Ep 61 Seb Valentine

Music Therapy Conversations

Seb is a detective constable with Surrey Police, working in their public protection unit investigating serious crime against the most vulnerable in our society. His Policing career started in the Met Police where, after 2 years as a volunteer Police Officer or ‘Special’, he caught the Policing bug and joined ‘the job’ full time in 2011. He chose Hounslow as the place to get experience and spent two years as a uniform constable answering 999 calls there. He also had the pleasure of seeing the sights of London from a different perspective as a public order officer.

Being an avid fan of ‘The Sweeney’ he always knew he was destined to be a detective. After a stint working on a new initiative to better deal with foreign national offenders and a few months as a street duties instructor and acting Sergeant, Seb applied for CID. He attended Scotland Yard’s world-famous Crime Academy, becoming a substantive detective in 2017. A country boy at heart, the rolling hills of Surrey were too beautiful to resist so he transferred to Surrey Police soon after and choose to work in the safeguarding unit, training to be a specialist accredited child abuse investigator.

The son of a GP (who was also an artist) and a music teacher, he was born and raised in Bristol where he enjoyed a house full of music. His mother would teach piano at home and he would spend hours listening to Beethoven and Bach from his dad’s record collection. There is photographic evidence of him conducting Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in the lounge in his pyjamas at age 8, but that is locked away securely! He attended King Edward’s School, Bath, where he joined the choir and sang many services in the awesome Bath Abbey. He also played the violin and was a member of multiple music groups including a medieval group where he played medieval fiddle and Psaltery (Google it). He took part in chamber concerts in the Holbourne Museum, Bath, which houses a Steinway Piano Rachmaninov chose to play when he came to the city. Following a brief episode where he applied to study Physics at University and join the RAF as a pilot, he came to his senses at the last minute and auditioned for the Royal College of Music as a singer. He studied there for 5 years between 2000 and 2005, gaining a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance. Seb then spent the next few years trying to make a living as a musician and having a lot of fun in the process, working for Opera companies all over the UK and touring the USA for 3 months with the Carl Rosa Opera Company. he hasn’t sung a wide range of roles from Pantomime and Gilbert and Sullivan to Mozart and Verdi.

Seb talked about his work with Blue Light Symphony Orchestra, and about an innovative recent reject with Chroma and music therapist Amanda Thorpe, working with emergency services professionals.

https://www.bluelightsymphony.org/ https://youtu.be/lzgDtzKKETg

References

Kahneman, D. (2017) Thinking, fast and slow. Penguin Books.

Rosenberg, M. B., & Chopra, D. (2015). Nonviolent communication: A language of life: Life-changing tools for healthy relationships. PuddleDancer Press.