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!
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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….
