Hospital of Music – Summer Residency
“ I felt light afterwards ; It made me feel proud”– young people, MFT Youth Service
“This is the first time we have had young people working with us as musician participants making music to support other patients, alongside our freelance team. It’s a great step forward in realising our vision for how we want to work in future” - Ros Ros writes: “Over the summer we held our project launch, a 4- day summer special event at RMCH –– it went really well and we're really excited about moving forward and continuing to strengthen our connections with young people at the hospital through the Youth Service.
Before the event we held induction sessions online with our musicians which included presenting our new easy to access safeguarding PowerPoint –– we've been working on this as part of our new project, thinking carefully about creating formats to share important information with our young team in a clear but purposeful manner. 6 of our now expanded team of 8 musicians took part in the residency, including 3 of our 4 new Young Creator musicians, and 3 of our 4 'promoted' Young Associate musicians. Activities included musicians’ training, ward visits, and workshops with Youth Service members. Our team worked with 6 young people in a series of sessions introducing our project to the young people, including listening/ideas sessions where we learned from the young people about their experiences of being in hospital, their thoughts on how music can help and their ideas for future music making. All the young people took part in music jams in the afternoon, where Mark and I took a step back to allow our new Young Associates and Young Creators to facilitate. These sessions included 2 non-verbal participants –– one typed thoughts and ideas using her phone, making excellent contributions with her ideas, the other, who came to join in with music making, led the group using a shaker. It was clear that he was so aware of being in control –– mum was very happy to see this and commented on how we include everyone in what we do. 4 young people participated in sessions to workshop pieces of our hospital repertoire. We then went onto a ward as a whole group to deliver a music session for long term rehabilitation patients. This is the first time we have had young people as musician participants making music to support other patients, alongside our freelance team. The young people then took part in a debrief after the session to reflect on what they'd achieved. It was a fantastic experience all round. The young people from the Youth Service are inspirational –– with such varied needs and experiences to share and so much to contribute. Those who took part in our ward sessions during these 2 days gained a lot from making music for others: 'It made me feel proud' 'I liked making music for people on the ward', 'I felt light afterwards ' '... where do I sign up?!'
2 young people learned ukulele chords for the first time. 2 bought their electric guitars in from home. I personally came away hugely inspired by the young people I encountered. I loved being able to support them to express their thoughts and opinions in our listening sessions, and watching confidence grow throughout each of the days was an energising experience, truly inspirational. Mark and I were also delighted to see how last year's Young Creators are developing and maturing now they are Young Associates. Their journey of growth is special to witness.”
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