Our work > Music and wellbeing > Music & Wellbeing Conference 2011
Music & Wellbeing Conference 2011
United by a common interest in using music as a tool to enhance health and wellbeing, we welcomed lots of people from all sorts of backgrounds to our conference in Glasgow in September 2011.
Last modified on: 23/01/2012
Two days of presentations, workshops and discussions inspired people and got them talking and sharing in a lively atmosphere.
Highlights
Our keynote speaker Professor Robert Winston spoke passionately about music and the brain, and of the potential for music to enhance wellbeing: ‘We are now learning to measure and prove how music affects wellbeing. It’s the start of something hugely exciting!’
Other highlights covered such topics as:
- The value and contribution of community music, what a community does to bring together a community, and how choirs can be used as a means of improving social cohesion in communities
- A demystification of what music therapy is and how it works, examining the intrinsic qualities of music to understand what it can do in a therapeutic context, what it can tell the therapist about an individual’s capabilities and development, and how it can unlock doors to improving someone’s physical and mental health
- A practical discussion and workshop on how to evaluate music and health projects: why evaluation is important, how it should be incorporated into the project plan, how to focus on the important outcomes in evaluation, what a good evaluation looks like
- The results of research conducted on the impact of singing on health and wellbeing; a singing for health and wellbeing course, and the silver song club model which engages and communicates with people with Alzheimer’s and dementia through music
- How music can fit into the changing paradigm of wellness in public health; and changes to the NHS commissioning process imminent throughout England and Wales
…and so much more!
Read about what you missed
Read a personal account by Marie Campbell, a member of Strathaven Choral Society and a GP in her professional life.
Download a selection of speaker presentations
What's next?
We are drawing together themes and content from these two days, together with our emerging strategy in the area, and will be publishing a manifesto on music and wellbeing very soon.
