Music as a powerful healer

By Fiona Campbell with contributions from Jeanette Arsenault

Local musician Andy Forgie has made a name for himself as a performer and songwriter with a long and storied career. Forgie is well-known for his solo shows, as well as being a band member of All You Need Is Love, The Good Ol’ Boys, Big Black Smoke and Photograph, along with being the promotional manager for The Empire Theatre. Andy Forgie. Photo by Lisa MacIntosh

But ask him about his 20 years of connecting seniors with music, his weekly visits to homes in Belleville and Trenton, his performances at Quinte Gardens, Hastings Manor and hospice, and he lights up. His belief in the therapeutic power of music is palpable.

“To see the eyes of a resident open and shine, to hear someone with dementia sing all the words to sentimental favourites from their younger days, is indescribable...it is this work that truly fills my heart and that I am most proud of,” he says. “They sing, they dance.. they just wake up.”

The healing power of music has long been known but is now being used with people with a wide range of issues, including developmental disabilities, autism, Alzheimer’s/dementia, stroke, brain injury, neurologic disorders, and mental health to name a few. It has been shown that music therapy can help reduce depression and other symptoms in the elderly.

It can be hard for families to navigate the realities of dementia and cognitive decline, but music, like dogs and children, stimulates memory in a magical way and helps people forget the heaviness for a time. Forgie tells of a lady who was over 110 years old, and as he played standards from the 1950s - Everly Brothers, Elvis, Buddy Holly - she quipped, “I don’t know those new songs.”

“You need a sense of humour, otherwise it breaks your heart. [As a performer] those moments of brevity break up the heavy,” says Forgie.

Forgie says he enjoys the opportunity to entertain at a wide variety of seniors and retirement residences throughout the region: “If I won the lottery, the one thing I would always do is that,” says Forgie. “The up close and gentle approach to music therapy is truly magical.”

andyforgie.com