Hazel Harrison and Phillipa Anders originally created Music to Die For as a pioneering music-making process. Its mission is to inspire people to celebrate the lives of those they’ve lost. This groundbreaking project has provided an imaginative and healing environment for individuals affected by loss. There, they can post their stories and song recommendations to find peace in the absence of their loved ones.
The project is supported by a Creative Health Residency organised by Britten Pears Arts in Suffolk. This new partnership further bolsters our mission. We want to build it all, with collaboration and inclusion at the core, and music as the great connector of memory and healing. At the center of Music to Die For is a robust toolkit that focuses on a variety of areas and is free to download from the project’s website. This guide features four essential sections: About the music, Making connections, Finding meaning, and Moving forward, which are tailored to assist participants in articulating their experiences.
Join Music to Die For in telling us your story and suggesting a song for inclusion. This is really simple to do on their website and social media outlets. This process creates a dynamic sense of ownership and community amongst everyone participating. It allows them to engage with other families who are on the same shared journeys of loss. The project’s branding, designed by Robbie Steer, embodies its conceptual and poetic spirit, making the project even more immersive and inviting for users.
Harrison and Anders are determined to make the initiative personal. Their productive experience at Snape Maltings has a real influence in the way that they take the project forward. Anders thought about her personal sense of loss. She explained, “Just over four years ago, I lost my husband very suddenly, and this project and meeting Hazel has given me the incredible opportunity to use music in a really powerful way.”
Music to Die For takes its vibrant collaboration with BBC Radio Suffolk on tour. Artist Liaison Sarah Lilley regularly engages with her audience by creating content from listener stories and listener song requests. Through LISC’s technical assistance, the artist’s work is having a greater impact in the community.
Robbie Steer articulated the transformative power of music in the grieving process, stating, “That can be a joyful piece of music, sometimes that can be a deeply emotive or sad piece of music that enables us to connect with that loss and that sad feeling.” Importantly, he drove home that grief isn’t a linear process. It is such a place, he clarified, “because it can navigate us into the future, where we’ll know joy and sadness, which are both connected to desire.”
Anders encapsulated the essence of the project with a poignant reminder: “There is a saying ‘grieve fully and live fully.’”
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