Sorcha Cribben-Merrill brings familiar songs and joyful energy to older adults and intergenerational groups for a community singing experience. Research shows singing together can improve memory, decrease stress, and support brain health and immune function. It also strengthens connections…and the dance floor is always open.

Sorcha’s warm, engaging stage presence makes her a favorite performer with independent living, assisted living, and memory care audiences throughout Southern Maine. For over a decade, she has partnered with continuing care centers and other nonprofits to share music programming across the lifespan — her acoustic guitar (and sometimes ukulele, banjo, or fiddle) in tow.

Jazz standards + popular classics

Her musical repertoire spans folk, jazz, country-blues, and soul — from the Great American Songbook (Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Erroll Garner) to pop hits of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s (Sam Cooke, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, John Denver, Carole King), and beyond. Singing, clapping, movement, and dancing are encouraged to fully engage the body and mind.

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Sorcha draws on her experience as a performing singer-songwriter, teaching artist, and training as a Community Health Musician (Berklee Music and Health Institute’s Certificate Program) and songwriter-facilitator (Lullaby Project, Carnegie Hall). read full bio

HEARING IS BELIEVING: SORCHA CRIBBEN-MERRILL SHARES THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC WITH YOUNG AND OLD

BY RAY ROUTHIER | STAFF WRITER — Excerpt: “During the hour that she played, Cribben-Merrill got about a dozen residents of the memory care unit moving and dancing, including several in wheelchairs who were spun and twirled by nurses. . . ‘It’s very unusual for most of them to be so engaged, but Sorcha makes eye contact with them and she makes them feel safe,’ said Susan Stadnicki, one of the nurses on duty while Cribben-Merrill played. ‘As a nurse, I love to see the way they react to her. I wish she was here more.’”
— Ray Routhier, Portland Press Herald read full article