The Phoenix Collective

I started life as a primary class teacher with a scraped Grade VII piano and ‘O’ Level music as my only musical background. I was soon given the task of teaching music throughout a school of 4-8 year olds and realised I did not have the skills or knowledge to be able to do this effectively. My wise headteacher sent me on a Kodály course and my world started to change… Now, after many years of learning from amazing teachers, I am passionate about this wonderful, structured, joyful way to teach and to learn musical skills, knowledge and understanding – it is my raison d’être! I grew up with the unshakeable belief that I was ‘not musical’ – because I was never a good pianist, I couldn’t do aural tests, or sight-sing, or write a dictation; theory never made much sense to me. I perceived that ‘performance’, ‘aural’ and ‘theory’ were three separate entities. It was only Kodály study that made me realise that they are all interconnected and also part of this whole wonderful thing called ‘music’. It also unlocked all the music that was inside me and which I never knew was there. My passion is bringing musical skills, knowledge and understanding to a huge variety of people – to children; to adults who are both professional or amateur musicians; to both specialist and generalist teachers. I have realised that Kodály musicianship has so much to offer a vast range of people, including choral singers, class teachers and professional players. A particular interest in recent years has been discovering the benefits of Kodály musicianship to those working in different styles and genres, including pop, electronic music and modern a cappella singing.