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Royal College Music Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John L. Cox*
Affiliation:
Royal College of Psychiatrists, 17 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PG
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Abstract

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The Columns
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Copyright © 2000, The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Sir: Although I am not a golfer I was delighted to read Chris Thompson's account of the inaugural meeting of the Royal College Golf Society and would wish to give my congratulations to Robert Jackson. I note that this Society is planning a further meeting at the end of the Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh.

My prowess in golf is more limited than my interest in music. Most of our now defunct mental hospitals used to have sizeable orchestras, some of them conducted by their medical directors. Edward Elgar used to conduct the Powyck Mental Hospital Choir and composed music specifically for its musicians. There is now a broader consensus that psychiatry is a science, as well as an art, certainly that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have both left and right hemispheres which need exercising. Judging by the curriculum vitaes of many of my colleagues and of trainees applying for postgraduate posts, there is an abundance of artistic talent among our membership. I will try to convene an inaugural meeting of anyone interested in pursuing these specific matters further. If there is sufficient interest we could even arrange a very fringe event in Edinburgh during, or shortly after, the formal proceedings.

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