Our residency at Derbyshire Children’s Hospital began again yesterday, and what a fantastic day of music-making with children, families and healthcare staff it was! It’s fabulous to be back at the hospital where we are made to feel so welcome and really supported in making a big difference to the lives of those we meet. It was a real priviledge to spend some time on the wonderful neonatal intensive care ward yesterday, playing music for and with babies and their families. Staff and families commented on the positive change of atmosphere within the ward, and the feeling of calm and relaxation which ensued. We saw some lovely reactions from the tiniest of babies and plan to make regular visits to neonatal as part of our weekly sessions.
We are extremely grateful to our funders, Youth Music and The Derby Hositals Charitable Trust for supporting this residency which will continue until at least March 2014, with 3 OPUS musicians visiting the hospital on a weekly basis.
OPUS musicians have been involved in a year-long project, supporting the development of music and story-making for early years children and their families in library settings across Derbyshire. The project was hugely successful, with many libraries continuing to deliver practice beyond the project. The project was managed and supported by Derbyshire County Council with funding from Youth Music. The full evalution report has now been published. 
OPUS musicians are all highly trained for music and health practice by internationally renowned leaders in this field, Musique & Santé. Nick Cutts has previously trained alongside a European team of musicians in Manchester, Paris, Krakow and Dublin under the guidance of Musique & Sante trainers. In December 2010, Marianne Clarac, a trainer and musician from Musique & Santé visited Derby for a week to deliver training to all OPUS musicians along with others from the region. Nick is now training again in Manchester and Paris with Musique & Santé as part of a European ‘Train the Trainer’ programme. Nick and OPUS colleagues are currently delivering training to musicians and healthcare staff from across the UK using approaches developed by Musique & Santé over many years.
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