Scotland's Singing for Health Podcast

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Key links:

Musicians’ Union: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/.

Grants and Financial Support for Musicians - Recommendations from the Musicians’ Union: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/membership-benefits/grants-and-financial-support-for-musicians

Help Musicians: https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/get-support/develop-as-a-musician/advice/cost-of-living-further-sources-of-financial-support.

The Royal Society of Musicians: https://www.rsmgb.org/supporting-musicians-in-need/

Independent Society for Musicians: https://www.ism.org/advice-centre/funding

British Association for Performing Arts Medicine: https://www.bapam.org.uk/.

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

On Season 2, Episode 6, we welcome Deborah Hamilton, a Glasgow-based Community Links Practitioner with the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, and Alison Leitch, assistant service manager  of the Edinburgh Community Link Worker Network, co-chair of the Scottish Social Prescribing Network and member of Scottish Community Link Worker Network.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The show’s producer is Sophie Boyd.

This episode is edited by Sophie Boyd.

More details about the Network:

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Key links:

Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance: https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/key-themes/social-prescribing.

Edinburgh Community Link Worker Network: https://www.evoc.org.uk/partnerships/community-link-workers/

Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/

National Academy for Social Prescribing: https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/

Scottish Social Prescription Network: https://www.scottishspn.org.uk/

Scottish Community Link Worker Network: https://vhscotland.org.uk/what-we-do/scottish-community-link-worker-network/.

Social Prescribing Resources: https://www.healthscotland.scot/publications/social-prescribing-resources.

What is social prescribing? (link from gov.uk): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health.

What is social prescribing (link from gov.scot): https://www.gov.scot/publications/resources-mental-health-wellbeing-primary-care-services/pages/4/#:~:text=The%20term%20%27social%20prescribing%27%20is,and%20physical%20health%20and%20wellbeing.

Music featured in the episode

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

If you liked this episode, please tweet us with your thoughts and add #connectionnotperfection.

Key links:

Givin it Laldie: https://givinitlaldie.org.uk/.

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

On Season 2, Episode 4, we welcome Matthew Brown, who has been the musical director of Scottish Opera's Memory Spinners project for the past 10 years. He also directs the Strathcarron Singers, a community choir with a strong link to Strathcarron Hospice. And Rose Ann Gross, who has been involved with Memory Spinners for over 10 years and is a Company Stage Manager with Scottish Opera's Outreach and Education department.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The show’s producer is Sophie Boyd.

This episode is edited by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland.

More details about the Network:

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

If you liked this episode, please tweet us with your thoughts and add #connectionnotperfection.

Key links:

Scottish Opera’s Memory Spinners – How to get involved and dates for the diary: https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/memory-spinners/.

Alzheimer’s Scotland: https://www.alzscot.org/.

Research Scottish Opera have been involved in:

Scottish Opera have had links with Arts 4 Dementia (a London based charity for people living with dementia, which describes its work as ‘empowerment through artistic stimulation’.

Arts 4 Dementia gave Scottish Opera some really useful feedback and supportive input in the early days of the Memory Spinners project, and they have commissioned a number of very good pieces of research into the benefits of arts participation and attendance for those with the condition. The structure and aims for Memory Spinners was influenced by their research and findings – especially their seminal report, Arts for Brain Health.

Memory Spinners is also referenced in this Arts 4 Dementia report.

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

On Season 2, Episode 3, we welcome Pauline Waugh, a practice nurse who co-founded the singing for breathing charity The Cheyne Gang and Long Covid Support Scotland; Dr Keir Philip who is a clinical research fellow at Imperial College London who led a research study on singing and Long Covid during the pandemic, and Gareth Williams, a Glasgow-based composer and song writer who has been involved as a composer in residence in Scottish Opera’s ‘Breath Cycle’ projects working with individuals with cystic fibrosis in 2014 and more recently on a project for people suffering with long covid symptoms.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, the Principal Investigator of the Network.

The show’s producer and editor is Sophie Boyd.

Below, we have provided links to resources mentioned in the episode.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Key links

The Cheyne Gang: https://www.thecheynegang.com/

Long Covid Support Scotland: https://www.longcovid.scot/support

Scottish Opera’s Breath Cycle Project: https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/breath-cycle/  

Scottish Opera, Breath Cycle II, The Covid Composers Songbook: https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/breath-cycle/the-covid-composers-songbook/.

Breath Cycle – Singing and Cystic Fibrosis: http://www.breathcycle.co.uk/.

NHS Your Covid Recovery: https://www.yourcovidrecovery.nhs.uk/.

Research papers discussed in this episode are linked on the project website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/podcast/series-2/episode-3-singing-for-long-covid-support/

On Season 2, Episode 2, we welcome Professor Rosie Perkins, who is Professor of Music, Health, and Social Science at the Royal College of Music, Seraph Davidson, a Singing Mamas trained song leader, and Laura Hill, who has established a new Paisley-based singing group, MotherVoices.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The shows producer and editor is Sophie Boyd.

Below, we have provided links to resources mentioned on the episode.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

If you liked this episode, please tweet us with your thoughts and add #connectionnotperfection.

Key links

Details on Rosie Perkin’s ‘Music and Motherhood’ project: https://www.rcm.ac.uk/research/projects/musicandmotherhood/.

Singing Mamas: https://www.singingmamaschoir.com/.

MotherVoices:

NHS, 5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/.

NHS Advice on Postnatal Depression: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/post-natal-depression/overview/.

Breathe Arts Health Research: https://breatheahr.org/.

Melodies for Mums, Breathe Arts Health Research: https://breatheahr.org/programmes/melodies-for-mums/.

Pandas: https://pandasfoundation.org.uk/.

Happity: https://www.happity.co.uk/.

Research:

For a full list of published research connected to this episode, please visit our website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

On Season 2, Episode 1, we welcome Professor Mark Tarrant, from the University of Exeter and Mary Raunikar Page, a music therapist who was involved with a singing and stroke recovery group in Aberdeenshire and who now works within neuro rehab units in care homes in Durham.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The shows producer and editor is Sophie Boyd.

Below, we have provided links to resources mentioned on the episode.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Key links

Mark Tarrant’s research project: https://www.stroke.org.uk/research/can-singing-group-help-improve-wellbeing-people-post-stroke-aphasia.

Stroke Association: https://www.stroke.org.uk/.

Grampian Stroke Club: https://www.grampianstrokeclub.com/music-therapy.

Mary Raunikar Page’s video on Project S I N G (Project Stroke In Nhs Grampian): https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=677874706748667.

Foos Yer Doos Sing Song Club: https://www.chss.org.uk/group/foos-yer-doos-sing-song-club/.

Research

Please visit our website for a full list of published research connected to this episode: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

In this episode, we are joined by Carole Miller who runes Hebridean Harmony, a singing group for people touched by cancer, and Katey Warran, a Research Fellow in Social Science at University College London (UCL) and Deputy Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Arts & Health, based at UCL.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The show is produced and edited by Sophie Boyd.

Below, we have provided links to resources mentioned on the episode.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaWyYKcfvlqGba_ZEoRgpfw

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Singing groups, organisations and research associate with this episode can be found on our website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/podcast/episode-6-singing-for-cancer-care/

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Travel These Ways, sung by Hebridean Harmonies and recorded by Carole Miller. The song is written by Karine Polwart and was commissioned by Luminate. It is used with permission.

On episode 5, we welcome Kim Edgar, who is one of the Musical Directors for the Freedom of Mind Community Choir, GP and medical advisor Dr Veronica McBurnie, who founded Singing Health and, Clinical Psychologist, Liesbeth Tip, who is also the chair of Harmony Choir and Co-investigator for Scotland’s Singing for Health Network.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The show is produced and edited by Sophie Boyd.

Below, we have provided links to resources mentioned on the episode.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaWyYKcfvlqGba_ZEoRgpfw

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Links to research, resources and organisations mentioned on the episode will be on our website.

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

On episode 4, we welcome Jane Bentley, who is also senior Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Global Brain Health; Sam Thompson, chairperson of the Musical Memories Choir in Hamilton, and Dementia Inclusive Singing Network consultant, Stephen Deazley, who also runs the Love Music community choir in Edinburgh.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The show is produced and edited by Sophie Boyd.

Below, we have provided links to resources mentioned on the episode.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Singing Groups and Organisations supporting Singing for Health mentioned in the episode:

Dementia Inclusive Singing Network: https://singing.luminatescotland.org/

Musical Memories, Hamilton: http://www.musical-memories-choir.co.uk/ / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicalmemorieshamilton

Alzheimer’s Scotland: https://www.alzscot.org/

Music for Dementia: https://musicfordementia.org.uk/

Age Scotland: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/scotland/

Scottish Opera Memory Spinners: https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/memory-spinners/

Links to research: Available on our website

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

On episode 3, we welcome Jane Lewis is an experienced group facilitator and community worker and has worked within the disability movement for the last 30 years. ‘I am passionate about bringing diverse groups of people together, empowering people through singing. Jane joined the British Lung Foundation Singing for Lung Health song-leader training and mentoring programme in April 2015 and set up The Warblers, a singing group in East Lothian and Midlothian for anyone with a lung condition, a few months later. She also leads other community singing groups, including Protest in Harmony, Edinburgh’s radical street choir and the Portobello Community Choir.

Caro Overy is a singing leader who lives and works in Edinburgh. Caro leads the Leith group of The Cheyne Gang, a choir for people with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and other respiratory conditions.

The show is presented by Sophie Boyd, who is a singing for health practitioner with the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, is the Research Assistant of the Network, and the show’s producer and editor.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Links to Singing Groups and Organisations supporting Singing for Health mentioned in the episode and published research on Singing for Lung Health will appear on our website

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Doon in the Wee Room with words rewritten by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang in 2019, inspired by an original Glaswegian folk song by Daniel McLaughlin. The group shaped this song around their experiences of singing for breathing as part of Sophie Boyd’s PhD research. Recording by Sophie Boyd.

On episode 2, we welcome Grenville Hancox who is well known as a teacher, performer and conductor initiating and researching music and health activities. He is artistic director of Canterbury Cantata Trusta charity he founded in 2012 developing a collection of singing groups including Sing to Beat Parkinson’s all demonstrating the principle of caring through singing. He is both Emeritus Professor of Canterbury Christ Church University and Honorary Professor at Kent University and was awarded the MBE for services to Music in 2005 and a Civic Award by Canterbury City Council for services to the community through music in 2006.

Yoon Irons, a leading researcher, singer and qualified music therapist. Her research has focused on using singing to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of people with chronic health conditions and disabilities. Her past and current research projects include singing interventions for children with cystic fibrosis, and adults with chronic pain, Parkinson’s, Aphasia and spinal cord injuries. She has published in international peer-reviewed journals, including Cochrane Systematic Reviews. Currently, she is a senior research fellow at the Centre of Excellence in Arts in Health, University of Derby (UK) and an adjunct research fellow at the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.

Rachel Hynes, a Scottish based singing for health practitioner who was a vocal Leader on the inaugural Memory Spinner’s Project at Scottish Opera, a collaborative Dementia Singing Group with Alzheimer’s Scotland, is singing leader working with Common Wheel, a mental health music charity based at Gartnavel Hospital and has trained with the British Lung Foundation, learning ‘Singing for Breathing’, to help with breath management in people with long term lung conditions such as COPD, Asthma, IPF and Bronchiectasis.

The show is presented by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland, who is Principal Investigator of the Network.

The show’s producer and editor is Sophie Boyd.

Below, we have provided links to resources mentioned on the episode.

More details about the Network

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Remember to Tweet us with #changetheworldonesongatatime

Links to organisations and research mentioned in the episode can be found on our website.

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Fire Fire, sung by the Ayrshire Parkinson’s Community Singers, recorded by Rachel Hynes.

‘Fire Fire’ is a popular song performed by community singing groups. It has passed on from leader to leader, with permission to use and thus evolved as it is often learnt by ear and passed on through performance.

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth

Singing Groups, Organisations and Research mentioned on the episode are linked in the Show Notes on our website.

Music featured in the episode:

Intro music: Free Over the Fields (ID 1622) by Lobo Loco (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Outro music: Famba Naye sung by the Dennistoun Cheyne Gang, recorded by Sophie Boyd. Famba Naye is a folk song that comes from Zimbabwe and is sung in the Shona language.  "Famba Naye" means "Stay Well, Go Well" in Shona. As the song is about parting, it is a popular song to be sung at funerals, though it can also be sung in other contexts.

Website: https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/scotland-singing-for-health-network/

Get in touch: singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk

Twitter: @ScotSingHealth