Hospital patients enjoy a very special concert (From Oxford Mail)

Hospital patients enjoy a very special concert

2:00pm Monday 18th February 2013 in News

WITH patients in their dressing gowns, staff and relatives gathered for a unique private concert in the Churchill hospital’s cancer treatment centre.

Students from Suzuki violin school, including Bryony Talbot-Ponsonby, seven, gave an inspiring performance which transported patients from their surroundings for one lunchtime.

The 16 children aged between four and 18 played pieces by Brahms, Bach, Schumann, Handel and Paganini to around 60 people.

Evie Hardy-Baker, 14, a pupil at Cherwell School, said: “It was inspiring to see all those people listening to our music. If I was in hospital, I think that is what I would like to hear as well.”

Anne Parker, from the Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) Trust said: “You looked around and you could see that for ten minutes people’s minds were taken off their treatment.”

The Suzuki method, created by Dr Shinichi Suzuki, is an alternative school for learning a musical instrument. It is founded on the idea that if children start learning from as young as three, they will absorb knowledge in the same way they learn their mother tongue.

The children’s teacher, Margaret Parkin, said: “Music can take people to a different place. Hopefully we made their afternoon a little brighter.”

The concert was part of OUH’s Artlink programme, using arts to help reduce patients’ stress and anxiety.

Comments are closed on this article.