Wednesday 27 February 2013

Music on the Children's Unit

I'd like to share one of the other parts of the music programme at HEFT (Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust). Some talented young volunteers came in to the Children's Ward last week, accompanied by their mom Jackie, to perform some music. Their session on the Children's Ward at Heartlands Hospital made a real difference to the day - a hospital stay involves lots of boredom, anxiety and upset, and music is a really good way of helping to create a lovely atmosphere to try to alleviate these.

Parents and staff, as well as patients, sometimes have a difficult time in hospital and it's important for the welfare of all of them to create an environment that's as free of stress as possible. I think the music and arts programme at HEFT is a really important part of making this happen. Thanks so much to Jackie, Ciara and Niamh for coming in.

Here's what Niamh and Ciara said about their visit:

We were lucky enough to be invited in by Christina to visit the Children's Ward at Heartlands Hospital on 20th February 2013 and play some music. We were made very welcome by the staff, especially Sam the Nursery Nurse.
We were keen to be able to play for the children,  being in hospital can be a very stressful time for sick children and their families and we wanted to provide what we hoped was a  fun and interactive session for young hospital patients and their families.
We played different types of music on the guitar and tin whistle, and sang some  modern pop songs and played some traditional Irish Music. 
It was a really wonderful experience, to see the children joining in and smiling - whilst beating a rhythm with some percussion instruments!!  We do hope to come back again and will learn some more songs that may be familiar to the children to help them feel more 'at home' during their stay in hospital.
Thank you for letting us come and visit.
Ciara and Niamh McCorriston


If you are interested in becoming a music or art volunteer yourself, please get in touch on 0121 424 0113.

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Daz at Naseby

We had a great session on Monday with loads of people (including some new guys) so thanks everybody for turning up to take part. Daz brought some of his guitars and there's actually quite a lot of kit at Naseby: more guitars, keyboards, drums, so there's a chance to try out loads of different instruments. As always if you are under 18, please come along to Naseby Centre on Mondays at 7pm to take part in the music!







Thanks to Daz for running these sessions and to all the older guys who lend their expertise to the younger ones!

Friday 15 February 2013

Lovely Alina's lovely Jelly Song


From one of Daz's sessions at the hospital. Alina is really great and loves music, but was a bit shy of singing so we all joined in. Unfortunately you can only mainly hear me because I'm behind the camera.

Guitar club Christmas performance

The Norton Hall guitar club Christmas performance took place in Heartlands Hospital on Tuesday 18th December and I know that lots of patients and hospital staff were cheered up by seeing and hearing the Guitar Club's lovely performance. All that practising paid off! Thanks to Daniel Sweeney from Birmingham Music Service and well done Umme, Wisaal, Michael, Ra'marn and Stephanie.


Monday 4 February 2013

Daz at Naseby - demonstrating Purple Rain

Just want to point out, Daz is not really a drummer :-) Tutorial video from last week!