Saturday, 7 June, saw the return of CCCU’s annual Alumni Gala Dinner. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the event, with a hundred esteemed alumni and guests welcomed back onto campus grounds to celebrate and thank them for their contributions to the University since graduating.

The Alumni Gala Dinner is main evented by the Alumni Awards ceremony, in which our best and brightest nominees are recognised as winners in one of five categories. One such winner was Emily Renshaw-Kidd (BA (Hons) Music 1999, PGCE 7-14 (Music) 2003 and Master Music 2001), in the Alumni Community Hero category.

An inspiring role model and mentor, Emily is shaping the future of music education by inspiring the next generation of performers and teachers. Her leadership at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys has revitalised the music department, expanded outreach to local primary schools, and championed music’s role in enhancing well-being.

Through her involvement with the Canterbury Cantata Trust and Skylarks, she creates meaningful connections between young musicians and people living with Parkinson’s, encouraging intergenerational exchange. Her unwavering commitment to accessibility, transformative influence on neurodiverse students, and her pioneering contributions to music and health research have earned her wide acclaim.

Read on to hear her story.

How did it feel to learn you’d been nominated for an Alumni Award?

I was surprised to receive the email and replied immediately to find out a little more about it! I was amazed that members of the CCCU staff community had nominated me for such an award. As it gradually started to sink in, I allowed myself to feel proud that I had been nominated for a Community Hero Award.

How does it feel to have won?

I am proud and humbled by the whole experience! I didn’t expect to win having heard about the work of the other shortlisted alumni and you could have knocked me over with a feather when they announced my name. I am so happy that this has given recognition to the wonderful work of our charity Canterbury Cantata Trust – Caring through Singing, which was originally set up by our very own CCCU Director of Music, Professor Grenville Hancox, displaying how his inspirational mentoring helped me to consider how I might make a difference in music education and work within our community and beyond. This has then led me on to my last 2 decades of teaching at Langton Boys’ where I have had the opportunity to work with such wonderful young people who have, and will continue to, become our leaders of tomorrow.

Talk us through what you do; why is the work you do so important?

I have been a music teacher at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys for the nearly 20 years and have been Director of Music for over half of that time. Not only do we try to encourage all our school community to consider the benefits of music on their lives, but we also offer the opportunity for our musicians to be part of a wide range of musical ensembles, rehearsing and performing diverse, fun and challenging repertoire. We also open our after-school ensembles to students from other schools believing that these musical opportunities should not be solely reserved for Langton students. We have our own amazing alumni; students who have gone on to study music at undergraduate and postgraduate level, many of which have entered fantastic careers in music. An additional part of our work at the school is focussed on music and health. My roles as a Langton teacher and Artistic Director of Canterbury Cantata Trust provide us with the chance to collaborate on amazing projects. The Langton allow me to lead our founding Sing to Beat Parkinson’s group, The Skylarks, on a Tuesday afternoon, as part of the school day. This means that our students can be part of these singing sessions, join the fun, build empathy, altruism and witness the benefits of music on the Parkinson’s condition. We are currently in the process of designing our very own methodology for singing with Parkinson’s written by the Year 8 students and aimed at other teenagers in the hope that more young people will use the book to help them lead their own Sing to Beat Parkinson’s groups!

The benefits of this intergenerational work are twofold. Both the younger and older members of the group work together and really develop a strong empathy and respect for each other. Music is all about caring – when we sing together, we are caring for each other and I don’t think there is anything more innate or powerful than this. I also run various singing groups in the evenings and weekends; these groups are all centred around singing for wellbeing but they cater for different types of singers and have their own individual missions. It is amazing to see the positive effect that singing has had on friends who are recovering from strokes, suffer from COPD, dementia and Parkinson’s, let alone peoples’ mental health. I am honoured to be able to be a part of the amazing work we are all doing at Canterbury Cantata Trust and The Langton.

If anyone reading is thinking of working in your field, what advice would you give them?

If you are interested in finding out more about caring through singing and the positive
effects of singing on all health conditions, please do get in touch with me through
Canterbury Cantata Trust. Anyone specifically interested in singing to relieve the
symptoms of Parkinson’s should try one of our Sing to Beat Parkinson’s facilitator training
courses organised by our Programme Director Matthew Shipton or simply come along to
one of our Skylark’s sessions at Canterbury MS Centre to see what it’s all about! If you are
considering becoming a music teacher, do it! We need to continue sharing the importance
of the creative Arts in schools, for if education is the beating heart of humanity, surely
music is the soul!

What is your fondest memory of your time at Christ Church?

There are too many to mention but if I had to list a few they would include musical rehearsals, amazing concerts and performances, music trips in the UK and abroad and socialising in the New Inn pub with the music students and lecturers. I am also incredibly grateful to the late Michael Wright, who was Vice-Chancellor at CCCU when I was studying for my BA and MMus. He was the greatest supporter of the music department, the chapel choir (which I was lucky enough to direct for four years and helped me on my way to conducting on a larger scale) and he was a valued mentor. He cared so much about his students and took time to get to know them as individuals. I will be forever grateful for this.

What are your goals for the future?

To continue sharing the message of caring through singing, the power of music to improve our lives and bring us together as a community and a human race. I really hope my wonderful students will finish designing their methodology for singing with Parkinson’s and we can share it with other schools around the country in the hope that they might start a similar initiative. We would also like to extend the outreach of Sing to Beat Parkinson’s and develop this further to encompass Sing to Beat other conditions.