Music and Health Programme
“The beauty of music makes my heart sing.” – 2023 Music Promoters Participant
Our Music and Health programme is the longest-running and broadest-reaching project of its kind. Since 2008 we have worked in partnership with the NHS, improving the health and wellbeing of 21,500 individuals across Liverpool City Region through music. Our programme involves:
- Using music to enhance mood and self-esteem for those experiencing mental or physical ill-health;
- Supporting people as they rebuild confidence and develop skills;
- Supporting independent living in the community;
- Helping people make new connections or return to employment;
- Positively affecting the hospital or ward environment for patients, families and NHS staff.
Beginning as a partnership with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust in 2008, the programme was initially a pilot across two Mental Health wards. Since then, it has expanded to also work with the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre Foundation Trust, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trust NHS Foundation Trust, Improving Me, and Liverpool City Council’s Public Health team.
Our ambition is that through Music and Health, every person across Liverpool City Region is able to access high quality live music to benefit their health and wellbeing – in hospitals, care spaces, across communities and within our venues. Patients and participants have told us how taking part in Music and Health has benefitted them:
91% said they had experienced increased self-esteem
90% of participants attended to meet others and boost their mood
86% of participants reported activities improved their mood and supported their everyday living
75% said the programme positively impacted their confidence
60% of patients said the programme helped reduce anxiety
Our highly skilled Music and Health musicians work in community and inpatient adult mental health facilities, and support those undergoing physical rehabilitation, perinatal mental health care, cancer care, neurology and neurosurgery, and addiction recovery, as well as people living with dementia, brain injuries and learning disabilities.
Music and Health opens up accessible pathways and progression routes to further cultural events, including independent visits to Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and sign-posting to other creative activities. The programme also delivers a range of sessions and workshops within community settings, including Mersey Care’s Life Rooms facilities. Our social prescribing programme, Music Mondays, is open for referrals for individuals aged 18+ from across Liverpool City Region. For more information on how to make a referral to our social prescribing programme, please visit Music Mondays. (liverpoolphil.com)
In 2023, we celebrated Music and Health’s 15th anniversary with a special performance. Past and current participants came together to devise a live musical performance titled A Journey from Darkness to Light. Through spoken word, poetry, song and music-making, participants showcased the way in which this programme positively impacted their health outcomes. As one participant fed back:
“People think I am a different person these days. We cannot mend ourselves with medicine alone. That is why these courses are so important to me and many others.”
Central to the programme are the people and communities we work with, our NHS colleagues and the world-renowned musicians of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Together, we have developed a programme which uses music to support, connect and benefit the health and wellbeing of individuals and families across Liverpool City Region – developing confidence, skills and hope for the future, and reducing isolation and exclusion of often highly marginalised individuals facing challenging times in their lives.
Previous reporting on the Music and Health programme from 2008-2017 can also be found here:
For further information contact learning@liverpoolphil.com
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Evaluation and Research
To mark the programme's 15th anniversary, Liverpool Philharmonic and the University of Liverpool published a report to present significant findings regarding how music improves the general health and wellbeing of individuals receiving care in hospitals and in the community. The report is drawn from 2022/23 studies by the University of Liverpool’s Professor Josie Billington PhD, Dr Jaqueline Waldock PhD and Dr Melissa Chapple PhD, consultation with Royal College of Music Professor Rosie Perkins FHEA, FRSPH, HonRCM, and research by the University of Sunderland’s Professor Susanne Burns.
We are a consortium member of the Arts4Us scaling up project with Edge Hill University, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Liverpool Philharmonic is a partner with the University of Liverpool as part of The Centre for Health, Arts, Society & Environment. [link to page]
Music and Health features in the National Centre for Creative Health’s 2023 Creative Health Review.
In 2023- 2024, Music and Health musician Georgina Aasgaard was awarded Community Innovation Practitioner status, supported by Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Northumberland and UKRI.
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