Who we are

Jeremy has worked as the Head of St Helens Council Music Service since its inception in 2008. Previously he held senior roles within Stockport and Suffolk Music Services and has much experience of instrumental and curriculum leadership and teaching over a 30+ year career. 

He gained a PhD in education research investigating how a service could create a Wider Opportunities programme that considered its participants as musicians and the class as a band or orchestra from the first lesson. He has also been instrumental in setting up a Music Education Hub Alliance across the Liverpool City Region and the Local Cultural Education Partnership for St Helens. Over the past few years, Jeremy has become passionate about the role that music and the arts can play in the lives of young people. He is an advocate for a broad and balanced school curriculum that supports the intellectual and emotional growth and understanding in all young people. More recently, he has become a keen advocate for the use of the arts as therapy and is currently developing a number of arts on prescription models to support young people's wellbeing.

Vernon graduated from the Chartered Institute of Credit Management, working for a number of international companies before becoming a debt advisor for Citizens Advice.

He has taught guitar and vocals both privately and for Yamaha Music Schools previously in St Helens and Altrincham. He has also delivered vocal workshops and courses to community groups and community centres such as The Hope Singers, St Helens and The Sunshine Singers, Widnes and regularly provides singing sessions in care homes. He is a also a Mental Health First Aider (MHFA) and delivers self-esteem and self-confidence courses to groups of learners. 

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He has supported artists such as Courtney Pine CBE, Geno Washington, Acoustic Alchemy, Snake Davis and The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and has been a featured artist for Jazz FM. ​ 

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Vernon is passionate about helping others to enjoy all of the positive aspects of singing and music making. Helping young people to find their voice, know they can make a positive choice and grow in their creativity is an absolute honour to be involved in and with. 

Sarah-Jane is an ethnomusicologist who focuses on intercultural understanding through music-making. She currently works as a music lecturer at York St John University. Sarah-Jane completed a 4-year post-doctoral position with the International Centre for Community Music in 2022. As part of an international and interdisciplinary team, she explored the impact of Ethno, residential folk music gatherings for young people across the world. Sarah-Jane completed her PhD at Queen’s University, Belfast in 2018, exploring how community choirs re-imagine identity in Northern Ireland. This research was published in 2023:  Building Community Choirs in the Twenty-first century: Re-imagining identity through Singing in Northern Ireland (Intellect).  

Sarah-Jane has a background in music education having taught in Primary and Secondary schools in South Africa, the United States and England. Her first encounter with Sing Up was as a Primary school music co-ordinator in London between 2008-2013. 

Sarah-Jane is a choral conductor and singer. She is currently the music director for the Stamford Bridge Singers.  

Beth is an experienced youth music programme manager, with a track record in developing projects that reach young people who may otherwise experience barriers to accessing the arts. Having joined in 2021 from Trinity Laban’s Learning & Participation programme, Beth now leads NYJO’s thriving Under 18s programme in South-East London for young people to develop a range of skills in and through jazz and improvised music. Throughout her professional practice, Beth puts front-and-centre the principles of equal access and inclusion, striving to create ever-more safe and welcoming spaces for young people of all backgrounds and experiences.

Becky is an experienced senior leader in the NHS. Currently Assistant Director for Primary Care Strategy and Change in North Central London, she has experience of successful programme management, change leadership, strategic development, healthcare commissioning, and service transformation in the private, voluntary and public sector. Becky obtained an MSc in Healthcare Commissioning at University of Birmingham, focusing her dissertation on partnerships for health and wellbeing, specifically the transfer of public health responsibilities to Local Authorities. Becky has previously worked in an Academic Health Science Network, focusing on building partnerships for adult mental health, for example between primary and secondary care, and between the health and employment sectors.  

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Becky originally studied Fine Art Sculpture and is still driven by a passion for the arts, and a belief in the importance of access for all to creativity in the broadest sense.  She is a Mum and sees the importance of singing for wellbeing and connection in her own family.

A singer and violinist, Michelle originally trained as a musician and has a degree in music and English literature. She has a 27-year professional background within UK-based music education organisations including conservatoire Trinity Laban, the international music exams board ABRSM, The National Foundation for Youth Music - a lottery funded music charity for disadvantaged young people - and most recently, school music education provider Sing Up.

Under Michelle’s leadership Sing Up provides songs and resources to support singing in schools. Sing Up has a deep commitment to every child having the opportunity to experience high quality singing as a regular part of school life because of the many educational, developmental, societal and health benefits this brings. In 2018, Michelle wrote The Singing School Handbook which is published jointly by Faber Music and Sing Up.

In 2017, Sing Up created the Sing Up Foundation, a charity which focuses on singing for child and adolescent mental health. Michelle is on the Board of the Sing Up Foundation and also of the UK’s Music Education Council.

Rhona is currently Assistant Head in Addington School where she oversees Therapies and 14 - 19 provision. She is an experienced music leader for children, young people and adults with learning disabilities, devising and leading projects and curriculum for SEND schools across Berkshire, and leading professional networks. She has led inclusive choirs, bringing together young people from SEND and mainstream schools along with parents and staff, and has led vocal projects and performances with Mencap.

Rhona studied music at the University of Southampton, specialising in jazz saxophone and voice performance.  She has performed in theatres and bands across the south of England and continues to have a passion for inclusive music making and learning through music. She is also mum to 2 girls who love to sing!​

Dr McWilliams studied Natural Sciences at King’s College, Cambridge University, where he won the Richards Prize for biological sciences. He then went on to study medicine at Barts and the London Hospital, winning the Strauss Prize for Psychological Medicine. Training in child and adolescent psychiatry followed at the Maudsley Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Royal London Hospital, where he is now a specialist registrar working on an in-patient adolescent unit.

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Andrew completed his PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and at the Wellcome centre for Human Neuroimaging, Queen Square University College London, where he used interdisciplinary methods to study questions at the interface of the law and cognitive science. His research straddles mind-body relations, self-awareness, neuroscience, autonomy in decision-making and the law, as well as the notion of metacognition – the ability to reflect on your own thought processes. His arts involvement spans music, visual arts and dance, where he is interested in the ethical issues created by arts-in-health programmes, including the handling of adverse consequences and processes of gaining valid consent. He was awarded an Annual Meeting Senior Researcher Award from the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2019.

A singer and one-time soprano saxophonist, Beth has a BA in Music and Media Studies from the University of Sussex and an MA in Composition of Music for Film and Television from the University of Bristol. Beth has extensive experience in managing and administrating programmes and projects, commissioning and editorial work, and partnership development for commercial and charitable organisations, and has been working in the Arts, Music, and Education sectors since 2005 – firstly at Faber Music, and then for a range of organisations including Creative Skillset (now Screen Skills), and Arts Council of Wales. Specialisms include education, skills development, and publishing. 

Beth has been involved in Sing Up since the outset in 2007 and now works for Sing Up full time as Publishing Manager, looking after the process of creating resources for the Song Bank and website from commissioning, through editorial, to publication. She is passionate about cultural and creative education, creating and supporting opportunities for children and young people.

Motje is an international researcher in Music Education and holds the position of VC 2020 lecturer in Education at De Montfort University. Dr Wolf holds an MA in Musicology and Drama from the University of Leipzig (Germany), studied Music Psychology in Graz (Austria, Erasmus) and completed a PhD in Music Education/Musicology at De Montfort University Leicester (UK) in 2013. She co-founded the special focus group ‘Singing in Music Education’ (SiME) of the European Association of Music in Schools (EAS) and sits on the steering committee. Within SiME, Motje is involved in international research projects and helps to develop singing research throughout Europe. She is also editor-in-chief for the Music MESH guide project.

Being a professional singer herself, Motje has developed a strong interest in different teaching models of singing. In her current research project Models of Vocal Education (MOVE) she investigates the models that form the basics of singing teaching. Furthermore, she is interested in enhancing the pedagogical practice for working with young voices.

Zeny Zerfu wants creative classrooms. She wants students central to learning, building their confidence and leading the way. This dream inspires her work with the British Council.

As a facilitator, she encourages learning through stories and art and supports international partnerships. She embeds core skills in classrooms throughout Ethiopia, filling them with song as the World Voice programme leader.  Zeny’s work impacts leaders, teachers, and most importantly students.