Frequently Asked Questions

You will be supported through face-to-face music sessions from our music therapists and musicians in your care home or community group, as well as receiving online support with other Music Champions so we can share our experiences and learn from each other.

We will ask you to take part in as many of your scheduled face-to-face and online sessions as you can, but appreciate that you may need flexibility due to your job or other commitments. Our online training sessions are also recorded so you can watch them at a later date.

You do not need to have any previous musical training or experience to become a Music Champion. You will learn how to use handheld percussion instruments and music tracks so you can find new ways to help people with dementia to take part in music sessions.

Yes. Our Music Cafés are run by a combination of professional musicians and music therapists and our Music Champions. Music Champions are an inspiring group of people including professional carers, community group leaders and volunteers who actively provide dementia support in their local area. To learn more about our Music Champions programme, visit our information page or get in touch if you would like to enquire further about how you can become a Music Champion.

As part of your place on the programme, Music in Mind will provide you with a selection of handheld percussion instruments and music making resources which you can use in your sessions.

Music in Mind is a non-verbal approach where music making becomes the main form of communication. You'll learn about ways to communicate and engage with people living with dementia through music, gesture, body language and facial expressions. We are also widening our library of music making resources to represent a broad range of cultural and musical styles.

The Music Cafe groups are funded for a 2-year period and music leads will support and mentor through drop-in sessions. Dates to be confirmed. The concept of Music in Mind is to train Music Champions to continue to run these sessions independently.

We'd love to speak to you to find about more about your care situation and how music can enhance your practice. Get in touch with us here. Or, why not take a look at what some of our current Music Champions have to say about the programme?

The main focus of research will be to understand the extent to which participating in Music Cafes reduces people’s need for support and treatment by the NHS.  This will not involve direct contact with participants.  If they consent to being part of this research, then the researchers at Manchester University will access information about their usage of health services through their health records, with everything being anonymous because people will be identified by their NHS number.  

We are also discussing with Manchester University whether we can supplement this research with feedback gathered directly from people living with dementia and their family carers.  If this element of research is included within the programme, it will again be subject to informed consent from those taking part and will go through the relevant research approval processes at the university.  Again this research would be presented anonymously and no-one taking part in music cafes would be identified publicly.

The Term 1 10 week programme is designed to support you in being able to continue your sessions as a Music Champion after the music leads have stepped away.  You should now have the skills and tools (training manual and online modules) to confidently take on your sessions and evolve them into what you and your group want, but keeping in mind the principles of Music Therapy. The Music in Mind team is an email away should you have any queries or concerns as you take your session forward.

Normally what we do is one of the Manchester Camerata team come out and meet with people to talk to them about what the programme is, look at the venue to check it is suitable, answer any questions etc.  

So, if you have a particular group in mind for the second venue, then let us know and we can arrange this with you.  We also have more information we can share - eg slide packs, short video clips etc that explain what Music in Mind is and how it works - so we can share these with you if you want to share them with others who might be interested.

 

Yes, the instrument boxes belong to you and your organisation now.  You are free to use them for other groups / sessions too.  We just ask that they are available for the Music in Mind session each week.

Yes, some of the sessions are at day care centres where the people living with dementia are dropped off.  So long as the day care centre has sufficient staff/volunteers to enable this, we are happy to work with groups that include carers or are just people living with dementia.  However, our staff and musicians are not able to act as carers / provide any personal care for people living with dementia.