Piano Performance at Greenwood Assisted Living

For months, I have been practicing and learning a new piano piece, Inventio 13, composed by Bach. I have a big competition coming up, and felt nervous at the thought of playing in front of a big audience. So I thought “What if I got the chance to practice in front of an audience to sooth my nerves”? And the senior home was the perfect place to do so. I know all of them very well, so playing for them was so fun. They all LOVE music, so it was a win win!!

It is important for me to practice on different pianos in front of different audiences to become comfortable, because when I play in front of the judges, I want it to be perfect. My piano teacher jokes that I should be 200% ready!

When I called the events coordinator, Shelly, to set up a time for me to perform for the guests, she was thrilled about the idea. She told me that if they feel lonely, music always puts them in a good mood. She told me about a specific guest, Ralph, who has a deep connection to piano by Bach (which I happened to be rehearsing). “Ralph loves Bach. It is the only thing that gets him up these days”, she said.

The guests enjoyed the music so much that some of them were approaching the piano, which is exciting seeing as they are typically sedentary. In the picture on the left, you can see the lady who, seconds before that photo was taken, had tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. She is non-verbal, and doesn’t usually communicate, so this was exciting. When I turned, she smiled at me and gestured towards the piano to tell me “Keep playing!”. I happily granted her wish, and she sat by my side for the rest of the song. Music is known to raise spirits, and today it certainly did!

Coming Up:

I was at Michaels, and spotted a set of paper Thanksgiving turkey hats. I thought “what a fun idea!” So I bought them, and called Shelly (the event coordinator) so set up a date and time to decorate them with the guests. So next weekend, we can make turkey hats as a little festive activity for Thanksgiving.

Kitty Walker (Coordinator for Love Is The Answer) invited me to collaborate with her on December 21st at Bello Gardens Assisted Living to do coloring and decorating with the guests. I accepted the invitation, and look forward to it.