Sally Cathcart

Sally is the Co-Founder of The Curious Piano Teachers, an online resource that provides an innovative and inspiring space for piano teachers across the world to meet, share, reflect and grow. Since its formation The Curious Piano Teachers has attracted a world-wide reputation for innovation and collaboration.

Her innate curiosity has taken her to many corners of the world to explore different approaches to music education. After her travels as a 2005 Winston Churchill Fellow, Sally founded the Oxford Piano Group as a vibrant, collaborative place for pianists and teachers to meet and share experiences.

She was awarded a Ph.D from the Institute of Education, UCL in 2013. Her topic was the first comprehensive study of U.K. piano teachers, exploring common practices, expertise, values, attitudes and motivation to teaching. Sally is a trained Kodály practitioner and has a reputation for delivering energetic and insightful training and courses. She currently acts as a senior consultant and Musicianship Practitioner for The Voices Foundation after spending several years as their Director of Development. This involves working in disadvantaged mainstream and special schools with class teachers helping them develop personal musicianship skills.

In addition Sally is an examiner for the UK graded examination board ABRSM. She also works as a syllabus consultant for them and is a member of the ABRSM Music Education Advisory Committee. Furthermore, her ideas on sight-reading were developed by ABRSM into their Sight-Reading Trainer app. This has attracted considerable praise for its innovative and game-based approach.

Sally regularly presents workshops and lectures both live and online and each week she can be found sharing her Tuesday Teaching Tips over on The Curious Piano Teachers.