Meet Asher Ettinger

​​Asher Ettinger is a multi-talented artist. The over 2500 compositions he’s compiled stretch across his 38 year career as a pianist, composer, synthesist, producer and arranger, as well as during his 13 years of being a fine artist.

It has been over 40 years since he wrote a thesis on music therapy and since then music and its healing effects on the brain remains a subject that has fascinated him.

Ettinger joined Music Can Heal in the summer of 2015 because the work the organization engages in - using music to heal - fits with his passion and is a cause he truly believes in as a musician.

Ettinger described himself as a sort of medicine man due to how powerful music can be in healing. The musician performs at various atriums of hospitals and one moment that has been forever etched in his mind was when he was performing a piano recital at Princess Margaret Hospital. After playing a song in the atrium a patient, who required a walker and assistance in getting to her chair, got up on her own and walked to him with relative ease. The woman bowed to him and, filled with music’s healing energy, stretched out her hands to thank him.

Moments like these are what Asher describes as giving more depth to his work. As opposed to performing at a bar where not everyone is paying attention, playing music at hospices and health facilities is heard by many, if not all of those around, and it helps create moments for the patients listening.

Asher Ettinger performed on January 29, 2016 at Bradgate Arms Retirement Residences and at Princess Margaret Hospital on February 3, 2016. You can read his full bio at http://ashermusic.ca/intro/