Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Music to their ears

As part of a Venture Scouts project, Older Daughter helped put on a music recital at a nursing care facility in a nearby town.

The recital consisted of the students of an elderly and much beloved lady named Genevieve, who teaches piano and harp. While this particular recital only had four harps present, I've seen as many as fifteen at other recitals.


This past weekend, the short recital was held in the dining room of the nursing facility to bring a little cheer into the lives of the residents. Here the students are setting up...



...and tuning up.


A flyer was distributed throughout the rather extensive facility, inviting all who appreciated music to attend. Eventually there was about a hundred residents who came to hear the joy...


...in all stages of health.


Older Daughter opened the recital by welcoming everyone...


...and introduced Genevieve (on the left, in red), who stood up to take a bow.


One of the things I like about Genevieve's recitals is students are required to dress like ladies and gentlemen. I think the little extra air of formality encourages people to play or sing their very best. This young man was the announcer for each selection.


Here Older Daughter is playing her piece.



This young lady sang a Christmas song, accompanied on the piano by her older sister.


Then her even younger brother also belted out a song. As you can imagine, the performances of these very young people warmed the hearts of the very old people who came to listen.


A harp solo.


I was sitting behind this couple. The wife, on the right, had a very sweet smile. She was clearly in poor health and living in the nursing facility. The husband, on the left, was clearly in superb health and living off-site. They held hands the whole time. When the recital was over, I watched him push his wife's wheelchair out of the dining room. There was a great deal of tenderness between them, palpable even to a stranger like me.


Altogether I think Older Daughter's project was a great success.

10 comments:

  1. Patrice,

    A big thank you to your Oldest Daughter for going to the nursing home, and entertaining the elderly with beautiful music, songs, and love. It's so often the elderly are forgotten this time of year.

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  2. Our granddaughters' piano teacher has his students play a Christmas concert at an assisted living center each year. He says that the center calls at the first of the month to make sure that they can come. At that time they set a date. The kids all enjoy it and look forward to it as much as the residents. One granddaughter heard an advanced student play the "Carol of the Bells" two years ago at her first concert and dreamed of getting to play it also. This year she gets to play it! After the music the students mingle with the residents, talk about their music and generally socialize for a while. A good time for everyone.

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    1. Mom and I hung out the better part of this year in a care facillity with Dad rehabing. The special touches with visiting dogs (and pig), friendly young people poping in 'just to say hi', and the special music sure made Dads stay alot easier to handle. Blessings to Older Daughter (Younger Daughter too) and her folks who instilled a loving/careing nature in their girls.

      P.S. Dad(85)is doing fine.

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  3. Older daughter is just lovely! It looks like everyone enjoyed the recital. Thank you for sharing this special day with us!

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  4. Older Daughter looked especialy lovely at the recital. What a sweet way to minister to these older folks. Love your Blog...it's always so uplifting and informative. Love,love,love your Random pics, too.
    Vera

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  5. What a wonderful gift your DD gave to these folks. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Lovely! And so nice to see what your amazing daughter is up to.

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  7. Gives us hope in a new generation doesn't it!! And if more people knew what a joy it is to these people I am sure more would participate. Thank you to your daughter and all for doing this for these older people.

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  8. What a sweet and lovely thing to do by a sweet and lovely young lady! :)

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  9. Makes me sort of sad that my piano teachers never thought of this idea for recitals. I would have much preferred to perform for a room full of appreciative nursing care residents than at a church or social hall for just parents/family. A very good idea indeed. Now, if we could just hear some clips of their performances...;o) Older daughter is lovely and I'm sure her playing was as well.

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