The morning of PULSE’s first music outreach event we were unsure if anything was going to go according to plan, the piano in the function room was locked and the key was missing, we weren’t sure if the music groups would be able to find the building, and our biggest fear was that no elders would show. Thankfully, the day went perfectly and we think the elders loved it!
Once we were done setting up, Kelsey, Allie, Chloe, Molly and I sat around a table nervously waiting for the performers and elders to arrive. We were soon greeted by a resident of the building named John, an energetic, jovial man who had us all laughing about how he tells people he’s from Mars and his famous lemonade, made with brown sugar. People started slowly coming in and our group disbanded to sit with elders who didn’t come with friends. We loved seeing the Boston College student-performers sit down and talk with the elders, and we know both parties benefit so much from that interaction. I had the pleasure to sit with a gentleman, Fred, who told Allie and I stories of how mischievous he was growing up, from being blamed for his mother’s gallbladder attack to figuring out a plan to ring everyone’s doorbell on an apartment block at the same time. Fred and I bonded over our Detroit roots, how it gets a bad rap in the media, and how there are many wonderful parts of the city, even though we decided we like Boston a little more.
The Boston College Music Guild began their performance and the unusual instruments enthralled the elders, including a mandolin, which is a very round guitar, and a dulcimer, a flat stringed instrument. The Music Guild played Arabic songs that the elders found very interesting and most told us they had never heard before! Boston College’s Acoustics performed next and the elders seemed to like the two very different types of music. The Acoustics sang current, upbeat songs, including “Benny and the Jets” which the elders loved! We were able to clap, sing, and even got some elders dancing in their chairs to the songs and it was a great ending to the performance.
We loved seeing the elders take so much joy from what to us seems as simple as taking the T a few stops down the B line and singing a couple songs but we now realize it was so much more than that. We were so grateful to see that the elders really enjoyed the event and so thankful to the music groups for taking the time to sing to a population that could benefit so much from it. The thing that made us feel like the event was such a success was to see the relationships formed between the performers and the elders; it made all the planning worth it!
About the Author:
Meghan is a Boston College student who has been working with Little Brothers this year through the PULSE program. At the start of the Spring semester, she and her peers were challenged to create a unique program from idea to implementation. The end product was a terrific program bringing college performers to elders in their homes in an expression of friendship.
For a glimpse into the action, click here