Ep 79 Katie Bycroft

Katie Bycroft is a musician, music therapist, supervisor and advocate for access to musical experiences for all. She trained at the Guildhall in 1998, having initially studied Oriental Studies (Japanese) at Cambridge University. Music was important from very early days, and she immersed herself in flute playing from the age of 8, taught by her flautist aunt. Music has always been a way for her to connect with people from other cultures, from youth orchestra and choir trips to Europe, to joining a folk music group in Japan as well as singing the Messiah in Japanese while living there in the 1990s. Her latest musical adventure has been to move to Malta to work for Villabianca Centre for Music and the Arts, a new music therapy project set up in 2021 by The Malta Trust Foundation. This unique opportunity to be involved in establishing a music therapy service where none existed before has been transformational in many ways, for many people. She continues to be active in the UK music therapy world, as Supervision Network co-ordinator for BAMT, clinical placement seminar leader at UWE, and working together with University of the West of England to establish a blended, distance-learning music therapy training for trainees based in Malta. Music therapy continues to bring welcome connections, with a visit during a recent trip to Australia to the Noro Music Therapy Centre just outside Sydney. She is also Director of the Oxford Flute Summer School which continues after 35 years to attract flautists from all over the world for a wonderful week of flute playing with like-minded people. Luke spoke to Katie in person, at University of the West of England, Bristol in August 2023.