ABSTRACT
Since hospitals use a 24-hour timetable, shift work is inescapable. It is vital to keep this in mind when arranging performances. Timing is important. Afternoon and early evening concerts will usually be best. Visiting times for relations are often unrestricted at weekends so one will be more welcome in mid-week. Exceptions to these general guidelines are some Hospices who like to have performances for patients and relatives/visitors, so that they can share the experience together. The Council For Music in Hospitals was founded more than forty years ago and the first concerts were given in the large psychiatric hospitals. The benefit that live concerts can bring to elderly people is, as one hospital said recently, “immeasurable”. The colour, the warmth of the artists’ personalities and being able to hear again the music they have known and loved in the past can mean so much. Hospices require the greatest sensitivity in approach and in presentation.
