Born in Bristol, Joanna graduated with an honours degree in music, from Cardiff University in 1993, where she specialised in performance.  She then moved to South Africa where she pursued her teaching and playing career alongside post graduate research in Ethnomusicology and Jazz Saxophone studies at the University of Natal’s Centre for Jazz and Popular Music.

Since her return to the UK in 1998, she has worked for Lancashire Music Service as a teacher of woodwind , Head of Woodwind and latterly coordinator for Wider Opportunities.

Joanna started delivering Wider Opportunities five years ago - she was really were thrown in at the deep end! It immediately became apparent that materials were needed that would engage the children; they needed to be relevant, differentiated and fun.

There were none.

That was the point at which Joanna decided the best way forward was to write her own. She needed to develop a course in which the children were all engaged all of the time. A holistic repertoire based approach was decided, where the children could work at their own pace and still be part of a corporate whole. Joanna’s belief has always been in sound before symbol and when delivering WOpps did not want any boundaries between the children and their music-making, so a notation free approach was adopted.

The ethos of WOpps has ensemble performance with the potential for solo playing at its heart, therefore musical decision making can be nurtured if the repertoire has potential for improvisation within it. The challenge for music educators is to set up situations where in musical learning can occur - without the correct materials this cannot happen. All too often we worry about ” high flyers” and the “challenged” to the detriment of those in between. For this reason a colossal amount of time has been spent on layering each piece of music so these challenges can be addressed.

She has long believed that exciting and accessible resources presented in a relevant way should be at the heart of any music course.

Joanna maintains a busy playing schedule in contexts as diverse as an African band, big band and functions band.