Music at Home

What is Music at Home?

Music at Home helps older people to access music whilst reducing social isolation by bringing performers and musicians into the comfort of care settings.

Music can be an integral part of our personal identities, communities, and relationships. It has the power to create connections and activate memories. Its effects on older people, particularly those living with a dementia, has been proven to be particularly profound.  

“Regular group singing can enhance morale and mental health-related quality of life and reduce loneliness, anxiety and depression in older people.” - An excerpt from the 2017 report Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing

Current partnerships:

So far, we’ve partnered with The Spitz and Health: Pitch to deliver Music at Home sessions, using live music to improve well-being and combat isolation in care homes, day centres, and community settings.

The Spitz

The Spitz Charitable Trust takes professional musicians into care homes, day centres and hospitals across London. They use the power of live music to improve wellbeing, while reducing isolation and loneliness.

Wonderful musicians from the trust’s roster lead monthly participatory sessions in our care settings across London, catered to residents’ musical tastes. Requests so far have included The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley!

“Live music brings people together. It acts as a vehicle for enabling human contact and social interaction that can often get lost when someone is in a clinical setting. Research has shown that when a person is admitted to care, their mental wellbeing begins to deteriorate almost immediately. Live music can soften this decline, reducing the sense of isolation for the resident or patient. This in turn brings comfort to loved-ones and makes the job of care staff easier.” - Thom Rowlands, General Manager at The Spitz

Health:Pitch

Health:Pitch is an initiative that focuses on the intersection of the arts and mental health. Started by former Healthcare professional Camilla Vickers, it brings opera and musical theatre performances to health, social care and isolated community settings, as well as academic and public spaces.  

These relaxed and accessible performances are adapted to audience members' needs and encourage participation, conversation and connection. So far Health:Pitch have brought their operatic one-person show ‘Drive’ to two of our care settings in London!

"the concept, production, delivery and engagement with the audience was first class (...) To see people react positively to the story, the singing and the participation was totally worthwhile and personally uplifting.” - Kevin Gaskin, Health and Wellbeing Project Worker, Community Area Network Co-ordinator

Interested in partnership?

We are always looking for new partners to work with.

If you are a musician interested in hosting a production at one of our care settings, or are a care provider interested in welcoming music into your home, please contact our Community Programme Manager, Phoebe Grudzinskas: phoebe.grudzinskas@artexplora.org

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About The Spitz

The Spitz Charitable Trust takes professional musicians into care homes, day centres and hospitals across London. We use the power of live music to improve wellbeing, while reducing isolation and loneliness.

About Health:Pitch

Health:Pitch is an initiative led by Camilla Vickers, a former healthcare professional, that focuses on the intersection of creative arts, mental health and emotional wellbeing, using opera and musical theatre in unique ways to influence both public understanding and professional practice in these areas.

Instead of doing this in an academic way, their high-quality creative engagement including ‘wow’ productions, interactive workshops and online courses, all delivered by their talented, remunerated singers, reach and connect ‘everyone together in the room’, including those whose lives can be the hardest to reach and those who care for them, whether someone living with dementia in a care home or an older person experiencing loneliness at a day centre. Many of whom have limited/no access to the arts and are unfamiliar with the operatic voice.

To date they have performed in over 70 diverse health, social care and isolated community settings as well as in academic and public spaces, and online during the pandemic, reaching nearly 10 000 people who have limited or no access to high-quality engagement despite the benefits these bring.

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