There’s an article in the Times today about composers in residence in various unusual settings, including John Browne’s residency at King’s in London.
As the Times is now behind a pay wall, I’ve quoted the parts about the hospital residency:
‘Browne was appointed composer in residence at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College London, a teaching hospital, last year. His appointment marked two anniversaries — the centenary of the death of Nightingale and 150 years of the nursing school she founded, for which he has already composed commemorative pieces. But Browne’s brief goes beyond anniversaries; he must respond to tough themes and clinical needs including “politics of the NHS in society” and “how we deal with an ageing population”.’
‘ “I may not write ‘The Old People’s Anthem’ — nothing as specific as that — but being at meetings and discussing topics with nurses affects the tone,” he says. “The brief was to dream up projects that would connect making new music with the idea of care.” For example, Browne is creating a songbook for children’s nurses “to have an extra tool in their armoury; to sing to engage children who are remote, to soothe, to explain a procedure, to quell anxiety”.’
‘With more than 1,000 nursing and midwifery students at King’s, Browne is finding his residency to be a Pandora’s box of inspiration. After asking staff for their personal stories he has a wide range of reflections to set to music: a first experience of death on a ward; the trauma of treating a very sick baby; coping with the chaotic noise of a ward.’
‘ “These people deal with the most intense human emotions on a daily basis; grief, anxiety and fear in a very close up and affecting way.” For some staff Browne admits his presence is a puzzle or, worse, a nuisance: “I’m sure some feel, ‘We’re very, very busy and what you’re doing is decorous and frivolous.’ But this is about getting composers into institutions so they’re connecting with broad human themes at the coalface and with people who have concerns besides the arts,” Browne says. “Ultimately you create music that speaks to and for those people.” ‘
‘Browne remains mercifully outside NHS performance targets. But nurses and patients will hear the results of his labours. Staff choirs will sing in a community cantata later this year. And Browne is writing a series of hospital ragas — melodies that can be played on wards to affect mood and mark the changing times of day and seasons.’
[and]
‘With borough councils and hospitals facing tough spending choices, is the cost of composers money well-spent? King’s couldn’t afford John Browne without grants of about £15,000 from Arts Council England and £10,000 from PRS for Music Foundation. “I can’t possibly say it’s vital; we can live without it,” says Professor Anne Marie Rafferty, Dean of the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery. “But I don’t see the residency in competition with what is an essential service.” If anything, argues Rafferty, austerity is exactly the time to invest in such posts. “For the future of our health system we are going to need creativity and ingenuity in proportions we’ve never seen before. We’ve got to do more with less; we need frugal innovation.”’
[and]
‘With enough ideas to spill well beyond his two-year residency at King’s, John Browne believes that his appointment is not only responding to the idea of care, but also adding to it. “Hospitals heal and wheel; they have to apply the quickest possible, proven medical solution,” he says. “But any sensible human being has faith in the sense of holism; to heal, we deal with the whole person.
“Creating music is about holism.” And never mind gross national product. “No,” says Browne, “I’m in the business of gross national happiness.”’
Link to article (behind pay wall, £1 for 24 hours’ access):
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/article2701759.ece?lightbox=false
Read the composer’s residency diary:
http://brownejohn.wordpress.com/
