Plymouth Music Zone

Plymouth Music Zone (PMZ) is an award winning music charity that believes in the power of music to reach out and help transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable children, young people and adults across Plymouth and beyond. The ‘Keep Singing, Keepsake’ Project (KKP) works with older people in a range of residential and community settings. A weekly group singing session was designed to strengthen social ties and improve emotional wellbeing among the participants. CDs and DVDs were made from the sessions to give to families and friends as keepsakes. The keepsakes provided an historical record of the project and information for others who wish to consider similar work. The project also aimed to promote intergenerational communication and understanding via opportunities for these singing groups to perform with groups of young people working with Plymouth Music Zone.

Plymouth Music Zone (PMZ) is an award winning music charity that believes in the power of music to reach out and help transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable children, young people and adults across Plymouth and beyond. Beyond Words was a 2 year research project between Plymouth Music Zone and Plymouth University Institute of Education. The project was one of only eight national projects funded by the Arts Council England Research Grants programme in 2015 and an international conference took place on 14th and 15th March 2017. Beyond Words focused on how the arts use the unspoken and how those who face problems communicating with words (such as those with dementia, stroke, autism and learning difficulties) are valued and included across communities.

Plymouth Music Zone (PMZ) is an award winning music charity that believes in the power of music to reach out and help transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable children, young people and adults across Plymouth and beyond. Researchers from Exeter University ran a research programme with Plymouth Music Zone that explored the benefits of singing for people with a communication disorder associated with strokes called Aphasia. People with aphasia can struggle to speak and often make mistakes with the words they use, sometimes using the wrong sounds or putting words together incorrectly. They can also experience difficulty reading and writing. Researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School recruited volunteers in Devon and Cornwall to take part in a research trial called Singing for People with Aphasia (SPA) to determine whether group singing sessions can help reduce the impact the disorder has on people’s lives.