Piano Lesson for the Residents!

Saturday, March 1st 2025

By: Charlotte Hendrey

Today at Bello Gardens Assisted Living, I had the idea to do something that I haven't ever done before with the residents.

Many of the residents, (chiefly Charlie and Peter) love and worship classical music (especially Bach). (In many blog posts I have written how Charlie cries every time I play Bach on the piano). My piano teacher, Umeda, assigned me to learn about the Baroque period, homework that I was NOT looking forward to doing. But, being with the residents can turn something that is boring (like piano homework) into something engaging and especially educational for them! Plus, teaching is one of the best ways to learn. So with all of this in mind, I decided to give them a little piano lesson today!

I started off by playing Baroque music (Invention 13 by Bach), and a Romantic piece by Shumann, which was a little introduction to the lesson. Charlie was elated when he listened to me play Bach, he was waving his arms and teary eyed. When I finished the two songs, I told the guests about how practicing piano comes in many forms, including learning piano theory. Peter was intrigued and asked me to explain. So I asked them if they wanted me to teach them a bit about the Baroque Period, and all the guests (not to my surprise) excitedly encouraged me (especially Charlie!).

So I gave them a little engaging history lesson, and asked them thought provoking questions. They were astonished to learn that the piano wasn't invented during the baroque period, and that all "piano" music was played on the harpsichord! The residents were curious about what the petals on the piano did, so I asked them to come up and see for themselves. Peter eagerly came to experiment with them. I asked the residents if any of them ever played an instrument when they were younger, and a couple of them raised their hands. I was shocked to find out that both of them played piano, like me, since they were around 5 years old!

I taught them how music during the Baroque period was "polyphonic", meaning many voices. So in Invention 13 (which I played earlier), has many "voices" through the two hands playing. Charlie asked "Can you play it again please! I love Bach". I told him yes, but this time, I said "Think about the 'multiple voices' in the music while I play.'

When I played Invention 13 again, I told them to say "left" or "right" depending on if my left or right hand had the "main voice" at the moment. So I played it again, and the guests did a good job of yelling "left!" and "Right"! In the end, they were all laughing because their answers were so mixed. I looked at Charlie and Peter and they were both crying. Peter said "Its so beautiful".

The guests had so many questions, and I answered all of them happily. Charlie asked me a very important question "Why were all the composers men?". I told him that back then, women did not play piano, because they had different social norms. "Wow! Good thing you are not in that time!", he said, laughing. Overall, it was a great day and they were excited for me to come back next time.