Norma's interests in arts and music in part stem from growing up in the North West around the sounds of big band, jazz and dance music. After training as a social scientist and working for several years researching and teaching about health issues and policy, she began to combine her interests, undertaking formal training in music composition with composers such as Paula Gardiner and Andrew Wilson Dickson. 

Norma's compositions are often influenced by her research in health care settings. Music offers a powerful medium for exploring phenomena that can't easily be expressed in words and may be overlooked in conventional research and policy development. This was demonstrated in recent research which explored the impact of mental healthcare environments on service users and staff.

The project found that aural qualities of the environment were particularly important to participants, although these aspects are sometimes neglected by planners and architects in favour of more obvious visual concerns. In order to highlight the issues, Norma worked with service users and researchers to develop a library of 'love/hate' sounds that were audio recorded as old rural facilities were shut down and new modern ones opened.

Norma is has developed a series of compositions from the project, including 'Bird Waltz', performed by the Bristol based jazz septet Paraty www.myspace.com/paratyuk. The research was also the inspiration for Norma's big band piece 'Maggie the Elephant (finds her place in the sun)'. This was a commissioned by SPNM in 2007 and was first performed in November 2007 by the Guildhall Jazz Band, with special guest Jiggs Whigham. This is what Jiggs had to say about it:

In the next phase of the project, service users will work with musicians to create music, performances and recordings that capture aural memories of the old environments as well as highlight positive and challenging aspects of the new environments. The project demonstrates how music can enrich understanding of how physical environments can affect mental health and wellbeing. It also examines the use of music as a medium for expression and engagement that may be well suited to some groups who are often disadvantaged by traditional forms of consultation.