Trinity Laban: Children and Young People
In September 2023, I was appointed Project Co-ordinator for the Children and Young People (CYP) department at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London. I assist in the running of several projects, including their Jazz Hang collaboration with Tomorrow’s Warriors.
Projects include:
Jazz Hang with Tomorrow’s Warriors
I was the lead co-ordinator of the Jazz Hang project from 2023 to 2025 for Trinity Laban. The project is run in collaboration with Tomorrow’s Warriors and Lewisham Music. The project was funded for both years by the London Music Fund, and for the second year, was also supported by the Open Hand Foundation.
The project took three strands
1) A weekly jazz class taking place at Lewisham Music, run by Rosie Turton
2) A termly masterclass series at Trinity Laban with a range of jazz masterclass tutors
3) A primary school jazz club run by Trinity Laban & Tomorrow’s Warriors with student music leaders and assistants, mentored by Chelsea Carmichael.
Jazz Hang: Weekly Class at Lewisham Music
My role in the project was to facilitate the engagement of the young people and to support the music leader. I also supported and mentored the Trinity Laban student assistant.
In July 2025, I was thrilled to organise a concert for the group with jazz star, Theon Cross, at St Laurence Church, Catford. The concert featured youth ensembles from the local area. Theon performed with the Jazz Hang group in their set, then performed with a Trinity Laban ensemble led by Lauren Breen. Theon grew up in Lewisham and participated in Lewisham Music as a youngster, so it was hugely exciting to see the students perform with a successful alumnus.
Jazz Hang: Masterclass Series
I’ve co-ordinated seven masterclasses over the past two years, featuring a range of tutors from the Trinity Laban jazz department and Tomorrow’s Warriors. Each masterclass engaged between 30 and 50 young people from across South-East London.
Each masterclass features a performance by a large Trinity Laban jazz band before participants took part in two seventy-minute workshops. The day finishes with an informal jam session, bringing participants (both older and younger) on the stage at the same time.
I’ve enjoyed curating these masterclasses, drawing upon the talent in Trinity Laban’s jazz department and the Tomorrow’s Warriors music leaders. I’ve always tried to ensure that the performances and workshops had synergy, and is inspired by current music education pedagogy. I worked with Andrea Vicari who used her recent article for Music Education magazine as the basis of one of her workshops. I also thought about how we can transform the jam session from a place that’s potentially daunting to new jazz musicians to a space of support, where older and young students perform side-by-side with conservatoire students and our incredible tutor teams.
Jazz Hang Masterclass, June 2025 student assistants and staff. Photo credits: Becca Hunt
Jazz Hang: Primary School Project
An important aspect of our work has been to pilot and develop jazz workshops with primary schools. The pilot project was hosted by Gordonbrock Primary School and involved the appointment of a trainee music leader and trainee music assistant, who are both mentored by Chelsea Carmichael.
The aim of the project is to make the language of jazz far more accessible from a much earlier age. In working with a younger age group, we can hope to remove some of the preconceptions about the genre too.
These concerns about prejudice in the jazz world has informed other projects that I led at Trinity Laban.
CoLab 2025: Gender Justice: Hearing A World Without Patriarchy,
February 2025
In Feb 2025, I proposed and co-led a one-week workshop project for Trinity Laban's internationally-renowned CoLab festival involving undergraduate students, a local secondary school and professional musician Romarna Campbell.
Gender Justice: Hearing a World Without Patriarchy aimed to shake up our musical canons. This project is inspired by the radical work undertaken by Berklee College of Music’s ‘Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice’ to rethink and re-present music from a non-patriarchal perspective. We aimed to test their approach and add Trinity Laban’s own distinct voice to this discourse, to understand and challenge how bias is passed on from generation to generation.
Led by myself and Romarna Campbell, we worked with a local secondary school to find out which female-artists interest them. TL students then worked with Campbell and I to devise their own arrangements, bridging these charts and TL students’ own musical specialisms. The project blurred the lines between musical genres and drawing connections between works by female-artists that school pupils can easily perform – and as a result, attempt to remove the high-art/low-art dichotomy in music education.
Following a really successful week, Romarna and I will now look at expanding the project and evaluating the results of the project. Huge thanks to all the Trinity Laban students involved.
Jazz on Tour
I’ve been working on an introductory jazz programme for schools over the past two years. In 2023-24, I organised visits to secondary schools every Thursday between November and March with one of TL’s large ensembles.
In 2024-25, we changed the set-up of the Jazz on Tour project. I worked with jazz tutor and performer Tony Kofi to bring the Monk Band to six secondary schools for a more in-depth experience. Each school was given a workshop on the music of Thelonious Monk, led by Kofi and supported by TL students, where they learnt a Monk chart that was to be performed in the school concert. The school students involved in this workshop were then given the opportunity to perform this with the Trinity Laban Monk band in front of their peers. It was exciting to see the participants engage directly in this material, to have a go at performing the works directly.
Big Bands in Schools 2024-25
New for the 2024-25 academic year, an initiative was launched by the jazz department in collaboration with the CYP team to encourage deeper engagement with schools and their jazz provisions. We worked with six schools from across the UK on a year-long programme to develop their big band skills, learning music by some of the early great jazz composers: Fletcher-Henderson, Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams. Students learnt charts including It Don’t Mean A Thing, and Mood Indigo among others.
On Sunday 6 July, I worked with Head of Jazz Hans Koller to co-ordinate a Big Band sharing day at Blackheath Halls. Each school in the project was invited to showcase their work. The day opened with a performance by Trinity Laban’s Fletcher-Henderson Band, and concluded with a performance by Trinity Laban’s Ellington Band led by Pete Long. Pete led a side-by-side session prior to the performance, where students from each of the bands joined forces in a collective ensemble.
Next Wave Big Band
“You’ve got to dig it to dig it, you dig”, Thelonious Monk
As part of the new Big Band in Schools project, the CYP team and Jazz Department set up a brand-new big band for under 18s. I was the co-ordinator and co-MD for the project, working alongside my fellow MDs, trombonist Matt Seddon and trumpet player Alex Polack.
The big band featured students in school years 6-13. Similar to the Big Band in Schools project, the repertoire was all early big band music: Count Basie, Duke Ellington etc. Rehearsals took place at Trinity Laban’s campus in Greenwich and there was a greater emphasis placed upon learning by ear. It was fantastic to be working with the young people each week, and it remains one of my favourite parts of the job.
The ensemble is continuing in 2025-26 with MDs Alex Polack and a new MD: Otto Kampa.
Young Musicians’ Summer School (YMSS)
Each year, the CYP team host a summer school at the Trinity Laban campus at the Old Royal Naval College. There are between 64-70 young people in attendance from across the UK and abroad, and we engage a range of tutors from different specialisms. It’s a huge team effort with each member of the Children and Young People team (CYP) participating to pull off our most ambitious project of the year.
In 2025, we collaborated with the Labyrinth ‘On The Thames’ festival who were performing at the Naval College at the end of our summer school. They built a stage between King Charles Court and Queen Anne Court – approximately 65 metres in length – and Labyrinth worked with us so that we could host the end-of-summer-school concert on the stage.
The concert featured our three performance ensembles: Orchestra (conducted by Medb Brereton Hurley), Creative Ensemble (led by Aga Serugo-Lugo) and two bands (mentored by James Yarde and Fran Lobo). For the final piece, we joined forces to create an 80-piece session orchestra. Alongside orchestral instruments and percussion, guitars, bass, vibraphone and keyboards, the arrangement included a 10-piece vocal collective, a percussion Bloco (working with Pulsar Percussion), a music tech team (led by Josh Oladapio) and even a boomwacker section! We commissioned a new arrangement by John Browne to embrace this gigantic ensemble, and the arrangement bridged all these elements together, performing across the 65-metre stage in the Naval College. It was an experience I’ll never forget.
It was exciting to take on both an administrative, producing and also peripatetic role in the summer school. Over the two years, I’ve supported the performance crew, run jazz and Afro-Beat workshops, assisted tutors, supported recording sessions, liaised with performance and AV teams and held pastoral duties too. The CYP team have worked with some incredible people on workshops including jazz sessions, Afro-Beat, Afro-Cuban, music producing, composing off-the-stave, looping, song writing and choral works!
We’ve also featured new compositions in both of our summer schools, including new work by Rosie Brighton and Kornélia Nemcová.
Photo credit: Becca Hunt
MT Experience Day
I’ve organised a Musical Theatre Experience Day in July 2024 and 2025. It took place at Trinity Laban’s Laurie Grove campus. Secondary school students aged year 9+ had the opportunity to perform a song with Trinity Laban’s pit orchestra, engage in workshops on dance and acting, and have a Q&A with current student and alumni from Trinity Laban’s Musical Theatre degrees.
A highlight of the day is always watching the schools work with our conductor Verity Quade as they work on the repertoire with the Trinity Laban pit orchestra. A key facet of the day is ensuring that the young people from all backgrounds see themselves in the Musical Theatre industry. It’s a fantastic opportunity for young people to see themselves and perform alongside peers. They perform their song in a concert at the end of the day. The other songs are performed by other school groups and by singers from our Musical Theatre cohort at Trinity Laban. It really bridges the gap between school and conservatoire.
Battle of the Bands
The Trinity Laban Battle of the Bands competition is open to young bands and singer/songwriters for students in years 7-12, and is organised in collaboration with Trinity Laban’s Music Performance and Industry programme. The competition takes place in Blackheath Halls and features six to eight ensembles. Each band has to play a cover and an original song, and the mix of genres has been fantastic to hear!
In 2025, the winning band was Soulstice, an all-female ensemble that impressed the judges, Joe Townsend, Yolanda Charles and Ulrika Bergelind. The prize was a coaching session, and a professional recording session at Trinity Laban to help the group develop and promote their music further. More information about the 2025 event can be read on the Trinity Laban website: https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/blog/bromleys-soulstice-win-trinity-laban-battle-of-the-bands-2025/
The winning band in 2024 was Splitflame, and was compered by Leon Tilbrook, an upcoming singer. Splitflame returned in 2025 to perform while the adjudicators deliberated. For more information, please read this news article on the Trinity Laban website: https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/blog/battle-of-the-bands-at-blackheath-halls/
Winning band from 2025, Soulstice. Photo credit: John Williams
BrassRoots: Brass Masterclass Day
I was a tutor and co-organiser of Trinity Laban’s inaugural BrassRoots Day on Saturday 15th February 2025.
Led by Richard Henry (Trinity Laban, London Jazz Orchestra, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre) with a team of other professional musicians and students, the day brought together Trinity Laban students with local schools in a side-by-side performance of Chris Wilcox’s ‘Riff Off’, first written for the ensemble, SuperBrass. We were also joined by TL trumpet tutor Anthony Cross and Trinity Laban alumni and gold medal winner, Lewis Chinn.
School Partnerships
Jazz Club in Schools
I took a lead role in supporting a local secondary school with their jazz provision for this year. They participated early in the year with our Jazz-on-Tour scheme with the Monk Band. Afterwards, we helped to set up a jazz club where two Trinity Laban students visited each week to help the sessions. In April 2025, we brought the group to Trinity Laban for a tour of campus, watching a rehearsal of Trinity Laban’s Ellington Band (led by Pete Long) and an informal showcase alongside the Next Wave Big Band.
Artist as Residence
For the past two years, we’ve been working with a local primary school to organise a musicians-in-residence scheme. We’ve had a variety of instrumentalists and composers take up the mantle. We’ve had a jazz trumpet player run a trumpet club and perform as a jazz trio at lunchtime. We’ve had a percussionist bring their percussion ensemble into the school; the primary school created percussion instruments for their summer carnival. We’ve also had an opera singer attend, working with a small group of singers and letting them attend her end-of-year recital at Trinity Laban’s campus.
It's clear that regardless of age, young children can appreciate both what could be regarded as ‘high-brow’ and ‘low-brow’ music. They are not reliant upon nursery rhymes but they can enjoy music from a wide range of genres.
Photo credit: Alex Brenner
Musical Theatre Schools Tour
Each year, the Musical Theatre department tours a show in local primary schools. This year, we toured a production of Tracy Beaker, and in the previous year, we toured Madagascar! We bring our performers and set to each primary school, performing in their school hall for a 45-minute show.
I assist in the organisation of this tour, working with colleagues from the Musical Theatre department to make these schools’ visits a success! For many young people in Lewisham and Greenwich, it can be their first interaction with live musical theatre.
Photo credit: Alex Brenner
SuperSonics and The Sessions
SuperSonics is an interactive performance for primary school pupils involving undergraduate students from each musical department at Trinity Laban. The Sessions is an interactive performance for secondary school students. SuperSonics brings Trinity Laban students from different departments into local schools while giving Trinity Laban students experiencing working in schools early in their undergraduate degree.
I remember going into a school for students with special educational needs in 2024 with a jazz band under the mentorship of Richard Henry. At the end of the two interactive concerts, the group put a short performance on for the entire school. The students and teachers started dancing. It was a real highlight of my time at Trinity Laban, and it was a great reminder that music can play such a positive role in the lives of young people.
Schools Concerts
We host a series of concerts for schools across the year. We have performed a wide range of works, including featured works on the GCSE and A-Level specification. Recent concerts featured jazz students, string quartets and a rock band.
I was a co-ordinator for this year’s A Level concert (Feb 2025), presented by Patrick Bailey. For this project, we examined the different A Level exam boards and selected works from each to include in a curated concert, featuring performances from Trinity Laban’s programmes. For this concert, we featured scenes from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, a jazz band performing works from 1920s (Lilian Armstrong) to 1950s (Charlie Parker) and romantic piano works. We were thrilled to welcome over twenty schools and two hundred A Levels to Blackheath Halls – it was optimistic to see students from a range of backgrounds engaging in A Level Music and responding so positively.
The concert also featured a composition project and workshop, produced by my colleague Kate Dornan and supported by Trinity Laban’s Head of Composition, Dominic Murcott. Dominic workshopped four mock-student A Level compositions with Trinity Laban students, and explored how the compositions could work alongside the A Level marking criteria.
We also host interactive concerts led by experienced presenters that dissect symphonic and operatic works in a fun and exciting manner. We also organise concerts for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 too, including a performance of Prokofiev’s 7 (Nov 2023) and Dvořák (Nov 2024). These concerts were presented by Kit Massey. We also hosted a performance by Trinity Laban’s opera students (April 2024) and presented by Omar Shahryar.
Animate Orchestra
Each year, we run a number of Animate Orchestra projects. These are opportunities for young people to meet up with a team of tutors and work collaboratively, whether with dancers, music tech students or even spoken word poets. There are limited restrictions on instrumentation, allowing us to devise our own unique ensembles for these short projects.
In 2023-24, we worked with Trinity Laban’s Centre for Advanced Dancers to work on a joint piece called ‘As Time Goes By’. The film was captured and edited by Becca Hunt.
In May 2024, we also hosted an Animate Local two-day workshop with Lewisham Music. We worked with two local spoken word artists to compose a piece about the local area – all of which was performed from memory!
From October 2024 - February 2025, Animate Artists worked on a performance for the U.Dance 2025 London Regional Platform that took place on Sunday 23rd February. The group have worked with composer Aga Serugo-Lugo and choreographer Roseann Dendy on an exciting new work that bridges dance and music together. It was a fantastic performance!
In April 2025, we organised an Animate Local three-day workshop with Lambeth Music. We worked with facilitator Sarah Freestone to compose soundtracks to film and television clips. We worked with students aged 6-14 during their easter break on a range of sounds for our bespoke ensemble.
Hope 4 Justice
The public engagement team in 2022 led a project called ‘Hope 4 Justice’. The album and single ‘Air’ was released in 2024. While I was not involved directly in this project, I am hugely proud of the effort that the team put in and the value of the work undertaken. I supported the team in the release of the album and I hope you have the time to read about the project, and listen to the album. Further information below:
On 15 Feb, the eleventh anniversary of the death of Lewisham resident Ella Roberta Adoo Kissi Debrah who died aged nine after a fatal asthma attack, Air from the forthcoming Hope 4 Justice EP will be released on all major streaming platforms. Ella was the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause of death on their death certificate. Air is a powerful dedication to Ella, with lyrics written by Mercury Prize nominee ESKA and Young People's Poet Laureate for London Cecilia Knapp, the children’s voices boldly asserting “I’ve got the right to breathe in my own city’s streets.”
In 2022 over 1,000 young people, including students from 27 South London schools took part in Hope 4 Justice, an urgent call to action on the climate emergency highlighting issues such as air quality, ‘throw-away’ culture and housing inequality through compelling performances of music, dance and spoken word. Created and produced by Trinity Laban in collaboration with leading artists and local young people, the socially engaged project was a key part of the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture 2022 celebrations and was performed in Mountsfield Park on Saturday 18 June 2022.
Now, to commemorate the project, five songs composed by Mercury Prize nominated artist ESKA have been recorded at Trinity Laban with John Stainer Community Primary School Choir and students from the Trinity Laban Jazz Department and will be shared as an EP.
Air post-release link to all platforms: https://hope4justice.hearnow.com/
More information about the release can be found here: https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/hope-4-justice-ep-calls-for-urgent-action-on-the-climate-emergency/
Hope 4 Justice was created and produced by Trinity Laban for We Are Lewisham and was co-commissioned with The Albany. It was part of a wider programme of climate emergency artworks commissioned for We Are Lewisham, the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture for 2022. Special thanks to ESKA, choreographer Sarah Golding, writer Cecilia Knapp and all the wonderful students, musicians and dancers involved.
