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Project Lead Baz Chapman updates on progress and consultations around the Foundation's work to create a platform to support singing for children & young people's mental health & wellbeing.
I’m working with the Sing Up Foundation on a project funded by Arts Council England’s Culture Recovery Fund. We aim to take major strides in supporting singing for mental health & wellbeing in children & young people, by creating an infrastructure which helps anyone looking to develop their work in this field to find what they need and be part of the change.
Bringing together such huge areas as children & young people, mental health & wellbeing and music-making poses major challenges for where to find focus and ensure that the Foundation can be of most use. So we’ve been consulting with a diverse range of professionals to help us refine our approach.
Over the Summer 2022 we recruited an Expert Advisory Panel to act as a sounding board and critical friend – you can meet them in a forthcoming blog. Then in September we convened 2 days of roundtables, attended by community music practitioners, music therapists, teachers, project managers, mental health professionals and Sing Up staff. The aims were:
1. Practice & Pedagogy
To understand the deeper context of singing pedagogy and practice to support mental health conditions amongst children & young people
To understand effective practice in this context and how to disseminate it amongst a wider workforce
To consider the role and requirements of research in informing this work
2. Repertoire & Resources
To understand the deeper context of singing repertoire and resources to support mental health conditions amongst children & young people
To review Sing Up’s current repertoire and resources – what/how to repurpose/renew
How to present the new platform
Any new materials/commissions required?
There was inherent value simply in bringing these influential and expert people together to converse; however the emerging themes from the roundtables will greatly help to guide our next steps. These include:
1. Emerging themes - Practice & Pedagogy
Focusing our support and resources on schools, aiming to complement existing provision with expert guidance, and to promote work which can celebrate children & young people’s music making for its own sake, as helping them find ways to prevent or cope with more serious mental health conditions
The need for guidance on how much a practitioner needs to know about the people in the room – specific conditions, triggers, etc.
The huge importance of creating a ‘safe space’ in its widest sense, so that the work can have maximum impact
How to support better connectivity between music participation and music therapy
The need for further exploration into the function of group singing to support a range of inter-related outcomes (e.g. musical, psychosocial, clinical)
The importance of bringing theory, research and reflective practice into intervention design
The need for practitioners to look after their own mental health & wellbeing, and be part of a supportive community of practice
2. Emerging themes - Repertoire & Resources
A digital platform which offers a wide range of resources, training, etc. but which can package content into courses for particular types of user, such as guidance for non-expert singing leaders, or specific topics, e.g. neuro-divergence
Resource packs which can be both physical and digital, and which can be flexed to suit particular users
Recognition that creative music making (e.g. improvisation or song-writing) is usually a key aspect of work in this field, and needs effective planning and expertise
From here, we will begin to plan our digital platform to support leaders & organisers of singing for children & young people's mental health & wellbeing, which will be housed on the Sing Up Foundation website. Over time we will build up a bank of resources, information & guidance, training and a network of practitioners and partners to create something which will be of long-lasting value, and will facilitate more high-quality work taking place which leads to more positive outcomes for children & young people.
If you’re working in this field and feel you might have something, either to contribute or to request, do get in touch with us at info@singupfoundation.org
Special Thanks to those who attended our roundtables:
Day 1: Pedagogy and Practice
Sangeeta Ambegaokar - Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Shelly Ambury - Sing Up
Jonny Amos - songwriter, producer
Celi Barberia - Sing Up Foundation
Baz Chapman - Sing Up Foundation (facilitator)
Gail Dudson - Yorks Youth & Music
Sharon Durant - Sing Up/practitioner
Clare Edwards - Young Voices
Alex Evans - Kazzum Arts
Alice Hale - Mytime Active
Dougie Lonie - Sing Up Foundation Expert Adviser/TIALT
Beth Millett - Sing Up
Phil Mullen - music practitioner
Aga Serugo-Lugo - music practitioner
Jeremy Sleith - Sing Up Foundation trustee/St Helen’s Music Service
Ben Turner - Rap Club
Jane Wheeler - Living Song
Sarah Wiltshire - Place2Be
Jenny Young - Blue Cabin
Day 2: Resources
Shelly Ambury - Sing Up
Baz Chapman - Sing Up Foundation (facilitator)
Sharon Durant - Sing Up/practitioner
Sophie Garner - music practitioner and writer
Beth Millett - Sing Up
Alice Nicholls - Chiltern Music Therapy
Jeremy Sleith - Sing Up Foundation trustee/St Helen’s Music Service
Keith Sykes - Lewisham Music
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