In 1994, James Forger founded a new non-degree granting division of the College of Music, the Community Music School, which enrolls 1,200 individuals each year.

Forger is member of the Commission on Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Music and has served as an evaluator and consultant to Schools of Music and non-degree granting community music programs across the country.

Since his appointment as director of the School of Music in 1990, the college has grown in enrollment over 70 percent, and has been recognized as a nationally ranked program, one of five such ranked graduate programs at Michigan State University.

Forger is an active performing saxophonist and recording artist. He has recorded Distances Within Me by John Anthony Lennon, winner of the American composers Alliance Recording award on the CRI label, Concerto for Saxophone and Band by Pulitzer Prize winner Karel Husa for Crest Records, and Symphonic Rhapsody for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra by John Anthony Lennon with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra for the MCC label.

A leader in the commissioning and performance of new works for the saxophone, he has commissioned works by Milton Babbitt, John Anthony Lennon, David Liptak, Donald Martino, Charles Ruggiero, and Morton Subotnick.

Forger has performed throughout South America, Europe, Asia, and the former Soviet Union. He has been guest saxophonist in residence at the International Chamber Music Festival of the Mayan Highlands in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. He has appeared as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Sinfonica de Vientos in Tunja, Colombia.

During the past several seasons, Forger has participated in the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; the Da Camera Chamber Music Series in Houston, Texas; and the Fontana Chamber Music Society of Michigan.