ABOUT US
Who We Are
Songbirds Music UK is a community interest company (CIC) delivering specialist music projects and training in health, disability, and community settings. We work with children, young people, and families affected by medical conditions, hospitalisation, and disability, creating live music experiences that support communication, wellbeing, and creative engagement in healthcare environments.
The organisation was formed in 2019, developing from an award-winning collaboration at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital between lead specialist musicians Dr Ros Hawley and Mark Fisher. Together, they bring over 25 years of combined experience across healthcare, education, and community music practice.
Our work is grounded in compassionate, inclusive, and responsive music-making. We prioritise live, relational interaction rather than performance, using sound and musical gesture as a form of communication—particularly with children who are non-verbal or have complex healthcare needs. Sessions are shaped in real time in response to individuals and clinical environments, ensuring access and meaningful participation.
Our aims are to support emotional wellbeing, reduce anxiety and stress, and create opportunities for connection and expression through music. We work closely with clinical, nursing, and play teams to ensure music is integrated sensitively into hospital care.
Alongside direct delivery, we support training and partnership work with music, medical, and nursing students. We collaborate with institutions including the Royal Northern College of Music, the University of Manchester Medical School, and the University of Chester, contributing to training and wider creative health practice.
Dr Rosalind Hawley (She/Her)
Director - Songbirds Music UK
Ros is a researcher, collaborator and explorer of music-making, passionate about the change music brings to peoples’ lives, and fascinated by the communicative processes of musical interaction.
Ros leads musicians’ professional development, residency projects and evaluation programmes linked to hospital and community settings across the UK and Europe. She has shared her work nationally and internationally through conference presentations and publications. Ros also teaches music and communication on medical/nursing student training programmes in the Northwest. Ros’ research explores the processes of musical interaction she uses in her practice and their application within a hospital context.
In 2004 Ros was appointed UK Musician Team Leader for a pioneering European Exchange Project with The Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, UK) Waterford Healing Arts Trust (Ireland) and Musique et Santé (Paris), and from there became the first musician to work as a hospital musician in paediatric settings in Manchester, developing a longstanding relationship with The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, and working with Mark Fisher as the lead trainers for the Music for Health Student Training programme at The Royal Northern College of Music. Over 140 students have now trained with them and gone on to develop their own careers as community musicians, music therapists, creative collaborators, performers and teachers.
Ros is a graduate of The Royal Northern College of Music and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was awarded a bursary to study on the highly respected Performance and Communications Skills Course (PCS) under Peter Renshaw. She holds an MMus (distinction) in performance as research and has written a reflexive PhD study on her artistic practice as a specialist musician working in a hospital setting (both through SOAS, London). Ros also holds Level 1 in BSL and is a mental health first aider.
‘The musician who disrupts the hierarchy of the hospital’
Mark Fisher (He/Him)
Director - Songbirds Music UK
Guitarist and composer, Mark has lived experience of long-term hospitalisation and extensive experience composing music for healthcare environments.
Significant projects shaping his approach include a 4-year residency at Robin House Children’s Hospice (2005-10); a 3-year Sound Collectors creative composition project with cystic fibrosis patients at Wythenshawe Hospital; Musician in Residence at Seashell Trust Manchester funded by Children in Need (1999 – 2015), and design and delivery of the undergraduate Music for Health programme at The Royal Northern College of Music (2005- present).
Mark’s regional commissions from arts and health organisations include the award-winning LIME Arts (Manchester University Hospitals Foundation Trust), Blue Sci, and START, designing the Recipe for A Good Mood project for their award-winning website in 2009.
Mark’s compositions have been used in training sessions and presentations for healthcare professionals, nursing conferences, counselling psychology doctorate seminars and NSPCC counsellors. He explores composition in his teaching/training engagements with the University of Manchester Medical School and RNCM.
During the 2020 pandemic, Carmedic™ adopted a series of his compositions and used them worldwide to support patients in Critical Care.
soundcloud.com/m4h2020/sets/sound-environments
soundcloud.com/m4h2020/sets/1000-days
soundcloud.com/m4h2020/sets/songbirds
"Mark you are my guitar guru and I would never have strummed a note if it wasn't for you."
- Parent of child in palliative care.
Professor Juliet Goldbart (She/Her)
Director - Songbirds Music UK
Juliet Goldbart is Professor of Developmental Disabilities in the Psychology Department, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Juliet’s research addresses the communication challenges experienced by children and adults with profound intellectual disabilities (ID) or complex physical disabilities.
Juliet has a particular interest in appropriate service delivery for families with a child or adult with complex needs, whether in relatively advantaged contexts or in lower and middle-income countries. She is passionate about finding ways of supporting communication and interaction with people with profound disabilities, and has run workshops on this topic in many parts of the world.
Gloria Xia (she/her)
Young Creator Project Support (funded by Youth Music)
Gloria Xia is a Manchester-based composer, originally from Suzhou, China, whose work is driven by cross-disciplinary and intercultural exploration. Drawing inspiration from various art forms and installations, her music is rooted in intimacy, transformation, and the subtleties of human connection—often reflecting inner narratives and autobiographical moments. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate composition degree at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
A passionate advocate for the power of music in community and healthcare settings, Gloria has been involved in Songbirds’ RNCM Fledglings project, along with other charities and organisations that use music to support wellbeing and mental health. These experiences have given her firsthand insight into how music can enrich lives as a powerful and tranformative tool.
As a Young Creator, Gloria is excited to support the Songbirds team and contribute to work that brings communities together, fosters connection, and helps create meaningful moments through music in hospital environments.
gloriaxxy.wixsite.com/composer
Our Wider Team
Songbirds Music UK works with a wider team of student trainees, volunteers, and emerging musicians who support and contribute to our work in hospital and community settings.
We provide structured training and development opportunities for Graduate Young Creators, Young Associates, and Associate Musicians, offering pathways to gain experience in hospital-based music making. These roles are designed to support progression at different stages, from early engagement through to more independent practice.
Through practical experience, mentoring, and reflective learning, participants develop skills in responsive, relational music-making in healthcare environments. Working alongside experienced Songbirds musicians and hospital staff, they contribute to live sessions across wards and shared spaces, supporting our ongoing programme of work.
