Charity Show for Canadians with Brain Injuries: Calgary 3-20-09

There's a nice write-up about it in the Calgary Sun, along with some words from Felder:

Light-hearted, suntanned and as cool as you'd expect any former member of the Eagles to be, legendary guitarist Don Felder moved musical mountains yesterday at the Association for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured (ARBI) centre on Spruce Dr. S.W.

Surrounded by a crowd of neurologically impaired people living with brain injuries of varying degrees, the world-famous Felder opened with a joke about meeting Jose Cuervo in a bar on an Eagles tour in the 1970s, before strumming and singing a few smash hits such as Tequila Sunrise, Take It Easy, Desperado and the song he penned himself in 1977, Hotel California.
Felder's visit, while heartwarming, marked a huge step forward in the realm of musical therapy for brain-injury patients.

For individuals such as Matt Schovanek -- a Canadian peacekeeper who suffered severe head trauma while serving in Bosnia in 1994 -- hearing someone playing songs they remember from long before their injuries has the ability to get even the most wheelchair bound among them tapping their feet.

For former trombone player Curtis Junor, with a smile as big as his heart, meeting Felder was "fantastic," describing music as not just a way to connect to the past, but "hopefully a way to connect to the future." "It's really becoming quite evident how strongly linked our brain is to music," said accredited musical therapist Jennifer Buchanan. "It's completely tuned in. What we often see is improved speech and gross motor movement through music. It motivates them, inspires and excites people, enabling them to do all sorts of things they otherwise can't do."

Those involved in the program hope the ground-breaking visit to the ARBI Centre and the corresponding fundraising concert with Felder and friends at the Jack Singer Concert Hall on Monday night -- brought to life thanks to Brian Taylor of Keystone Music and Calgary's Q107 -- will kick-start a series of similar concerts across Canada to benefit the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund. The initiative supports everything from ARBI to children with autism, and people in palliative care units.

"When I first brought Brian from Keystone Music here five years ago and he sat and observed a session, he told me, 'Jen, some day we're going to do something great for music therapy.' Well, today was the day we started doing something great."

And for Felder, raising money for the Music Therapy Trust Fund is an easy decision for a man committed to spending his post-Eagles years promoting the positive aspects of the art form to which he has devoted his life.

"I'd like to do a series of these types of shows across the country to try to raise the consciousness and bring attention to this worthy cause," Felder, who believes strongly in the power of music as an effective rehabilitation tool, told Page Six.

"I think I've been doing music therapy since I started playing," he said. "It seems like the joy that people get through music really breaks through all language barriers, whether it's just someone sitting in the audience or someone sitting in a hospital like the people here today. Music can reach people on a level that language and medication and physical therapy can't."



- Kelly Doody

That was really nice. It kinda hits home for me. I have a 9 year old nephew, not with a brain injury, but that is autistic and blind. Ever since he was a tiny baby he LOVES music and anything that makes music. Every holiday I spend hours searching for any kind of toy that makes music and sound. He will sit for hours, rocking back and forth pushing buttons on musical toys. Without something like that he is almost uncontrollable with banging his head on walls and screaming. Put that musical toy in his hand and he immediately calms down. It made my Christmas one year, when his grandma called me to say that the little guitar with dozens of musical buttons on it was his favorite toy and he wouldn't part with it--even took it to bed with him. I do truly believe music is therapy.

This was such a great story to read. I love that Felder is finding ways to give back to the people, especially this group of people. What a gracious thing he is doing! Thanks for finding this Soda! And TBF, I agree, music can be the best therapy.