Music in Mind Open Call

NOW RECRUITING COMMUNITY MUSICIANS

Open Call for Community Music Facilitators for Percussion & Singing Workshops

Application deadline: Friday 27th September

This call is open for compiling a panel of potential facilitators for our Music in Mind mental health programme, particularly in the midlands, west/northwest, and Dublin regions.

To be considered, please send your CV along with a short cover letter to education@nch.ie no later than Friday 27th September.

Further details here: Music In Mind Facilitator Details

The National Concert Hall’s Learning & Participation programme seeks to engage people with music, to enhance people’s understanding and appreciation of music and music making, and to encourage personal, community and social development through music.

The Learning & Participation programme aims to contribute to national musical citizenship through a wide range of quality, accessible, and socially relevant initiatives.

Music in Mind: Music for Mental Health

Music in Mind is a programme of participative music workshops for people in the community living with mental health difficulties or for young people at risk of mental health difficulties. Either singing in a choir, or playing percussion as part of an ensemble; in either case the focus is on participation and enjoyment.
 
Our vision is that anyone living with mental health difficulties should have the opportunity to participate in collective music making, and to experience the benefits that this can bring.
 
The programme consists of either group singing or percussion (drumming).  Each programme is of eight weeks’ duration with one session per week. 

Why do we do it?

We believe that participation in music has a powerful role to play in the area of mental health.  Music, in particular group singing, has been demonstrated to promote positive feelings, expectation and hope, self-belief, social support and networking, structure and organisation (Morrison & Clift, 2012).
 
Group drumming is a powerful music-making experience that is promotes health-oriented, non-musical goals (Stevens, 2000). In a drumming group, participants experience both the creation of group rhythms and a sense of community, combating the feelings of isolation that are frequently manifested in poor mental health.  Indeed, participation in group drumming can lead to significant improvements in multiple domains of social-emotional behavior (Ho, Tsao, Bloch & Zeltzer, 2011).
 
Music in Mind opens the door to a world of social and community music making, develops individuals living with mental health concerns, and contributes to the national conversation surrounding mental health; a subject that has been brushed aside for far too long.