Webinar: Claire Molyneux NZ RMTh, HCPC UK (Music Therapist); Senior Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Making Music, Building Community: Practice-Based Research and Collaboration in Group Music Therapy with People Living with Dementia and their Companions

Together in Sound is a partnership project between the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research at Anglia Ruskin University and Saffron Hall Trust, a community-focused concert hall and arts charity in rural Essex in the UK. The project delivers group music therapy to people living with dementia and their companions. It was developed in response to a need expressed by members of the local community for increased access to music for people living with dementia. The project includes placement opportunities for MA Music Therapy Trainees and community experience for artists involved with Saffron Hall who attend training with the therapists prior to involvement in the project. It is also the focus of Claire’s current doctoral research which is a narrative inquiry with practice-based arts-informed responses to explore the impact of the groups for participants.

This presentation will give an overview of the project, focusing particularly on the benefits of collaboration and the way this enables the project to attend to the need for dementia to be viewed as a community concern. Benefits and challenges of undertaking practice-based research will also be explored alongside presentation of findings in the form of participants’ stories, improvisation, and songwriting.

Claire Molyneux has worked as a music therapist and supervisor for over 20 years, with people across the lifespan in the UK and New Zealand. She is currently a senior lecturer on the MA Music Therapy at Anglia Ruskin University, UK and is undertaking PhD research exploring the impact of group music therapy for people living with dementia and their companions.