We are delighted to announce that Giorgos Tsiris will be coming to speak about his work. Please do join us!
Tickets available at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talk-by-giorgos-tsiris-tickets-36893768254
Musical care at the end of life: Practice and research reflections on the everyday nature of the extraordinary
Approaching the end of life is often characterised as a transformational experience not only for the dying person but also for the individuals and the communities around them. In the face of mortality, questions regarding people’s meaning in life, their values and beliefs come to the fore. The transformational potential of such ‘big questions’, however, seems to unfold in their seeking and in their translation in the ‘small things’ of everyday life.
Drawing from my music therapy practice and research, I explore the extraordinariness of everyday musical care and its role within modern palliative care environments. The seemingly paradoxical relationship between the everyday and the extraordinary offers a platform for exploring music’s possibilities and music therapists’ craft in creating caring environments for individual and communal flourishing. This exploration points to expanded notions of music therapy practice with wider potential repercussions in terms of service provision as well as research and theory development in the field.
Giorgos Tsiris is Head of Research at Nordoff Robbins Scotland and Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of ‘Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy’ and a Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the Centre for the Arts as Wellbeing, University of Winchester. His therapeutic work has focused on palliative and bereavement care, including the development of health promotion and death education initiatives. In 2014, he co-authored the books “A Guide to Evaluation for Arts Therapists and Arts & Health Practitioners” and “A Guide to Research Ethics for Arts Therapists and Arts & Health Practitioners”, while his doctoral research explores spirituality in everyday music therapy contexts.