My Favorite Gigs

I haven’t had a full-time work gig for quite a while now, not since I left my more-than-full-time job in marketing research at the end of 2010.  Since then, I’ve had independent contractor and part-time gigs in research and in health coaching, as well as maintaining my own private coaching practice.  These paid gigs are critical to my survival and fulfilling in many other ways too, but today I worked a couple of the unpaid gigs that give me the most satisfaction of all.  I played piano for groups of residents at two assisted living communities here in Cincinnati, one called Bridgeway Pointe that caters to men and women of all ages and the other a home for retired Franciscan sisters.  I have a third that I play for regularly too – a somewhat more upscale facility called The Kenwood that is located on a hillside overlooking downtown and that has a lovely baby grand in the music room – a huge bonus for me!  I try to schedule it so that I do the first two back-to-back on a weekday afternoon (usually Wednesday) and the other on the Saturday afternoon before or after that Wednesday.  That way I can work up a program for all three, perform it, and then have a little bit of a breather before getting serious about the next month’s program development and practice. 

 

I’ve played piano since I was a very little girl – my mom had my brother and me at the piano as soon as we were able to sit still for more than a few minutes!  And she taught us both until we were about junior-high age; then we graduated to lessons with an amazing music professor at North Dakota State University, where our dad was on the Chemistry faculty.  My brother Paul went on to become a professional musician and entertainer, still working steadily on cruise ships that go all over the world.  I went on to embrace different interests and priorities, career- and family-wise.  My piano playing ebbed and flowed over the years but mainly ebbed until those priorities shifted to allow me the time and space in my brain and heart to take it up again.  I took a year or two of classical lessons and a scant year of jazz piano lessons (such a different language!!!), and eventually an opportunity presented itself to play for one of the assisted living communities mentioned above.  The additional contacts and opportunities came through a women’s networking group a year later, and I am so grateful for them all. 

 

It makes such a difference to me to be able to practice with a goal in mind – a program to think about and plan, and people to play for.  It also is wonderful to practice at home for someone who appreciates my playing.   So, as I was driving home this afternoon after playing for the retired nuns and the Bridgeway Pointe residents, I was just glowing inside.  I felt great and I knew that I had brightened the days of about 25 wonderful people whose days aren’t always that bright.  I’ve been volunteering for four full years now, and during that time residents have come to rely on wheelchairs and oxygen tanks.  Their posture has weakened and their awareness dimmed, and sometimes, of course, they pass away.  I can be sitting in my living room practicing alone and get all teary from a piece of music – when I’m playing for my residents, I often have to pause and take a calming breath, so that I don’t break down.   

 

What keeps it light is the lack of inhibition and slight craziness of the environments in these homes – and I write that with fondness and affection.  Here is a list of what happened just today at my two performances:

1)      As usual, residents kept coming in and jostling around with their wheelchairs and aides for the first 20 minutes of our 40-minute time;

2)      One resident wore a pink hooded sweatshirt despite the heat, and then when I glanced up while playing, I noticed that while the hood was down, she was scrunching it up with her hands to cover her ears – yikes!

3)      Loud guffaws erupted from one gentleman throughout the performance, for no apparent reason

4)      Alex the therapy dog (a fluffy and friendly Bichon) and his owner entered and started walking around the room visiting audience members during the Tchaikovsky

5)      One nun fell sound asleep (love this!)

6)      I heard a heartfelt story from another nun about her childhood; she said she’d not remembered that story until just today, though she’s told it to me many times (sometimes lost memories are a gift – one is then able to remember them again and again?)

7)      Sadly, a couple of my “regulars” looked very out of it today, one in particular seemed so much smaller than last month, in stature and presence/energy

8)      Happily, it was M’s birthday and she had a bright balloon tied to her wheelchair and a special guest visitor whom she was so proud to introduce to me

9)      As always, they so sweetly applauded and asked after my children and when I was coming next time

 

I can’t end before mentioning a certain woman whom I’ve not seen for a while, but I will never forget the first time she came to one of my little concerts.  She came in a little late, in a wheelchair and with an aide, and when the aide introduced her she said nothing, just looked startled and was quite shaky.  However, the aide said that she had performed as an opera singer in her earlier years, and when I began playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata a few minutes later, she began singing the melody in a clear, haunting voice.  I have tears streaming down my face now, remembering it.

 

I have a lot of reasons for not wanting to again commit myself to an all-consuming job; surely one of the best ones is that I need to allot a meaningful amount of my time to practicing for performing these monthly piano gigs – for the dear residents’ sake, and for my own.