RNCM 2022 Cohort: Training the next generation of Music for Health musicians!

We have just completed week 3 of our training module with the current lovely cohort of 3rd year Undergraduate music students as part of our long-standing Music for Health training partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music. Established in 2013 it is the longest standing programme of its kind linked to a conservatoire in the UK. Led by Ros and Mark, SMUK Directors and Specialist Health Musicians, the training is designed to introduce students to the use of live music as a vehicle for communication and to promote wellbeing in hospital and healthcare settings.

Since March 2020 when COVID restrictions prevented access to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, the training programme was quickly adapted to a remote platform whilst maintaining the high quality of teaching and continuing to deliver an enriching, creative and stimulating programme. This year’s programme includes an introduction to the broader context of Music for Health/Creative Health practice; students learn to apply their instrumental skills to connect with children and families in bedside musical interactions and develop skills in using child centred musical interaction within the clinical environment. There are also practical elements where students work together or independently to create audio/visual materials for SMUK’s Vimeo page for children and families at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and will each have the unique opportunity to observe remote music sessions on Critical Care at RMCH as part of SMUK’s flagship Sound Environments programme.

Many of the students that SMUK train, go on to develop career pathways involving music, health, and wellbeing; musicians who have taken this pathway are now working in programmes across the UK and internationally and 80 % of the musicians that have gone on to be employed within the SMUK wider programme are alumni from the RNCM training programme.