Naomi Norton
Lecturer in Music Education

Profile

Biography

Dr Naomi Norton (married name: Underwood) is a musician with a varied portfolio that includes research, teaching, and consultancy. The driving force behind her diverse professional activities is the belief that no one should be denied the opportunity to progress to the level of musical proficiency that they desire: this could relate to health and wellbeing, social and financial status, or any other aspect perceived as a barrier.  

Naomi is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, member of the Centre for Music Education and Human Flourishing at York, and Musicians’ Health and Wellbeing Coordinator for the School of ACT. She convenes a 20-credit module focused on Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Musicians that has been available to undergraduate students for five years and contributes wellbeing focused teaching across taught undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. In addition, Naomi is the Chair of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) Music Health and Wellbeing (MHW) Special Interest Group (SIG), co-research lead for the Artists’ Care Project, Guest Editor for a Frontiers Research Topic focusing on ‘Developing Musical Expression, Communication, and Wellbeing’, and a member of the Ethics Governance Network with a specialist interest in research ethics when working with students. She is currently supervising three doctoral students and has ample experience supervising dissertations at MA and undergraduate level. Naomi is an experienced lecturer and public speaker and has been invited to give keynote presentations and workshops around the UK and internationally. 

Naomi studied at the University of Leeds between 2007 and 2012 during which time she completed a BA in Music (2011) and a MMus in the Applied Psychology of Music (2012, supported by a Santander scholarship). Her subsequent doctoral studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (award validated by Manchester Metropolitan University) were fully-funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This research focused on an exploration of health-related topics in instrumental and vocal music lessons from the perspectives of teachers in the United Kingdom. 

You can connect with Naomi on LinkedIn.

 School Roles

• Deputy Chair of Postgraduate Research for the School of ACT
• Musicians' Health and Wellbeing Coordinator
• Chair of the Musicians' Health and Wellbeing Group

Publications

Selected publications

Research Service

Co-editor, Frontiers Research Topic ‘Developing Musical Expression, Communication, and Wellbeing

Reviewer, Psychology of Music, 2025 to present

Reviewer, Research Studies in Music Education, 2025 to present

Reviewer, International Journal of Music Education, 2023 to present

Reviewer, Music & Science, 2021 to present

Reviewer, Frontiers in Psychology Performance Science, 2021 to present 

Peer-reviewed publications

Norton, N. C. (under review, Research Studies in Music Education). Research with students: Ethical considerations for music researchers in education

Joly, L. C., & Norton, N. C. (publication in 2026). Healthy Piano Pedagogy. In C. Fisher & S. Cathcart (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Piano Pedagogy. Oxford University Press.

Norton, N. C., Schmidtmann, G., Lim, H., & Blouin, C. (publication in 2027). Visual, dermatological, and dental health. In Palac, J., Rennie-Salonen, B., Chesky, K., Hoover, S., Dzierzanowski, H., & Taylor, M. (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Musicians’ Health Advocacy. Oxford University Press.

Shoebridge, A., Norton, N. C., Guptill, C., & Sabo, J. (publication in 2027). Addressing occupational health in music using behavioral and social frameworks. In Palac et al. (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Musicians’ Health Advocacy. Oxford University Press.

Zhang, Y., & Norton, N. C. (2026). Chinese adolescents' experiences of performance confidence and anxiety and the role of instrumental teacher support. Frontiers in Psychology, 17:1881466. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1881466 

Norton, N. C., Powell, R., Pendenza, F., Iranzad, S. N., & Poole, J. (2025). Chapter 1: ‘Unseen influences’: The effects of philosophy and biases on approaches to instrumental and vocal teaching. In E. Haddon (Ed.), MasterClass in Instrumental Music Education: Developing Pedagogies as Instrumental Teachers. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Poole, J., & Norton, N. C. (2023). Investigating trainee instrumental/vocal teachers’ perceptions of dialogic teaching: A mixed-methods study. Frontiers in Education: Educational Psychology, Volume 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1272325

Norton, N. C. (2021). Chapter 25: Ensemble musicians’ health and wellness. In R. Timmers, F. Bailes, & H. Daffern (Eds.), Together in Music: Coordination, Expression, Participation. Oxford University Press.

Norton, N. C. (2020). Considering musicians’ health and wellness literature through the lens of the Behaviour Change Wheel. Journal of Music, Health, and Wellbeing, Autumn, 1-25. Available here.

Norton, N. C., Ginsborg, J., & Greasley, A. (2019). Instrumental and vocal teachers in the UK: Demographic characteristics, educational pathways, and beliefs about qualification requirements. Music Education Research, 21(5), 560-581. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2019.1656181

Norton, N. C. (2016). Health promotion in instrumental and vocal music lessons: The teacher’s perspective (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester. Available here.

Knowledge Exchange and Dissemination 

Norton, N. C., Bartleet, B-L., Birch, C., Crossland, E., & Turner, K. (2026). Considering Community Musicians’ Health and Wellbeing. Convenor and Chair of Roundtable at the ISME Community Music Activity Commission pre-conference seminar, Toronto, July 2026.

Norton, N. C., Breaden, M., Blumer, C., de Banffy-Hall, A., Rathgeber, J., & Rennie-Salonen, B. (2026). Extending the discussion: Exploring relationships between music, health, and wellbeing. Convenor and Chair of Roundtable at the ISME World Conference, Montreal, July 2026.

Shoebridge, A., Norton, N. C., Burrell, L., Ege, G., Lubert, V., & Lim, C. (2026). Transformative approaches to musicians’ health and wellbeing. Roundtable at the ISME World Conference, Montreal, July 2026. 

Norton, N C. (2026). Ethical considerations for music educators undertaking research with those that they teach. Workshop at the ISME World Conference, Montreal, July 2026.

Norton, N. C. (2026). Researching (with) our students: Ethical considerations for researchers in education. School of ACT Research Seminar 2026, University of York.

Norton, N. C. (2026). Health and wellbeing in piano lessons. Invited workshop at The Piano Teachers’ Course, April

Norton, N. C., & Doe, S. (2026). Visual health for musicians. Invited workshop at RNCM, March 2026.

Norton, N. C. (2025). Health and Wellbeing: Taking care of yourself as a musical director/music educator. Invited workshop at ABCD Convention, October 2025.

Norton, N. C. (2025). Reflecting on student and tutor experiences during a bespoke musicians’ health and wellbeing module at a UK university. Presentation at the Musicians’ Health Conference 2025, Odense, September 2025.

Norton, N. C. (2025). Towards an ‘ideal world’ in which making music benefits the health and wellbeing of all. Invited workshop at The Prince’s Teaching Institute (PTI) Music Enrichment Residential, July 2025.

Norton, N. C. (2025). Keynote Presentation: In an ‘ideal world’ taking part in music enhances health and wellbeing for all… Invited and funded keynote at the International Congress for Music, Art and Health (CIMAS V), Alcora (Spain), June 2025.

Norton, N. C., & Doe, S. (2024). Visual health in music education. Workshop at the ISME World Conference, Helsinki, July-August 2024.

Norton, N. C. (2024). Healthy coaching session at Hallmark of Harmony training event, January 2024.

Norton, N. C. (2022 & 2023). Wellbeing workshops for Future Talent musicians. February 2022 & 2023.

Norton, N. C. (2023). Keynote at launch event for ‘Flourish’. Royal Northern College of Music, October 2023. 

Norton, N. C. (2022). Harnessing Behaviour Change Science in Musical Environments. Workshop as part of the ISME World Conference, Brisbane/Online, July/August 2022.

Norton, N. C. (2022). Face-to-face. Online. Blended? Evolution of a Musicians’ Health and Wellness Module in Response to COVID19. Oral presentation as part of the ISME World Conference, July/August 2022. 

Shoebridge, A., & Norton, N. C. (2022). Changing Positions in Musicians’ Health: Cross-national Collaborative Teaching during the COVID19 Pandemic. Oral presentation as part of the ISME World Conference, Brisbane/Online, July/August 2022. 

Norton, N. C. (2022). Musicians’ health and wellness. Contribution to the Professional Practice and Values module in the updated ABRSM FutureLearn course for instrumental and vocal teachers.

Norton, N. C. (2020). ‘Musicians’ Health and Wellness’: A new university undergraduate module in the UK. Oral presentation as part of the ISME Musicians’ Health and Wellness Special Interest Group Online Seminar, October 2020.

Research

Overview

Key areas of interest

• Musicians’ Health and Wellbeing
• Music Education
• Community Music
• Music Psychology

Projects

Artists’ Care Research Project, National Collaboration

This project focuses on the wellbeing of musicians working in challenging and complex settings. The first phase is complete (read more here) and I joined the project team as co-research lead in 2026 alongside Professor Victoria Kinsella (BCU), Dr Mary-Rose Puttick (University of Wolverhampton) and our charity partners Sara Lee (Irene Taylor Trust) and John Speyer (Hear Me Out). 

Find out more on the Centre for Music Education and Human Flourishing webpage.

Musicians’ Health and Wellbeing Research Project

This project investigates the health and wellbeing of student musicians with a particular focus on the experiences of those participating in an elective 20-credit module Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Musicians over the course of the last five years. Findings from this project have been shared at international conferences since 2019 (see publications page).

Research Ethics for Working with Students

This project brings together literature drawn from disciplines where research with students is prevalent (e.g. healthcare and psychology) with insights from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and practical lived experience of conducting research with my students. Based on this work I was invited to become a member of the Ethics Governance Network, have presented at multiple conferences, have one paper pending publication, and plans to develop this further with primary data collection.

Supervision

• Yaxin Zhang: Adolescents’ Experiences of Confidence and Anxiety in Musical Performance: The Role of Instrumental Teacher Support in the Chinese Context.
• James Poole: Turning talk into action: Exploring perceptions and practical applications of dialogic teaching within one-to-one instrumental/vocal lessons.
• Chian Lim: Exploring and supporting the wellbeing of elite orchestral musicians drawing on a Salutogenic framework.

Teaching

Undergraduate

Contributions to the BA Music and BA Music and Sound Recording programmes:

• Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Musicians (module lead)
• Core Skills for Musical Study (teaching block leader)
• The Community Music Practitioner (lecturer)

Postgraduate

• Contributions across MA Music Education and MA Music Performance programmes (2017 to present)
• Acting Programme Leader for MA Music Education: Group Teaching and Leadership (2023-2024)