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Derbyshire Children’s Hospital

Charity Single: This Won’t Last Long

We’re delighted to launch our new charity song ‘This Won’t Last Long’, a song of hope and strength for our friends and colleagues in the NHS.

It has been written, recorded and produced in isolation whilst staying at home to help protect, and in celebration of, our NHS.

We’re happy to offer a free download of this song at our Bandcamp page.

If you like what you hear, then please support the work of the amazing Hospital Charities in Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sherwood Forest Hospitals at our Justgiving page.

Thank you!

Music in Healthcare Apprentices

We’re delighted to introduce our new Music in Healthcare Apprentices for 2015/16. This innovative programme, now in its second year, is designed to support emerging Music in Healthcare musicians in developing their own regular, professional practice.

apprentices 201516 (2)pictured L-R: Nick Cutts, Rachel Fillhart (Apprentice), Sarah Matthews, Aisling Holmes (Apprentice), Becky Eden-Green (Apprentice), Richard Kensington, Kate Jackson (Apprentice)

Last year’s programme was extremely successful, with Apprentices collaborating to form two new Music in Healthcare organisations, Wellspring Music CIC and Pulse Arts CIC, working in Nottingham and London respectively on new programmes of practice including at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. These new organisations remain connected to OPUS Music CIC through the growing Music in Healthcare Network, and through its Associate Musician Programme.

Our new Apprentices, all who previously took part in one of OPUS’ five-day Music in Healthcare Settings training programmes, have already spent a few days working alongside OPUS Musicians to begin planning their own programmes of work, and to develop repertoire and approaches to Music in Healthcare practice. Each Apprentice will work alongside mentors (OPUS Musicians) in one of our regular Children’s Hospital practices:

Becky Eden Green will be based at Leicester Children’s Hospital
Rachel Fillhart will be based at Nottingham Children’s Hospital
Aisling Holmes will be based at Derbyshire Children’s Hospital
Kate Jackson will be based at King’s Mill Hospital (Children’s wards)

We’re delighted to be able to continue our Apprenticeship programme in 2015/16, and looking forward to seeing (and hearing) new practitioners and programmes of practice emerging.

The Apprenticeship programme is made possible using public funding by Arts Council England.

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Music in Healthcare Settings Conference: Derby, 16 July 2015

royal derby hospitalThursday 16th July 2015, 9.30am – 4.30pm Education Centre, Royal Derby Hospital, Uttoxeter New Road, Derby, UK.

We are delighted to launch the forthcoming International Music in Healthcare Conference, hosted by OPUS Music CIC in partnership with Royal Derby Hospital and Air Arts to Aid Wellbeing.

Bringing together music for health practitioners, healthcare staff, promoters, funders, researchers and other key stakeholders, this event promises to provide stimulus for discussion and debate around the ongoing development of Music in Healthcare settings across the UK and beyond.

A mix of thought-provoking presentations and discussion groups throughout the day will leave all stakeholders with new contacts and new ideas for continuing to develop their own practice.

Places are available to book for a modest charge of £10 from the Eventbrite link below (includes tea and coffee on the day).

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We are also hosting a Music in Healthcare Settings ‘Music Sharing’ day on Friday 17th July 2015, to be held in Derby. Any musicians attending the conference are invited to come along from 9.30am-3.30pm (stay for as long or short a time as you like!) to make music with like-minded musicians (small charge of £2 payable on the day to cover refreshment costs).

Please email us at conference@opusmusic.org if you would like to come along to the Music Sharing day.

Music in Healthcare Settings Apprenticeships: 2015-2016

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
Many thanks for the many applications we received.
We look forward to announcing our new Apprentices for 2015/16 soon.

We are delighted to launch the second year of our Music in Healthcare Settings Apprenticeship programme.

From September 2015 to June/July 2016, we are offering four paid apprenticeships, exploring Music in Healthcare Settings practice alongside highly experienced OPUS Musicians and Trainers and supporting the development of new programmes of practice.

Click on the following links for more information:

Full Apprenticeship Programme Details (pdf)
Apprenticeship Timetable (pdf)
Application Form (word)
Application Form (pdf)

The deadline for applications is midday on Friday 5th June 2015 with interview/auditions to be held in Derby on Friday 12th June, Monday 15th June or Tuesday 16th June 2015.

** ADDITIONAL INTERVIEW DATES ADDED **

This programme is made possible with the support of public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

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Continued music-making residencies in children’s hospitals

We are delighted to be able to continue, and expand our existing relationships with Derbyshire, Leicester, Nottingham and Kings Mill Children’s Hospitals with support from Youth Music and from our local and hospital partners.

This support means that OPUS musicians will now visit each hospital on a weekly basis until April 2016, making music for and with the patients, their families and staff.

Our recent evaluation and documentation work has demonstrated the highly valued impacts of this practice; we are incredibly grateful for the support of all our partners in enabling this work to continue.

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Music in Healthcare Settings Apprenticeships: 2014-2015

We are delighted to launch our brand new Music in Healthcare Settings Apprenticeship programme.

From September 2014 to July 2015, we are offering four paid apprenticeships, exploring Music in Healthcare Settings practice alongside highly experienced OPUS Musicians and Trainers and supporting the development of new programmes of practice.

Click on the following links for more information:

Full apprenticeship programme details (pdf)
Apprenticeship timetable (pdf)
Application Form (word)
Application Form (pdf)

The deadline for applications is midday on Friday 6th June 2014 with interview/auditions to be held in Derby on Monday 16th June 2014.
This programme is made possible with the support of public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

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Evaluation: OPUS in Children’s Hospitals

OPUS’ current music in hospitals programme, taking place in Derbyshire, Leicester, Nottingham and Kings Mill Children’s Hospitals, is coming to an end in March 2014. We hope to resume the practice in May 2014, funding permitting! As part of the current programme, OPUS engaged the services of Evaluation Consultant Dr Anneli Haake to evaluate the programme. Anneli has done a fantastic job, capturing evidence of the impacts of this practice and pulling this all together into academic and summary report documents, an A1 size academic poster (for display in hospitals) and the film (3 versions) previously shared here. View and/or download the files by clicking the images below, and please feel free to share! Huge thanks to Anneli for all her work on this project with us.

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poster

Sunshine in My Heart Film: OPUS in Children’s Hospitals

We are delighted to share our film, made as part of the evaluation process of our current Music in Children’s Hospitals practice supported by Youth Music, Derbyshire Hospitals Charity, Nottingham Hospitals Charity, Leicester City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council. The film was captured at Nottingham and Leicester Children’s Hospitals by our fantastic external evaluator Dr Anneli Haake.

There are three versions of our film. The full film is 24 minutes long, but if you don’t have the time (please try to make time, we think it’s worth it!) there are 4 minute and 1 minute ‘tasters’. Please do get in touch and let us know your own reflections on our film..

Full film (24 minutes)

4 minute ‘taster’

1 minute ‘taster’

 

Music in Healthcare Settings Training for Musicians – applications now closed – course full.

reflective moment 1THIS COURSE HAS NOW BEEN FILLED.

If you are interested in attending our training in the future, please email us at training@opusmusic.org and we will contact you when we launch our next programme.

 

 

Some of the feedback from trainees on our previous courses:

‘Thank you so much for this opportunity. It was such a pleasure to explore such an exciting aspect of music making with such lovely like minded musicians, with such a high level of professional standard from the trainers delivering this course. I can’t believe we made such fantastic progress in only five days, and I am thoroughly invigorated by what I have seen can be achieved with music in a hospital setting.’

‘This course is really is a must for any musician who wishes to work in healthcare settings. The course leaders are lovely to work with and obviously are very passionate and knowledgeable about their vocation. It’s a massive learning curve, and you must approach it with an open mind and willingness to learn, but you get a lot of support in a really welcoming and friendly environment. I’ve come away feeling inspired and challenged and informed and able to use all I’ve learnt in my own practice straightaway. It is also amazingly good value for money!’

‘Professional, personally and as a musician, this has been absolutely the best course I’ve ever been on. It’s been a fantastic privilege working with a supportive group of musicians, superb facilitation from the course team and a great mix of theory and practice which has equipped me to start my journey into working in healthcare settings.’

‘A fantastic week for those who are interested in learning more about music in a healthcare setting, expanding their repertoire, developing skills in improvising and meeting some truly lovely people!’

‘This course is an excellent introduction and grounding in the professional practice of music in healthcare. It is presented with great professionalism and expertise.’

‘This will test and stretch the way you think about delivering any kind of music intervention. I’d recommend you have previously at least practised this in some way so that you can self-examine and reflect. 100% professional programme in content and delivery. Complements all other training I’ve done and widened my horizons.’

‘Bring an open mind, and be prepared to learn and share.’

‘The course gives an exciting insight into what music in healthcare is like, which can really open your eyes to something new, I know it did for me. There is the chance to experiment with music within a comfortable, relaxed setting, which as a person who hates improvising I found completely stress free and fun. As well as this you learn so many transferable skills for jobs including music and for everyday life which makes the course really worth while.’