An anti-depressant for all: introducing Soundabout, the UK's Learning Disability Music Charity

Joint Workshop with National Children’s Choir of Great Britain in April 2025

'absolute magic, the only side-effect is joy'

Until Thursday (1 May 2025) I had not really heard about the work of Soundabout the UK's Learning Disability Music Charity but at an event in the City of London, trustees, staff and other personnel from the charity along with parents of children who participate, told us about the charity and its work.

Soundabout is 28 years old, they began with just one musician and one teacher, yet during the 2023/24 year they held nearly 1000 sessions with over 3,300 attendees, over 1,500 learning disabled participants and 750 parents/carers. 

They believe that everyone should be able to access music and they use music, sound and silence to develop communication, increase self-expression, health and well-being. improve connectedness. They offer Soundabout Choirs, a national network bringing Learning Disabled people together to share their voices, along with Sounds Virtual which are online music-making sessions accessible live and on demand. There are other projects such as Sounds Together, face-to-face community music making sessions with small groups of Learning Disabled people where they design the project.

Key to this are the young people on their Graduate Emerging Leaders programme. Emerging Leaders is a one-year programme where Learning Disabled people (aged 14+) enhance their leadership skills and confidence while preparing to become the music practitioners of the future. After completing the one-year Emerging Leaders programme, they become a Graduate Emerging Leader with several pathways to follow, including voluntary and paid Work Experience.

Four of Graduate Emerging Leaders (plus a large soft toy) bravely stood up on Thursday and rather than talking about what they do, they demonstrated it, leading a room full of adults in a sing-along session session that began with the 'Hello song' and included 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' supplemented by an array of noise makers.

Anna, who joined a Soundabout Choir in 2020, described how taking part made her happy to make music with her friends. She takes place online, where they sing along or sign, and described being in Soundabout as fantastic and joyful.

We heard from two parents, a film of George with his mother, Davina, where she found that music had a transformative effect on him, 'music starting is like a magic wand creating a sparkle in him'. Whilst the mother of a girl with a complex brain injury, cerebral palsy and blindness, talked about how transformational discovering Soundabout's online resources was, 'completely and utterly life-changing', 'an anti-depressant for all', with the sessions helping her daughter feel seen, reducing her isolation.

You can find more about Soundabout from their website, and pleas do think about supporting them.