Nate Holder

Prof Nathan Holder is an award winning author, international speaker, musician and education consultant. With over a decade of experience, Nate has been advocating for inclusive and diverse music education globally through speaking engagements, writing, and consultancy. 

 As an experienced public speaker, Nate has led numerous CPD training, workshops and lectures for schools, universities, and hubs to tackle issues including pedagogy and critical perspectives in music classrooms, departments, and boards. His collaborations include working with top artists such as Ghetts, Emeli Sandé, and Ed Sheeran, as well as with leading companies and organizations like BBC, Hal Leonard Europe, Oxford University Press and Harper Collins. 

Nate’s contributions extend beyond his consulting work. He serves on the board for F-flat books, Music Teacher Magazine, and is a member of the Advisory Group to the Africa APPG’s Inquiry into Africa in the UK Curricula. Currently, he holds the position of Professor and International Chair of Music Education at the Royal Northern College of Music. 

As an author, Nate has written seven books, including ‘I Wish I Didn’t Quit: Music Lessons’ (2018), ‘Where Are All The Black Female Composers’ (2020), and the award-winning ‘Listen and Celebrate’ (2022). His work aims to inspire and empower learners and educators to embrace inclusive and diverse music education. 

Christopher Stevens

Christopher Stevens is one of His Majesty’s Inspectors and Ofsted’s subject lead for music. He is a qualified teacher and, as an advanced skills teacher, taught music across key stages 1 to 5. Before working for Ofsted, he held various senior management roles within schools, including the Chief Executive Officer of a Multi-Academy Trust. Chris has extensive experience of leading inspections in the maintained and independent sectors. 

James Manwaring

James Manwaring is Director of Music for Windsor Learning Partnership and has worked in Music Education for over 20 years. He runs various schools ensembles, choirs & bands and loves working with young people. He writes a Music Education Blog, leads an adult community choir and is an advocate for Music Education. He is part of the Music Teachers Association committee and regularly contributes to resources, articles and zoom calls! 

Jim Pinchen

A dedicated musician and project leader, passionate about the Arts and with a proven track record in delivering local and international projects that harness the unique power of music to educate and transform lives. His award-winning projects have been sited to highlight ‘Best Practice’ by the Department for Education (DfE) and have been show cased at The Royal Albert Hall, The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and at the 32 Global Conference for Music Education in Glasgow, 2016.  

Jim is the Inclusion Manager for Surrey Arts and as part of this role, he has been working closely with Big Leaf Foundation to support displaced communities in Surrey such as asylum seekers, young refugees and victims of human trafficking by developing a range of ground-breaking music initiatives. 

Kayte Cable 

Kayte Cable has been working alongside Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children, young refugees and asylum seekers in educational and extra-curricular projects for four years, with a particular interest in using the creative arts, sport and community interaction to respond to the wealth of existential needs triggered by dislocation and resettlement. She is currently studying for a Masters in Refugee Care at the University of Essex and the NHS Tavistock and Portman Foundation Trust, with a particular focus on the best educational and pastoral response to the young people reaching the UK, and has provided training to a number of groups and organisations on effective engagement with young people who are post-conflict, torture and loss.  She works closely with Elmbridge CAN to provide support for newly arrived families, and is co-founder of Big Leaf Foundation, a charity which aims to provide activities, events and mentoring programmes for young refugees in the school holidays.   

Tim Palmer 

Tim Palmer is Head of Music Education at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, where he researches the role of the musician in education, and into creative teaching in higher music education. His work crosses traditional boundaries between classroom teaching, instrumental/vocal teaching and community music. Tim set up and leads the MA in Music Education and Performance, and the International Teaching Musician programmes, and has written a number of book chapters on music education. Tim is active as an orchestral and community musician and has trained many generations of teachers in the processes of devising and improvisation in education. 

Fran Hannan FRSA – Managing Director, Musical Futures 

Fran has been involved with Musical Futures (www.musicalfutures.org) for 18 years – initially as a project manager for the Leeds pathfinder team in the original Paul Hamlyn Musical Futures project (2003-2008), then in many other roles from national co-ordinator to secondary programme manager and now Managing Director. 

An experienced instrumental and classroom practitioner, Fran leads a team of experienced teachers and consultants to deliver music education training and workshops involving Musical Futures approaches. Her work with Musical Futures connects her with music educators across the UK, Europe and beyond – working to engage young people in relevant, accessible music activities through practical music-making so that they can experience the impact they can have in developing young musicians. 

Fran studied music at Chetham’s School of Music before going on to the University of Nottingham to study music and then to complete a PGCE at Bretton Hall (University of Leeds).  She worked as both an instrumental teacher teaching cello but spent much of her career teaching music in both inner city primary and high schools before joining ArtForms (the Leeds Pathfinder) to work on the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Musical Futures special initiative in 2005. She is co-principal cellist for Harrogate Symphony Orchestra 

Sharon Durant (Sing Up) 

Sharon is an internationally renowned vocalist, teacher and composer. She currently works full-time for Sing Up as their Partnership Manager, as well as continuing to lead community choirs in the North East of England. 

Previous work has included:  

• delivering the British Council’s World Voice programme in locations as diverse as Columbia, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Morocco where she worked with teachers and young people, sharing best practice for singing in the classroom. 
• various roles at Sage Gateshead including: Vocal Programme leader, delivering large scale singing projects in and out of schools and leading teacher training, Community Music Apprenticeship leader – designing and facilitating the professional development programme for young community musicians, Youth Chorus Leader for commissioned contemporary opera Skellig and Musical Director for A Winter’s Tale – a commissioned piece of musical theatre for young performers 

Sharon also performs as part of Mouthful, a four-piece vocal ensemble who push the boundaries of vocal possibility through devised, improvised and composed new vocal material and as a soloist with the Norwich-based Voice Project. Sharon writes and arranges songs for choirs, and her song ‘Chinese Proverb’ was recorded by Sweet Honey in the Rock for their children’s album ‘Experience….101’. She has been awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Honours list for Services to Music and to the community in Newcastle upon Tyne. 

Russell Mason  

Russell Mason is the programme director of the Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey. He has conducted academic research into recording techniques, and seen this result in the development of new recording methods, particularly for immersive audio. 

Rupert Flindt  

Rupert Flindt is a lecturer on the Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey. Before this, he worked for the BBC, recording and broadcasting many events such as Live Lounge sessions, festivals including Glastonbury, and international events and concerts. 

Emma Doherty  

Emma Doherty is a theatre maker and musician who creates interdisciplinary work rooted in collaboration with a focus on art as a tool for empowerment and social transformation. Emma works creatively with young people and is currently director of The Sapling for Royal Opera House Youth Company and Trial by Jury for Opera North Youth Company. Other directing credits include a seven city tour of Pierrot Lunaire with Manchester Collective and Carmen for The Opera Shack which explored themes of sexual violence and raised funds for Manchester Rape Crisis. Emma is a musician for Irene Taylor Trust (music in prisons) and works with people experiencing homelessness (Streetwise Opera), refugees and asylum seekers (Odd Arts and Olympias Music Foundation) and in SEND settings. Emma has worked as assistant director at Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, British Youth Opera, The Barbican and Garsington Opera. 

Pamela Hay 

Pamela is an opera singer, actor, producer, editor, singing teacher, and animateur. She is a Create and Sing Artist for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and has worked as singing teacher to the Royal Opera House Youth Opera Company. She is Chair Elect of the Association of Teachers of Singing, for whom she has created and edited their Annual Review magazine. She has taught singing at Eton College, St Dunstan’s College (TES Independent Secondary School of the Year 2022), James Allen’s Saturday School for the Performing Arts, Kingsdale Foundation School and others. Pamela has appeared in Michelle Williams Gamaker’s film The Bang Straws, selected for the London Open at Whitechapel Gallery and the BFI, as well as a role in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes 2. She has appeared in over 30 leading opera roles all over London and the UK, including Mimi La Bohème (Olivier Award: Best Opera Production) at the Soho Theatre, Micaëla Carmen (The Copper Box London Olympics Stadium supported by the Royal Opera House), and Psyche The Golden Ass (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre), as well as solo concerts with the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Concert Orchestra (broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, Radio 3, and Radio 2′s Friday Night is Music Night).  

She is also a knitter, origamist, and mother. Her mother is from Poland and her father is from the Wild West of Colorado 

Trade stands and partners 

Surrey Arts

Surrey Arts area the lead organisation for the Surrey Music Hub and have been providing music lessons to schools for over 50 years. They provide whole school ensemble teaching led by experienced Surrey Arts tutors, after school workshops and singing opportunities such as Primary Music Festivals and Singing Picnics. Throughout the year there is a programme of CPD sessions available for both primary and secondary school teachers. The Surrey Arts Wardrobe is available for schools to hire a variety of costumes for school productions including Oliver, A Christmas Carol and Matilda.

Music First

MusicFirst was founded with one mission: to offer music teachers and their students easy-to-use, affordable, cloud-based solutions that enable music learning, creation, assessment, sharing, and exploration on any device, at anytime, anywhere. The MusicFirst team is comprised of music educators with decades of experience integrating technology effectively into music education. MusicFirst’s technology products range from sequencing to notation, to music theory and aural training, all hosted in a learning management system dedicated to music. An all-round solution for classroom music.  

Royal Opera House National Schools Programme

Award-winning, flexible learning programmes powered by the creative excellence of the Royal Opera House

For creativity and confidence in every classroom. 

Create & Sing (KS1&2) is an accessible approach that combines singing and drama to build pupils’ self-expression, creative collaboration, performance confidence, voice, movement, and memory skills. Explore resources   

FREE access for all state funded primary schools to three creative pathways

Create & Sing, Create & Design and Create & Dance, including: 

• High quality, practical and accessible, certified teacher CPD 

• Detailed and flexible learning resources  
• Exciting participation events connecting students with ROH artists 

For more: www.roh.org.uk/schools 

Musical Futures Online

About Musical Futures Online  

• Musical Futures Online, features over 1000 unique interactive musical resources to help teachers of all ages to deliver practical, authentic and relevant music lessons that effectively engage all pupils in learning music using readily available instruments. 
• Developed by teachers – for teachers, our resources and materials continue to build on the original tried and tested approaches of the Musical Futures ethos and pedagogy. 
• Winner of the Outstanding Music Education Resource 2022 at the Music & Drama Education Awards 2022 

• Teach Co awards 2023: Teach Primary: Remote Learning category – WINNER 
• Teach Co awards 2023: Teach Secondary: Curriculum Impact – HIGHLY COMMENDED 

All delegates will have the chance to sign up for a no obligation free trial of Musical Futures Online platform. 

ABRSM

ABRSM is The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of music and a global music education charity. At the heart of everything we do is our belief that music enriches lives. Building on our heritage, we offer face-to-face and digital exams, sheet music, recordings, apps and courses for students and teachers across the world.

As a charity our donations encompass a range of grants, scholarships, awards, prizes and bursaries, for organisations and individuals. All promote music education and support achievement, progression, creativity, diversity, inclusion, sustainability and leadership in music education.

OHMI

The OHMI Trust’s objective is a simple one: we enable children and adults with physical impairments to play the instruments they want to play, when they want to play them and where they want to play them (whether at school, in the home or in a professional ensemble). Virtually no musical instruments can be played without ten highly dextrous fingers. This denies unlimited and undifferentiated participation in musical life to those with congenital disabilities and to amputees, as well as the millions who may have been injured, suffered a stroke, developed arthritis or for whatever reason lack the full strength and control of their upper limbs. Visit us to find out more about a range of adapted instruments and supportive apparatus that allow people with physical disabilities full participation in musical life. 

Cheryl King Trust 

Our vision is that no young person in Surrey should be unable to learn a musical instrument because either their parents can’t afford it or musical opportunity is limited at their school. We try to achieve this by helping to fund music lessons at all levels of musical development and across all musical genres and ensembles targeted at schools with high pupil premium ratios.   

Parents and carers can request our support through Surrey Arts or can apply to us directly for financial support where lessons are not provided by Surrey arts. 

Our main focus is co-funding group or individual instrumental or singing lessons. However, we will also consider applications to co-fund costs and fees for exams, accompanists for exams and participation in music courses, workshops, ensembles where applicants are receiving regular tuition  

We are also willing, on an exceptional basis, to consider co-funding projects and ensembles for young musicians where there are a significant number of participants who are from under privileged or low income backgrounds.  

To find out more go to the Cheryl King Trust website

H R Taylor Trust

Established in 1997, the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust provides financial support for a range of musical activities in Surrey.

Part-funding may be given to Schools for:       

• Purchase of instruments.
• Purchase of music computers and software.
• Instrumental tuition.
• Purchase of scores and sheet music.
• Funding of concerts for special occasions.
• Music-related capital projects.

It is Trust policy not to fund activities undertaken or offered by a member of a bidding school’s staff that would normally be expected to be part of the role of a contracted music teacher, e.g., running an extra-curricular choir or band.

Funds are normally only granted to schools in the geographical and historical areas of Surrey.
It is rare for the Trust to fund transport costs, concert tickets or accommodation.

School application forms and meeting deadlines are available on the H R Taylor website.

Support may be given to:

Amateur Music Societies, Choirs & Orchestras for:

• Grants towards the funding of live concerts

Part-funding may be given to exceptionally talented individuals for:

• Music related under/post graduate studies.
• Purchase of instruments.
• Instrumental tuition.

Details of how to apply and Trust meeting deadlines are available on the H R Taylor website.

The Trustees meet five times each year.

iRock

All-inclusive in-school Rock & Pop band lessons that are free for schools 
iRock is a great way to expand your schools music curriculum – and it’s free for schools. We offer a 
free assembly taster session in your school to demonstrate how iRock can benefit your pupils. 
 
Our band lessons are not only fun but they can massively help develop your pupil’s life skills: boosting confidence, supporting wellbeing, developing social skills and even helping to improve their academic performance. We work in conjunction with your curriculum and offer a certificated learning program for each child with no exams! 
 
How it Works: 
 
Weekly Lessons – 30-minute weekly lessons are held during the school day and run like most other 
peripatetic classes. Lessons are available from Reception to Year 6 with children grouped by age who 
learn together in their own rock bands. Children choose to become a drummer, guitarist, keyboard 
player or singer. There is no experience necessary to join and all of the instruments are provided. 
 
How Are Lessons Funded? – The majority of lessons are funded by parents. Every school is offered a bursary place funded by iRock and there are also options for schools to fund iRock themselves. 
 
High Quality Teachers – Quality is important to us which is why all of our staff are employed on a 
permanent basis. Teachers go through extensive training and benefit from continuous support, 
observations and feedback from our regional managers. All members of staff have an Enhanced DBS 
Check and receive regular safeguarding & prevent training. 
 
RSL Qualification – Children in years 2, 4 and 6 are able to achieve an entry level qualification with iRock 
without the anxiety of a formal exam. iRock have developed this qualification in partnership with RSL, 
global provider of qualifications in the creative and performing arts. 
 
Learn more about iRock by visiting www.irockschool.com, email info@irockschool.com or call 0330 174 2655. iRock working in partnership with Music Mark and RSL. 

Charanga