Development Officer Hospice report
Music in the Hospice, 2009
A Report by Micaela Schmitz, Development Officer, Making Music West Midlands
This is an abridged report (for reasons of privacy, some details have been removed) and will examine the planning and success of the Music in the Hospice project run by Making Music West Midlands in partnership with Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull, from April-June 2009.
The idea was to pilot a short term (6-8 week) project in one setting with a small number of people recruited from Making Music groups. These volunteers would facilitate music making by themselves and day-patients. We hoped to run this project and use it to evaluate how it might be done in other parts of the West Midlands.
Summary
The project was rewarding and entailed a learning curve for all involved. Fulfilment was high, although not everyone who started with the project remained until the end of the project, for various reasons.
The hospice felt it was very positive as did day-patients and their families. It is impossible to praise highly enough the dedication and positive attitudes of all the hospices staff and volunteers, without exception. Without their active input the project could not have succeeded as it did, and it shows how important that sort of partnership is to run a project of this type.
The members of Harmonie who took part showed a great deal of willingness to have a go and expose themselves. They succeeded even in cases where they felt uncomfortable and their gifts, both musical and personal were invaluable.
We were observed by at least two outside people who think a similar project could run in their own locations-Selly Park and Worcester.
The most important learning was that the relationship and training of the volunteer musicians needs careful handling and almost continuous evaluation.
Planning Process
The overall goal was to encourage new activity in arts and health by member groups.
This serves to 'lead the way' by showing other members about non-standard venues for music making. It also spreads the benefit of our members to sectors of the population who do not always have the opportunity to enjoy music.
Making Music is not limited to traditional Western Classical music concerts, but embraces a wide range of music making.
The hospice were keen to try this- as they'd not done any projects that were music based. The hospice had evidence of tile painting and garden projects and were open to this sort of thing.
Using the website for Sound Sense, I identified Heather Wastie. Whilst she has a background in Arts and Health, she had not previously done a project quite like this one (e.g. in a hospice, e.g. facilitating volunteer musicians to do the leading); therefore she was keen to be involved, and we made an agreement which covered the two training sessions and tasters, followed by the 5 full sessions.
Early in our planning we decided that the taster sessions (a session to be much like the other 5)- were best scheduled during the times that pre-formed groups met.
Smaller details had to be arranged. In our meetings, it was vital to establish the right terminology. Participants or day-patients (not patients, not clients, not students,) and volunteer musicians or the band (not 'the musicians').
Small, but important details
The venue for training was the church adjacent to the hospice- the idea being to give musicians a neutral space to explore away from the actual hospice environment.
For the tasters, we decided that it was important socially to have lunch after each session, so that musicians and day-patients could become comfortable with each other. In fact the hot drink and socialising before each session was as important as the session themselves.
Recruiting Participants
After a great deal of ground work, we had to come up with descriptive text to promote the project, that could be handed out at the taster sessions. It was extremely difficult to keep the content open enough to allow plenty of input from participants and yet give a taste of something to pique the imagination. We finally settled on 'Postcards'.
How the Project Went
One positive aspect is that many family members were in evidence- the wife of one man came every time; the son of another came for about half the time and grandchildren and children of another man were in evidence in various numbers, but with great enthusiasm for another man. These families witnessed to the positive impacts of the project.
The Solihull Times came to session 4 (out of 5) and photographed
Numbers if compared to a traditional, non-health project will appear low.
Prior to session 1 (that's after the tasters); our list included about 6 potential participants and family/carers/drivers.
We ended up seeing a different number each time, and with different numbers of family members and drivers. We also saw some of the hospice's regular volunteers, who joined in enthusiastically.
One man's wife had to leave the room because she was so moved. Upon her return she told us how positive it had been. A song had brought back memories of their families many happy experiences. She said, It just shows what you are trying to do. Music has the power to bring out emotions. I don't know why I burst into tears. It's sad but it's not a bad thing.
Ongoing Evaluation
Staff asked day-patients one on one a simple 3 questions- what did you like? What didn't you like? Is there anything you'd like to do in future?
I conducted a mid-point evaluation on paper with members of Harmonie.
Things I liked
* Willingness and enthusiasm
* Getting people who don't usually play/sing involved
* Positive atmosphere at the hospice
* Friendliness and involvement of hospice staff
* Interaction with patients, especially before and after sessions
* Relaxed atmosphere
* People's willingness to have a go
* Spontaneity
* Getting to know people I wouldn't usually meet
* Knowing that it makes an impact and is appreciated
Things I didn't like were:
* Worried about lack of clarity about who's leading when
* Worried that some things were a bit young for adults
* At first, having to improvise- but found it not as hard as I expected
* Some sessions moved too quickly from one item to the next without a chance to reflect
* Worried that patients felt patronised.
Things that surprised me were:
* I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.
* Willingness of all to participate at whatever level
* How easy it was to chat to anyone during coffee/tea
* How willing everyone was to join in even those who were quite ill
Things I was expecting that did not happen:
* More ongoing involvement of professional lead; however I do not feel this eventually was a detriment to the success of the group
* Greater take-up from patients, but in retrospect I felt that a large number of patients are really too poorly to want to be bothered, even if they are interested. We later clarified that the point of the professional lead was let the volunteers take on more and more of the delivyer; which meant we were indeed havnig success.
Evaluation at the End
At the end we had a group evaluation with all in the room. Harmonie hope to return to do Christmas carols with the hospice. The hospice hope to acquire percussion instruments. Below are some comments made at the last session:
We felt comfortable. I go home with a spring in my step. For me it has been very, very rewarding.
Absolutely.
None of us are probably good singers, or particularly know anything about music, and at no point have I felt in the least bit inhibited.
Friendly. Everyone felt they could make whatever noise they wanted to make.
Without criticism.
We all managed to give it our all without worrying about whether we sounded dreadful. Now, that might sound like a paradox, but I think that's quite important.
Quite a nice happy gathering.
Meeting friends really, all friends.
Learning Points and Reflections
Development Officer's Note
Had I to organise this again, I'd have included in the list of dates far more involved meetings with all members of the group beforehand, possibly at one of their regular rehearsals, and more scheduled in with the facilitator and the performing group outside of the actual sessions. I would ensure these are dotted throughout so there is plenty of time for reflection. This, though, could be made difficult by people's busy schedules.
I am not surprised that no volunteers have claimed travel expenses, as they have from the beginning shared an extremely positive and giving attitude.
Facilitator's note, written by Heather Wastie
Facilitators train and practise for years to develop the skills needed to help others make music. This was a challenging project, in which I was facilitating one group to facilitate another. It was not just a case of Harmonie arriving at the hospice, setting up their music stands in the conservatory and introducing their music to the audience in the adjacent room. The brief was wider than that. They were going to sit amongst the day patients and encourage them to join in and improvise. This last part was where I came in. Harmonie members could already make music very successfully together, and were able to demonstrate new things to me like how a trumpet slide works, or how you can turn a hose pipe into a natural horn! My job was to help them open up spaces in their programme, in their music-making and in their thinking. So I planted seeds and led by example, provided a large range of percussion instruments, suggested a theme, and challenged each individual to find something new in themselves whilst having fun! I then had to hand the reins to them, so that it was their project rather than mine. All credit to them for being prepared to explore a new approach.
It was important for me to be aware of the needs of each individual. Each person reacted differently when challenged, and it would have been good to have had more opportunity for teasing out any difficulties along the way, but once the tasters had started there was little opportunity to get back together as a group for feedback and discussion. Email and telephone communication, whilst second best, helped sort out any issues. I was very pleased with the way all of the musicians approached the project and found the final session very rewarding because of the level of relaxed spontaneity towards which we had gradually been moving.
If I were starting the project again, I would talk more with the group about expectations and set some aims and objectives to make the whole project clearer. Given the fact that this was new for all of us, it was invaluable to be working alongside Micaela with whom I had an excellent working relationship. We were able to tease out issues as we went along and decide upon the best approach. I certainly feel that Harmonie has ownership of this project and should now be equipped to do more in the future.
Songs Shared at the Final Session
Promenade Theme
We meet:
Getting to know you
Oh what a beautiful morning
The seaside:
I do like to be beside the seaside
Stranger on the shore
Banana boat song
Promenade theme
Mountains & hills :
Climb every mountain
The hills are alive
Promenade theme
Rivers & flowers:
Edelweiss
Some enchanted evening
Moon river
Promenade (exit) theme
The finale:
Do (Did) you hear the people sing ?
See a photo
Visit the you tube video of the French horn demo:
Thanks to
Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull
All participants, families, drivers, carers and friends
Volunteers at the hospice
Staff at the hospice, especially Claire Gower, Louise Hathaway, and Jennifer Brewer.
Harmonie Concert Band, in particular David Bridges, Tony Veal, Dominic Cain, Janet Cottell, Margaret Carr, Lynda Young, and Bob Jones.
Heather Wastie of This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Gill Miller, Chair of Making Music West Midlands
This is an abridged report (for reasons of privacy, some details have been removed) and will examine the planning and success of the Music in the Hospice project run by Making Music West Midlands in partnership with Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull, from April-June 2009.
The idea was to pilot a short term (6-8 week) project in one setting with a small number of people recruited from Making Music groups. These volunteers would facilitate music making by themselves and day-patients. We hoped to run this project and use it to evaluate how it might be done in other parts of the West Midlands.
Summary
The project was rewarding and entailed a learning curve for all involved. Fulfilment was high, although not everyone who started with the project remained until the end of the project, for various reasons.
The hospice felt it was very positive as did day-patients and their families. It is impossible to praise highly enough the dedication and positive attitudes of all the hospices staff and volunteers, without exception. Without their active input the project could not have succeeded as it did, and it shows how important that sort of partnership is to run a project of this type.
The members of Harmonie who took part showed a great deal of willingness to have a go and expose themselves. They succeeded even in cases where they felt uncomfortable and their gifts, both musical and personal were invaluable.
We were observed by at least two outside people who think a similar project could run in their own locations-Selly Park and Worcester.
The most important learning was that the relationship and training of the volunteer musicians needs careful handling and almost continuous evaluation.
Planning Process
The overall goal was to encourage new activity in arts and health by member groups.
This serves to 'lead the way' by showing other members about non-standard venues for music making. It also spreads the benefit of our members to sectors of the population who do not always have the opportunity to enjoy music.
Making Music is not limited to traditional Western Classical music concerts, but embraces a wide range of music making.
The hospice were keen to try this- as they'd not done any projects that were music based. The hospice had evidence of tile painting and garden projects and were open to this sort of thing.
Using the website for Sound Sense, I identified Heather Wastie. Whilst she has a background in Arts and Health, she had not previously done a project quite like this one (e.g. in a hospice, e.g. facilitating volunteer musicians to do the leading); therefore she was keen to be involved, and we made an agreement which covered the two training sessions and tasters, followed by the 5 full sessions.
Early in our planning we decided that the taster sessions (a session to be much like the other 5)- were best scheduled during the times that pre-formed groups met.
Smaller details had to be arranged. In our meetings, it was vital to establish the right terminology. Participants or day-patients (not patients, not clients, not students,) and volunteer musicians or the band (not 'the musicians').
Small, but important details
The venue for training was the church adjacent to the hospice- the idea being to give musicians a neutral space to explore away from the actual hospice environment.
For the tasters, we decided that it was important socially to have lunch after each session, so that musicians and day-patients could become comfortable with each other. In fact the hot drink and socialising before each session was as important as the session themselves.
Recruiting Participants
After a great deal of ground work, we had to come up with descriptive text to promote the project, that could be handed out at the taster sessions. It was extremely difficult to keep the content open enough to allow plenty of input from participants and yet give a taste of something to pique the imagination. We finally settled on 'Postcards'.
How the Project Went
One positive aspect is that many family members were in evidence- the wife of one man came every time; the son of another came for about half the time and grandchildren and children of another man were in evidence in various numbers, but with great enthusiasm for another man. These families witnessed to the positive impacts of the project.
The Solihull Times came to session 4 (out of 5) and photographed
Numbers if compared to a traditional, non-health project will appear low.
Prior to session 1 (that's after the tasters); our list included about 6 potential participants and family/carers/drivers.
We ended up seeing a different number each time, and with different numbers of family members and drivers. We also saw some of the hospice's regular volunteers, who joined in enthusiastically.
One man's wife had to leave the room because she was so moved. Upon her return she told us how positive it had been. A song had brought back memories of their families many happy experiences. She said, It just shows what you are trying to do. Music has the power to bring out emotions. I don't know why I burst into tears. It's sad but it's not a bad thing.
Ongoing Evaluation
Staff asked day-patients one on one a simple 3 questions- what did you like? What didn't you like? Is there anything you'd like to do in future?
I conducted a mid-point evaluation on paper with members of Harmonie.
Things I liked
* Willingness and enthusiasm
* Getting people who don't usually play/sing involved
* Positive atmosphere at the hospice
* Friendliness and involvement of hospice staff
* Interaction with patients, especially before and after sessions
* Relaxed atmosphere
* People's willingness to have a go
* Spontaneity
* Getting to know people I wouldn't usually meet
* Knowing that it makes an impact and is appreciated
Things I didn't like were:
* Worried about lack of clarity about who's leading when
* Worried that some things were a bit young for adults
* At first, having to improvise- but found it not as hard as I expected
* Some sessions moved too quickly from one item to the next without a chance to reflect
* Worried that patients felt patronised.
Things that surprised me were:
* I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.
* Willingness of all to participate at whatever level
* How easy it was to chat to anyone during coffee/tea
* How willing everyone was to join in even those who were quite ill
Things I was expecting that did not happen:
* More ongoing involvement of professional lead; however I do not feel this eventually was a detriment to the success of the group
* Greater take-up from patients, but in retrospect I felt that a large number of patients are really too poorly to want to be bothered, even if they are interested. We later clarified that the point of the professional lead was let the volunteers take on more and more of the delivyer; which meant we were indeed havnig success.
Evaluation at the End
At the end we had a group evaluation with all in the room. Harmonie hope to return to do Christmas carols with the hospice. The hospice hope to acquire percussion instruments. Below are some comments made at the last session:
We felt comfortable. I go home with a spring in my step. For me it has been very, very rewarding.
Absolutely.
None of us are probably good singers, or particularly know anything about music, and at no point have I felt in the least bit inhibited.
Friendly. Everyone felt they could make whatever noise they wanted to make.
Without criticism.
We all managed to give it our all without worrying about whether we sounded dreadful. Now, that might sound like a paradox, but I think that's quite important.
Quite a nice happy gathering.
Meeting friends really, all friends.
Learning Points and Reflections
Development Officer's Note
Had I to organise this again, I'd have included in the list of dates far more involved meetings with all members of the group beforehand, possibly at one of their regular rehearsals, and more scheduled in with the facilitator and the performing group outside of the actual sessions. I would ensure these are dotted throughout so there is plenty of time for reflection. This, though, could be made difficult by people's busy schedules.
I am not surprised that no volunteers have claimed travel expenses, as they have from the beginning shared an extremely positive and giving attitude.
Facilitator's note, written by Heather Wastie
Facilitators train and practise for years to develop the skills needed to help others make music. This was a challenging project, in which I was facilitating one group to facilitate another. It was not just a case of Harmonie arriving at the hospice, setting up their music stands in the conservatory and introducing their music to the audience in the adjacent room. The brief was wider than that. They were going to sit amongst the day patients and encourage them to join in and improvise. This last part was where I came in. Harmonie members could already make music very successfully together, and were able to demonstrate new things to me like how a trumpet slide works, or how you can turn a hose pipe into a natural horn! My job was to help them open up spaces in their programme, in their music-making and in their thinking. So I planted seeds and led by example, provided a large range of percussion instruments, suggested a theme, and challenged each individual to find something new in themselves whilst having fun! I then had to hand the reins to them, so that it was their project rather than mine. All credit to them for being prepared to explore a new approach.
It was important for me to be aware of the needs of each individual. Each person reacted differently when challenged, and it would have been good to have had more opportunity for teasing out any difficulties along the way, but once the tasters had started there was little opportunity to get back together as a group for feedback and discussion. Email and telephone communication, whilst second best, helped sort out any issues. I was very pleased with the way all of the musicians approached the project and found the final session very rewarding because of the level of relaxed spontaneity towards which we had gradually been moving.
If I were starting the project again, I would talk more with the group about expectations and set some aims and objectives to make the whole project clearer. Given the fact that this was new for all of us, it was invaluable to be working alongside Micaela with whom I had an excellent working relationship. We were able to tease out issues as we went along and decide upon the best approach. I certainly feel that Harmonie has ownership of this project and should now be equipped to do more in the future.
Songs Shared at the Final Session
Promenade Theme
We meet:
Getting to know you
Oh what a beautiful morning
The seaside:
I do like to be beside the seaside
Stranger on the shore
Banana boat song
Promenade theme
Mountains & hills :
Climb every mountain
The hills are alive
Promenade theme
Rivers & flowers:
Edelweiss
Some enchanted evening
Moon river
Promenade (exit) theme
The finale:
Do (Did) you hear the people sing ?
See a photo
Visit the you tube video of the French horn demo:
Thanks to
Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull
All participants, families, drivers, carers and friends
Volunteers at the hospice
Staff at the hospice, especially Claire Gower, Louise Hathaway, and Jennifer Brewer.
Harmonie Concert Band, in particular David Bridges, Tony Veal, Dominic Cain, Janet Cottell, Margaret Carr, Lynda Young, and Bob Jones.
Heather Wastie of This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Gill Miller, Chair of Making Music West Midlands
Last Updated on Friday, 02 October 2009 18:37
