Work with us as a musician

We are not currently looking for new musicians.

Please keep an eye on this page for updates – we’ll post here and on our social media @MiHCUK. We are grateful to the many musicians who raise funds for our work.

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Our musicians share the healing power of live music with people who may not otherwise get to experience it. This includes those living with dementia, who have mental health problems, or who are seriously ill.

Professional musicians work with us to share specially-created live music experiences all over the UK. They come from all sorts of musical backgrounds, including folk, classical, opera, jazz, swing, musical theatre and world music.

Our dedicated team audition all our musicians to make sure they’re the very best people for the role. We only choose professional musicians with that special blend of musical talent, sensitivity and people skills. They know how to read a room and adapt to individual needs.

Soloists, duos and trios play acoustic music in a broad range of styles which reflect the diversity of the cultures and communities we work with. It’s rare we can work with groups larger than a trio.

Charlie Gorman, Music in Hospitals & Care musician

“Sharing live music is probably one of the best experiences you can have in life. And sharing live music with Music in Hospitals & Care has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It’s such a two-way thing. It gives me nourishment.”

How do I become a Music in Hospitals & Care musician?

If we have any opportunities available, we’ll provide details at the top of this page with a link to our application form.

Before applying, please read our application FAQs below. This will help you to complete the application process and, if you’re successful, prepare for an audition.

Hear from some of our musicians about their experiences of working with Music in Hospitals & Care.

Read more

Application FAQs

We work with professional musicians on a freelance basis. To apply to work with us you will need to: 

  • be doing paid public performances as part of your work 
  • have excellent musicianship 
  • be over the age of 18 
  • be a UK resident with permission to work 
  • be available for work on weekdays during the daytime 

We don’t have a regular application window. Instead, we recruit musicians when we have opportunities in a local area, with a particular project or programme, or where we are looking to increase the diversity of our offer for health and care partners. We advertise opportunities on our website, on social media and with local health, care and community partners.  

Most of our live music is shared in hospitals, care homes, and community support organisations and we carefully select musicians who we feel can meet the needs of the people present. We therefore look for a wide range of musical styles, instruments and genres so that we can meet a wide variety of interests and needs.  

If you are able to play acoustically (without amplification and without a backing track), in a small to medium group setting, tailor your music to suit the people present, and you can either take requests on the spot or learn new music for your next visit, we would love to receive an application from you. 

No. We work with musicians from any training background, formal or informal, and our key requirement is that you have a high level of musicality and technical ability. You should be able to share at least 60 minutes of varied and familiar music that people can recognise, engage with and join in if they want to. 

Yes, we encourage applications from any musicians who meet the criteria above. We will work with you to identify and remove any barriers that might prevent you from working with us. There are opportunities to share information with us during the application and onboarding process.  

We work with soloists, duos and trios. For soloists, you’ll need to be able to either play unaccompanied (e.g. harp, piano, etc), accompany yourself (e.g. singing while playing an instrument) or have an accompanist who will also apply to work with us.  

For duos and trios, each member of the group will need to complete an application and group members can also play solo once onboard with us, if suitable.

Yes, if we have opportunities available you can apply to work with us again, as long as you still meet the criteria above.  

Our application process includes an online application form and a video submission. The video needs to be of you or your group performing three songs or pieces that you feel would suit a care home or hospital setting. We ask that before you perform each piece of music, you tell us a little about why you have chosen it and why you feel it would suit a live music session at that setting.  

You will be asked to share a link to the video as part of the online application, or you can send it to us via email. Videos don’t need to be professionally recorded or edited, a recording made with your phone or tablet is fine as long as we can see and hear you clearly.  

Please make sure that the video shows: 

  • the instruments or people you are applying with 
  • an acoustic performance with no amplification or backing track 

If your application is successful, we will offer you the opportunity to observe a live music experience in your local area, and if you want to continue the process, an opportunity to perform a short ‘set’ at one of our local health and care partners where we will collect feedback from the people present. If we feel you have the right skills and approach for live music in health and care, we will invite you to complete our onboarding process. 

We ask new musicians to: 

  • Provide two satisfactory references 
  • Complete online safeguarding training (basic IT skills are required and costs are covered by the charity) 
  • Complete a standard level criminal records check (DBS, Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI) 
  • Complete shadowing sessions with experienced musicians in their local area or nearest available health and care setting 
  • Share bank details so that we can pay fees and expenses for live music completed 
  • Read and become familiar with our Musicians Handbook 
  • Sign a Letter of Engagement, which covers the terms and conditions of freelance work with us

We aim to pay musicians within two weeks of completing a live music experience. We have an online portal for musicians to claim their fees and expenses, which includes a section for feedback on how it went and any concerns that you had during the music. We provide a guide to using the portal and you will need to have basic IT skills and access to a smart phone, laptop or computer to use the system.  

We are committed to fair pay and benchmark our fees against the Musicians Union recommended rate. We currently pay £68.13 per hour for soloists and £60.18 per hour for each member of a duo or trio.

We also pay reasonable travel expenses from your home address and an allowance for food and drink (£6 for refreshments/lunch when sharing one hour or more of live music, £12 for an evening meal if sharing live music across an afternoon and evening) on submission of eligible itemised receipts. 

It is an essential requirement that our musicians have valid public liability insurance, suitable insurance for their instruments and equipment, and access to transport (own vehicle or public transport) to reach health and care settings.  

You will also need access to a phone, tablet, or laptop/computer to communicate with our live music team, access the musician portal and complete online training.