Spring flowers, spring concert

Last week was VSA Arts  annual spring concert and it was a lot of fun and very special for me. We had rehearsals both Monday and Tuesday and the concert on Wednesday. It is always a great time for our community to finally be able to perform songs some of them have been practicing since winter.

One group sang, "You've Got a Friend," and another did, "Rockin' Robin," and of course we also had African drumming led by Whit. I had prepared to sing two poems I set to music written by George Eliot. However, it turned out that I got hit with a cold the night before and felt too congested to sing and I changed my selection to be my instrumental song, "Promise of Spring."  

I don't have the pictures back yet from the concert and so I show you my spring flowers in my front yard instead.  So much beauty to behold! With it being an election year and so much ugliness going on in the world, I feel lucky to be part of events that bring beauty and happiness to others.
Are your flowers in bloom yet? Happy Spring!

Celebration of Nature with music, poetry and art

One of my favorite gigs I do each year is a collaboration I do with The Live Poets Society at Ivy Creek Foundation .  In this beautiful setting we celebrate the beauty of nature with music, poetry and art. What could be a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? 

For my contribution, I sang some of my own original compositions like:

and also set some poems by George Eliot to music "Blue Wings," "Ay De Mi" and "Spring Comes Hither."  In addition, I sang a couple of parodies I made up about Ivy Creek. Here's my favorite one:

A Place called Ivy Creek  (To the tune of "House of the Rising Sun") There is a place in CharlottesvilleThey call it Ivy CreekAnd we’ve been pursuin’ many new trailsWe walked a new one this week My mother she’s a beekeeperShe maintains honeybeesMy sweetheart has a sweet toothHe consumes the colonies Go tell my baby sisterTo bring the binocularsI want to see the birds in the skyInstead we saw catepillars
~~

I enjoyed listening to the poetry of the members of the Live Poets Society and visiting with everyone on our intermission. It was such a nice time and thanks to all who came!

Tales of a Mystery Guest

I had a very interesting opportunity where I participated in the local library's program, "The Big Read." This is a National program where libraries choose a book to be read and host various discussions and events based on the novel. This year's book was, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers. The biggest theme in the book is our struggle with isolation. The book centers on several characters who are in some ways a misfit or social outcast. There is also one deaf character in the book which is the reason I was chosen to give a presentation about my cochlear implant journey after the screening of the documentary, "Lost & Sound." 

I also played in the grand finale of for The Big Read which was a lot of fun.  One of the activities for the program asked people to submit art work that was inspired by the themes of the book. I enjoyed seeing the photographs, paintings, drawings and collage displayed at The Haven where the finale took place.

I enjoyed playing some of my own songs that spoke on this. One of them being my song, "Mystery Song"  here are some of the words:

"Why are you standing outside?
Life has invited you along
Come to the table inside.
You belong, you belong

All that you want is seeking you
why don't you let yourself be found
You really never are alone
Welcome home, welcome home."

I also played some poems I found of Carson McCullers and George Eliot I set to music. I've always loved books about as much as I love music, so that was a lot of fun.
Above I'm pictured playing my Native American style flute which I opened the program with. A very fun gig indeed!

A week in the life of a therapeutic musician

In the space of a week, I have a diverse range of experiences bringing music to hospital patients and people with disabilities.  There was the day at the hospital I was playing on an ICU unit and was asked to play outside of a room full of people. A big family surrounded this patient and I could see that something big happened. People were crying and embracing and huddled together. After awhile, a woman came out and said, "Hi, I know you from my school."    I nodded hello and smiled to acknowledge her as I continued to play soft instrumental guitar music.  Then she said, "My father passed away today! " and she pointed to his room and began to sob. I said, "I'm so sorry" and looked away to give her space and I kept playing quietly. It can be hard to see people in these kinds of moments but it is also an honor. I am often placed into people's lives at a crossroad or a major rite of passage.

The next day found me in totally different circumstances where I played for a group of young adults with developmental disabilities.  I could see they were in the mood to be silly, so I got out some Madlibs I made up to create our own funny songs. Here's the one everyone liked the best:

"My spaghetti skied over the mountain
my spaghetti skied over the pool
my spaghetti skied over the mountain
now bring my spaghetti to me..."

(To the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean")

I even ended up telling some Christmas jokes. (That's because those are the only jokes I know)

Q: Why is Santa good at Karate
A: Because he has a black belt

You see? There is grief one day and laughter the next. Music has a place in our hearts for every kind of situation.

VSA Art Show and Community

Each year  VSA Arts  has an art show featuring local artists with disabilities.   It is one of my favorite events of the whole year!  I love to see their creative art pieces framed and hung on the walls of the local recreation center. You can usually meet the proud artist standing underneath their work who will tell you all about their piece. I provide instrumental guitar music as a backdrop to the gathering of local artists, friends and family members who have come to support VSA.

When it's time for the speakers to come and say a few words about VSA and the participants, I am so struck with how proud I feel to be a part of this community. Some of these artists are people I have known since the early 1990s.

Music and art are what bring people together, sharing memories and creating more.  When I see the news on TV and watch the presidential election coverage,  I see how much negativity we have in our world now. Then when I look at the art that my friends have made and see their smiles and pride beaming, I am overcome with how grateful I feel to be a part of something that brings joy to others.

This night was a rainy night but that did not stop people from coming. I was standing with the two of my artist friends when a man came up to ask about the art show.  I told him all about VSA and introduced them to my friends who proudly showed them their paintings. He brightened when he saw their works of art and when he saw they were for sale, he asked, "How can I go about purchasing these?"   I led him to the desk where payments for the art were being made. Earlier, before this man came, I had just been talking the artists about what they planned to do with the money they made from the sale of their pieces. "Go to Outback for dinner!" one of them replied.

A delightful thing we have going here in my town and I'm so proud to be a part of it!

We'll keep that a secret...

Playing music for older adults with Alzheimer's and dementia can be challenging at times but in the long run, it is all worth the effort.  There is one woman where I play who yells things out as I play relaxing instrumental music on my classical guitar. "Turn that music off! It's awful! That's enough of that." Is what she says about every five minutes all through the hour. But would you look at that view in the picture above? This is in Madison county and the home where this woman yells at me is. I don't take offense at this because she is ill and maybe her saying that is the only way she can have a sense of control in her life.

There are also some surprises that can happen too. The other day I was singing and playing for one group I play for once a month. At the end of our sing along session, one of the ladies said to me, "You are a very sweet person." I said, "what a nice thing to say, thank you." She said, "You are." Then I said, "Thank you, it takes one to know one. " She blushed then and said, "Well...I guess that is true." Then she gave a mischievous smile and said, "We'll keep that a secret."

Not only was this an endearing encounter it was also a surprise because when this woman was new at this home, she would plug her ears and tell me to go away and yell out, "Make it stop!" This went on for a couple of months.  I am not sure what made her decide I was alright but we are apparently friends now.

There are all kinds of things like this I see in my work and it still is the best job I've ever had.  

The Art of Reinventing

Yesterday was my debut performance with Nursing Homes Swing, a non- profit that brings jazz music into local nursing homes. This marks an exciting new direction for me and I feel I am really hitting my stride reinventing myself as a jazz artist! Perhaps it was always in the making waiting for me to discover. I say this because when I was a child, my mother worked as a waitress next door to a jazz club (in Chicago). She used to take me there and I have very faint memories of standing in that smokey room with the exotic sounds of jazz filling the atmosphere. My mom became friends with one of the jazz musicians then, Jimmy Smith  and to this day, those memories are my mothers' favorites to talk about.

I learned a lot of new repertoire for this gig and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge!  Something about jazz that is very freeing is that you find your own way to sing the song. When I was working on learning a new song, I would listen to the great singers such as: Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennet, Judy Garland, Brenda Lee,  and each version was different! It was impossible to learn the "right" melody from these recordings because every singer had their own unique interpretation. And so I worked to find my own. If the notes that were written on the musical score were beyond my vocal range, I found a note that harmonized with it and sang that. It was so freeing and so much in the spirit of jazz! One does not need to sing exactly what is written, that is just a map or a recipe. For those who like to cook, you know what I mean by this. When you look at a recipe, you can alter the ingredients, adding your own flavors and spices to your own liking. No one's pot of chili is the same. Some like it hot, others don't. (I like it hot! :)

It's the same with jazz and me. Here are some of the songs I sang yesterday: "Moonlight in Vermont," "How High the Moon," "It's Only a Paper Moon," "My Favorite Things," "Smile," "Nature Boy," etc. Learning a new genre of music is like learning a new language. I wonder where this new direction will take me? Stay tuned!  

What new direction might you be taking with this new year?