Health and Wellbeing in University Music

Being part of University Music is the first step in improving your health and wellbeing - the benefits of making music for pleasure are well known - but by signing up you are not only given access to numerous workshops, masterclasses and resources listed below, it connects you to a network of like-minded musicians who are likely to become your biggest support network during your time at University.

You can also be part of our Health and Wellbeing committee, helping us shape our programme and identify areas where support can be offered. There is also the position of Health and Wellbeing Officer on the  committee. In addition, the committee includes a Diversity and Equality Officer - providing an opportunity for students who are seeking support, wish to raise issues, concerns, or support the society’s desire to be as assessable and diverse as possible.

What we offer

All of our health and wellbeing events are open to all our performers – both departmental and Music Society. Whether you are a singer, composer or instrumentalist; a music student, non-music student, or member of the local community; as long as you are in a University Music ensemble you are welcome at all of our wellbeing events.

• Performance workshops
  We run the following FREE sessions throughout the year aimed at improving your Health and Wellbeing. Details on when sessions are happening, and how to sign up will be circulated through the University Music mailing list.
• Performance coaching
  If you are a recitalist, choir member, orchestral musician, or any kind of performer who gets anxious about public performance, these sessions are for you. Dr Jane Oakland will be offering weekly 1-1 sessions online, and give a talk as part of our lecture series.
• Alexander technique
  Specialist Rowena Knight comes in regularly throughout the year for individual sign up sessions. If you’ve never experienced it before – we can’t recommend Alexander Technique enough for your general wellbeing and the huge effect it can have on your overall performance. Chamber Ensembles musicians, and orchestra members might even find Rowena in one of your rehearsals.
• Mindfulness in music
  Eliza McCarthy, mindfulness expert and professional pianist will be running sessions on mindfulness in music – if this is something you’ve wanted to find out more about then look out for emails detailing how to sign up. Eliza will give talk as part of our lecture series and then run online group workshops in Semester 1 and Semester 2.
• Lecture series
  Each academic year we run a Health and Wellbeing lecture series with talks from a variety of industry professionals including medical practitioners from the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM), Performance coaches and Alexander Technique specialists. Online videos for Autumn 2020 plus follow up Q & A session on Zoom. This series is integrated to the Music degree programme for performance students.
• Student support
  If you have a Reasonable Adjustments Plan (RAP)in place with your department that you think could impact your involvement in an ensemble you can talk to Gavin Allsop (choral or instrumental ensembles) about this in confidence. This might include getting music in larger print, on different coloured paper, or having an agreement in place about absences from rehearsals.

For further information please contact the University Music and Concerts Team.