Nursing Home residents will participate in a special national music performance to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023. The Music Speaks broadcast, to take place on the 21st of August, will encompass performances from over 100 nursing home residents from over 30 nursing homes. Featuring from a local nursing home will be Marymount Care Centre, Lucan – Rita Lyons will sing Boys from the County Armagh and Madeline McQuillan will sing the Fields of Athenry.
Nursing homes across the country will be hosting music-themed celebrations Monday 21st to Sunday 27th August to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023.
The Music Speaks performance will be broadcast to over 400 nursing homes with 25,000 residents across the country and available for the broader public to watch via NHI.ie. It features renditions of classics such as Danny Boy, Molly Malone, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Can’t Help Falling in Love, You Are My Sunshine, Que Sera, Sera, intertwined with performances by residents of different instruments, including piano, accordion, bodhrán. The Music Speaks performance is a highlight of the broader online Music Speaks festival which will mark the national celebration of nursing home care.
The Music Speaks festival will include performances from Mobile Music Machine with Niamh Kavanagh, Sive, Ross Scanlon performs John McCormack, John Spillane. Further, performances from the Irish Traditional Music Archive will be opened up to nursing home residents and an online discussion will be hosted discussing the impact of music on nursing home residents.
Tadhg Daly, Nursing Homes Ireland CEO states: “We are thrilled to have brought together a very special performance of nursing home residents to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023 and our Music Speaks festival. Nursing homes are home to truly very special people, who are tremendous characters and have a rich legacy in song and music. Our Music Speaks performance encompasses one resident who is 100 years of age playing accordion, a 98-year-old delivering an excellent piano solo, a 95-year old singing Boys from the County Armagh. Residents love to sing and perform and the Music Speaks extravaganza honours the talents of the very special people in our society who are nursing home residents.
“Music fulfils an absolutely integral role in nursing home care, providing comfort to residents, stimulating memories, bringing them together, and it gives great joy and happiness. The festival we have created is truly unique, bringing residents together for a very special range of performances and events over the course of a week. It will feature outstanding performers who supported nursing home residents during Covid19, a trip down memory lane for residents via the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and a discussion on the impact of music in our nursing homes. We wish residents and staff a very happy Nursing Homes Week 2023.”
Visit NHI.ie for further information.
Pictured: Niamh Kavanagh and the Mobile Music Machine perform at Asgard Lodge Nursing Home in Arklow. Pic credit; Julien Behal Photography
