Daniela shares joy at Canaan and Fairmile dementia wards

Royal Edinburgh Hospital provides acute psychiatric and mental health services. We have been sharing live music there for over 40 years in partnership with Tonic Arts, the arts and health programme run by NHS Lothian Charity.

The programme aims to creatively enhance the patient, staff and visitor experience in NHS Lothian’s hospitals, and we are proud to have been a part of this ever since we began sharing live music in Scotland in 1980.

Music in Hospitals & Care visits Canaan and Fairmile, which are Royal Edinburgh Hospital’s dementia admission and assessment wards for patients over 65, around once a month. Our musicians share one hour of live music in each ward. Soprano Daniela Hathaway draws on her extensive experience working with people living with dementia to create an interactive live music experience using percussion, textiles, and small instruments to encourage patients to participate.

“During my sessions I try to connect with the participants in different ways, to make sure they are present in that moment,” says
Daniela. “Many of the things I do are singing well-known songs and encouraging them to sing along with me. I will use a variety of props and instruments to get the participants more engaged. I sometimes also do some mindfulness and relaxation at the end. We often finish with a goodbye song singing everyone’s names.”

Daniela’s repertoire ranges from traditional Scottish songs to jazz classics, musical theatre favourites and a moving rendition of Schubert’s Ave Maria. Daniela was born in Buenos Aires and brings a Latin American flavour to her live music experiences with drum improvisations that captivate patients and staff alike.

Daniela said of her most recent vist to Canaan and Fairmile wards: “It went really well – both staff and patients joined in, were keen to sing all the songs with me and were great at improvising with the drum. There was a lady that sang very beautifully and would suggest other songs for us to sing. We expanded the music to include Autumn Leaves, where we played with real leaves, and everyone connected through the music.”