Music and Sharing

This afternoon, I will be performing at a seniors' residence with one of the members of my trio. Zach, the flute player will attending his brother's 50th birthday party. My ensemble, the Taffanel Wind Ensemble (named after the great flutist and composer, Paul Taffanel) has been playing together for over nine years. During this time, we have had the opportunity to visit and entertain at many residences in the GTA. We often joke that the we a casing out our future homes. This is a way to see how some of seniors live. Residences range from the delux and we must admit that we enjoy visiting these homes. The residents enjoy classical music and area more open to what we do. The recreation directors or wellness and activation as they are now known are also more inclined to book us. Once we have visited a home, we have very little difficulty booking a return visit. Many of the residents are eager for entertainment other than the usual sing-a-long of old songs. About a month, ago, we visited a new residence for us that is financially challenged and does not have the aura of elegance that some of the residences that we visit have. What was a real eye opener about the visit was that a number of the residents knew what a bassoon is and recognized some of the music as we warmed up for the performance. These people were eager to hear our performance and appreciated the opportunity to enjoy our performance. They were one of the most appreciative audience that we have entertained for quite sometime.

It is wonderful to still be playing all these years and able to share what I love to do. I started playing over 40 years ago. In my position as a part-time teacher at a high school, I have been making it a point to take student groups to places like Toronto General Hospital cardiac wing, Sunnybrook K-wing (veterans residence) and seniors' homes to share their music. It is my hope that they will continue in the future and take the time to share their music with others.