Mary Bell gained a post-graduate diploma in voice and guitar from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama whilst teaching as a music specialist and special needs teacher in Dumfries and Galloway. She later trained as a music therapist at the Nordoff Robbins Centre in London. Mary’s passion is to make music accessible to all deaf and deafened children and adults. She has personal experience of re-learning to understand music since losing her hearing through meningitis when she was 36. Mary has level 2 British Sign Language and is an accomplished lip reader. Along with Teresa Brasier, she has taught music to deaf children in Greenock for the last 3 years and they hope to work closely with Drake and other partner organisations offering deaf accessible music workshops over the coming year.