Marie started playing clarinet at school, and studied music at Lancaster University. She then started working with the English Symphony Orchestra as Orchestral Manager where she stayed for 3 years. After studying Clarinet with several prominent clarinettists, she got her LTCL in 1997. About this time she also started playing the saxophone.
She left the ESO 1998 to study an MPhil in British Opera at Birmingham University, and to gain more work as a freelance clarinettist. She started teaching woodwind and also playing more popular music, maximising her developing love of the saxophone, and playing in several live bands. She was one of the founder teachers of Worcester Rock School, where she taught sax, vocals, stage technique and managed the Junior Band.
Now Marie can be found in various guises. She still plays as a freelance orchestral musician on both sax and clarinet, as well as performing in both solo and chamber recitals. She has played in various soul and blues bands and plays and sings with the sell-out tribute band, the UK Pink Floyd Experience, The George Micheal Story and the fun and quirky cafe culture band ‘Little Rumba’, and the classical quartet ‘Quartette Lunoire’, which was formed to perform the works of composer John Hymas. Then there is the very cool ‘fire sax’…
Marie has written a well received book Instrumental Teaching in School; A Definitive Guide (see publications for web offer!), as well as a number of articles for Music Teacher magazine. She has been a music examiner for Trinity College London for 19 years, where she is also involved in training for examiners, and is the clarinet specialist and diploma advisor. She has completed a doctoral degree exploring the motivation of teachers within the instrumental teaching world, and has run a number of Professional Development courses for musicians and teachers.
Marie has been head of department at the Elgar School of Music, and is now a senior partner and founder of MEO (Music Educators Online) which delivers professional development for music educators, including the Certificate of Music Educators level 4 qualification (Trinity College London).
More recently Marie can be found teaching Psychology at Hereford 6th form college.