,000 children in 27 countries with their well-being and mental health. He is also the creator of the Drumbeatable Programme which improves social and emotional resilience through a framework of group-drumming.

Mike is endorsed by Remo, the world’s largest drum company, as a Remo Rhythm, Wellness and You Facilitator Artist.

Laurie Stewart

Bristol Beacon

Laurie Stewart is the Head of Creative Learning at Bristol Beacon, where she has been in post for 10 years. She is dedicated to enabling high quality music education for all young people. Her role leads on the creative output for young people in the wider Bristol area, working with key strategic partners to enable this. Laurie is an experienced facilitator, trainer and conductor as well as professional soprano, having studied at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Simon Toyne

Executive Director of Music, David Ross Education Trust

Simon Toyne is Executive Director of Music of the David Ross Education Trust, where he is responsible for the development of a music programme for over 14,500 children across thirty-four state primary and secondary schools in the East Midlands. His work at DRET has included the award-winning Singing Schools programme for primary schools, developing a trust-wide primary and secondary music curriculum, fostering a network of partner organisations including Gabrieli Roar, Nevill Holt Opera, Sing Up, the Royal Opera House and the Voices Foundation, creating a team of professional musicians in residence, and devising The DRET Music Way, a guide for music teachers and senior leaders to develop meaningful music provision in schools.

Simon is a member of the monitoring board for the National Plan for Music Education, having previously served on the Department for Education’s Expert Panels for developing the National Plan for Music Education and the Model Music Curriculum. His chapter on curriculum music in the recent book What Should Schools Teach? was published in January 2021 and is available as an open access pdf from UCL Press. From 2019 to 2021, he was President of the Music Teachers Association.Simon is a Director of the Rodolfus Foundation Choral Courses, leading the courses in Cambridge and Liverpool in August 2024, and is Music Director of the Northampton Bach Choir. For twentyfour years, he was Director of Tiffin Boys’ Choir, preparing them for projects with the major conductors in the world, including Pappano, Rattle, Gergiev, Maazel, Elder, Masur and Salonen, leading the choir on over twenty foreign tours, including to Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Russia, and conducting the choir in concert with the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Sinfonia Britannica and Philharmonia Orchestra. As Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Kingston, a post he held consecutively with that of Assistant Head & Director of Music at Tiffin School, the choir broadcast on BBC1, Radio 4 and World Service Radio, and over 20 choristers gained choral scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge.

Ollie Tunmer

Beat Goes On

Ollie is the director of Beat Goes On, a deliverer of high energy percussion workshops and CPD throughout the UK and internationally. He is a former cast member of the hit show STOMP and its sister show, ‘The Lost & Found Orchestra’.  

The Beat Goes On team includes professional musicians and qualified music teachers, providing fun, engaging and memorable workshops which develop composition and performance skills and knowledge. They also promote wellbeing, for both individuals and teaching communities. 

Ollie has appeared on the BBC including Children in Need, The One Show, The Culture Show and CBeebies’ Let’s Go Club. His Amazon bestselling body percussion tutorial ‘Body Beats’ has been incorporated into curricula internationally.