Music is my life. It’s my distraction and coping mechanism for being here.
Sian has had to spend a lot of time in hospital as a teenager. She had complications with her insulin production and was prone to collapsing. She also suffered from depression and anxiety. The Musical Mentoring project helped Sian forget about her health worries and gave her a new belief in her abilities.
The project was run by the Arts for Health department at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. It aimed to inspire and develop children and young people who were long term patients through music-making, while improving the experience of being in hospital.
“I’ve been in Alder Hey a lot but this is the first music project I’ve participated in,” says Sian. “It’s really helped me.”
Gaining confidence through music-making
Sian began having regular sessions with percussionist Delia, one of the musicians delivering the project. It became clear Sian had a gift for music but needed support to boost her self-esteem.
The pair worked together to build Sian’s musical knowledge, try different drumming techniques and create their own soundscapes based on Sian’s favourite genre, heavy metal. They developed a whole composition of their own which they performed for Sian’s mum and sister, as well as a staff nurse and a teacher.
During sessions, Sian opened up to Delia, explaining that she struggled with confidence and that making music lifted her mood. She really wanted to have a musical career and quizzed Delia about her own career.
Performing for a big audience
Sian was discharged after several months in hospital, but unfortunately she had to be readmitted a few months later. Her sessions resumed with Delia, and this time they worked together on a composition to be performed in a musical celebration event to mark the end of the project.
Delia says: “I felt it became an equal, creative partnership in an unlikely environment. Time passed incredibly quickly as we were always bouncing ideas off each other and were so engaged in what we were doing.”
Sian performed with five other professional musicians in the main atrium of the hospital, playing both guitar and drums, and performing her own composition to around 70 people in the audience. The event was hugely successful and for Sian, a sign of how far she’d come.
It was really cool performing in the main atrium and it was also scary.
SIAN
Inspired to keep making music
During her time away from hospital, Sian had been so inspired by working with Delia that she started having both guitar and drumming lessons. She’s also played in a couple of metal bands, writing original material and playing guitar and drums.
“Music is my life,” says Sian. “It’s my distraction and coping mechanism for being here. I looked forward to the music sessions. For example, I was on a fast, having lots of blood [tests], but having the time with Delia helped me to forget all that.
Doctors look at the physical side but don’t necessarily consider the mental. I’ve struggled with my mental health but music helps me to manage.
Musical Mentoring
The Musical Mentoring project also benefitted lots of other young people. Three in four patients who took part said it enabled them to forget about their illness or condition, and 85% felt that the hospital experience had been significantly improved through music making.