Some reflections on ‘Reflections’…

On Thursdays I’m music therapist at The Highgate care home in London. Last year it became clear that there was an acute need to re-establish (post-covid) a sense of community at the home. So we came up with the idea of creating an album - written, performed & recorded entirely ‘in-house’ by around 100 residents, relatives, friends and staff.

The end result was Reflections -

https://open.spotify.com/album/125FE4jWj1yERUfo65tHGd?si=_bnJIjjmQNCmDl1aK8vEkg

None of the songwriters (many in their 80s or 90s) had written a song before, so a wide variety of songwriting techniques were employed. The lyrics tell stories of their lives and/or current experiences in the home, and by putting the album on streaming services, the album became a place where those memories can be stored and revisited.

The diversity of musical genres across the album reflects the home’s cultural make-up; reggae, opera, swing, folk, swing, rock‘n roll. A klezmer-inspired ballad, a Nigerian chant, even an Irish drinking song.

The logistical challenges of trying to record an album within a care home (and with no budget!) were considerable. We repurposed a visitors’ booth - built during Covid - into a make-shift recording studio.

But most of the recording was done in rooms, corridors, lounges - wherever we could set up a mic, stand and computer; as seen in this video for one of the songs, Sing Together written by resident, Phyllis, (who sings the first line with her daughter).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyCsEM8pHVc

As well as video creation, residents created sleeve cover art, from which we created framed ‘gold discs’, hung on the wall of the home to tell the story behind of each song.

Reflections allowed us to experiment with technology such as AI and Playtronica. It inspired us to form a choir for the home. And the home’s activities team created a fantastic launch party for the album for everyone involved, where our songs were heard in public for the first time…

The project subsequently won a National Arts In Care Homes Award, and we’ve had other homes getting in contact to discuss how they might be able to do something similar. Songwriting and recording is now a regular part of music therapy provision at The Highgate and we’re currently working to bring in local school children to write new songs with residents.

Overall, the last few months have shown me how empowering the collaborative process of songwriting and recording an album has been in bringing our community closer together. The roles of carer, resident, relative became less defined and less important. We’ve just been a group of people singing, playing, creating and recording together. If anyone has done similar work (or is planning to) I’d be very happy to share experiences. Meantime, here’s to the ‘difficult second album’!

Huffington Post blogs…

In my work with Nordoff Robbins a while ago now I was asked by to contribute a series of music therapy-themed blogs to the Huffington Post, which I thought i’d re-post up here in case anyone was interested. Here’s the first one I did, about spontaneity in a care home environment…

(Musical) Notes from a Damp Shed

Like me, you’ve probably been spending a bit of extra time at home recently. I’ve spent most of it here in my shed.

I’ve been in here so much since the beginning of March that my daughter says I now smell of damp wood. It’s where I compose, record and for the last few weeks it's where I’ve started to deliver music therapy, digitally. I’ve been a music therapist in the UK for 10 years, and until two months’ ago the thought of providing it over the internet had never, ever crossed my mind… yet now, thanks to Covid-19, digital music therapy (is that what we call it?) is the only music therapy I do. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that. The learning curve has been steep. Technology has become my best friend and my greatest tormentor. As countless musicians across the world are finding, making music ‘remotely’ comes with sizeable hurdles. I’ve never said ‘lag’ so much in my life.

In my shed, looking in control…

But there’s also a load of energy flying around the shed (along with a fly or two) that I guess is a by-product of the fact that this is something new and potentially transformative. The act of keeping us apart has forced us to find new ways to reconnect, many of which have combined music and technology. From Gareth Malone (@GarethMaloneofficial) to Jacob Collier (@jcolliermusic) to the Kanneh-Masons (@ShekuKMOfficial) and countless other musicians big and small, the internet has been filled these last couple of months with brilliant musicians using technology innovatively to make and experience incredible music together.

We're social animals, so we’re hard-wired to seek connection with others. And for 1000s of years we’ve done that through music – particularly in times of adversity. How vital a role did music play during the World Wars? Or to the African slaves, who’s musical response (when everything else was taken away from them) shaped most of the popular music we listen to today?

WW2 was the first global crisis where technology and music could be combined as a force to bring us together. By then, nearly all households had a radio, and countless residents in the care homes I’ve worked at have told me how important hearing Vera Lynn or Glenn Miller ‘on the wireless’ was; for entertainment and morale of course, but also because they knew millions of others were listening and singing along to the same songs, feeling the same feelings at the same time.

Back then, the flow of communication via technology was largely ‘one-way’, delivered into our radios. Today's global crisis comes at a time when our technology allows two-way, three-way, even ten-way communication. And that means that as well as music being delivered to us, it can also be made and communicated by us, and increasingly, between us.

…I’m not.

I think exploring this potential for 'shared digital musical experience' has now become incredibly important, given that access to communal live music - whether that's singing in a choir, going to a gig, playing in a band, or having a live music therapy session - has been, for the moment, taken away.

So that’s my starting point for this journey. I'll try to update regularly from the damp shed, and would love to hear your own experiences and what you think, so if you are interested or know other people who might be, then please click the like and share button on this attune music page and by all means get in touch...

Thanks!

Phil