Meeting local people through music

14 years ago at age 10 I attended a local brass band concert and was truly inspired, ever since then, nearly every week of my life brass band has been present. It’s something that I have been lucky enough to do in different cities, whilst travelling for university and work, becoming embedded into communities. This journey has landed me in Scarborough where I currently work as an FY1 doctor, of which I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever call ‘homely’, but brass band helps me call it just that. 

My brass banding journey has taken me throughout Yorkshire, to Sheffield, York, Hull, Scarborough, and the small North Yorkshire village of Hummanby. Every city I move to I get welcomed with open arms to join the brass band community, which has often been around for 100’s of years. I have formed relationships with the people that I have met along the way that will be cherished forever. When I see band members weekly, natter over tea and biscuits, prepare for concerts, it allows you to really get to know people. The brass banders that I have got to know have varied so much in age and ability, but there is still a place for them all in the community (1). 

A particular 87 year old gentleman I recently met in my banding life was truly inspiring. Never did I think that I would be able to continue playing my cornet at an age even nearing 87, but he proved me wrong. Weekly, he shows up and amazes me with the talent that he has, despite numerous health problems and needing hearing aids to hear the band. And then we talk about his life, how banding has been a big part of his whole life, and the adventures he has partaken in. But, with age comes illness and comorbidities, and this is hard to forget when I am surrounded by people who discuss their health complaints. Seeing my banding friends in the hospital environment really brings medicine and illness and death back to life outside the hospital. Often I find in the hospital I separate myself from the patients, I find I can’t get too attached or personal in case of someone deteriorating, and/or dying. This is one of my coping strategies for the tough things you have to deal with on a daily basis when you work in a hospital. Usually this really allows me to separate work and home, but when health problems and disease creeps into my home life I find this more tricky. 

Working in medicine is hard work, but it’s one of the most exciting, rewarding and enjoyable things I could ever do, but this doesn’t come without its challenges. The long working hours, the night shifts, the death, the emotions, the list could go on. Having time away from medicine and the hospital for me is crucial, and it really helps me enjoy the job more. Having this time I know I can look forward to outside of work is amazing. It helps me get through the long tough days, and its reminds me that life doesn’t have to stop when you work long hours. Sometimes after a long tough day, of course the motivation to go out to band practice is lacking. But once I step foot in that band room and play together and create amazing music with other like-minded individuals it spreads a smile across my face. 

Going forward, my career throughout medical training will have ups and downs, and there will be many relocations through different cities when I move to different training posts. But through all this, one of the things that I will keep going with is brass band. The music we create as a community is incredible, the people from different walks of life that it attracts, and the bonds that it forms between people you would have never met in life, are all reasons that I think medicine and music will both be in my life forever, and work in perfect harmony. 

References 

1- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99nne8233ko 

Dr Hazel Key

F1, Yorkshire and Humber Foundation School

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