OHMI appoints new Music-Makers Manager to engage with Music Hubs

Faye Oakland

OHMI has announced the appointment of its new Music-Makers Manager, Faye Oakland. The appointment signals a new stage in OHMI’s relationship with music hubs across the country, enabling it to work with many more to bring adapted musical instruments and enabling equipment to more disabled children.
 
The Music-Makers programme is supported by a number of funders, including Arts Council England, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and a number of smaller organisations.
 
There are two elements to the programme: support of individual music-makers which is currently offered in Surrey, Herefordshire and Birmingham; and support of whole class ensemble teaching in Nottingham, Northamptonshire and Birmingham.
 
The new Music-Makers Manager role will play a vital part in raising the profile of OHMI, and passing on its skills and knowledge to the music hubs so that their teachers feel empowered to identify specific needs of disabled pupils and match them to the most appropriate solutions.
 
Rachel Wolffsohn, OHMI’s General Manager, said,
 
“There are many occasions where the solution identified as part of a pupil assessment is a pretty straightforward one such as a trumpet or trombone stand to allow a child to play a brass instrument one-handed. Faye’s appointment means we can pour more resources into educating music teachers on such immediate solutions they have at their disposal. This in turn frees up OHMI’s time, not only to engage with a greater number of music hubs across the country but also to point our expertise to children with more complex needs such as where their disability prevents them from reaching all the valves of a trumpet and the solution, therefore, might be a pocket trumpet.”
 
Faye Oakland, OHMI Music-Makers Manager, adds,
 
“From my earlier experiences of working with OHMI when I was a senior leader at the Nottingham Music Hub, it was clear that nothing stands in the charity’s way when it comes to making sure a disable child can participate fully in class.  My role as OHMI Music-Makers Manager is to make sure that there are solutions in place for a disabled child ahead of the September return to school so that there are no awkward first sessions where a music teacher is unaware of a child’s needs until they meet them and then are scrambling around for a quick solution.
 
“It may take some years yet but we want it to become an entirely natural process that a disabled child’s needs are assessed ahead of time and that their chance to make music is no longer considered an afterthought.”
 
Read more about Faye here.
 
Learn more about OHMI Music Makers at: www.ohmi.org.uk/teaching