The cheque presentation to Soundcastle saw our giant cheque make its shortest ever journey from its home in the Town Hall to the Education Room in Worthing Museum.
Trustees Shirley Robinson-Viney and Karl Allison, along with Charity Coordinator Catherine Attwood, waited outside the door until the strains of improvised music faded away. Have you ever wondered what music made by keyboards, percussion, a flute, a xylophone and an i-pad sounds like? No, neither have we, but it sounded great.
These Soundcastle sessions of music and drama are for anyone over the age of 18 who is living with mental health challenges. Basically, it’s music therapy. It’s using music to make people feel better. There is great skill involved in doing this properly, but the idea itself is hardly a mysterious one. The odd drum solo aside, who hasn’t experienced the sense of well-being that music can bring?
The course provides an opportunity to discover the sounds and movement that people hold within themselves. It enables people to create and share imaginative stories and scenarios using voices, movement and musical instruments. It’s a safe space in which the participants can discover their own creativity and lose their inhibitions.