phoebe martha osborne

Over the past fourteen years, Phoebe has worked with people from a wide range of communities and contexts. With extensive training and collaboration with artists and organisations across UK, Phoebe has developed and honed her creative participant-lead music making. Her work ranges from found sound film scores with SEN/D schools to songwriting with adults with mental health problems, to improvised music making with teenagers in hospital.

Using music to encourage and develop confidence, communication, social interaction and self expression, Phoebe repeatedly experiences the transformative power, creative music making can have.

Phoebe has worked with a range of diverse arts organisations, including Live Music Now, Creative Futures, Drake Music, Mouse Trap, Green Shoes Arts, TDLP, A Little Learning, Create Arts, Southwark Play House, Animate Orchestra, Sidney De Haan Centre, Emergency Exit Arts, Kent Music Hub and Discover.

Creating Community 

In 2021, Phoebe founded ‘Sound in the Round’ with collaborators, Emma Coleman and Liz Ikamba. This aims to create a space for musicians (lead by women) from a range of backgrounds to connect and collaborate, improvising with a range of instruments and voice. This is currently running in London, Leeds and soon, Brighton. Check instagram and Facebook for upcoming dates and venues.

Music with deaf children and families

My Sound Stories
With Creative Futures and Phoebe’s Music Community Interest Company, ‘Sound Stories’,  Phoebe has designed and lead a new interactive and story telling and music project for deaf children and their families. Working closely with the Teachers of the Deaf (Nikki Clark and Karen Hardewicke) at Laycock School, parents are supported to engage in creative activities around story telling, exploring sound and creative music making in a group. Children can work with their friends and families to experiment with recording sound effects, create their own characters and imagine what new places sound like.

Having fun is the key. Parents can experience fun and creative ways to engage with their children and increase communication, speech and language skills.

My Sound Stories is available to book for 2-4 day School Holiday projects or smaller single day workshops. Contact to find out more.

Sounding Out
Phoebe specialises in singing and making music with children in deaf units including Laycock, Oak Lodge and Selwyn Schools. Phoebe leads weekly workshops and lessons that use techniques and strategies to ensure children are engaged and having fun. Strategies include using lots of gestures, drawing sound, using haptic feedback (feeling the vibration) and using pictures to represent music.

To find out more, this project was featured in inews article

Sounding Out Toolkit

In 2021, Phoebe Osborne, alongside Tiziana Pozzo and Dr Katie Mason designed Sounding Out Toolkit – a FREE resource for music practitioners and teachers working with deaf children. It was designed following a 3 year Creative Futures project called ‘Sounding Out’ (above).

The toolkit consists of two sections, a theoretical guide and a practical section with activities accompanied by videos. The theoretical guide is intended to help teachers in areas such as communication, working environment and examples of potential difficulties that can arise during sessions.

It also highlights two key areas of learning (inclusion and the relationship between music and movement) that underpin the activities. The practical section includes step-by-step guides to creating activities such as warm-ups, musical games aimed at improving musical skills, and main activities.

The video examples support the practical elements and provide visual based learning information.

For more information on the Sounding Out Toolkit, see the Creative Futures Website.

SEND schools & Day centres

Phoebe has been an Associate Musician for organisation Drake Music, who break down disabling barriers to music through innovative approaches to learning, teaching and making music. Using technology such as i-pads, soundbeams, makey makey’s and switches in combination with traditional instruments, Phoebe has co-trained teachers and carers as well as leading sessions to create meaningful music making with a legacy. Projects have included Crossing Into Yesterday, Ramp It Up!, Colchester Sound, City Of London Festival and Songs For All (Also created and managed by Phoebe).

Phoebe works with Southwark Playhouse working in a team of cross arts facilitators to create creative workshops. Most recently this involved making a film with a small group of boys with EBD within a mainstream school, and a class with profound and multiple needs from the neighbouring SEN/D school.

The Four Oxen – Stronger Together from Phoebe Osborne on Vimeo.

St James’ school and Cherry Tree School – a short film based on Aesop’s Fable – The Four Oxen. Music – Phoebe Osborne, Film – James Coyle, Dance & Drama – Alice Mackenzie. Sound track created from participants’ found sounds. July 2014. 

Music and Mental Health 
Phoebe lead the music programme for Green Shoes Arts, Creative 4 Life for three years and was the programme manager for one year. She worked with vulnerable adults (self referrals) in song-writing and music making weekly sessions to increase their confidence and social interaction whilst providing fun and creative activities that lead to an informal performance and recording. Adults were referred to Creative for Life via IAPT (referral service in the borough – Improving Access to Psychological Therapies).

Collaborations as part of this included working with Theatre Company Punch Drunk, to create multi sensory art installations for an interactive performance in Heritage building, Eastbury Manor, Barking.

Music and Refugees 

Phoebe delivers song writing, singing and creative music making workshops for Sound Mix, Surrey Arts and theatre group Re:act. In 2019, Phoebe completed the ‘training for trainers’ week long training with Musicians Without Borders, which continues to inform her approach when working with all groups of people, especially refugees.

Families and Under 5’s

Phoebe has worked with song, actions, percussion, musical games and instrument making with under 5’s and families through organisation, Tea Dance For Little People and Discover.  Activities are entwined in changing themes and focus of self-discovery and improvisation.

Phoebe has also developed and lead Singing Around the World – a series of singing workshops for families, focusing on learning songs from different cultures in fun and accessible ways.

1-1 tuition – Piano/Voice

Phoebe has been teaching  1-1 since she was 15, and has worked with all ages and abilities, teaching grades (100% pass rate), composition and a wide repertoire tailored to different learning styles and instilling a love of music in her students.