Jean Baptiste is an amazing guitarist and has really enjoyed teaching at most of our partner schools since 2023. He has an active career as a performing musician, but has flourished as a curriculum music teacher and has two regular jobs in our partner schools. He can also teach in French, being a fluent french speaker.
He says ‘ I have become a Music Teacher who creates joyful, inclusive lessons. Every student I teach is excited to learn and confident to express themselves through music. As I have become more experienced, I have been able to develop engaging, creative lessons with adaptability built in.
I see learning as a reciprocal process and continually learn from the children I teach, as well as benefitting from the input that I have had from the team at Musicalives and from colleagues at the schools I work in. This helps refine my ideas and develop my practice, which in turn means that I have gained so much from the journey of growth and discovery that Musicalives has set me on. I can’t wait to see what comes next!’
We are immensely proud of all our recruits
We’d like to introduce you to some of our talented bunch of new music teachers
Kai Kwasi Thorne has been teaching and working with us since 2024 and has gone from strength to strength as a practitioner. Children naturally follow his lead and warm to him and he has a really great relationship with every child he teaches. He is also an accomplished performing musician and has recently been working with Joy Crookes on her album ‘Juniper’. A highlight for the team was his performance at Glastonbury with her this year - we were so proud!
He says ‘Music is such an important part of every child’s experience - but unfortunately it is often underfunded and overlooked in primary schools. I was very lucky to spend a lot of time around musicians and listening to music growing up. Since I’ve starting teaching I've realised this is not the norm so it's really rewarding seeing the impact that my lessons have on the children I work with.’
Max Stoner Traubman is a highly skilled music teacher and is currently undertaking a PGCE in secondary music. He is also enjoying another new role as a parent and we are delighted to have helped him start a career in Music Education.
Musicalives was established in 2022 by Coren Peacock. Coren has worked as a Music Specialist in many different primary schools in North and East London for nearly 25 years. She is passionate about imparting knowledge and wisdom to the next generation of music teachers - to keep music live and alive in schools. She says ‘There is a discernible shortage of teachers who are confident enough to teach music. Musicalives came about when I decided to do something about this growing concern. By recruiting more musicians to teach as Primary Music Specialists, we are bringing more music in to schools and I hope to make it easier for schools to recruit from a wider and more diverse range of musicians who are confident and happy working as music teachers.
The aim is ultimately to get the teachers that work for Musicalives Qualified Teacher Status. Ensuring high quality training for the music teachers of the future whilst also providing a pathway to gain QTS is what I am working very hard towards achieving.’
