Creative Connections hitting the right note

The brainchild of Derry women Mags McNamee and Kathleen O’Boyle, Creative Connections combines the “unique skills set” of the community musician and music therapist respectively.

The exciting new venture came into being in April when the masters-level qualified musicians realised together they could offer “something really powerful and effective for music wellbeing in the community”.

Speaking to The Derry News, Kathleen said Creative Connections offers music-based creative sessions, incorporating other arts, throughout the city.

“Essentially we are looking to improve health and wellbeing for those who attend our groups,” explained Kathleen.

“Some of the sessions we have run with groups so far have been successful in promoting respiratory health. We will be running that session again. It was all about using your lungs through singing, to promote the strength of the lungs and the respiratory system.

“We also encourage a lot of ‘Singing For Fun’ groups rather than singing always being focused on performance. Creative Connections is trying to bring the fun out again.

“We find that a lot of adults don’t get to experience that fun and creativity and playfulness, so we want to encourage that in our sessions - nothing too serious. All of our sessions have been funded and are free to participants, because we don’t want to put a payment barrier up for people. We are based in the Gasyard Centre in the Brandywell.

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“Currently Creative Connections is facilitating ‘Singing For Fun’ adult choirs with Neighbourhood Partnerships and U3A; ‘Strong Through Song’ with Derry Federation and Western Health and Social Care Trust; Musical Explorations with Macmilian; and Spectrum of Sound with Circle of Support and Praxis.

“As well as a generous donation from the Progressive Building Society, we have also been lucky to secure Arts Council funding for the new year, also in partnership with The Gasyard,” said Kathleen.

Explaining what someone coming to a Creative Connections session could expect, Mags said: “Depending on what kind of session you were coming along to, we have a set of African Drums as well. We would use them in a therapeutic setting, without any cultural appropriation. The drums are used in a therapeutic way as a conversation beginner.

“A session could be a singing session, it could be the drums, it could be an improvisation session, it could be anything. We also do sessions for kids which might incorporate arts and crafts,” she added.

“To start, I would make you feel at complete ease by explaining the space Kathleen and I are trying to create is one that you are going to be safe and secure to express your creativity and your musicality. Nobody is going to say, ‘That’s wrong’. Nobody is going to say, ‘You can’t have fun’.

“We actively encourage you to have fun because as adults, as Kathleen said, we always have to be serious and we have to pay the bills and the mortgage. This is a wee opportunity to let your hair down and create and have fun and work well with others.

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“A lot of people we would see, if they are coming to a group session, have vocal trauma from when they were young. Maybe they were told to stand at the back of the choir and open and close your mouth but make no noise. We would find that quite a lot.

“People have trauma through their vocal chords and they actually find it hard to use their voice in a creative way. We would try to help them come to terms with that, help them to have freedom and not say, ‘That’s wrong’ or ‘You’re hitting a wrong note.

“What we do is more than music,” she added. “It is using music as a creative tool to find our inner selves and to connect with others.

Creative Connections participants enjoying a session.

“Because there are a lot of people in Derry who are socially isolated. One of the five keys to getting older happily is to connect with other people and Creative Connections is another opportunity for that too. We would also have a wee cup of tea and a chat at the end of the sessions.

“Our passion and our aim is to spread the wellbeing benefits of music and singing and how it can affect every element. We incorporate cognitive exercises and singing itself is beneficial for the lungs. Part of our reach is that it is really important for people with asthma and COPD to help to strengthen the lungs. The overall benefit of music is just so powerful and medication free and we are eager to pass it on.

“The social workers and the GP surgeries have also realised this and they are using us in the right way and we are getting to the people who need us most.”

Creative Connections can be contacted via Facebook (Creative Connections) and Instagram (creativeconnectionsni).