About Us

Welcome to the website of UK Charity The Swan Song Project.

We believe in Celebrating Lives, Making Memories and Leaving Legacies.

Our vision is for everyone to have the opportunity to write their Swan Song and for every family to have songs to remember their loved ones by. The Swan Song Project provides comfort and joy through celebrating life and providing a soundtrack to legacy.

 

The Swan Song Project gives people planning the end stages of their lives and those surrounding them the opportunity to write and record their own original song. A professional songwriter provides support to guide each person, through finding the initial idea to the completed recording. No previous musical experience or abilities are required. Everyone has a unique way of expressing themselves and this is what makes great songs. With the right support everyone can do it.

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The Swan Song Project was founded by songwriter Ben Buddy Slack. After losing his Grandma, Ben regretted not writing a song with her and wanted to see if others approaching the end of thier lives might appreciate this opportunity. The Project began at the Marie Curie Hospice in Bradford in 2017 and has since written songs with people all over the country and in a wide range of circumstances surrounding end of life and bereavment. From early stages of a terminal diagnosis to peoples final days, immediatley following a bereavement to several years after.

Participants have reported:

 

  • How proud they are of their songs,
  • How happy they are to have a permanent recorded message to their loved ones,
  • How it has helped them come to terms with their situation
  • How it has helped them articulate and communicates their feelings in a way they may not have otherwise done.
  • And how much fun they had during the process.

“It’s given a different perspective

to saying goodbye”

“It kept me from weeks of worries and many scary events out of my control“

Every session is facilitated in a relaxed and flexible way providing an enjoyable and rewarding artistic experience for everyone involved. Sessions can be done in person or virtually.

Every participant receives their song on a cd and has the option of sharing them with the wider public through The Swan Song Project Website.

Hear the songs
Mike Scott from The Waterboys on The Swan Song Podcast

In 2020 we also launched The Swan Song Project Podcast. Each episode features a different songwriter and they:

  • Share on of their songs and discuss how they wrote it,
  • Share a songwriting tip,
  • Share a song that is meaningful to them relating to bereavement.

 

Listen to the podcast

Interested in writing a song with us?

We can support anyone living with a terminal illness, planning their end stages of life or dealing with a bereavement to write and record their own original song.
Please visit the "Writing A Song With Us" Page and submit the short form and we will get back to you as quickly as we can.
Write A Song With Us

If you would like to support more people to write their Swan Songs, please consider donating to The Swan Song Project.

 

Every donation makes a big difference and helps more people to celebrate life in a song

 

 

 

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“It's absolutely amazing, we all love it to bits and pieces!! It's the most amazing memento to keep and treasure always. Ready now for when the worst time of my life happens, giving me such peace of mind. It means so much, it really does.”

“Its given a different perspective to saying goodbye”

"The first time I heard the song I was so beautifully overwhelmed. I always feel my Dad around me but having the song being sang to me just felt like he was really there, giving me a big hug and I just cannot describe the feeling"

"In those difficult days, she told us that the journey of telling her story through music was a liberating experience that helped her accept her diagnosis."

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