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|  Jane’s enthusiasm for singing and song is
reflected in much of her past and current work and she is a long standing member of the Natural Voice
Practitioners Network. As a teenager in London
she went to the Junior Department of the Royal College
of Music primarily as a pianist. After
completing a music degree at Durham University
she specialised in composition as a postgraduate at Southampton
and Sussex Universities. One of her first jobs
was music and dance co-ordinator for Arnolfini/Bristol which gave her a good practical grounding in many
aspects of arts work.
Back in London
in the 1980s
she taught workshops
and courses for the arts-in-education team at Battersea Arts Centre, Morley and Goldsmiths Colleges of Adult Education, and the
Rambert Academy where she also worked as a class piano
accompanist. Much of her composing at this time was for dance with
performances taking place at the ICA,
Riverside Studios, regional festivals, abroad and on Channel 4 TV.
In 1987 she left London to become
composer/musician-in-residence at a small arts centre on the North Norfolk coast. The
initial residency evolved into the independent community music organisation, Norfolk Music Works, for which she still runs
projects.
She took time out from Norfolk
between 1995-97when she was contracted to encourage community
music activity across Lincolnshire
– this led to the foundation of SoundLincs community music.
Over the last few years she has completed many music residencies in schools and communities including
work with Britten Sinfonia for Huntingdon District Council’s ‘Great Fen’ project resulting in the
publication of four Little Songs for the
Great Fen composedby the children and families in around
Ramsey who took part in song writing sessions with her.
Also on the singing front and alongside her
work with Chrissy for SYHO West, she directs or co-directsthree ongoing adult singing projects - Voices
Unplugged (Spalding), Big Heart&Soul (Castleacre) and InVocal Mode (Fakenham). She also leads ‘SingUp’ training sessions for
SoundLincs.
Recent
compositions include Here’s What I Saw, a half-evening of music-theatre performed
at Stamford Arts Centre, and Playing The Game premiered by the
Essex Symphony Orchestra in Chelmsford. Time
Song, for a small ensemble of counter-tenor, recorder and
‘cello, has been recorded for ‘Pied Piper’, a CD which was released in 2009 on
the Campion Cameo label. She has written
several songs for adult and junior choirs including the theme song for a
large-scale project, Crossing The Line,
that took place in a swimming pool complete with extraordinary singing acoustic!
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