justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

BETTE Band

I recently watched a TEDx talk by Robin Spielberg, which included her experiences with music as a healing force with her premature baby. She also chronicled her experiences performing for seniors in a convalescent home, and the effect the music had on some of the residents.

This TEDx talk reminded about the fortunate experiences I had as a member of the BETTE Band – Bringing Entertainment to the Elderly – an informal group of staff members working for World Savings, a successful thrift headquartered in Oakland, California.

I spent about eight years playing the keyboard once or twice a month with the BETTE Band, which was made up of a variety of other instruments, including two guitars (played by the company COO, joined by his dummy Stumpy), banjo, viola, saxophone, drums, and an occasional song leader.  

Our repertoire included folk favorites such as You Are my Sunshine, Home on the Range, On Top of Old Smoky, and She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain. Our repertoire also included occasional solos such as The Entertainer and The Battle of New Orleans – a special treat by Stumpy.

We played at many convalescent homes in the greater Northern California area. Our audiences often included up to two dozen of the residents, several in wheelchairs or using walkers – with some folks getting up for dancing and lots of clapping. Every performance included some residents who rarely talked, joining in. Some even came out of their rooms the first time for that day at the sound of the singing.

One Christmas season, we were scheduled in an Alzheimer facility and while playing familiar Christmas songs, several residents were seen mouthing the words when they hadn’t made a sound in years. That experience helped us understand the true meaning of the holiday spirit and the gift of giving to others.

All in all, each time we performed, we observed a transformation on the part of the residents, with lots of applause and occasional tears of joy.