Starr Meneely, Director and Principal Teacher. Starr is an accomplished pianist and music teacher. With over 20 years teaching experience she has seen students go on to enjoy musical success both as professionals and amateurs. She believes in a holistic approach to music education, where each child is immersed in music as a language and art form as this allows for broad creativity and expression in music.

In 2021 she begins a Masters in Music Teaching at the University of Chichester, where her studies will focus on the place of folk and traditional music in music education.

She began her studies with the late Mary Epperson and Julie Ann Smith and went on to earn a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance with honours from the University of Alaska Anchorage where she studied under Dr. Timothy Smith, Dr. George Belden. Dr. Laura Koenig, and the late Professor Walter Olivares. She placed Alternate in the AMTA/MTNA Collegiate Piano Competition in 2002 with her performance of the Mozart Concerto No. 19 KV 459. Her musical experience spans a variety of instruments and disciplines, including the cello, guitar and voice. She has performed throughout Alaska as a singer/songwriter and has enjoyed many years performing with theatre companies, orchestras and bands.

Starr is the author of a children's book titled What a Lovely Sound which introduces young children to music through nature. The book was illustrated by the artist Susan Merrick and endorsed by Howard Goodall OBE, Katherine Fisher (Piano Safari), Irina Gorin (Tales of a Musical Journey) and Nicola Canton (Vibrant Music Teaching).

She is influenced by the Russian Method of Piano Pedagogy and the teaching philosophies of Karl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly and Rudolf Steiner. She draws from these philosophies in her teaching, introducing music to children in a gentle and inspiring way.

Isabella Schneider, Piano Teacher. Isabella is a singer-songwriter who holds a Degree in Education (Music and English) and has about 20 years of experience teaching music. Her experience includes teaching at University workshops for students requiring bridging prior to starting music degrees. She has held several music teaching positions including Head of Music at an outstanding C of E primary in Clapham where she has implemented schemes of work and developed the music curriculum to more than cover the National Curriculum over Key stages one and two, including the nursery.

The creative side of learning is something which she has particular interest in and for several years has been involved with music productions at the school where words and melodic material is composed by the children themselves and arranged into songs with piano accompaniment and performed. These productions have been extremely successful. She has also developed a choir which has performed successfully at several festivals. The choir has developed from singing only in unison, to singing parts as well as descants etc. They have also learned to sing in several languages including Spanish, Zulu, Latin, Patua. She has taken care to give all children in all years the opportunity to play a wide variety of instruments-tuned and untuned percussion and recorder and to gain musical literacy.

She is familiar with the administrative side of subject coordination, including writing reports, references for children, planning and recording of lessons, coordinating with colleagues for services and assemblies etc.

Most fundamental to her philosophy however is the conviction that music is a vital part of the cognitive and emotional development of all children of all cultures and abilities.