Outsider Music Live is a collective of performers who have all experienced mental health problems which has come together under the auspices of the Open Minds therapy programme, created and coordinated by music therapist and producer Jon Hall, founder of Outsider Music.
Through this work, each member has been able to narrate their stories of damage and recovery in the creation of songs.
Following the end of the programme in 2022, it became powerfully apparent that the group wanted to continue to build on the ad hoc family network and mutually supportive relationships they had created, and that the fact that the programme had ended was no reason to discontinue meeting, creating, rehearsing and performing together. So now we bring our music to the wider public to share our experiences of despair and salvation, damage and recovery, surviving and thriving.
OM performances raise awareness of mental health issues, giving audiences raw access to our experiences and allowing them to reflect on their own - at the same time demonstrating antidotes to experiences of isolation and breakdown: community and music.
The songs and performance pieces describe some of the tragedy, fun, chaos and isolation of their day to day lives.
Outsider Music Live events also invite audiences to share in our group ‘family values’ - inclusion, support, acceptance, humility, love, and joy.
Our shows are anything but polished …but they have been attested to having a profoundly moving and indeed uplifting effect on many audience members.
Outsider Music founder Jon Hall uses his skills as music therapist, musician and record producer to work alongside and support members of the Outsider Music Live group with a wide range of professional resources:
‘ I work with people, of all ages, to help them write, produce and record music as a way of helping them cope with and alleviate psychological, emotional, cognitive, physical, communicative and social challenges. Creative works of music give participants something to be proud of, a tangible achievement, which in turn helps them develop an appreciation of their own abilities, fostering self-belief and presenting a view of how they would be as a ‘well-functioning’ person free of the challenges they face. ‘ (Jon Hall)
Outsider Music perform monthly at the Antwerp Arms. You can find out more information by contacting jon@outsidermusic.org.uk or www.outsidermusic.org.uk
