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I am Angelina, a piano teacher, concert pianist, and a Music Therapy trainee from Greece, living in London.
Music has been a very significant part of my life since I was little. I started piano lessons at a young age and soon I joined a marathon of practicing, examining, performing, and competing. I performed many recitals around Europe and Asia, in different venues with different audiences. I graduated with the Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, and I continued my studies acquiring the Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Royal College of Music, London, UK.
During my postgraduate studies I performed recitals at a two care houses in London for elderly people including works of classical music where the folk element dominates (my final MMus recital). These recitals changed my performing philosophy, and I realised that music is so much more than performing and listening. I decided I needed to explore what music can offer to people.
Parallel to my performing and teaching journey, I attended the MA course in Music therapy at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. My clinical practice as a first year Music Therapy trainee was at a SEN school in London. Apart from the music therapy sessions I had with the children of the school, I also performed for the PMLD students. These recitals were life changing. For the first time in my life, I was paying attention to my audience and I was looking at their faces while I was playing rather than the piano keys. I could see their smiles and happy faces, listen to their joyful screams and wheelchair dancing. They were listening to me and I was listening to them! These children showed me a different meaning to performing!
Today I am a second-year student at Anglia Ruskin University doing my clinical placement at an Adult Mental Health Centre, and a Music Therapy PhD candidate at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. I look forward to seeing where this path will take me and share the gift of music with as many people as possible!!!
Angelina Chatzimisiou
Music therapy student, Anglia Ruskin University
