The Music Exchange: My Heart Will Go On - Exploring Engagement With Music During Grief

The Music Exchange (TMX) – events focused on music research and its impact, hosted by the University of Leeds’ School of Music

How and why do people engage with music after a bereavement?

Over the last few years there has been an increasing interest in the role that music can play in supporting health and wellbeing. Research has shown that music can support emotional wellbeing, and may be well placed to do so during grief. This TMX aims to provide a space for discussion of the role that music can play in supporting individuals who are bereaved and learning to live with grief, drawing on the experiences of musicians, practitioners, and academics.

The Panel

• Elizabeth Fair (Chair, PGR School of Music, University of Leeds) https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/music/pgr/6121/elizabeth-fair 
• Robert Hairsine (St Gemma’s Hospice)
• Emily Levy (composer of Me After You) https://emilylevy.co.uk/
• Ruth Owen (Full Circle Funerals)
• Holly Taymar (SwanSong) https://swansongproject.co.uk/ 

Rob Hairsine
Rob is a trained counsellor and psychotherapist. He has worked as a bereavement counsellor in St. Gemma’s Hospice for seven years. He offers one to one bereavement and pre-bereavement counselling support to families, friends and patients. Rob also facilitates bereavement groups such as Bereavement Café and the Growing Around Grief Group. Rob supports St. Gemma’s staff by providing one to one and group reflective discussion and bereavement awareness training.

Emily Levy
Emily is a singer and composer with particular interest in voice, sound design and narrative. Her musical influences range from medieval to classical and folk to jazz. Recent commissioners include City of London Sinfonia, Streetwise Opera, BBC Concert Orchestra, Pilot Theatre, BBC Radio 3&4, Britten Pears Arts, Sound and Music, Opera North, Birmingham Conservatoire and Spitalfields Music. 

Ruth Owen
Ruth is the Independent Funeral Director and Bereavement Support Lead at Full Circle Funerals. She has supported many families with their bereavement and grief both in the early days after a death and at later stages of grief. She delivers training to professionals and the public in how to support ourselves and each other with our grief. She also facilitates bereavement support groups, both online and in person, and creative bereavement workshops.

Holly Taymar
Holly is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with charity The Swan Song Project, where she collaborates with terminally ill and bereaved people to turn their experiences and emotions into original songs. Holly has been writing, recording and performing music since 2004. She has performed extensively on the UK live circuit and her original music has received airplay on BBC Radio 2, BBC Introducing and other stations.

17:00 | Doors - Clothworkers Bar open

17:30 | Event start

19:00 - 19:45 | Networking - Clothworkers Bar

NB As part of the event, you are invited to contribute to a shared playlist - songs which you have found significant, supportive, or comforting when you have been grieving. You'll find details on how to submit your choice/s in the booking confirmation email, along with audience guidelines for this particular TMX, dealing as it does with the emotional topics of grief, death and bereavement.

TMX is a hybrid in person and online event that gives the public direct access to the research we do at the School of Music, University of Leeds. Bringing in partners, experts and collaborators from across music, industry and academia we aim not only to make music research accessible to all, but to forge new collaborations, connections and audiences.

This event will run simultaneously, in-person at the Clothworkers’ Centenary Concert Hall Foyer, and online, via interactive webinar.