Liquid Listening

Liquid Listening Liquid Listening is a registered charity providing Musical Hydrotherapy for disabled children/adults.

Liquid Listening uses an innovative approach to listening and art outreach by providing Musical Hydrotherapy, underwater listening sessions to special needs children in hydrotherapy pools. We provide training to school staff and parents in order to facilitate Musical Hydrotherapy. Liquid Listening aims to increase the well being of people with special needs and explore ways to promote their educat

ion and health, increased awareness and meaningful involvement with their environment. DONATE HERE: https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/21158 #!/DonationDetails

17/06/2026

We’ve been doing something rather special with two of our partner schools in Rochdale this term. Over a number of visits to Redwood School and Springside School Rochdale, our Music Specialist Lawrence Bradshaw has been working with pupils to discover the wonders of sound and music. He’s been helping the children explore how to create their own sounds, which will all be separately recorded and then woven into a glorious sound tapestry - a brand new piece of sound art that will not only be wonderful in its own right, but will also become part of the library of underwater soundtracks that pupils experience during their regular Musical Hydrotherapy sessions in school.

Imagine that: to lie back in the water, to float and release deep muscle tension, with all the benefits to regulation and the central nervous system, and also to experience something you’ve been a part of creating yourself. It’s very special.

Today we’ve been in both schools recording the pupils. The concentration on this Redwood School young boy’s face as he makes his totally improvised, self-created, music is completely mesmerising. We captured 5 minutes, but he could easily have continued for hours, if not all day.

We’re so, so passionate about the value of music for children in special schools, and about the extraordinary creativity of these children. It’s a privilege to be working with both these Rochdale schools, and many more of our partner schools, to celebrate the power of creating sound and music for children with complex needs. There needs to be so much more of this.

12/06/2026

So lovely to return to Mayfield School in Whitehaven over the last couple of days and to be a part of the magic as their pupils were introduced to Musical Hydrotherapy for the first ever time. This little boy started his session anxious and a bit agitated. He didn’t want to be touched or approached, let alone held or to lie back in the water. Here he is after just a few minutes, trusting, responding, relaxing, releasing all that nervous tension. Very special to see.

Fantastic to spend some quality time with our amazing Trustees today in Birmingham, reviewing everything that’s happened...
08/06/2026

Fantastic to spend some quality time with our amazing Trustees today in Birmingham, reviewing everything that’s happened this year (and there’s been a LOT!) and getting inspired as we discussed plans for the next three years. We’re a very small charity with very big ambitions and we feel very lucky to be supported by some incredibly experienced and inspiring trustees, who are generous with their time and wisdom - all on a voluntary basis. We’re heading home feeling grateful and excited.

And tomorrow we’ll be back at Springside School Rochdale and Redwood School for the next instalments of their term-long Music Creation projects, before we head to Whitehaven in the evening ready for Part 2 of our Musical Hydrotherapy training with the amazing team at Mayfield School in Whitehaven. Watch this space for news!

05/06/2026

We’ve been back with the wonderful team at West SILC in Leeds for the last couple of days of their Musical Hydrotherapy training and there have been so many powerful moments as their pupils experienced Liquid Listening for the first time. There was a young boy who felt safe enough to go into the water without his flotation vest for the first time ever. There was a young girl who is constantly “busy”, moving, splashing in the water, and we watched her lying, head back, totally and utterly peaceful and calm. Now that their teachers are fully trained Musical Hydrotherapy practitioners, these children and many more will be able to have regular sessions, regulating anxious neural pathways, releasing deeply held tension and creating a calm that will carry forward into the classroom and home wellbeing too. We’re absolutely delighted to welcome West SILC to the Liquid Listening family.

02/06/2026

A new week and we’re loving being in beautiful Cumbria with the amazing staff from Mayfield School in Whitehaven for the first couple of days of their Musical Hydrotherapy training. What a wonderful pool too! Over these first two days the teachers have been learning all the core holds and supports, and also the ethos of the practice: slowing down, listening to what their partners’ bodies are telling them that they need. Grounding themselves. And of course experiencing the deep release and relaxation of Musical Hydrotherapy for themselves, so that they can understand and share in what their pupils will be experiencing during their regular sessions. What it actually feels like as underwater sound and vibration travels into and through the body. As you can see, they’ve taken to it like naturals. What a lovely, soothing sight!

Tomorrow we’re off to Ysgol Maes y Coed for their annual refresher training, then on Thursday and Friday we’ll be back with the team at West SILC School in Leeds for the second half of their training. And back to Whitehaven for Part 2 next week. So very busy, but all of it so very rewarding.

28/05/2026

What a fantastic day we’ve had in Glasgow with the wonderful teachers at Croftcroighn Primary School today. It’s been their annual Musical Hydrotherapy refresher training day: a chance to revisit all the core skills, reflect and practise peer to peer. And that also means that it’s a day with real, much-needed wellbeing benefits for the amazing and incredibly hardworking teachers that are our core practitioners in our partner special schools. It’s just so lovely to see them here, properly releasing tension and experiencing the calm and deep relaxation that’s at the heart of our practice and its benefits for their pupils with complex needs.

We offer an annual refresher day like this one to all our partner schools for free as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting them, and it’s such an important day of reconnection, for them and us.

20/05/2026

It’s particularly wonderful to be back at Milestone Academy, which is part of Leigh Academies Trust in Kent this week. We trained their first group of teachers to be Musical Hydrotherapy practitioners exactly a year ago and this week we’re back there to train the first of TWO new groups of teachers over this summer term so that the school can extend the transformative benefits of this wonderful therapy to more pupils in the school.

And this clip shows exactly why that’s going to be so important. Just look at these children: peaceful, calm, regulated. Happy.

18/05/2026

Ever thought about training to be a Musical Hydrotherapy practitioner?

Are you a swimming teacher, a swim school owner, or do you have an existing aquatic therapy qualification? Are you interested in becoming a trained Musical Hydrotherapy practitioner but you don't work in a special school setting?

We’re planning a 2-day individual Musical Hydrotherapy training course in June based at the Jolly Josh Centre’s Hydrotherapy pool in Rochdale. Training costs are likely to be around £700 per participant, and trainees will also need to purchase fully portable underwater speaker equipment as part of the training, which we supply at cost but is very high specification so costs around a further £1700.

If you’re interested in finding out more about this, please do drop us a DM or email [email protected] and we’ll send you all the details.

15/05/2026

What a joy to hear the voices of some of the students at Rumworth School who had their first ever Musical Hydrotherapy experiences during our training course with their wonderful teachers over the last couple of weeks. In this clip a pupil is using Makaton to describe how he felt about it. The moment when he points twice at the sign for “Amazing” really is pretty amazing.

Better still… 10 of his teachers are now CPD-accredited Musical Hydrotherapy practitioners, meaning that he and many of his fellow students will be able to have regular access to the transformative wellbeing benefits of the therapy. Reason to celebrate indeed as we come to the end of .

12/05/2026

A magical day today as we returned to Rumworth School in Bolton and welcomed their pupils into the pool for the first time alongside their teachers, on Day 3 of their Musical Hydrotherapy training course. This young man presents with significant hypertonia and can be highly active in the classroom. This is him during his first ever Liquid Listening session: completely relaxed, loose, free and calm. An absolute joy to witness.

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