Hope and spring are in the air!

 

Yesterday was a happy glimmer of hope at the nursing home where I have worked playing music since 2017.  For the first time since the pandemic, we were able to gather in a small group (wearing masks) and sing together.   It was uplifting to us all and very meaningful to me.  I have played music in nursing homes for 16 years and since the pandemic, I have had to move all my music sharing to virtual. It is not the same as coming together as a group to sing and share as we were able to do yesterday. I was thinking how it got to be something I took for granted and I never would have imagined something like this pandemic could happen. 

At this nursing home, our favorite songs are gospel songs. I was struck by how much the words resonated and rang true for all we have come through this past year:

"Farther along we'll know all about it, farther along we'll understand why. Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine, we'll understand it all by and by." 

How many times have we been in the midst of something and been just dumbfounded by what it all means? why is this happening? What does it all mean? and then when time passes, we "get it" and understand. 

One man was in tears as we talked about their year in lockdown.  Now with vaccines, and covid under control there (they lost 17 residents last July from Covid), finally a glimmer of normalcy is beginning to return. Spring is on the way and we broke into, "I Saw the Light" by Hank Williams. 

"I saw the light, I saw the light, no more darkness, no more night. Now I'm so happy no sorrow in sight, praise the Lord, I saw the light!"  Another favorite. 

As always, people always tell me,  "You're so nice to be doing this. " but I can tell you I get so much out of it . To see how these people have endured being confined to a small, shared room for a year and to watch their friends dying, to not be able to have visitors from family or friends, to be deprived of any love and much needed social contact.. I don't know how they could have done it but their strength inspires me. 

I left with my heart so full of gratitude for them and sharing of music again . 

Drumming for Peace

 

Last time I told you how I fixed my broken drum. Now I am hear to tell you what inspired me to fix it and what I'm doing now with it! 

Each month at Unity Church in Charlottesville, my friend Ayesha leads a devotional Chanting session. The chants come from various traditions such as Native American, Hindi, Sufi, etc. If you've ever taken a yoga class, you have heard this music. It is not performance music, it is music used for meditation and sonic yoga.  A chant is a short song like a mantra that repeats over and over again.   I first discovered this music in the late 80s when I worked on summer staff at Omega in upstate New York. I was playing tabla drums then and it was great to find a community and music where I could play them. 

I am including a link for you here to see the whole chanting concert and sing along if you like! It is very uplifting and fun to do. 

For months, I was singing along from home and drumming along on my legs to this music. One day this fall, I remembered my broken drum sitting in the hallway and thought, "I have to get this fixed so that I can play with them!" and that is what I did! 

Here is the link and enjoy! 

The story of my broken drum

 

Pictured above is my favorite hand drum called a Doumbek. It's a middle eastern drum I bought when I attended a Percussive Arts Society convention in Ohio back in 2002. This drum saw me through so many happy times in drum circles I led with young adults with disabilities as well as senior drum circles. One favorite way I used the drum was passing it around the circle and letting everyone get a chance to lead the circle. One day though, someone dropped the drum and the head broke. After this it sat in silence for over 3 years. This is because I could not find anyone locally who would know how to fix it (unusual kind of drum) and the shop where I bought it 19 years ago went out of business. 

Recently, I got the drum out and decided it was time to figure out how to fix it. I googled, "How to change a drum head on a doumbek" and found an instructional video. I saw it looked pretty easy! Next I had to figure out what kind of bolts held in the drum head and what tool I needed to turn them. I sent a picture to a drum shop in TX about this and he told me I needed a "Hex key." Since I did not know the exact size, I ordered a whole set of hex keys. 

Next, I measured the drum head and ordered a replacement. When it came, I was excited to begin the project of fixing this drum. However, it was not the right size drum head. In doing more research, I discovered I measured the whole head of the drum (the outer extension that fits over the hoop) and that is a different measurement than the playing surface of the drum. I am telling you all these details so you can see all that went into this project! Once carefully re-measurued, I ordered another replacement head. 

When that arrived, it fit like a glove! However, I was unable to turn the bolts tightly enough by hand using just the hex key. I needed either a drill or a socket wrench. Turned out my upstairs neighbor had just the right tool for me (socket wrench) and viola! It worked! 

All of these steps from start to finish took me about 2 months. I am very happy because I learned so much in this process and also discovered I like learning about new tools and I even ordered myself my own socket wrench set. I never would have thought I would be someone into tools but there it is! 

I had even thought of getting rid of the drum because I didn't know I could fix it myself and if I were to hire someone, by the time I paid for parts and labor, it would have cost more than the drum itself. 

I tell you this story as an example of how music and caring of instruments is a continual learning and growing experience. Now I have even more appreciation of this drum since I spent so much time researching how to fix it. 

I plan to play this drum with my church group who sings sacred chants once a month. 

In the meantime, if you have any bolts that need tightening, give me a call! :) 

Happy New Year!

 

I believe all of us are ready to see this year, 2020 go. It has certainly been a year of challenge, loss, change, chaos.  Yet I have also seen that this year has given us some unexpected gifts. In asking friends, what was an unexpected gift you got out of this pandemic? Some said they got to know their neighbors more. Others reconnected to estranged family members. Another said he got much needed down time. The list goes on. 

Here are some of the things I take away from this year. As you know, I lost most of my work as a professional therapeutic musician due to covid. This meant I had to reinvent myself and my way of making a living and I now work as a caregiver. I enjoy this work and having one steady job to support myself.  While I loved gigging and bringing music to so many different places, it was also a difficult lifestyle to never work the same schedule week after week. I can remember many nights waking up in the middle of the night and asking myself, "What day is tomorrow? Where am I supposed to be? " The same was true about the freelance financial life. It could be weeks before I received payment for a gig and sometimes my savings came close to depletion before I was got enough money to pay my bills and expenses for the month. 

The other gift about losing my professional musician "status" is that I can go back to doing music for the love of it and not to have to strain to try to support myself. I now do virtual music sessions and I love to learn new music to play for my nursing home residents. I love the growth that comes from my continual growing repertoire and new clients. 

Another unexpected gift is that I joined a Handbell choir at a church where I used to play percussion (snare drum).  When that ensemble ended due to Covid, I was invited to play the handbells.  We were able to keep that ensemble going because we can practice from a distance in the large sanctuary of the church.  I enjoyed this new role of mine, ringing the bells with others. To me it became a metaphor for listening to how my notes fit into the melody and how we all contributed to bringing harmony and beauty in a dark time. 

Above is a photo from Christmas Eve just before our ensemble rang, "Carol of the Bells." A great way to end the year. 

What have been your unexpected gifts 2020 brought? 

I am happy to see this year ends with hope. Vaccines on the horizon, a new president ready to take office. I wish you all much peace, good health and happiness this year and always! 

Setbacks lead to new directions

On Halloween, I cut my left index finger while working in a kitchen. Part of my fingertip got cut off, right where I have to fret the guitar. It's now been one month and I am still in a bandage.  Sounds like a setback, right? and, it is. But it also led me in a new direction. I'll tell you about it. 

There's a great guitarist and musician, Harvey Reid who is considered a pioneer in his work in using partial capos for guitar. A partial capo depresses 3 or more strings which enables one to get a unique sound from the guitar that resembles an open tuning. There's a whole website devoted to this topic right here at Partial Capo.Com.  I've explored various partial capo environments and it's not only fun but can lead to some new sounds. 

A few weeks ago, I delved into Harvey's Liberty Guitar tuning which uses a small change in tuning along with a partial capo. The result is that I am able to play a fair amount of music but instrumental and chords with just two fingers. That means I can still play music for my nursing home patients (virtually). 

I spent the morning writing down the tab notation for a few Christmas tunes. It is like working a puzzle, having to rethink the fretboard as I map out the melody and harmony. It is a lot of fun! 

Being injured need not be a bad thing. Of course, I would rather I was not injured. But what I have always seen is that setbacks always lead me to new directions if I look for the opportunities that come. 

If you play the guitar, I encourage you to find out about this method of guitar playing. The other thing it is good for is if you play with other guitarists, you can play the Liberty tuning chords which is a higher voicing than in standard 1st position chords. It sounds nice together. 

So, that's what I have been up to the last month. I am looking forward to Christmas and sharing holiday music and cheer. I am looking forward to complete healing of my finger. You will be hearing all about that too! 

Take good care and stay safe! 

Swan or Dragon

 

Though I mostly talk about my music here in my blog, I also really like to do artwork. In particular, I love do do collage. You have seen some of them here and picture above is my most recent and my favorite. 

What I like to do is color from various coloring books I have and collect my favorite images from them and paste them onto a canvas. In this case, the canvas above is from a discarded painting from a friend. As soon as I saw it,  I knew I wanted to have a Swan in this piece.   Yet while I was coloring the swan, I let myself choose whatever colors I felt led to (even if they are not colors found on a real swan). It ended up resembling more of a dragon. What do you think? Maybe part swan, part dragon? 

As for update about my music, I continue to do more virtual sessions and I really enjoy it. I had worried that the format would feel impersonal but if I were able to visit the nursing home residents, I would have to be socially distanced and wearing a mask. Whereas on our computer screens, we can be up close and personal. For some it would be like watching a personalized TV show created just for them. 

I am glad I can keep doing music at least on a minimal way during this pandemic. I hope you are all finding ways to nourish your creativity too. 

Thanks as always for stopping by! 

Going Virtual

Hi everyone! Well, after 4.5 months off from my music work, I have finally joined the ranks of virtual service. I did my first virtual therapeutic music session on FaceTime today and it went really well! I was surprised with how easy and effective it was. 

I have missed the residents at the nursing homes where I have worked for many years. I did not pursue doing music virtually with the nursing homes because I did not think they would have the means to do it.  I have come to find out that many places will bring a tablet or cell phone in a resident's room and set it up for the patient. 

I was happy to see my friend A. today. I have worked with her about a year now. She is currently in hospice, so it is uncertain how much time we have left to share music. 

When the nurses aid called me and we hooked up to FaceTime, she said A. was very sleepy and was not sure she could stay awake. That is not a problem though because I believe that deep relaxation is a beneficial response to music. However, that is not what happened!  As soon as she heard my voice, her eyes lit up and she began to move to the music.  A. is non verbal but she shows her response to music in her eyes, facial expressions and body movements. It was such a joy to sing for her as it did me so much good too. It has been hard to feel like I could not do the work I feel I am meant to be doing. 

Today showed me there is no barrier now. With my iPad and guitar and voice, I can still reach them. 

So grateful!

I know if you are reading this, you have also experienced challenges and setbacks from this pandemic. It is my hope you have also experienced blessings in disguise and new beginnings. 

Here's to more new beginnings. :) 

P.S. That's my cat, Abilene in the picture in her first Zoom class this spring. Unfortunately, she passed away a few weeks ago. Sure miss her!