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Music and Health

Recruiting OPUS Board Members

Recruiting OPUS Board Members

We are looking to recruit at least 2 additional board members (voluntary) to support our ambitious plans for the development our organisation and practice, our engagement with the health and social care sector, and our relationship with our communities with whom we co-produce improved health and wellbeing outcomes. ​

Please consider joining us in taking the next steps of our exciting journey!

More information about OPUS Music CIC is available in the linked document: OPUS information February 2023

Board member (Voluntary)

Main Responsibilities

 
  • Ensuring OPUS Music CIC complies with legislative and regulatory requirements, and acts within the confines of its governing document (Articles of Association), company law, policies and other relevant legislation or regulations.
  • Maintaining sound financial management of OPUS Music CIC’s resources, ensuring expenditure is in line with the organisation’s objects, mission and vision.
  • Contributing actively to the board’s role in offering strategic input to OPUS Music CIC in partnership with the artistic and production teams.
  • Evaluating outputs against agreed goals and targets.
  • Safeguarding the good name and values of OPUS Music CIC.
  • Promoting and developing OPUS Music CIC in order for it to grow and maintain its relevance to society.
  • Interviewing, appointing and monitoring the work and activities of the Chief Executive and other members of the OPUS team as/when required.
  • Ensuring the effective and efficient administration of OPUS Music CIC and its resources.
  • Acting as a counter-signatory on charity cheques and any applications for funds, if required.
  • Maintaining absolute confidentiality about all sensitive/confidential information received in the course of board members’ responsibilities to OPUS Music CIC.

In addition to the above statutory duties, each board member should use any specific skills, knowledge or experience they have to help the board reach sound decisions.

This may involve:

Leading discussions
Focusing on key issues
Providing advice and guidance on new initiatives 
Evaluation or other issues in which the board member has special expertise

Members are expected to attend all board meetings unless under exceptional circumstances. Board meetings are held four times a year and usually take part online via MS Teams (in person at least once per year). Papers are distributed a minimum of one week in advance of the meeting.

In exceptional circumstances, board members may be called to extraordinary meetings. EGMs are held for the consideration of non-recurring business that requires approval by the board and will be held online.

Board away-days may be held (a maximum of two per year), at which members are encouraged to attend where possible. Away-days are held in person and focus on discrete areas of development or of significant relevance at the time.

Board members may claim out of pocket expenses incurred in travelling to meetings.

We warmly welcome applications from those who are significantly underrepresented in our organisation and sector, including disabled people, and individuals from LGBTQIA+, Black, Asian and Global Majority Communities.  We are particularly keen to hear from members of the communities we serve or work alongside.

How to apply

In the first instance, please get in touch with Nick Cutts, Chief Executive, OPUS Music CIC for a conversation about becoming a board member.

07786 157515
nick@opusmusic.org

OPUS’ return to music-making at Leicester Children’s Hospital

An impactful return to music-making at Leicester Children's Hospital

We’re delighted to be back at Leicester Children’s Hospital on a weekly basis, making music for and with patients, their families and visitors and the wonderful multi-disciplinary team of healthcare staff.  Whilst we’ve been working at the hospital since 2012, our visits have been on hold during the COVID pandemic.  21 September 2022 saw our long-awaited return to practice, and it’s been wonderful to witness the impact so far.  It’s great to be back!

We are extremely grateful for the support of Leicester Hospitals Charity in enabling our return to practice at the Children’s Hospital.

musiccareconference

Music Care Conference - Presented in Hybrid format from Vancouver, Canada

10 Reasons to Come to Music Care Conference 2022

  1. Learn and experience how music supports your health and wellness
  1. An amazing group of speakers (see below) explain how they are using music in care
  1. Hear Susan Aglukark, named 2022 Junos Humanitarian of the year, tell her story
  2. Meet Dr. Corene Thaut, co-founder of neurologic music therapy, and the impact of her work
  1. Great value! $130/person, seniors/students $75 including lunch and refreshments
  1. Amazing location! – at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, across from the Sky Train
  1. Hybrid! If you can’t attend in person, come virtually – $75/person – 9-4:30 PST
  1. Exhibitors and music store on site
  1. Network! Make some new friends who share your interest in music and care
  1. Discover current research on music and health topics
 
note published times for this conference are in PST (8 hours behind GMT

Marketing and Communications Manager

We're recruiting: Marketing and Communications Manager

Download: Full details including person specification
Download: OPUS Music CIC background information 

OPUS Music CIC (OPUS) is looking to engage a dynamic, forward-thinking person to manage OPUS’ marketing and communications. This role is offered initially for a period of 2 years and is offered on a flexible, self-employed basis of 80 days per year. The role is supported by funding from Youth Music’s Recharge Fund. We hope to both expand and extend the role over the 2-year period subject to further funding.

Role Purpose
• With support from Chief Executive Nick Cutts, to continuously develop and enact OPUS’ marketing and communications strategy

• To engage stakeholders and audiences in dialogue through appropriate methods and platforms in order to capitalise upon partnerships and expand OPUS’ reach

Operational Responsibilities

• To create and post marketing and communications content (with support from the Chief Executive and artistic team) to ensure that the messages and stories of OPUS’ practice are heard by a wide variety of stakeholders and audiences
• To work alongside marketing and communications teams within partner organisations to ensure that communications are appropriate, collaborative and impactful
• To promote training and other opportunities to the Arts/Music and Health/Care sectors utilising media/platforms as deemed appropriate (with support as required from the Chief Executive and/or artistic team)
• To ensure that OPUS’ web-based content is up-to-date and refreshed appropriately
• To develop marketing and communications materials (with the support of the Chief Executive and Creative Team) as appropriate
• To engage in networking, gathering contacts and connections for OPUS through a variety of channels
• To keep informed on current developments within this rapidly developing area of work and respond to these in a timely manner

Role/Fees
The role is offered on a on a flexible, self-employed basis with a fee available of £150 per day for 80 days per year (nominally 2 days per week for 40 weeks of the year).

Place of work
You will need to work from your own base and provide all facilities such as own computer, printer, broadband connection and telephone. No additional fees are available to cover costs associated with equipment/ office base.

Contract
The appointment will start as soon as possible with the role currently anticipated to run for a minimum period of 2 years. The contract will include a 3-month probationary period, at the end of which either party may terminate the contract.

Equality and Diversity
We welcome applications from all sections of the community, particularly those currently under-represented within OPUS Music CIC and the Arts and Health sector.

How to apply
Please send a letter of application detailing how you meet the person specification (no more than 2 sides of A4), with an accompanying CV, including the names of two referees to nick@opusmusic.org

Please direct any questions to Chief Executive Nick Cutts:
nick@opusmusic.org
Tel: 07786 157515

Your application should arrive no later than 5pm on Wednesday 26th October.
We will inform candidates who have been shortlisted for interview on Friday 28th October.
Interviews will be held via MS Teams on the morning of Friday 4th November.

Practicing Well Awards

We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for a ‘Practicing Well Award’ by the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance.
https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/chwa-2021-awards-shortlist-practising-well

This award celebrates practice that is leading the way in championing, delivering and embedding practitioner care into project design, commissioning and management.  

The Musician in Healthcare role is one which necessitates deep connection with the patient, facilitated by music-making.  The pandemic, and resulting loss in these daily connections could have been devastating for our community of musicians.  We chose to invest in our team, to support the development of digital skills through the provision of paid time, resources and collaboration.  This has resulted in a healthy, inspired workforce, a continued and highly valued connection with the healthcare communities they serve, and a bright future for OPUS.

‘We are thrilled to have been nominated for this award.  We’re delighted that the value of investing in our team of musicians has been recognised in this way, and that we stand here today with a team who have been supported throughout the pandemic, facilitated to meet challenge with skilled enthusiasm, rather than wallowing in the limitations of the now.  We go forward as a team with renewed energy and optimism.’ 

Nick Cutts, Chief Executive

Opportunity: online music-making with OPUS musicians

We are looking for children and young people who, alongside their families/carers, would like to take part in online music-making sessions with OPUS musicians.

We are currently working on an online offer for our Music in Healthcare practice, and thanks to the #culturerecoveryfund, are able to offer this as for FREE as part of our development process.  The child/young person and family members or carers will be joined online by two of our fabulous team of specialist musicians for a music-making session via the Zoom platform.

This opportunity is available to any children and young people who have ongoing health/care needs.  Instruments and musical ability are not necessary!

Currently, slots are available to book between 9.30am and 12pm on Tuesday 20th April or Wednesday 21st April.  More dates to be announced. 

Please don’t be shy about coming forward.  We really need your help in developing our online offer for the future.

To book in with us, please use the form below and we’ll take care of the rest.

Many thanks

Nick and the OPUS Team.

Request a time slot with us here...

Culture Recovery Fund

We are delighted to announce that OPUS been granted an award of just over £27,000 from the second round of the Government’s #CultureRecoveryFund. We are amongst more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from this latest round of awards.

During the COVID pandemic, our highly-skilled musicians have not been able to visit most of the healthcare settings in which they would normally work. As a team, they have met this challenge with great creativity, building new skills in digital delivery, and generating a new online offer for our healthcare partners and the people in their care. You can see some of this output on our COVID-19 response page here: www.opusmusic.org/COVID-19

This support will enable us to begin our transition back to practice, enhancing our online offer, and expanding it to include our training and advocacy roles.

Frances Watt, Co-Chair says:

“We are grateful for the support offered by the Culture Recovery Fund allowing OPUS Music CIC to inject energy and action again into our partnerships with our healthcare partners and prepare our musicians for the welcome transition back to delivery and practice. Vulnerable children and young people in paediatric settings will benefit from the development of a new online offer from our team of musicians; healthcare staff will benefit from the provision of new training material to support the use of music within their own practice, and musicians wishing to practice within healthcare settings will benefit from the development of an online training course based on OPUS’ experience and approach. This grant enables OPUS Music CIC to get back to building a culture of every-day music making within healthcare settings and providing employment and opportunities to professional musicians at this difficult time.”

Nick Cutts, Chief Executive says:

“We have seen how important music has been to communities throughout the pandemic. We know just how much our in-person offer within healthcare settings has been missed over the past year, and are thankful that, through this fund, we can plan for a future of music-making within healthcare which is even bigger and better than ever before.”


About #HereForCulture

Here for Culture is a movement that unites the public, government and cultural organisations in support of our fantastic cinemas, theatres, music venues, museums, galleries and heritage.
With more and more culture being curated online, there is no better time to support and enjoy all the new and exciting ways culture is available to us.
By being #HereForCulture, we aren’t just supporting the people in the industry, we’re also supporting communities across the country.

Online Resources for Children’s Hospitals

While, we’re not able to visit hospital wards, we’ve been working away during the COVID lockdowns creating online resources for use in the Children’s Hospitals with which we work.  These are specially created videos, echoing some of the approaches we normally use in hospitals to provide the health and wellbeing benefits of music-making.

These resources are being used by healthcare staff and parents as part of patient care at Derbyshire, Leicester, Nottingham and Kings Mill Hospitals.

We’re grateful for the support of Youth Music, Leicester Hospitals CHarity, Nottingham Hospitals Charity, Sherwood Forest Hospitals Charity and Derbyshire Children’s Hospital League of Frieends for their support in creating these resources.

arts_council_transparent

#TakeOneADay (for ten weeks)

We’re delighted to bring you #takeoneaday for ten weeks, beginning on Saturday 10 October.

Every day, for ten weeks, Healthcare Musicians from OPUS will bring a specially recorded, short video performance direct to your internet connected device.

Videos will be available across our Social Media channels, as well as on our dedicated page here: www.opusmusic.org/takeoneaday

This programme is supported by funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund. Thanks to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for making this possible.

 

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!

Case study: ‘you have to stay right there until he’s finished!’

Working on a ward at Nottingham Children’s Hospital, we asked a nurse if it was appropriate to play for the very young baby she was caring for. She said ‘yes of course’. We could see that she was feeding the baby through a feeding tube.

As we played, the nurse interacted with the baby, soothing him through touch and gentle tapping.  The ward sister came along and asked the nurse if the baby had calmed down. The nurse said he had since we had arrived. The ward sister then said ‘you have to stay right there until he’s finished!’

Richard asked the nurse if he’d been very distressed and she explained that he’d been struggling feeding with the tube, then getting angry and being sick, so losing the feed.  This had caused him to be hungry and the cycle had then repeated.

We continued playing and the baby was still slightly upset.  Sarah suggested that Richard played the Bodhrán (drum) for the next piece to see if a quiet repetitive rhythm would be soothing.  We played ‘Evelyne’s’, moving into ‘Sailor went to sea’.  We played an extended version, getting quieter and quieter as the nurse finished the feed and cleaned the feeding tube.  She continued to sooth the baby as we played until he fell completely asleep.  She smiled and said ‘he’s gone off’ at which point we finished the piece.

As we left the ward he was still asleep and had kept the feed down. The effect of calm induced by the interplay between the nurse and musicians was observed to continue in the baby until his next feed approximately two hours after the musicians had left the space.

Music Care

OPUS is delighted to be working in partnership with the University of Nottingham and Room 217 Foundation (Canada) to deliver Music Care Training. Music Care Training is for care providers looking to incorporate music into their care practice, and for musicians looking to take their skills into the care context.  

Next Training: 25/26 November 2019, Music Care Level 1, University of Nottingham  

We are also looking forward to presenting at the second ‘Power of Music in Health and Social Care’ conference, to be held at the East Midlands Conference Centre on 4 November 2019

Reaching People Through Song


“Oh I can’t hold a note!”
“I’d better not sing, it’ll start raining”
“Oooo you’re so good, you should be on X-Factor!”

So often we have been met with comments like this. It seems to be assumed that regular, every day people cannot sing, and that if you can, or do, or are comfortable trying, you are someone special and should be put on a stage. Within the last twelve months, I have been part of three events in three different healthcare settings that demonstrate the importance of singing in making deep impact connections with other human beings, where the spoken word often fails.

The first of these was a young boy waiting in hospital for a procedure and needing some cream in preparation. The cream needed to be placed on his hands and elbows with bandages. This was not painful, but he appeared understandably anxious and unable to remain calm. We began singing a jolly upbeat song (Zamina) quite loudly, to meet his intensity, volume and energy. Mum was sitting with him and encouraging him, with the promise of a visit to McDonald’s later on. All of this initially calmed and engaged him, but he soon started thinking about what was going to happen to him, and started crying again. I decided to try changing the words of this song to make them about him and the special bandages he was having put on. This made him think differently about his bandages and smile a little, and altered his mood and energy. As the nurse completed the preparatory procedure, the young boy was smiling and looking at his bandages with a bit of pride and pleasure, as if the song had validated them and made it ok. The nurse stated that the music and song had really helped her finish the task.

The next event was in a different hospital, one morning, with a family comprising a young male patient, Mum, Dad, and little baby boy brother visiting. As we entered the room we started playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. After a few moments of listening and looking, Baby started vocalising whilst looking at me. I moved closer and got down on the floor nearby. I vocalised as best as I could the same sounds back to him and maintained good constant relaxed eye contact, open mouth, and smiles. He continued vocalising with me whilst I was singing words. Then I sang in the baby’s words “ye ye, ye ye” to the tune of Twinkle. There was instant recognition and reciprocation – good confident eye contact and vocalising with me, not just at me, including some copycat exchanges, intermingled with little bits of the melody of the song. Then ensued some smiles and giggles and real joy in Mum and Baby (sitting on Mum’s knee). This is the youngest person I have ever sung with and I really feel that we made quality music together on this day.

The final example of singing together came during a short session of playing music for a group of eldery people with dementia in a care home. There were at least 17 residents and 2 members of staff sitting round in a circle facing inwards, no one talking to one another. As usual, there was a lot of shouting out and getting up and wandering around prior to the music. As we started, with some gentle tunes, trying to match the volume and energy of the room, but trying not to be too loud, there was some joining in clapping, lots of smiling round the room and looking at each other. We started singing “Oh my Darling, Clementine” (a choice made by one resident’s continual quoting of the lyrics and rhythms of the song), and the room changed. There were at least 6 people singing the same words in the same time in the same song in the same room – a real sense of shared experience, working towards the same goal. Unable to see each other, talk to one another, or share most other activities, these elderly people seemed positively engaged in this activity together with smiles.

Our voice is very personal to us. It is part of our identity and gives an indication as to who we are and where we are from. It is the product of vibrations made by tiny tendons being contracted and relaxed inside the voicebox, as air flows from the lungs and out through the month and nose. It is developed and formed on the way by the shape of that unique individual’s vocal tract. In order to be able to develop the voice over time, the vocal folds need to be flexed and exercised regularly in order to develop the control of the sound quality, the pitch, the breath and, with all of that, the confidence to allow your singing voice to be heard. Most importantly though, it is not about perfecting the use of the voice, but about the true benefits of taking part…..

Professor Graham Welch, Chair of Music Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, has studied the developmental and medical aspects of singing for 30 years. He found that the health benefits of singing are both physical and psychological. “Singing has physical benefits because it is an aerobic activity that increases oxygenation in the blood stream and exercises major muscle groups in the upper body, even when sitting. Singing has psychological benefits because of its normally positive effect in reducing stress levels through the action of the endocrine system which is linked to our sense of emotional well-being. Psychological benefits are also evident when people sing together as well as alone because of the increased sense of community, belonging and shared endeavour.” www.heartresearch.org.uk.

I believe it is important to keep facilitating opportunities for people to use their singing voice more and learn to feel comfortable with this, developing their skills through experiencing the benefits of song, especially in healthcare settings. Just because you are not Adele or Robbie, why would you deny yourself these life-changing moments? To baby, Mum and Dad’s voice is the best in the world.

Sarah Matthews

10th October 2016

DONATE and support our music and health practice

OPUS Music CIC relies on grants and donations to deliver music-making in healthcare settings.

Please consider supporting our Music and Health practice by donating to our funds.

OPUS Music CIC is a non profit-making organisation, dedicated to ensuring that all donations go directly towards providing music-making opportunities for people most in need in healthcare settings.

If you would like to make a donation, please either:

– send a cheque made payable to ‘OPUS Music CIC’ to our registered address below
– contact us for bank details to make a bank transfer
– use the button below to make payment via paypal




OPUS Music is a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee registered in England no. 07900221

Registered office: 3 Dodgewell Close, Blackwell, Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 5BH

Tel: 01773 861630
Email: donation@opusmusic.org

Drumming in Intensive Care Units

richard kensington 1 300Five years ago, during my initial training as a musician in healthcare settings, one of the first challenges I faced was how to take my specialism of percussion into hospital settings. How could I use percussion instruments, particularly drums, in spaces that I assumed would be very quiet in a way that would enhance that environment? How could I use something as potentially noisy and intrusive as a drum in an a space populated by children suffering from a variety of illnesses or conditions which are unknown to us and doctors and nurses doing a job that required great concentration and accuracy? After having spent 10 years playing in a variety of loud percussion based bands and running drum circles and percussion workshops, I couldn’t see how a drum would do anything other than disrupt a hospital space, over excite or disturb patients and distract doctors and nurses. At that time the thought of taking a drum into a hospital ward seemed like a bad idea and if the possibility of taking one into an intensive care unit had been raised it would have seemed ludicrous.

In the last couple of months I’ve had cause to remember and reflect on my initial thoughts and reactions to drumming in hospital.

The first occasion started with walking into a children’s intensive care unit in a large hospital in the East Midlands. The unit has about 10 beds in it with only a few feet in between each bed to allow access for nurses, parents etc. The feeling on the ward is quite enclosed and cluttered due to the large amounts of medical equipment around each bed and the large numbers of staff attending the patients.

I was working with two colleagues, Sarah on fiddle and Marc on guitar. We had been requested by a parent to come and play music with her little girl who was about two years old. The little girl, who we will call Lisa, had special needs, no speech and had recently had a tracheotomy, so she couldn’t make any sounds at all with her voice.

When we arrived Lisa was sitting up in bed and her mother was at the bedside. Marc started playing a nursery rhyme and her actions and facial expression showed that she was immediately responding positively to the music. Her mother reinforced our reading of this response with positive comments and an increase in engagement with Lisa. We continued to play, with Marc leading the interactions and encouraging Lisa to shake along or engage with the animal toys around her bed. I changed from accompanying a lullaby on ukulele to playing a deep quiet and steady beat on the bodhrán on the next song. As I did so I noticed a shift in Lisa’s focus towards the drum so I asked Marc to make some space so I could get to the bed.

I knelt down at the bedside and asked Lisa’s mother if I could place the drum on the bed so she could see it and hear it more clearly. I continued to tap along on the drum as we sang, just keeping a gentle pulse and as I did so Lisa leant forward and started touching the drum skin. She was exploring how it felt, sometimes tapping it and sometimes just leaving her hands on the skin to feel the vibration as I continued to tap the drum. Sometimes I copied what she did on the drum but she seemed to be getting the most pleasure from experiencing the vibration from the skin as I hit it. She moved from having both hands on the drum, to both hands and one foot on the skin, to putting both hands, one foot and her face pressed against the drum as I continued to gently tap the pulse of the song that was being played and sung by all the musicians.

Once Lisa had become used to the sensation she decided she wanted to find out more about this object so she started to try and move it around. I responded to her attempts to move the drum, moving it for her in the direction that she was trying to get it to go. She turned the drum around and put her hands inside it. She tapped inside the drum and left her hands on the skin as I played the other side. This continued for at least 5 minutes after which time Lisa started to get tired which she showed by simply disengaging from the drum and leaning backwards onto her bed.

All the way through the interaction was accompanied by beautiful music and songs from Marc and Sarah. As Lisa was exploring the drum and interacting with me, a group of nurses and doctors had gathered to look at what was happening. From their comments and faces they all seemed to be really enjoying the opportunity to see their little patient behaving like a normal child enjoying her exploration of her environment.

The second instance of drumming in ICU was in a different large hospital in the East Midlands. This time a nurse said it would be ok if we went into a side room where a young toddler, we’ll call him Mohammed, was standing in his cot. His mum was in the room with him and the TV was on with the volume turned up. After saying hello to them both we checked with the boys mum if they would like us to play. They had already seen us playing in the main part of ICU so we felt like they would understand what we might be offering. When Mum agreed we asked if we could turn the TV off. Once we had done this we had Mohammed’s full attention.

As soon as we started playing he was jiggling around to the music and wiggling about holding onto the bars on his cot. He also had a tracheotomy and was attached to oxygen through that. I was surprised at how much energy he had and how little the tracheotomy and the oxygen tube hindered his enjoyment or compulsion to move. He was really grooving and smiling. We gave him a shaker and he quickly learnt the ‘throwing the shaker out of the cot’ game so I approached him with my drum. His response was very similar to Lisa’s. His hands were immediately on the skin and again rather than his focus being on hitting the drum himself he seemed to be enjoying feeling the vibration through the skin. Mohammed too was intent on exploring the drum, constantly turning it around and around so he could feel it inside and out. The drum must have seemed enormous to him, as he was only just taller than it’s diameter. Once he got the hang of how to get a sound from the drum he started really enjoying the loudness of the instrument and as we were in a side room I was able to allow him to really get into this, knowing that the volume outside the room wouldn’t be distressing to other patients and staff. As he started to lose interest in the interaction I refocused my playing of the drum to join back in with the tune that Sarah had been playing throughout the interaction and so we were able to leave the room in a musical way with Mohammed having played his part in some great interactive music making while learning about and experiencing a person sized drum!

In order to use a bodhrán in hospitals I’ve had to develop my technique so that I can play very quietly whilst maintaining accuracy and positivity. I’ve also had to develop and change my musicality to think about how I use the drum to accompany song. Traditionally the drum is used to add drive to tunes and to bring out the rhythm and shape of tunes. There can be a lot of ornamentation used in bodhrán playing and I often choose to strip much of this away so that I focus on the essence of the rhythm of the song or tune, focusing on groove more than the shape of a tune. I always try and keep in mind that my focus is on playing for the space and the person rather than for my own enjoyment. The drum I have has a very rich bass end and even the top end is mellow sounding. This enables me to play with a variety of dynamics without bringing in any harshness to the sound. It has been my experience that choice of instrument is very important when using percussion in hospitals. My preference is for warm sounding drums that can be played to obtain a variety of pitches. The other factor that I’ve had to consider is the weight of the drum. The bodhrán is often played sitting down, so walking around a hospital for a day carrying the drum also presented problems. I fitted a strap to my drum and this has helped a great deal.

When using the drum for interactions there are number of things to bear in mind, not least of all the potential volume of the instrument and the impact that this can have on the space around. There is a lot of satisfaction and a sense of power to be gained by a child when they hit a drum hard and get a loud sound in response. It’s a great thing to allow this but the musician also has a responsibility to their surroundings and the other people in the space. Sometimes it’s not a problem to allow a child to make a lot of noise, sometimes it’s ok once or twice but then the volume needs to be managed. Other times a loud noise is not appropriate. I dampen the drum with my hand, use explicit verbal instructions or offer beaters with softer heads in order to manage the volume of the drum. If volume is becoming an issue I also try to refocus onto rhythm, pattern or copying.

I’ve come to realise that there is no problem with bringing and playing drums into the most sensitive of environments. My skepticism at the start of my training was rooted in the way I was seeing drums, thinking about them and relating to them at the time. The power of drums to transform mood, empower people, to facilitate communication and connection and to bring joy seems consistent in all situations. This power is not constrained to the volume or complexity of what is played. It’s up to the drummer to learn and then decide how to best use the drum to the maximum benefit in any given circumstance. Working with drums in hospitals has given me a great faith in the efficacy of what I do as percussionist and inspires me to explore the huge potential of drums still further.

Richard Kensington, OPUS Musician

Reflections on Practice: Partnerships with Doctors

oli matthews 1 300We entered the ward as a group of three musicians. As soon as we entered though the doors we were noted by a doctor in the second bay down who had a group of 7 junior doctors with him.

He turned to us, introducing us to his group as a regular team that come into the Children’s wards each week, playing music for and with the children, parents and staff.

As the junior doctors were currently doing some observations on a small child at the time, we asked if it was appropriate to play some music at this time and the doctor (trainer) welcomed the opportunity to see how the junior doctors dealt with the situation and how they could use the music as an aid to their work.

We then played a gentle version of ‘Wind the bobbin up’ on Melodeon, Fiddle and Ukulele, adding vocals to act as a distraction to the small child whilst the junior doctors listened to her breathing through a stethoscope.

The child and her mum instantly recognised the song and joined in with the actions, singing along very happily. The junior doctor was instantly able to listen to the child’s breathing without any fuss from her, as she was far more interested in the music and joining in with us.

It wasn’t just the parent and child that enjoyed our music, as very quickly all junior doctors joined in the singing and actions too, much to the child’s delight.

Oli Matthews, Musician, OPUS Music CIC

Reflections on Apprenticeship: Joe Danks

Dancing in Hospital Corridorsjoe danks b&w

Jim knew that he wasn’t much of a singer or dancer, and to him, a public display of singing and dancing implied he thought himself and expert. The villagers just stared at Jim and said, “What do you mean you don’t sing?! You talk!” Jim told me later, “It was as odd to them as if I had told them that I couldn’t walk or dance, even though I have both my legs.” Singing and dancing were a natural activity in everybody’s lives, seamlessly integrated and involving everyone. The Sesotho verb for singing (ho bina), as in many of the world’s languages, also means to dance; there is no distinction, since it is assumed that singing involves bodily movement.’

This Is Your Brain On Music – Daniel Levitin 2006

To some people, making music is an activity reserved for the elite. This is no more apparent than in the UK’s concert halls, with their ritual flower bouquets and coughing breaks. This is the same for dance, an art form most commonly seen at the wedding disco. So where does that leave us, stone cold sober in the harshly clinical environment of a hospital corridor, bobbing up and down in time to ‘Wind The Bobbin Up’?

I love dancing. As a child my role in my parent’s band was to be the first on the dance-floor and to encourage others to join me. Im still doing that now! I’ve pogoed and shuffled and bopped and moshed and salsa danced to all kinds of music and I hope I always will. However, most of my dancing has been with others doing the same thing in a dimly lit venue. Using movement in my music in healthcare practice has been a relatively new exploration for me. Its important to recognise that the young people we’re working with are often dancing, and we should positively reinforce this engagement with our music.

I do this sometimes by mimicking the movement of a young person, and sometimes by responding to their movement with music too. An example of this happened in a corridor, with a young person en route somewhere with his mother. He boogied along to the music we were playing in the adjacent ward, and his mum stopped and the both stood and watched. I turned away from the ward and noticed them. The child started, slowly at first bobbing up and down with the music. I joined in, naturally! This lasted for a minute or so. The music came to a natural conclusion, and I started improvising gently around a G chord, just to keep the music and dancing going. The rest of the musicians started to join in, not only with the music but with the movement too. Dave then led us into ‘Round and Round the Village’, an English Childrens song, and we all marched!

I think this highlighted the point to me that we are only embarrassed about dancing because we are told to be, and often children are yet to feel that embarrassment. I am now as confident in using movement in the hospital ward as I am singing and playing, and I feel that it is becoming an integral part of my practice. Its useful for making people laugh, making people dance and keeping people engaged; definitely not something to be embarrased about! Perhaps we all need a little more ‘Ho Bina’ in our day to day lives?

Reflections on Apprenticeship: Marc Block

marc blockJames and I had been playing for a while with B (a boy of around 5 with Down’s), who had been enthusiastically playing on the xylophone. We played through a song and brought it to an end, and B carried on playing, so we picked up his tempo and played chords along to him until another piece of repertoire emerged and we played that through, B focussed intently all the while on his playing. There came a point where B very clearly stopped and gave the beaters to his mum, who remarked how impressed she was that we were able to play in such a way that made B the musician and us his accompanists, and that we played something really good that he was taking a leading part in. This felt like a ringing endorsement, that what she described is EXACTLY what we’re aiming for.

Three of us had played to a whole bay, where I had offered a teenage lad with cerebral palsy a shaker – a bit tentatively as I was not sure if he would be able to hold it and I knew his motor control would be limited. His face, however, was such a beaming welcome of the music that it felt right. He did hold the shaker and was able to move it from side to side and played exactly on the rhythm. The song ended and he handed it back. The others said their goodbyes and made to go, but I was having a strong feeling that the lad could happily play more. I decided to go with that and, rather than be led by the others, said we could do more and went back to him with the xylophone. He struggled a little with the beater (we need a thick-handled one!) but clearly enjoyed being able to make sounds as Rich played and we sang along, and his brother came along and helped him with it. Meanwhile, across the bay, Sarah had engaged a mother and child in more play with the glock. It seemed very much the right thing that I had followed my instinct there and gone back to him, and the others agreed. At this point in the apprenticeship (very few sessions left) I’m pleased to be taking a lead in this way.