Sally-Anne has over 25 years experience working as a woodwind teacher and began to work as a freelance Early Years music practitioner in 2005 after an increased interest in young children’s musical interactions. Over the years she has delivered many ‘open to all’ music sessions in North Yorkshire and East Lancashire for families in Children’s Centres and community groups and progressive sessions in nurseries and pre-schools. She has a special interest in outdoor music making.

Sally-Anne has worked for charities and organisations including NYMAZ, Little Amber and Pioneer Projects on projects which included working with children with EAL and visual impairment. She is passionate that every child should have access and encouragement to engage in music making, and is also keen to support those working in Early Years music
and delivers talks and training for Note Weavers. Sally-Anne is also a tutor and student mentor on the Trinity Certificate for Music Educators: Early Childhood programme based at CREC in Birmingham.  Increasingly interested in music in the classroom, she now works part time as a music specialist in 3 primary schools in North Yorkshire, planning, developing and delivering the music curriculum from Nursery to Year 6.

Recently, with Vic Holmes and Zoe Greenhalgh, Sally-Anne has worked as a consultant for the BBC Philharmonic on their musical retelling of the Story of the Gingerbread Man for CBeebies.

Vic is an experienced musician who has over 10 years experience specialising in music within the early years. Vic currently works across different settings and schools to deliver music sessions to under 5s as well as in Reception classes.  Having trained as an early years educator within a nursery, Vic has a good understanding of early childhood development and the importance of offering a wide range of opportunities to children, especially in the early years. Vic also works with practitioners to encourage and improve musical opportunities in their settings.

Vic was amongst the first cohort to undertake the Certificate for Music Educators: Early Childhood Music (CME:EC) which is run through the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) in Birmingham. After successfully completing this course, Vic went on to study for and receive an Masters of Arts in Education (Early Years Music) also run through CREC. Following this, Vic was appointed as the online mentor for the CME: Early Childhood at CREC, supporting students on their online discussion forum.

Vic has a strong belief that collaborative working and forming strong partnerships, are vital in bringing music in the early years to the forefront of childhood education. This belief led to her to undertake her Masters dissertation research project in ‘Exploring the Role of the Visiting Musician’. This research highlighted the importance of working with practitioners and teachers to ensure that children’s musical experiences are not limited to the music session.

Recently Vic has been working with The Bureau Centre for the Arts in Blackburn, as a project co-ordinator to oversee and support their ‘Shared Sounds’ project, furthering her experiences in managing arts projects. Additionally, along with Sally-Anne and Zoe, Vic really enjoyed working with the BBC Philharmonic, consulting on their musical retelling of The Gingerbread Man story for CBeebies.

Sorrel is a freelance music tutor working in a variety of situations from schools to nurseries and community settings. She has led MusicBox early years music sessions in Blackburn with Darwen’s 8 children’s centres for a number of years, both in nursery rooms and intervention rooms. As well as delivering to the various target/non target groups, Sorrel has also been tooling up early years practitioners with the skills and understanding for continuing to deliver MusicBox sessions themselves.

Georgina has over 20 years’ experience working in the education sector, initially within mainstream contexts and for the last 20 years working within special educational needs and disability (SEND). Georgina is experienced at conceiving and managing projects across numerous schools, working collaboratively with music charities and partners to provide the best experiences and outcomes for pupils and staff in schools.

Georgina graduated from Edge Hill University in 2022 with an MSc in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Well-being. Recently she has been working as a research projects coordinator on a yoga and gestational diabetes study. Georgina will shortly be commencing her PhD studies at Edge Hill University. She will be investigating good practice in arts interventions that support parent-infant relationships as well as undertaking teaching duties in the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine.

Georgina is passionate about the use of music and other arts-based interventions to promote positive change in peoples lives. On behalf of Note Weavers, she has been delivering a project for the Home-Start Charity to produce activities and information to promote bonding and attachment between young children and their care givers. Georgina has built a reputation for herself delivering consultancy, higher education teaching and CPD workshops.

During an extensive career David worked as a professionally qualified and experienced Manager and Engineer with extensive knowledge of managing high value assets in a national utility company. He has worked in operational, customer interface and change management roles and as a specialist in the implementation and ongoing management of Construction and Design management Legislation and ISO9001 Quality Management Systems.

Running in parallel to his career, David has successfully managed several non-professional arts organisations and performed as a flautist in many solo recitals and music ensembles throughout the North West.

Until recently, David was a Director of Bolton Symphony Orchestra Ltd, and worked for Making Music. He is a Trustee of the Light Music Society, the British Kodaly Academy and Trust Music based in Bolton.

Alison is a versatile musician and singer, with many years of experience creating and performing music in schools, churches and community settings.  She was part of the second ever cohort of students at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, followed by a career in the creative industries – specialising in PR, communications and project management.  From 2017, she spent four years teaching Kodaly-based parent and child community classes in north Liverpool and online.  The pandemic gave her a change of focus and she completed the Certificate of Music Educators: Early Childhood to further develop elements of her work such as SEND, inclusion, musical play and pedagogical approaches.

Alison now works as a freelance Early Years Music Practitioner, with families and mainstream and specialist schools and nurseries across Sefton, Liverpool, Knowsley and West Lancashire. She works with children 1:1 and in groups, also resourcing and enabling staff to expand their use of music and singing throughout the setting.  As a parent carer, she is passionate about the difference music and singing make to every child’s development and seeks to ensure inclusion and progress at all ability levels.   To build on this further, she is now embarking on a PGCert course: Music and Children with Special Needs:Sounds of Intent.  Her voluntary work includes running a monthly support group for children with additional needs/disabilities and their families.

Liz is an experienced woodwind player based in the North West, working and playing with a variety of bands and orchestras, primarily on sax, most notably with the 10-piece soul band, “The Soul Convicts”.  She is also a freelance music tutor working with Bolton Music Service, and more recently working within the early years sector delivering early years music sessions. She was the lead music practitioner for the “Shared Sounds” project at The Bureau Centre for the Arts in Blackburn (working alongside Note Weavers Directors Sorrel & Vic). Liz obtained her BA in Music Practice in 2011 at UCLAN, and completed the Certificate for Music Educators: Early Childhood in 2022. In September 2023, Liz moved onto do her primary school teaching PGCE with QTS with Blackburn Team Alliance.

Sue is a music teacher with over 35 years of experience working in schools and community contexts with children and young people from birth to age 18 and beyond.

Sue currently works as a self-employed music education specialist and, in addition to teaching, has considerable experience in the development, delivery and management of projects both independently and for Bolton Music Service. These have involved working with parents, teachers, practitioners and managers across both schools and community organisations, and have included working collaboratively with a diverse range of partners. Voluntary work has included the development of community groups and 15 years as a director of The Arts Partnership, a company with charitable status. She has been involved in setting up and running local and regional networks and driving change through larger scale strategic projects, particularly in relation to broadening access in non-formal education contexts and connecting provision across different organisations.

As well as a background in music education including 20 years working in early childhood music, Sue brings extensive experience of managing successful collaborative projects to this programme, as well as her passion for driving change and supporting innovative approaches to collaborative working across education communities.

Zoe is an early childhood music educator, author, consultant and researcher with wide experience of working with babies, children, parents, carers and educators in early years and community settings.  Well known for her work in the North West, Zoe also enjoys a national reputation as a consultant, workshop provider and author; her book “Music and Singing in the Early Years” (Routledge 2018) has been well received. Zoe is an Associate Tutor in Early Years Education at Edge Hill University and has recently retired from her roles as Course Director for the Certificate for Music Educators: Early Childhood (CME:EC) at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) and Early Childhood Music Education Tutor for The British Kodály Academy

Through her work Zoe has developed links with a wide range of people and organisations with an interest in early childhood music – regional, national and beyond. It is her belief that discussion and sharing practice, knowledge and experience with others in the field are influential in informing and developing practice.