Training

There are lots of skills required for this work, and as I come to the end of ten weeks training I realise there has been a huge amount of progression in all areas. I also understand now probably more than ever that there is a long way to go and even were I to train for ten years there would still be situations and interactions that would surprise me, and situations I could learn from. This has been demonstrated throughout the process, with new challenges presented every week. I think this is best described as a non-linear learning experience, as some weeks you feel like you really feel like you have made progression and some weeks you feel like you are back to square one. The diversity of challenges is equally reflected in the diversity of reward, and there is a new joy to be found every time you meet someone new.

There are lots of musical skills that I have found to be invaluable in this process, I must say most of these have come from my experience in the folk tradition. I would like to focus on watching as a purely musical discipline. Whilst watching the young people, parents and staff is of paramount importance, I am focusing on the way we as musicians watch each other. In my opinion the way in which we watch each other is closest in style to the way that I would watch fellow musicians at a folk session. The music works in a very democratic way, far from the dictatorship of a classical conductor. This is intrinsic to the way we work, but it does bring its own obstacles. It certain situations it is necessary to communicate a vast amount of information in a very short amount of time. This usually takes the form of simple eye contact; I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated my eyebrows quite so much! There is also a lot of information communicated with body language. Little ducks down to designate volume or hand signals to gesture to drop to just voices for example. I’ve done an awful lot of discreet pointing. For this to work, is it crucial to have a good musical rapport with your colleagues. I think this comes from experience playing together, and experience playing in a hospital context. Knowing how each musician plays is really important as there is no set structure and the form is very loose. You need to be able to follow each other. This is something that you develop from getting stuck in and doing, and a skill I feel like I possessed before, but one that has developed hugely through my mentoring.

Spatial awareness is crucial to the success of this work, and takes 2 different forms. You need not only to be aware of your physical position in the space, but also your sonic position. There is a real difference between playing to a space and playing to an individual. Sometimes it seems appropriate to play for a whole bay from the adjacent corridor as opposed to entering the space to interact. Sometimes this is a doorway into interactions but often it is deemed more beneficial to simply play for a few minutes and move on from the space. Receiving music passively is often all that a patient can engage with, and this is a good way to provide stimulation without being overbearing. Conversely, the work that we do often requires us to get extremely close to patients. This requires a great deal of tactfulness and awareness. Moving towards a bed is very easy to get wrong. Awareness of your own size, and your instrument’s shape and appearance is very important; otherwise you run the risk of coming across as something to be feared. Learning to show your openness with your body is important. As hospital musicians we often joke about working in the hospital being a great workout, but it is very true. A huge majority of interactions happen whilst I’m on my knees or squatted next to a bed. Putting yourself below a patient can transfer control to them. It is also important as it helps you present your instrument. Feeling the sound is very different to just listening to it. I remember very clearly an occasion where my colleague Angela had a young man in a wheelchair simply holding the two halves of the accordion whilst she gently worked the bellows. He could feel and hear the air rushing through the accordion and it was having a huge impact on him, it was really wonderful to watch.

Whilst your position in a space is a tool, it is also something to be careful of. Angela and I have joked about being like the ‘Men In Black’ in a space, but it is a really useful comparison! We often enter a space back to back and face one half of the ward each. This allows us to see everything that is happening whilst we play, allowing us to mitigate any negative effects of the sound we are creating. Another way of doing this is to have one musician dedicated to observing the wider space and not engaging one to one with patients. The wandering musician in the middle of the bay acts as a lookout, and watches for anything that we might need to be made aware of. This becomes much trickier when all the musicians are engaged with patients, and this is why it is helpful to have 3 musicians in the hospital at any one time. We need to be careful of our position in a space, but when used well our body language and positioning are some of the most powerful tools we have.

Hi, I’m Joe and I’m a young musician from Nottingham. I have studied percussion for close to ten years now, and I also sing and play guitar and ukulele. I have worked in a wide variety of professional and community music environments including live theatre and even a french circus! I currently work as an apprentice with Nottingham Music Hub, teaching young people on a daily basis and organising projects for young people in Nottingham City.

My experience so far with Opus Music has been overwhelmingly positive. The warm welcome from hospital staff has been brilliant, as has the welcome from patients on the wards. Alongside this I have had the opportunity to work with some fantastic musicians and above all, friendly people. The tactful approach to the sensitive nature of this type of music making has been very tricky to master and I’m aware that I’m not there yet, but the training process has felt relaxed and safe and I feel like this has facilitated quick learning.

One of the fantastic things about Opus is that there is absolutely no pretence and no ego. All of the musicians I have met have only had one aim, and that is to improve other people’s quality of life. This is such an anomaly in the professional music world that it really takes you by surprise. The selfless nature of the practitioners of this work is astounding, and something I hope to mirror in the way I engage with not only this work, but in my wider engagement with community and professional music. I feel like this attitude may have evolved out of the environment in which we are working. In the hospital a tireless and dedicated medical team who show genuine care and empathy towards their patients surrounds you. This can only have a positive impact on the way that we work as musicians.

All that said, the real treasure and reward from this training lies not with personal development or heightened musical ability or awareness; it lies with the people that we meet. Engaging with a broad spectrum of complex, intricate people with a variety of different needs has shown me another aspect of the multi-faceted benefits of music. I am meeting people I would never meet in my day-to-day life, and making music with them and this can only be a positive thing.

My name is Angela Kang and I have taught and researched about music at the University of Nottingham, University of Hong Kong, and currently at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance where I teach and design modules for the opera degree programme. As a flautist, pianist and accordionist trained in the classical music tradition, I maintain a strong interest in how music can improve physical health and well-being.

Smiles

A little smile can be the beginning of a musical adventure. It can open a door to interact with a child patient and create beautiful sounds which will gently filter down hospital corridors. Today we knocked on the door of an isolated room, and sensing a rather curious and friendly little girl with a beaming smile, we started to gently play music. After a while, we picked out a glockenspiel and some shakers from the percussion box and showed her the sounds that could be produced. She happily took these instruments from us and began to take part in the music making. Her relatives were clearly delighted to see her enthusiastically and creatively join in, as were we. Beginning with a soothing guitar medley, the delicate sound of the ukulele and glockenspiel added a glistening touch. Underpinning this was the lively and spirited sound of the bodhrán, accompanied by melodious accordion interludes.

It is sometimes nice to be fortunate enough to be able to see there and then the immediate positive effects a musical interaction can have on parents and their children. In the afternoon, we all softly sang ‘Sunshine’ in 4-part harmony to another little girl cradled in her father’s arms. As we wandered off to the next ward we all heard the father continue to sooth his daughter singing the very same song – and of course that left all of the OPUS musicians with a big smile.

Musical Bonds

Creating music in a clinical setting forms relationships of two kinds: first, those which are created between the sounds and, secondly, those which are created amongst the participants. As professional musicians, we must use our musical intuition and skills in order to produce quality music aimed for a very particular situation (eg, a parent carrying a child on a hospital corridor, a dialysis ward with a large central open space, or even a child patient undergoing some form of treatment in an enclosed area). A heightened sensitivity and empathy towards listening and perceiving situations is crucial. Creating music in these situations involves very careful listening and communication between musicians; sometimes we are located in awkward areas of the ward and not necessarily in close proximity. An acute sensitivity to changes in volume, harmony, texture, rhythm, and melodic direction is paramount, especially amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy hospital ward. There is also the desire to create music that is appropriate for the situation and that can gently welcome patients, carers, and staff to participate (if they so wish). When this delightful moment happens, we forge a unique and special relationship with all the participants. One cannot predict what lasting effects these moments will achieve. If it provides a momentary sense of relief, relaxation, or positive distraction from the humdrum of the clinical setting – that can only be a good thing. If it provides a charming musical memory to talk about, or a sense of pride felt in contributing to a musical piece – that also, can only be a positive.

THIS 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.

OPUS Music CIC, in partnership with Nottingham Music Hub, is offering a training and mentoring programme for musicians working in, or interested in working in healthcare settings.

Initially there will be a two-day programme of training for up to eight musicians (unpaid). Following the training sessions, two trainees will be selected by interview to go forward as mentees to the ten day mentoring programme (paid) to be held at the Nottingham Children’s Hospital, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham.

Training will take place on 12th and 19th November 2013 in Nottingham, UK, with mentoring taking place on Tuesdays between December 2013 and March 2014.

For full details download the brief here: Musician’s Brief (Adobe PDF)
The application form is here: Word Document – Adobe PDF file