Nicky
has experience in setting up and developing adult and children's choirs
in both the UK and Uganda. She travels annually to Uganda (see the Vibrant Team's work in Uganda) and having heard the sound of Gospel singing ‘in the
raw’ in villages while she has been in Africa, has a passion to bring this
‘sound of wall-to-wall sunshine’ back to the UK! The Vibrant Gospel Choir reflects what she has learnt from Gospel singers in Uganda, bringing the
opportunity for choir members to learn sing an authentic expression of this
infectious and joyous genre. Photo: Richmond Music and Arts Festival 2015 . Locally, Nicky works for Singing Hands as a tutor, working with pre school children in
classes run for local families, at children’s centres, nurseries, and local schools. Singing and signing nursery rhymes, playing games
and telling stories using Makaton sign language in these setting enables
children and their families to learn to sign and they can use this skill to aid
pre verbal language communication in very young children. Learning to sign
using Makaton is a life skill that some children with special and additional
needs find very useful as they begin to communicate in their early years and it
has been a great privilege to watch children learn to speak through first learning
to sign. Nicky is a qualified adult education tutor and an experienced after schools club teacher in both Richmond and Kingston Boroughs. She plays seven instruments and teaches piano lessons at Hillsound Music Shop, Hampton Hill. |