Meet the Liverpool woman who went from Harry Potter to creating musical magic – and medicine - across Merseyside

From appearing in Fame the Musical to acting as stand-in for Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rachel Waite had a dream to perform.

And now she’s using her talents in singing, dancing and movement to help others enjoy the happiness and wellbeing it can bring with a collection of musical projects and events across Merseyside.

Huyton-born Rachel set up Holistic Harmonies in 2018, to use music and dance to help connect and build communities, and enhance and improve people’s physical and emotional health.

She says:

“Music is medicine.

“Whether we have it on an individual level, singing in the shower or in the car, or with a choir, it will release endorphins, the happy hormones, and dopamine and serotonin, the reward hormones.

“When I sing and dance it makes me feel good.

“And when I do it, we do it, in a group of people, it releases oxytocin, the wellbeing, love and bonding hormone.

“I’m trying to use music and movement to make people have this release system of their own, to regulate their own nervous systems and experience the calming and joyfulness and healing for themselves.”

Rachel, 41, adds:

“We know singing can offer physical pain relief, we know it can soothe the mind and there are physiological changes that are happening when we sing; and when we do it as a group there is the social aspect as well.

“We might not have the capacity to have a conversation with someone, if we have a disability or severe depression, or pain, but if we look across a circle and catch someone’s eye, there’s a connection and a bonding.

“That’s powerful, especially for those who feel isolated.

“A lot is changing and progressing in the world of arts for health, and Holistic Harmonies aims to be at the front of that, as leading experts in singing for wellbeing and cross-generational practise throughout the North West, working with social prescribers, health care providers and arts organisations.”

Through Holistic Harmonies which she founded and directs, Rachel, who now lives in Liverpool city centre, organises and co-ordinates a range of projects, groups and workshops.

* She runs Singing for Wellbeing every Wednesday evening, 6.30pm-8pm, at Studio 1 at The Bluecoat Art Centre in School Lane, with songs full of ‘heart-opening’ and affirmative lyrics, all learned by ear.

* With Growing Sudley, Rachel runs Outdoor Singing Sessions, along with others in places like Crosby Beach. “You can’t underestimate the joy and pleasure of singing in the open air,” she adds.

* Rachel has joined Sole Rebel female-led CIC tap group and Teatro Pomodoro to offer seasonal music and dance workshops at Studio 1 at The Bluecoat.

Holistic Harmonies has just completed a year-long National Lottery-funded music and movement project at Christopher Grange Care Home, encouraging people from the community – parents and children – to visit and chat and socialise (and sing) with its elderly residents: “And even though the project has ended, many of those families are continuing to go in to see the people they have met and got to know.”

And, with the Holistic Harmonies team, Rachel is hoping to move too towards support for palliative and end of life care, working across the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Aintree Hospital and Broadgreen Hospital with the SWAN team, dedicated specialist bereavement nurses, going wherever the need is.

Rachel says:

“We can do songwriting, sound healing, I can play guitar and I have a big song repertoire.

“We can sing soft songs, helping to calm those at end of life.”

Rachel – who through Holistic Harmonies also delivers Singing Mamas groups specialising in supporting women and their mental health during the perinatal period – continues to perform on stage and undertakes musical director roles, most recently with Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot.

But helping others to enjoy what she does, and feel well, is clearly her passion.

“I grew up singing and dancing,” she says. “My dad was a reception teacher at St Vincent’s School for the Blind, and he played guitar and taught me my first chords.

“I went to the council-run Knowsley Music Theatre and got a degree in contemporary dance and a post-grad in professional performance. I’d moved from Liverpool to London to seek fame and fortune when I was 18, and my biggest ambition was to be Sally Bowles in Cabaret (which I didn’t manage).

“But working as a nanny and music teacher in between auditions gave me the insight into how music can help, heal, and support families … and I also realised that the entertainment business is very cut-throat and perhaps not for someone as sensitive as me!

“I came back to Liverpool and set up Holistic Harmonies, and the feedback from what I do now can be overwhelming. To have someone say that if they hadn’t found my singing group they’d be dead by now, or to have people tell me they don’t feel the pain while they are singing, or they have the best night’s sleep after a Singing for Wellbeing session, is so fulfilling.

“I feel I have a purpose. It’s satisfying and it’s gratifying; and having an effect of people’s lives fills my cup too.”

Find out more on the Holistic Harmonies website.

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