Having worked as a music educator in many varied environments in Australia and in the USA, Dr. Joanne Heaton currently serves as Head of Bands at Haileybury College in Melbourne, Australia. She completed a Bachelor of Education with a music education focus and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education Studies at the University of Melbourne, and a Masters of Music majoring in conducting performance at the University of Utah, USA. Before returning to Australia, Joanne also undertook the position of Band Director at Eastmont Middle School at Sandy, Utah. Most recently, Joanne completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree specialising in Wind Band Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Joanne is in demand as an adjudicator, conductor, guest lecturer and educative consultant and has been a guest lecturer and conductor at Monash University and The University of Melbourne. In 2001 Joanne served as the music education representative for the curriculum writing project ‘Schools to Careers’ for the Utah State Office of Education. Joanne was invited to be a guest conductor of the Southern Mississippi University Honor Band in February 2007, guest conductor of the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools Honour Band in Kuala Lumpur in 2014 and guest conductor for the Colorado State University, Pueblo, Festival of Winds in 2018. Major clinic presentations include the 2012 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the 2019 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Spain, the 2019 Oxford University International Conducting Studies Conference in Sydney and the 2019 Australian Society for Music Education conference in Perth.
In 2000 Joanne was awarded the Jordan Education Foundation’s Outstanding Educator of the Year for her work in Utah schools, and in February 2017 she was honoured with an ABODA Victoria Excellence in Music Education award. The Victorian branch of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association awarded Joanne with a Life Membership award in January 2020.