Musician Moments: Charlie Gorman

Our musicians have been speaking about some of the most significant moments they have experienced whilst sharing Joy Through Live Music with Music in Hospitals & Care.

Charlie Gorman has been working with us in Scotland since 2013.

“This event happened very early on in my time with Music in Hospitals & Care, in fact I think it was only my second or third concert. It was at the Larbert Stroke Club near Falkirk, a support group for men of any age who had suffered a stroke. I remember it being a really inspiring place with amazing staff.

When I arrived a group of around 20 men were sat around a large meeting table with 3 or 4 members of staff. I was asked to sit at the end of the table with my guitar. The man immediately to my right was brought into the room in a wheelchair just before the start of the concert – he couldn’t have been more than 55 years old. In comparison to the other men he looked in very bad shape. His eyes were tightly closed, his lips were blue and the skin on his face was almost translucent and grey. The level of participation from the rest of the group was fantastic, with requests (thankfully for songs I knew) and lots of singing along. Then, about ten minutes before the end, someone requested Wild Mountain Thyme, an old traditional Scottish song. Almost as soon as I’d played the opening bars the man in the wheelchair came alive and literally burst into song. His eyes opened wide and I remember clearly he had the most beautiful singing voice. When we finished the song, the other men and staff were visibly emotional. They later told me they believed the man had lost his power of speech a couple of weeks earlier and hadn’t seemed able to communicate with anyone.

The image of this man singing with such passion has really stuck with me over the years, clearly showing the power songs have to reach people deeply in a way only music can.”