London cop runs an emergency-services orchestra
OrchestrasThe BBC News website has a report on Detective Sergeant Seb Valentine, who studied at the Royal College of Music before joining the Metropolitan Police.
He has formed the Blue Light Symphony Orchestra, made up of staff from London’s emergency services. Starting with just ten players he has grown the ensemble to 65 and holds the title of music director.
‘Our aim is around mental health and helping people to have a space where they can come together safely and make music for their own mental wellbeing,’ says Sergeant Seb.
Must be hard mentally to arrest those protesting against murderous acts and sheltering those committing them.
This is very welcome and we should wish Sergeant Seb and his orchestra every success. But I simply cannot understand his comment: ‘Our aim is around mental health and helping people to have a space where they can come together safely and make music for their own mental wellbeing’. When is an orchestra not a safe space (other then under JEG’s baton)? And what has this got to do with mental wellbeing? It’s an orchestra, after all.
I took his comment to mean that the orchestra itself allows them a safe haven from the stress of their daily work.
This is a community orchestra whose members participate for their own enjoyment rather than for pay. The players are, presumably, united in their desire to make the orchestra a refuge from their stressful jobs as first responders.
This is quite distinct from a professional orchestra where the members participate to earn a salary, rather than as a leisure activity.
The members are all emergency services personnel who regularly encounter traumatic events in their line of work. Being part of the orchestra offers them a meaningful way to support their mental health, providing a creative outlet and a sense of relief from the stresses of their demanding jobs
If you can’t see the obvious benefits of people with a stressful occupation coming together to make music together, you must have some issues which need to be tackled.