Music Therapy Conversations

Joanna Eden is a jazz singer and singer/songwriter based near Cambridge in the UK.  She has shared stages with Jamie Cullum, the Buena Vista Social Club & The Blockheads. She mentored a young Sam Smith for nine years and released her 4th album 'Truth Tree' this October.  Joanna's career is all about finding a balance between performing, creating and sharing skills and experience. In this varied and exploratory conversation we talked about music education, including some of Joanna’s problematic experiences in her own musical upbringing, what it’s like being a singer fronting a band, and her own song writing process. Jo was a judge on the TV talent show ‘All Together Now’, and she found this a tricky experience for various reasons, which we discuss. She recently took part in a community project for people with dementia, working with music therapists from Anglia Ruskin University, called ‘Together in Sound’. She describes her experience of this project, including how she related to the music therapists, and