Recently retired (September 2019) after a 42 year career in Music and Arts Education I am an experienced arts educator specialising in school leadership and all aspects of arts education but with particular expertise in music and music education.
From 2011 – 2019 I was Music and Arts Strategy Manager in South Gloucestershire leading the South Gloucestershire Music Hub, Arts Council England’s preferred provider of Music Hub activities in South Gloucestershire. Always regarded as a minor risk organisation it provided teaching and ensemble activities to over 4000 children a week and many ensembles achieved national recognition at the National Festival of Music for Youth and the Music for Youth Proms.
Prior to this from 2005 to 2011 I served as National Specialist Coordinator for Performing Arts and Music for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust effectively a national adviser on arts education contributing to many national initiatives e.g. Music Manifesto, Musical Futures, Henley Review of Music Education, and Building Schools for the Future. I also provided curriculum support to over 600 schools in England and professional development to over 4000 teachers.
I contributed to international music education exchange as Chair of the Music Education Group of meNet, a Commenius funded project which surveyed Music Teaching and Teacher Training in 19 European Countries (http://menet.mdw.ac.at/ ) In 2010 gave a keynote speech on Music Education in the UK at Gifu University in Japan.
The bulk of my teaching career was at Richmond School in North Yorkshire where I led a highly successful Music Department with over 300 students a week learning musical instruments and large classes at GCSE and A level. I commissioned a number of works for School Wind Band by composers such as Bill Connor, Adam Gorb and Philip Wilby and developed UK and Worldwide commissioning networks to commission works by Christopher Marshall and Marco Putz.
As an adjudicator I have worked throughout the UK, in the Netherlands, Australia and the USA and Canada.
In retirement I am a Trustee of the Music Education Council ,Independent Chair of the Music Hubs in Somerset and Torbay , and a doctoral student at the University of the West of England. View more posts
Richard Jones Music Education Blog 