On
Tuesday, March 18th, Heather Hart and I headed over to the Hearthstone Cottage,
an adult care center in downtown Ellensburg. We arrived to find a fairly large
crowd of residents, probably 35 or so, awaiting our performance. One resident,
an excellent former violin player, Dr. Byrd, was momentarily entertaining
them with piano music. Heather and I began playing some Pleyel duets. These
were fairly simple, but fun, light classical pieces that the audience really
seemed to enjoy. After playing three or four duets, we took requests for about
20-30 minutes. We played everything from "Ave Maria" and "Meditation
from Thais" to "America the Beautiful" to "Orange Blossom
Special". The audience had quite a few suggestions, including a lot of
patriotic songs.
This studio project was really moving to me. I was amazed at how little work and time it takes to go brighten someon's day. Afterwards, so many of the residents expressed their heartfelt appreciation for our playing, and told us to come back again any time. Heather and I felt privileged to perform for an older generation and share our music with them. Especially moving was their deep patriotism. When we played several of the national songs, there were more than a few who had tears in their eyes.
I plan to go back and play for Hearthsone and other homes even if it is not
required. It takes so little on my part to give something back to others,
and to share something of myself through music. This project
was really profitable to me by opening my eyes to some of the service opportunities
that surround me.
Heidi Foster