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A Concert for One
North Miami Beach, Florida 3-6-2000 Aaron H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.
A CONCERT FOR ONE
At the age of one hundred Lady Lil has not had it easy. She has suffered
several injuries by falling either from her wheel chair or bed. She is very
frail, looks her age and has bouts of remembering things that do not square
with reality. She is very loving and looks forward to being cuddled and
kissed. She returns hugs and kisses fervently and wants to prolong our
visits and doesn't want us to go.
One of my reasons for taking up the violin was to be able to play "Happy
Birthday" for my mother-in-law. She was interested and joyful learning
about my lessons and progress. I told her of my plan to play this music for
her and this was one of the things she accepted as a reason for us to leave
her. My having to go home to practice on the violin made sense and
reluctantly she would stop pleading with us not to leave.
I asked my teacher to write out the music for Happy Birthday. You would
think it easy for me to pick the melody out on the strings but it doesn't
work that way. She had trouble too. She thought a bit and then went and got
an opinion. The notes are straightforward, but she had to show me a new
note that wasn't yet in the pages she had assigned to me. So, I had the
music and I practiced. I am not ready for Carnegie Hall, but I felt ready
and it was necessary NOW for me to play for Lady Lil.
Carol accompanied me to the Villa Maria today and she held the music book
so I could play Ode to Joy, a second piece I planned for this occasion. We
found Lady Lil in bed restless and going in and out of sleep. She pried her
eyes open to pay attention when I told her this was the day of my recital.
So, I played Happy Birthday twice through and she said it was wonderful. It
wasn't, but it was recognizable and I played it by heart. I still had
trouble with the new note but slurred through it. The Ode to Joy piece was
not too smooth but I got through it and it, too, was recognizable.
Lady Lil had the will to get up and do things but not the strength. I am
glad that I chose today for my recital. Carol's Evaluation: 10+ out of 10.
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