Christmastime is Here

Today is Christmas Day and so Merry Christmas to you, dear reader! I wanted to tell you about my day yesterday, on Christmas Eve. I went to work at the hospital and played for some people in ICU.  On my route, I went to check in on a patient I played for last week. When I arrived at his room, the nurse gave me the news he was going home!   I went in his room and there he was, all dressed with his coat on and his belongings all packed up and ready to go.   His wife stood by his side and I said, "Merry Christmas!"  Then I got out my guitar and started to sing, "Joy to the World" and his wife joined in. As we stood singing, my new friend began to cry tears of joy for going home on the holiday. We only had a few more minutes to visit before the hospital staff came to escort him to the parking lot.  He said, "when this is all over, I am going to call you up and invite you to come over and sing with us!"

Later, I was playing some holiday music on my guitar in the lobby when a man approached and asked if I also sang. He said he wanted to harmonize with me and so we sang a bunch of carols together. I loved how our voices blended and the people going by smiled as they listened. Then he sang a few by himself as I accompanied him on the guitar before he said he had to go to see his family up in the room he was visiting.

Just a couple of glimpses to show why I love to play on Christmas at the hospital. I also want to mention the many staff members who cheerfully looked on as I played and said they were also working today on Christmas Day. I plan to return today in hopes to brighten someone's holiday.
Merry Christmas, everyone!

Winter Solstice and the darkest days

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. We are in the darkest time of year and it is a New Moon too. So if you live away from street lights, it's pretty dark out at night. I see it as a metaphor for this time of year too. With Christmas looming ahead, there is the pressure of shopping, family gatherings, parties and the like. So what happens if you are an introvert? Or of you don't like parties?  I have learned it is ok to be quiet amidst the noise and bustle.

I am reminded of something from a guitar class I took many years ago. There was an ensemble of guitarists that performed and with them onstage was someone standing there without a guitar. He did not speak or play a note of music. Later we were told he was "holding the silence."  How cool is that?  I'd like to have that job once in awhile.   To be a holder of silence amid the noise and busyness would be a nice gift to bring to the world, don't you think so?

These last few weeks though I have been bringing music to people in all kinds of places. Nursing homes, hospital, the gym, day care centers, homes. There is something extra special about this time of year too because most people think of it as a joyous time but I see a lot of sadness too. We are thinking of another  year gone by, people we have not seen or who have passed on. We forget that the solstice and Christmas time is also about sadness and not just joy. We can't have one without the other.

I will never forget I once worked for someone who said to me one day when i was sad, "I LOVE to be sad!!!" I thought it was so odd. And yet what a great attitude to have. Embrace life and full spectrum of color and experience.

Now to finish wrapping some presents. Hope you are enjoying the shortest day of the year. :)

The Twelve Daze of Christmas

Singing with groups can be such great fun and some days really stand out over others. Yesterday was such a day when I played at two adult day care centers and later a reception at the new Battle Building Children's Hospital at UVA. 

There is no better feeling than singing with a group who loves to sing. Christmas carols often inspire people who normally do not sing to join in. Everyone knows the words, even elderly or special needs who are non verbal.

Something that has made it challenging for me is that my friend Mary Gordon Hall and I have sung "Mixed Up Carols" for many years.  It's where you take the melody of a one song and sing the words of different carol to it. The problem is, sometimes I can't remember how the songs really go!

Yesterday I got a request to sing, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." This is one carol I haven't really sung regularly and it is a very tricky song to sing!  I was tongue tied many times and it was a good thing the staff was there to help me along!  We did have some good laughs and bringing the holiday cheer is what it is all about!

Pictured is the big Christmas tree at the new Children's hospital at UVA.  I played my solo guitar rendition of "The First Noel" among other holiday favorites. Such a great day and Merry Christmas everyone! 

Beer & Hymns bring festive cheer

 

Last night I attended a most unique and enjoyable event that takes place at Trinity Pub on the 1st Monday nights of the month across from the U.Va campus. "Beer and Hymns"   has been happening for 3 years and enjoys a pretty good attendance. Last night about 30 people gathered to sing Christmas hymns from the St. Mark Lutheran Church hymn books.  There is no better feeling that being in a room full of people who love to sing. Even better--who sing well! The harmonies that wove through the room were heavenly! I absolutely loved it. 

Here's another thing. You don't have to be a church goer to love to sing hymns. A friend of mine who sings in a sacred music ensemble said about the event, "I love to sing hymns, even as an atheist."  Hymns were written with group singing in mind to uplift those who sing and lift them up out of the mundane.  Singing hymns with a group makes you feel bathed in beautiful sounds that wash away daily concerns. It makes you feel, "Everything is right. Everything is going to be ok." 

We live in such time of suffering and conflict and darkness. Now with the holidays approaching, I am aware that many people become more depressed as the pressure to be happy and with family (where some do not have) looms ahead. One way to think about it is that all religious parables are about finding light within the darkest days. If you should find yourself feeling down at this time, then you are aligning yourself with all seekers who looked for the light out of the darkness. 

If you live in town, consider coming! Here is an NPR story about the local Beer & Hymns gatherings. Enjoy and happy singing!

Songs for the 11th hour

I've been playing therapeutic music in ICU at a hospital now for 10 years.  There are days like yesterday when I see how fragile life can be. How our lives change change on a dime. We just don't know one day from the next what life curves life will throw.  ICU is full of people whose lives have been forever altered.  It is challenging to witness the suffering of others and their families.

Yesterday I was playing for patients in the surgical trauma ICU. I was sent to a room of a young man who was in a coma,  and on life support. I was standing at the doorway, looking over where would be the best place to sit (and not be in the way of the nurses) when the patient's mother appeared by my side. She looked as though she hadn't slept in some days and when she saw my guitar, she said with tears in her eyes, "Oh please, play for him. He is a musician and he plays the guitar too."

I found a chair by his side and began to play slow, soothing melodic passages to help bring down his heart rate.  Most of the time in ICU, I do not play something that would be familiar to the patient, especially if they are not able to speak. I can't risk sparking a memory that would call up emotional material for them. So, instead, I make up my own lullabies and soothing, simple music that lets them know I am there. I give a melody they can follow out of the depths of their suffering. A trail to where there is hope, comfort, beauty and healing.

As I played, his mother stood by his side and held his hand. She watched him closely and at one point she said, "I know he can hear you." She would often lean down and kiss his cheek. Her tender caring and love for him was so moving for me to see.  It is quite an honor to meet people in a place where they are the most vulnerable.  I am a stranger to them when i walk in the hospital room, but as soon as I start to play music, we are bonded by the universal language we all speak. The language that has no words.
Above is a picture of me taking in the ICU over the summer by a family member of a patient.

Inspirations, explorations and going back to the roots

I was inspired to take up the acoustic guitar back in 1975 after meeting a new neighbor down the street who was my age and proudly called herself a folksinger. Before meeting her, I was into the rock bands of the time such as Yes, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Beatles, etc. I also played the drums in high school band and I dreamed to be a rock and roll star.

Not long after taking up the guitar, I accompanied my friend Cindy to some of the finest folk clubs in Chicago and I was hooked! The raw honesty, simplicity and beauty of this music stole my heart.  I started taking guitar lessons at The Old Town School of Folk Music . I especially loved the sing alongs  and jams we had on Saturday afternoons. Everyone played together--beginners and professionals, old and young. We all had a chance to choose a song to jam too. I loved the inclusiveness this music encouraged.

Last week I was given quite a special gift by a family member of someone at a nursing home where I sing. It was a book "The Folk Songs of North America." It has hundreds of old songs that were compiled by Alan Lomax who was one of the great American field collectors of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a folklorist, ethnomusicologist, historian, and film-maker. His work played important role in the American and British folk revivals of the 1940s, '50s and early '60s.

I have had so much fun these last few days just going over this book. I have found some songs I've never heard before and loved at first listen like "Down at Penny's Farm" .  I found an old gem that James Taylor made into a big hit in the 1970s. Do you remember "Wandering" ? I've always thought it was one of Taylors' originals.  I was mesmerized by a beautiful Irish song I'd forgotten, "Black is the Colour."  I loved finding on YouTube new renditions of these old songs like Norah Jones' singing, "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?" I was reminded of the power of Bluegrass after hearing Alison Kraus & Union Station singing the raucous ballad, "Wild Bill Jones."

Since I work professionally as a musician, it is a rare treat for me to get to spend time playing songs just for my own fun and enjoyment. I really think this is important as it keeps me growing and keeps the love of music shining strong in my heart. 

What music stirs your soul?

Signing songs and singing good times

Such a fun music session I had yesterday with a young adult group (special needs).  I showed them some sign language signs I know and taught them to sing "Happy Birthday" in sign. We had a visitor who is a speech pathologist and she showed us how she signed to the song, "Wasted again in Margaritaville." You can imagine how funny that looked!

Then we talked about Thanksgiving holiday approaching and how there are not many songs about it. I showed them how easy it can be to make up our own songs by taking a well known melody and writing new words to it. Here is one song I found on the internet that we sang:

A Thanksgiving Song (sung to the tune of "Row, Row, Row your Boat"

The Pilgrims sailed away, far across the sea.
They came to America, so they could be free.
The Native Americans, helped them plant the corn.
Then they shared a great big feast, Thanksgiving Day was born!

Then I broke out my percussion instruments and we played "Follow the Leader" where the leader plays the big drum and sets the beat and we follow them. Everyone got to play their own beat and I played my Native American flute while they drummed.  We then sang a few Native American Chants like 'Hey Hey Watanee," "I am One with the Infinite Sun."

We wrapped up our music session with a few patriotic songs for Veteran's Day. In between we sang some fun songs and old songs and everything in between! It was quite a good time!