This book has been written for musicians who want to engage with audiences beyond the concert hall and other traditional venues. The study is equally worthwhile for conservatoires and music academies aiming to change the increasingly unrealistic goal of training young musicians solely for the stage. When taking the changing music profession and its market opportunities seriously, higher music education institutions can become aware of creative opportunities for establishing professional music practices in areas in society that are remote from concert halls and big festivals, from public media and stardom, and instead look for settings which reach out to various kinds of audiences. This does not mean, of course, that the results presented here wish to diminish the wonderful gift of being an accomplished soloist or chamber musician, but they would like to show that the role of music can be exhaustive, where artistic connection can bring about strong communication between people. Music can make a difference and be deeply influential, especially in social fields of illness and suffering, weakness and depression. ‘Music and dementia’ is the challenging topic of this book. It is not about educational suggestions to care staff to sing well-known children's songs in care homes for residents with dementia, just to lift the mood. Through engaging in music as a participatory process, its goal is to make the person behind the dementia visible again. The project presented in this study not only shows that this idea can be realised for people with dementia and their caregivers, but it has also opened up learning processes for the musicians involved which nobody would have expected before, nurturing their professional lives and development. The project has changed their understanding of the place of music in people’s lives; it has touched their personality and stimulated deep reflections about their identity. This positive effect should benefit young musicians in their music education. However, musicians are not the only target group. The discoveries of the study are also helpful and inspiring for caregivers of people with dementia and for families of a loved one living with dementia. The book explores the interaction between music and dementia through the stories of people who have been working closely together: three musicians, eight women living with dementia, five caregivers, a staff development practitioner, a project coordinator and three scientific observers. The result is a book in which all of them have participated in their own way. It consists of field observations, reflective journals, conversations, interviews and careful scientific analyses. If it can be read by many people at a profit, the project has worked. There will be, in the words of Clifford Geertz, a 'thick description' of a new friendship between music and dementia, a story about a fascinating practice that will stimulate and bolster committed people.
‘Legacy: Participatory Music Practices with Elderly People as a Resource for the Well-being of Healthcare Professionals’ was a qualitative research project into the learning and well-being of hospital nurses and nursing home caregivers working with vulnerable elderly people and participating in live music practices Meaningful Music in Healthcare (MiMiC) and Music and Dementia in the Netherlands.The data collection (2016-2019) employed an ethnographic approach and data triangulation of participant observation, episodic interviews and group discussions. The constructivist grounded theory approach to data analysis proceeded from sensitising concepts to initial and focused coding, ultimately reconstructed into a thick description merging empirical data, theory and the researcher’s interpretations. The emerging core categories, Participation, Experience and Learning Benefits, were conceptualised within an epistemological framework of philosophical pragmatism.The findings suggest that, through an emerging community of practice, healthcare professionals could collaborate with musicians to connect with patients or residents. The collaboration enabled the use of shared musical experiences as a resource for compassionate care. Still, allowing oneself to participate musically and showing emotional vulnerability were challenging. The accumulation of ‘experiencing’ and collegial encouragement supported healthcare professionals’ participation beyond their professional performance.Person-centred music-making resonated with the values of person-centred care. It enabled healthcare professionals to take time and become engaged with patients or residents in musical situations. Healthcare professionals described gaining new understandings of the patients or residents and each other, which could be seen promoting a cultural shift from task-centredness towards relationship-focused person-centred care.Musicians’ communication provided new professional insights into teamwork. Also, observing patients and residents’ responses to the music evoked sympathetic joy in healthcare professionals. Looking through the eyes of ‘the other’ was central for nurses and caregivers’ meaning-making of the value of music-making and awareness of its impact on patients, residents and themselves. The perceived benefits of the music practices for healthcare professionals’ job resources and satisfaction seemed connected to changes in care relationships, work atmosphere, sense of mindfulness and recognition.The conclusions of the research suggest that participatory music practices might be considered as supportive of delivering person-centred care. The findings could be applied in training programmes and professional development of musicians, nurses and caregivers.
This PD project aims to gather new knowledge through artistic and participatory design research within neighbourhoods for possible ways of addressing and understanding the avoidance and numbness caused by feelings of vulnerability, discomfort and pain associated with eco-anxiety and chronic fear of environmental doom. The project will include artistic production and suitable forms of fieldwork. The objectives of the PD are to find answers to the practice problem of society which call for art that sensitises, makes aware and helps initiate behavioural change around the consequences of climate change. Rather than visualize future sea levels directly, it will seek to engage with climate change in a metaphorical and poetic way. Neither a doom nor an overly techno-optimistic scenario seem useful to understand the complexity of flood risk management or the dangers of flooding. By challenging both perspectives with artistic means, this research hopes to counter eco-anxiety and create a sense of open thought and susceptibility to new ideas, feelings and chains of thought. Animation and humour, are possible ingredients. The objective is to find and create multiple Dutch water stories, not just one. To achieve this, it is necessary to develop new methods for selecting and repurposing existing impactful stories and strong images. Citizens and students will be included to do so via fieldwork. In addition, archival materials will be used. Archives serve as a repository for memory recollection and reuse, selecting material from the audiovisual archive of the Institute of Sound & Vision will be a crucial part of the creative work which will include two films and accompanying music.
The objective of this PD-pathway is pioneering an interdisciplinary composition practice in societal contexts, informed by the scientific field of psychology. Three immersive multi-medium, music-centered compositions involving music and choreography will be created within an existing interdisciplinary practice. The PD's contribution to knowledge lies in the (new) ways of merging music and choreography, the bridging of human psychology and the arts as well as its artistic research approach.
The findings suggests that participation in music practices can significantly support caregivers' and nurses' contact with the people to whom they give care and the healthcare professionals' insights into the patients' and residents' personhood. Music can create experienced changes in the care environment through kairotic moments of connectivity and intimacy of the musical interaction. The music sessions support and reinforce the person-centred values of care delivery.The meaning of participatory music practices for the well-being and learning of healthcare professionals working with ageing patients and nursing home residents.
