CASE STUDIES
CARE CONCERT CASE STUDIES
Since its inception in May 2020, the Covid Care Concerts project has performed to over 100,000 people across Ireland. The audience has primarily been made up of members of the community in long term care settings, frontline workers and family members.
Among the many thousands of people, we have met, each individual has a unique story to tell. We have highlighted some of these stories below*
1: RICHIE, ST. CARTHAGE’S NURSING HOME, LISMORE.
Richie is a resident of St. Carthage’s nursing home in Lismore. This is a home that the Mobile Music Machine have been performing in since 2018, which is when we first met Richie.
Richie is a big fan of music and is always in the front row of our concerts. He is always dressed in his Sunday best and is keen to meet the musicians for a chat.
Richie often paints for us and will always surprise us with a gift of his art upon each visit.
This has created a unique bond between all the artists and Richie. He has been mentioned on national radio.
2: MARK, LIMERICK CITY
Tom is 83 years of age, and lives in an assisted living facility in Waterford. We first met Tom in 2020, when we performed in the courtyard outside his window.
After the concert, which featured an opera singer, Tom came over to his window with tears in his eyes. He proceeded to tell us that he had loved that type of music his whole life but had never heard it performed live. He just hought he wouldn’t fit in at a concert.
He thought he would go to his grave without hearing opera or classical music in person. We were so happy to be able to come back again to see him and perform songs that had requested.
3: DAVID, DUBLIN
Philip is a resident of a care facility in Dublin City. Philip is younger than many other residents and lived independently for many years in America. Philip was always keen to sing along to the concerts and one day we invited him to sing a solo with us. This was a transformative experience for all of usNand gave everyone great pleasure.
Upon each subsequent visit, Philip had a party piece prepared and took great pleasure in singing with us and telling us about his days performing in the past.
4: SARAH, WATERFORD,
Eileen, aged 92, is a resident of a care home in Waterford. We arrived to do our concert on a very sunny summer day and all the residents had assembled outdoors. The home had even hired an ice cream van for the occasion. Eileen was late to arrive and missed the start of the concert. She was actively involved in singing along and spoke to us afterwards.
She explained that she had been having a hard time and was feeling too low to come out of her room. With gentle persuasion, she attended the concert. She told how happy it made her feel. She had been a lifelong patron of the Theatre Royal in Waterford and even recognised the opera singer that day. She told us the concert had reinvigorated her spirit.
5: MARY AND DAVID, LIMERICK
Mary and David are a married couple who we met when performing in Limerick with tenor Anthony Kearns.
We noticed the couple sitting in the front row behind the window, holding hands. After the concert, they grabbed our attention and spoke to us through the glass. They had been big fans of Anthony and had been to all his concerts over the years. They were amazed to see him performing outside their window and never though they would have such an opportunity again, especially given the circumstance of the pandemic.
6: JULIE, DUBLIN
We met Julie at a residential care home in Dublin city in 2020. We noticed during the concert, that Julie became very engaged with the music.
She was in wheelchair, but became very active, moving her body to the music. In particular we noticed that Julie knew the words to all the songs and sang along as we performed. After the concert, the director of nursing spoke to us in disbelief. Julie had been a resident for over 2 years and was suffering with late stage dementia.
She had been non-verbal for those 2 years and the concert was the first time that the nurses had witnessed her speak or sing. This gave them and us great pleasure.