Smiles light up faces which are often dulled by the routines of hospital life. Walking sticks take on a new function, tapping out rhythms. Eyes meet eyes as the wordless conversation gains momentum. The mood is simply magical.
Up to 20 older people - most of whom are in long-term residential care - sit in a circle with three professional musicians interspersed among them. They play chimes, tambourines, castanets, maracas, agogos, cowbells and rainmakers, beating out a rhythm behind the intermittent sounds of the tin whistle, uilleann pipes and fiddle. One participant, Pat Mangan, opens and closes the piece with quiet whistling that is so close to birdsong you can't quite believe it is a human sound.
The piece: Symphony of Leaves, composed and performed by the residents of St Mary's Care Centre, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. The context: the final weekly workshop in a series of six organised by Music Network in six residential and day care units for older people in the Midland Health Board region. The reaction: amazing.
Workshop participants, musicians, staff and observers were all deeply moved by the closing performance of this challenging and innovative programme, the first of its kind in Ireland.
"It raised our spirits. It brought us together. Hitherto, we were never let mix with the men at all," says Eithne Eager, one of the participants.
"It relieves me of pain and relaxes me. It's good for people to get to know one another," says Anthony McNamee, who suffers from a painful leg ulcer.
"They didn't realise the potential they had," says whistle player Mary Bergin, who, together with uilleann piper/accordion player Joe McKenna and fiddle player and group facilitator Michele Murphy, worked with groups in St Mary's, Mullingar; Riada House, Tullamore, Co Offaly; and St Vincent's Hospital, Mountmellick, Co Laois. Jazz musicians Hugh Buckley, Dorothy Murphy, Ellen Cranitch and Aingeala de Burca worked with groups in Ely House, Birr, Co Offaly; Ofalia House, Edenderry, Co Offaly; and St Joseph's House, Longford.
Michele Murphy acknowledges that it did take some time to build up the group's confidence. "In the beginning, they said things like `why don't you just play for us?', `I can't play', `I'm not musical'. The turning point came when one of the participants, Bill Murtagh, died. The group decided they would improvise a piece as a tribute to Bill. It was magical. Music transcends their disabilities, which I believe is the key," she says.
The spontaneity of the experience is something the musicians enjoyed as much as the workshop participants. "It's the sensitivity of the whole thing and the fact that you have to open yourself up to make it happen," says Joe McKenna. "We are all making clumsy rhythms at times, but that's okay. In normal circumstances, you experience about one magical moment a week, but in a group like this, it happens every five or 10 minutes. When it's over, you are blown away by the experience.
"Usually, when you look at older people, you see them as losing certain things. The surprise is that maybe they have lost 50 per cent of their capacity, but the other 50 per cent is sharper as a result. This experience has taught me to look at older people as equals."
Teresa Reilly and Mary Daly are the two activities co-ordinators at St Mary's Care Centre. Apart from the social aspect, they point to the way music workshops enhance memory, promote self-esteem, stimulate the senses, nurture artistic expression and relieve stress.
"We also take it to the wards, to the patients who can't come to the workshops. Using some of the percussion instruments, we get a singsong going. In good weather, we bring the patients and the instruments out of doors," says Mary Daly.
"This project is built around the magic of music," says John Kincaid, administrator at the Midland Health Board. "The biggest loss to most older people is that they are seen not to be able to contribute any more. In the past, a young person would have come and played the tin whistle for these people. But why shouldn't people in residential settings not get the best like anyone else? Projects like this can give them the best and help us identify the learning needs of older people." Together with Music network, the Midland Health Board plans to continue to run these workshops for the next three years. It is hoped that the programme will result in a model for the use of music in the care of older people.
The musicians received special training in collaboration with the Guildhall School of Music in London before running the workshops. The costs of running the programme to date have been shared between the national steering committee of the UN International Year of Older Persons, the Department of Health and Children and the Midland Health Board.
