Next week is World Piano Day - Wednesday 29th March - however I am going away for a week this coming Thursday 23rd and this means I won't be in the UK for it!
So when Astbury Mere Care Home in Congleton contacted me with the aim of spreading some piano joy to some of their residents as a nod to the day, I was delighted that they were able to work with me and find an alternative date.
And in its own special way, it worked out very well!
On Monday 20th March I turned up - equipped with my trusty Casio Privia PX-53 (Priya) etc. - and played through some firm favourite.
The residents dined on afternoon tea as they also lent their best singing voices to such classics as 'Fly Me To The Moon', 'You'll Never Walk Alone', 'Beyond the Sea' and 'Wouldn't it be Loverly', before a request of jazz led me to some firm Gershwin favourites - 'Somebody Loves Me', 'Summertime', 'Swanee' and my personal favourite; 'I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise'. And then the requests came thick and fast. Whether it be the staff requesting more contemporary songs from Calum Scott or 'Memory' from 'Cats' to requests such as 'The White Cliffs of Dover' or 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square', it never ceases to amaze me how interactive the residents of care homes and retirement homes are when it comes to requesting and singing along!
It was even one of their birthdays - and needless to say that that particular song (you know, the one we all sing at birthdays!) raised the roof!
I finished off with a medley of classical / modern classical piano - Bach's 'Prelude in C Major', Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' (1st Movement) and Mozart's 'Sonata No. 11 in A Major' (1st Movement), finishing with Einaudi's beautiful 'I Giorni'.
Performing at care homes and retirement homes is always such a welcoming atmosphere and I can't wait to perform at more in the future.
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