So much for 'up to date' news…

So here's a catch up of the highlights of 2012 so far.

Buddy Beat

Firstly - we won!! Buddy Beat was awarded the first ever 'Epic Award' for the best voluntary arts project in Scotland, for their video 'Keep the beat - Our journey in rhythm'. Not content with that, the group was then a finalist in the 'health' category in the Renfrewshire Quality Awards, and then won the Renfrewshire Provost's Award for Arts and Culture. We don't even have a shelf of our own yet! 

Tom Chalmers, group member and rapporteur extraordinaire, has been meticulously recording all of Buddy Beat's events to date, and reports and photos from our recent adventures can all be found here.

Ongoing projects for the group include regular Thursday mornings; monthly open community workshops; an eight week workshop assistants' course to develop the skills of longer term members in helping to run workshops back in hospital; a visit to our 'offspring' group 'Drumdee', and a collaboration with them for a national Occupational Therapy conference; a video project to link with drummers in Australia, and a 'Big Drum' event for this year's Scottish Mental Health arts and Film festival. Phew!

Singing for the Brain

The other big development has been in work with people with dementia, and in particular, in 'Singing for the Brain' type workshops. This uses the power of music, rhythm and song to benefit people with dementia and their carers - it's an activity people can do together, and it's a delight to be able to say that in some workshops, it can be hard to spot who has the dementia, and who's the carer. Musical memory is often preserved longer than many others, and the structure of music can have the effect of 'bringing someone back' into relating to other people - even at very late stages of dementia.

From our original Tuesday night group, this has grown arms and legs, and it's led to projects in four care homes and three hospitals, along with a mission to spread it even further by offering training. Currently I'm leading a six-week (once a week) course in Dykebar hospital, Paisley, for NHS care staff and occupational therapy staff, as well as activity directors working in local dementia care settings. Recently I had the pleasure of collaborating with the Sidney De Haan Centre in a group consultation on singing for health resources, which will be invaluable once they're all done. More on these as they become available.

Just singing!

I'm also delighted (and pleasantly challenged) to be returning to the Rowanbank Clinic - to do singing this time, instead of drumming. I've very much enjoyed drumming there before, but would never have thought of singing - but it's an absolute pleasure to facilitate, and so far it's going down very well indeed.

Also in the pipeline is the newly formed Govanhill Voices singing group - aimed at bringing together the diverse cultures of Govanhill in song, in time for a performance at the Streetland festival.

Music in Hospitals

And finally, I'm over the moon to be involved once again in a European transfer of innovation project with Musique et Sante, and the Royal Northern College of Music. This time, it's a 'train the trainer' project, aimed at enabling us to train and mentor other musicians and hospital staff in music in healthcare settings. I also had a wonderful week at Manchester Royal Children's Hospital as musician in residence, in collaboration with the Royal Northern College of Music's Music for Heath programme.

This work will be developed further in a new partnership with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, in training and mentoring their musicians in working with children in hospital.

and it's only March….

Buddy Beat nominated for arts award

I'm over the moon that my mental health drumming group has been shortlisted for an award for voluntary arts, particularly as it's for a project that was funded, developed, and delivered entirely on their own initiative. There's a public vote going on, and I would be eternally in your debt if you felt able to vote for us. It's also a good opportunity to raise further awareness of the contribution that the arts can make to mental health, which I will be mentioning at every opportunity if we win!


You don't even have to fill in a form, simply visit this link, and click on the green thumbs up by the 'Buddy Beat' entry. And that's it!

Another blog!

Finally, it's time to go live on the Rhythmconnects blog!

Rather than confuse this blog, which is very much focused on news and dates for my Art Beat work,  I've decided to launch out into cyberspace with another blog dedicated to resources, experiences and more general useful musical information. I've been working on it for a couple of months - mainly to see whether I can keep it up. So far I've still got lots of ideas of things to post, and I haven't forgotten about it yet, so it should be a resource that develops and improves over time as more gets added.

It's about sharing learning - whether that's about great kit, other inspiring projects, websites, books - you name it. All around a theme of music and wellbeing.

And here it is…

'Singing memories' Renfrewshire website just launched

Here it is! 

This is the site for the group based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, a singing group for people with dementia and their carers. In future, it will also hopefully be a home for useful links and resources around singing and older people.

The Buddy Beat video launch - 'Our journey in Rhythm'

'The Buddy Beat' is a community-based mental health drumming group, and was set up three years ago in partnership with NHS mental health occupational therapy services in Renfrewshire. Aimed at promoting social inclusion, the project has three levels of involvement: ward-based workshops; a weekly drumming group at a local arts centre, and wider community workshops. Longer-term group members also assist community musician Jane Bentley in drumming for conferences, mental health events, and drumming with people with a variety of special needs.

The group had been keen to put together a video to tell their story, as a way of encouraging others in their mental health journeys. Having been initially turned down for funding, they decided to raise their own money through holding a 'sponsored drum'. They then employed a film maker who is also a mental health service user, and the resulting video is entirely produced by the group themselves. Their hope is that it will be useful to others, whether that's musicians, health care providers, or people with mental health difficulties themselves.

They'd be delighted to receive any comments!

2011 calendar: January-May

January

Working on the new website, finishing my PhD corrections, and final editing on a completely musically unrelated new book.

Ongoing grooviness continues with the Buddy Beat…

11th Jan - whole conference drumming and boomwhackering with the Buddy Beat for the AGM of ACUMEN (Argyll and Clyde United in Mental Health).

25th Jan - speaking on music and dementia for residential care home managers in Fife.


February

The 'Singing for the Brain' project for people with dementia and their carers recommences weekly at the Royal Alexandria Hospital geriatric psychiatric day hospital, Paisley.

5th and 6th Feb - Down to Hessle (near Hull) for a weekend of music in conjunction with Alison Adam of Worship Works.

7th Feb - Open community drum circle with 'The Buddy Beat', WRVS cafe, Causeyside street, Paisley, 7-9pm.

25th - 27th - Very excited about being the keynote speaker for the Drum Circle Facilitators' Guild annual conference, in Myrtle Beach, SC.

And there we all are!

March

Regular workshops continue with the Buddy Beat and Singing for the Brain, and the PhD gets finally handed in!

30th March - Musical 'wandering minstrel' at Allan McClure House, and Methil Haven care homes, Fife.


April

New events/projects include:

1st  - weekly community mental health drumming workshop begins for patients in the forensic special needs unit at the Rowanbank clinic and Leverndale Hospital.

9th-11th - 'Come and try world percussion' workshops, and community drum circle for the Edinburgh International Harp Festival.

13th - Launch of the Buddy Beat video - 'Our Journey in Rhythm' - telling the story of the group and its members, as they journey towards recovery - and drum! Paisley Arts Centre.

16th - Drumming and musical leadership outside Faslane Nuclear Base…

21st - Weekly workshops commence at Alzheimer's Scotland in Renfrewshire

25th - Returning to Allan McClure House, and Methil Haven care homes, Fife.

27th  - 'Music for life' presentation for Renfrewshire Seniors' Forum

30th - Venturing into the world of choral leadership doing mobile performances and a workshop at the Govanhill Streetlands festival with the Voicebeat community choir.


May


9th - Drumming with the Bipolar Scotland Glasgow area group, along with the Buddy Beat

18th - Conference energiser and performance for the West Dumbartonshire mental health forum, with the Buddy Beat

Some of the Buddy Beat team at their fundraising stall

                  

Group Drumming - an occupational therapist's perspective

I thought this was such a well-written article, it deserved a post of its own. It was written by an occupational therapy placement student, who came along to our regular community mental health drumming group, 'The Buddy Beat' for several weeks. Not only did she demonstrate a clear understanding of what the group is about and what the musical exercises are trying to achieve, but she wrote it up wonderfully!

here's the article…

…and here's a lovely picture of some of the group.

Rounding off 2010...

I realise it's a little late to do this (as it's now February 2011!), but it's good to have a record. Things have got a little out of date through finishing off my PhD, which is, at last, submitted, examined, and corrected - and now I'm Dr. B! So now my excuse for not catching up with, well, everything, has evaporated…

October 2010
Was a busy month, off to Germany for the InTakt conference on music and people with special needs, to present a 4-day workshop on 'an introduction to community rhythm circles'. We had a wonderful time - the group of workshop participants came from Turkey, Lithuania, Italy, and Germany; 1/3 were music teachers, 1/3 were students with hearing impairments, and 1/3 were people with special needs. Their musical backgrounds were drawn from a euro-pop group, a classical orchestra, and a body percussion group. So… no-one really understood anyone, but then of course, in the music, everybody did!

We had some members of Orchestra Esagramma - an entirely inspirational integrated orchestra from Milan - check them out:

And we were also fortunate to be joined by several members of the KeKeCa body percussion group, who I completely adored. They work with a university in Turkey which specialises in welcoming deaf students, and together they have formed the most energetic, creative, and entertaining body percussion group - ever!

The 'community rhythm circle' group at the InTakt conference, Dortmund. What a gorgeous bunch!
(photo by Dilara Hancer)

Once I was home again, there was no time to relax, as the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival was in full swing. There was a very full programme for the Buddy Beat, which included a series of workshops in the Renfrewshire festival hub, a disused shop unit that was taken over for the duration of the festival and turned into an arts venue. There were interactive performances for other mental health groups, such as ACUMEN in Barrhead, who were holding an afternoon's event about the power of music in mental health; youth workshops, and open community drum circles. I also gave two public talks - one on 'The forgotten power of music', held at Paisley museum, and another on the benefits of singing for the Gerontology special interest group at the University of the West of Scotland.

This was followed by a 10 day intensive training in drum circle facilitation with Arthur Hull - no rest for the wicked!


November…
…should have probably been spent in a small, dark, (quiet!) room, but there was still plenty of drumming to be done. Workshops continued with the Buddy Beat; at the State Hospital, and the fledgling 'Singing for the Brain' project (run as a collaboration with the Royal Alexandria Hospital geriatric psychiatric day hospital, and Alzheimers Scotland) was finding its wings.


One-off events included a workshop at Dykebar Hospital with members of the Buddy Beat - some of which had previously been in-patients, and who wanted to return and share their experiences with others. There was a presentation about music, rhythm and dementia for the Dementia Learning Forum in Fife, whose members were extremely encouraging in their response and enthusiasm for the possibilities of engaging people through music.

Buddy Beat at the Dementia Learning Forum

The month rounded off with several cancelled events, due to the snow - a pattern that was to continue throughout December….




December
…although I did eventually manage (in between snowdrifts)  to squeeze in an afternoon's musical training for nursing and activity staff from three BUPA care homes in Irvine. We looked at two forms of using music, one being more structured sessions, and the other involving more mobile, individualised musical interaction for those who may not be well enough to enjoy a 'workshop' format. It was very rewarding to get to try both these formats out with staff on the day, as they could directly see the effect that the music was having. The biggest response from the staff at the end was that they were going to be more confident in attempting to engage people with music in the future. Result!

In the works...

Ongoing projects

The Buddy Beat

- is a social inclusion project for mental health service users in Renfrewshire. Workshops take place every Thursday at Paisley Arts Centre, from 10-12. In addition to the regular workshops, group members who wish can take part in performances at local and national events, and community workshops. This year, we piloted a course where group members learned how to assist in leading workshops in wider sections of the community, and hope to follow this up with sustained practical involvement. There's an extremely well-written article here in OT News that looks at the group from the occupational therapy perspective.

We're now entering our 4th year...

Workshops continue at the State Hospital, Carstairs, emphasising the cooperative, social and communicative aspects of working together.

There's a Singing for the Brain choir in the offing, in partnership with NHS Renfrewshire occupational therapy services, and Alzheimer Scotland.

And a community mental health drumming group is in the process of being set up in collaboration with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Occupational Therapy services.

2010 - part 2!

Well, it's August already - here's what's in the pipeline for the rest of the year…

August

2nd - Open public community drum circle, in conjunction with the Buddy Beat, 7-9pm, WRVS cafe, Causeyside Street, Paisley. All welcome.

3rd - Back at the Cranhill Community Project for a morning's drumming

13th - Providing a training session for new musicians at the Polyphony music project, about working with older adults with dementia.

27th-30th - Back at the Greenbelt festival for drumming, singing, and miscellanea with the Wild Goose Resource Group and the Iona Community.

September
9th-10th - Scottish Association of Music Educators Conference 2010

18th - Conference energiser and workshops for the Bipolar Scotland annual conference in Glasgow, with the Buddy Beat.

19th - West meets East event, Rutherglen town hall. An afternoon of workshops for an event for carers hosted by the International Women's group of the Princess Royal Trust Lanarkshire Carers group.

23rd - Conference energiser, workshop, and impromptu delegate performance for the 'Paths for All' national networking event, Perth Concert Hall.

October
5th - 10th - Returning to Dortmund University to present at the 'Europa In-Takt' conference on music and special needs.

11th - 21st - a whole plethora of events for the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film festival programme in Renfrewshire, with the Buddy Beat. More soon!

22nd - 28th Mentoring at the UK Facilitator's Playshop with Arthur Hull. With support from the Creative Scotland YMI Professional Development fund.