Joanna Gawthorpe

I started my professional career working abroad as a dancer and discovered that I enjoyed characterising and acting as I danced. On my return to England, I attended SLP college with a view of training in all three disciplines: Dance, Drama and Singing. My main ambition was to sing and act in a musical so was thrilled when I received a call back for a new Glenn Miller show… only for funding to cease days later. Fred Astaire sang ‘Pick yourself up, Dust yourself down and Start all over again’ so I did just that.

I left college and began to train privately in Speech and Drama, Acting, Singing and Theory of Music and started working as a jobbing actress, that included work for a Theatre Company, performing, co-writing and directing as well as work for TV, and started up drama workshops for children and adults.

I was inspired to devise a programme for the elderly through my love of musicals and discovered the early jazz standards composed by Gershwin and Cole Porter. Thus began my interest in Jazz Singing and a return to education. I completed a BTec in Jazz Studies at Leeds College of Music and started learning the piano.

I then went onto study for a BMus (Hons) at the University of Huddersfield and was fortunate to study both performance and composition. I have a Masters degree in Music for the Moving Image at Leeds Beckett University where I have been encouraged to push boundaries to create music that is new and exciting. I am now studying for a PhD. I also play keys in a band called Triple Lock and sing with Timeless Horizons.

I teach 1-1 and small groups including Singing, Beginner Piano and Theory.

Music Qualifications & Achievements:

• MA in Music for the Moving Image – Leeds Beckett University
• BMus (Hons) – University of Huddersfield
• BTEC National in Jazz Singing – Leeds College of Music
• Continuing Education Certificate in Theatre Arts – Leeds University
• LAMDA Gold Medal – Acting
• Grade 5 ABRSM Singing (classical)
• Grade 6 ABRSM Theory
• Grade 6 ABRSM Piano (classical)