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Sheffield Teaching Hospitals

Taking time to be with people

A big part of our work as musicians in hospitals is to be there as a musician and a human being spending time with other human beings, to make music for and with them and to create a cultural venue within a clinical environment.

We often get asked if it is emotionally difficult to spend so much time in hospitals, especially with children. There are, of course, always emotional moments in our practice, and we allow ourselves to be emotional as part of our professional practice, indeed it is important that this emotion becomes part of our music-making to allow us to be ‘in-tune’ with the patients, visitors and staff with whom we work. We must always be careful, however, that we do not project our own emotions onto others – this is also part of our professional undertaking.

It is, however, more normal for us to work with the well-part of the person, to enhance and support the cultural, vibrant, and well part of the person. Medical staff work hard to take a holistic approach to their work, however, they are principally there to treat the illness. We are hugely privileged to be able to take the time for this approach, one which seems to complement and support the work of the hospital staff so well.

Over recent weeks, we have seen this human-to-human approach work so well. In Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, working with elderly patients and those with spinal and neurological injuries, we have recently been able to take more time to explore musical interests with individual patients, to support them in singing and playing musical instruments with us, and to rediscover their creative and cultural selves. Medical staff have observed and taken part in some of these sessions, making new, human-to-human contact with patients and seeing new potential despite their illness or injury. It is fantastic to be able to support these new patient-staff partnerships.

In children’s hospitals, the time spent with individual patients and their families becomes special time, time for a parent and new baby to bond in a neonatal intensive care unit, time for ‘normal life’ to resume if only for a moment, time for music 🙂 When doctors, nurses and other hospital staff become part of these interactions, the space and relationships within the hospital change completely, and we are all human beings together.

Leo Tolstoy wrote (What is Art, 1897):
‘… In order correctly to define art, it is necessary, first of all, to cease to consider it as a means to pleasure and to consider it as one of the conditions of human life… Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them.’

It’s wonderful to be able to share music-making, a ‘condition of human life’, with all those we encounter in hospitals.

Smiles, laughter, singing and dancing…

Another lovely session at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals today, playing music in two wards with patients, visitors and staff. This is a relatively new space for us to work in, with mostly small bays of 6 beds in each along a very long corridor. We play before and during visiting time, and get the sense that the visitors as well as patients are gaining a great deal of enjoyment and wellbeing from the music-making. Staff commented today that the atmosphere is much calmer and that everyone seems to be smiling when we’re around. Staff were waltzing in the corridors, dancing as they got on with their duties. The ward sister commented that they would have us there every day if they could. Patients were singing along with our music, with some teaching us some new songs including ‘Delaney’s Donkey’ and ‘Don’t Laugh at Me’. Some were ‘dancing’ in their chairs and beds much to the enjoyment of other patients and staff. All in all, much laughter, culture and humanity was present throughout the session – and I think we left a taste of it behind.

Collaborative music-making

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. A session in the neuro and spinal rehabiliation wards today which saw a mix of playing for and with patients at the bedside and in a day room setting, along with an impromtu performance for staff. It’s always interesting when staff make requests for a particular style, mood or tempo of music, and reminds us that we are there for the benefit of staff as well as patients. Sometimes it’s nice to make music just with the staff but we have to be careful to make sure we aren’t adversely impacting upon the patient’s space and time for music. Today we had time, and space, and it was lovely to give something to the staff for a short time. The session in the day room included a younger patient who we have now seen many times. He has limited movement and vocal control, but often moves his legs and feet along to the music. Staff have informed us that before his trauma and resulting disability he was an active musician. Today, with the support of therapists at the hospital, he was able to play various percussion instruments along with us using his knees. His musical abilities were instantly recognisable, and led us into a performance which he ‘conducted’, sensitively and musically indicating tempo and dynamics through his own movements and sounds. The enjoyment of collaborative, high quality music-making was great to see in everyone involved.

Sheffield Hospital Residency

Lovely session today at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield where Oli Matthews and myself (Nick Cutts) were playing music on two wards, for and with patients, visitors and staff. OPUS has been visiting the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals now most weeks since the beginning of 2011, but every visit brings new surprises, new opportunities and new challenges. Today’s highlights include staff dancing up and down the corridors and bays, engaging with patients and visitors on a cultural, human level. One of the nurses turned to us and said she was singing along even though she didn’t know the words…… it was an instrumental piece, but the enjoyment and opportunity for cultural engagement it offered enticed her to sing along using her own words. Fabulous. We were directed towards an elderly lady in a single room who had ‘been crying all morning’ who clapped and gave us a toothless grin as we entered the room playing a gentle melody. She insisted (without words) on a more upbeat melody, and we duly obliged. She also sang along with great glee to an Elvis song for which none of us knew ALL the words, but that didn’t matter at all, and gave us a sparkling rendition of ‘Summertime’ for which we provided accompaniment with soprano sax and guitar. Another elderly patient became conductor, waving his arms in the air, and taking great delight when ‘his band’ followed his lead. At the end of the session, staff were heard discussing their musical lives and musical ambitions (some newly formed) with each other and with patients. A real sense of culture brought into the space, and left with all the people with whom we came into contact. For us, an enjoyable, uplifting and stimulating session to remember.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals

OPUS’ residency at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is continuing, with musicians working regularly on spinal/neurological injury, general medical and rehabilitation wards. This work takes various forms, mostly seeing musicians playing at the bedside in 1-1 and small group situations. Yesterday saw 2 musicians working with a group of elderly patients in a day room, with everyone playing instruments, singing and ‘dancing’ together. All agreed it was great exercise, thoroughly enjoyable and most of all a humanising experience, giving all patients an opportunity to express interests, curiosity and individuality! With recent press around the need to humanise care for the elderly, we feel like we’re on the right track.