Say "No" to Alzheimer's with Music

If like me, you are working with senior citizens, you know what the major fear of every senior is - it is the fear of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Watching a family member, a friend or a neighbor gradually sinking into ultimate oblivion is heartbreaking and scary, the scary part being that one never knows who will be next.

It is common knowledge that Alzheimer’s is “the point of no return”: once it strikes, there is no way to cure it – it escalates to the extent when a patient is no longer able to recognize his/her family members or perform the most routine functions like eating or using a toilet independently.

About a month ago, due to the nature of my job, I had a chance to attend a seminar dedicated to the research of patients with Alzheimer’s. The seminar took place on-site, in one of Baltimore’s most gorgeous Alzheimer’s assisted living facilities. On our walking tour we got to meet some of the patients, most of which used to have great careers in medicine and law. (No wonder - who else but former doctors and lawyers would be ever able to afford $6,500.00 a month for living in the facility?)

One of the “floor captains”, also known as Dr. Z., who according to our guide, “had been in the facility for a while” invited us into his room. A tall well-groomed and very neatly dressed older man, he was happy to show us around.

Just like his face, his speech was unmistakably one of an intellectual, except that he kept stumbling and stopping every now and then looking for the most essential vocabulary that he could not remember. The scariest part was that there were quite a few of those words. Dr. Z kept struggling while pointing to his TV-set and bed, not being able to name either of the objects. He knew he was not doing good, and was mildly frustrated about not being able to communicate the way he wished to.

It was quite heartbreaking to watch this man, who no doubt used to save people’s lives and cure them from diseases, helplessly looking for the active vocabulary of a toddler.

Looking at Dr. Z’s intelligent face with a somewhat distant departed look on it, I could not get away from the same thought: just like Benjamin Button, once a great man, he will end his days a speechless mental infant?

Back in the conference room we were reminded that there is no way to cure Alzheimer’s. The only way to fight it is to prevent it. How does one prevent a disease that 5.4 million Americans have not been able to? How does one prevent the 6th leading cause of death in the US and the only cause of death that cannot be slowed or cured?

The answer to this question is simple: brain fitness.

How does one keep his/her brain fit? The answer is: through physical exercise and active brain stimulation. Scientists found that exercise is a lot more than just muscle work – it positively affects memory and learning. On the other hand, active exposure to such an art form as classical music improves brain function and protects against cognitive decline. Moreover, for centuries music has been known to have a major healing effect. And this is exactly where I step in.

All that said, allow me to present a very exciting program, called Conductorcise.

Yes, you got it right: conductorcise = conduct + exercise!
Founded by a prominent conductor David Dworkin, a Met regular and a Carnegie Hall frequenter, this program provides individuals of any age, but especially seniors, with essential brain fitness through active emersion in classical music.

In my life I had a chance to meet several individuals who had no idea what conductors are for and what they do on the podiums. Their versions ranged all the way from just standing there to waving their arms too much to getting paid for nothing.

Oh, I know how you feel. I can almost see you all cringing in disapproval. But you know what? For now let us not get into discussing the real value and significance of a conductor. On this blog we are aware, are we not?
My point, however, is that even those who do not appreciate conductors got one thing right: conducting involves a lot of muscle activity, and that my friends, is the core of our discussion today.

The fusion of physical activity and classical music, Conductorcise, is based on a simple activity, for which you do not need anything but

• a classical music CD
• a boom box
• a bunch of chopsticks or pencils
• a group of seniors who do not want to have Alzheimer’s
• consistency ( one session a week at the very least)

If your seniors are able to stand up for 3 minutes, it is great. If not, they can remain seated or start the exercise standing up and sit down later as they get tired.
Each participant gets his/her very own "baton" (a pencil or a chopstick).The instructor plays a beautiful piece of classical music. Seniors “conduct” the way they feel they should, the way they can. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Any way is right and fabulous. They can move around if they want to or stand still. They can conduct with one arm or switch arms. They can remain silent or sing along with the music they are conducting. Anything they do is great.

Last week I launched this program, and am happy to report, it was a huge success. Movement 1 from Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik worked miracles, even though I have to admit it was probably just a little too long for the 1st session. The participants said that it was a good and a very enjoyable workout and that they can’t wait for their next session.

Session #2 is this week.

I recently found a picture of my Opera Appreciation students that I took at one of my live opera events last February. With great sadness I realized that just within this one year, two of my students got Alzheimer’s and are no longer able to participate in any kind of activities. One still lives in her apartment. On her own. Declining every single day, or maybe every single hour.
The other moved out months ago. Obviously, my seminars have not been able to prevent Alzheimer's, but Conductorcise will.

I believe it will.
Do you?
If you feel compassion for every 1 in 8 senior Americans who has Alzheimer's and know that you are able to do a little more about this disease than crying over the movie Notebook, sign the petition to President Obama for a strong National Alzheimer's Plan here.
No, I have not been paid to do this. I just feel that besides Conductorcising, this is the least I can do.

Peabody Days: Good Harmony

Recently Troy’s music classes have been centered around two major musical concepts: tone and rhythm. Playful and fun as these classes are, they are focused on quite serious stuff.
Honestly, as a teacher, I can’t but mentally applaud to Troy’s teacher for his outstanding methodology and ability to keep his instruction accessible, entertaining, multi-level and, most importantly, individualized. In the midst of toddlers with sippy cups and their parents with ambitions and agendas, every child gets his or her own musical challenges to handle.
How does Mr. Eric get to do it all in only half an hour?
I have no idea.

On top of that, he monitors his students’ musical development and tells parents individually what stage their child is at, thus instructing us what to focus on and warning us about possible mistakes that the child may make unless directed otherwise.

It goes without saying that with this serious learning approach in place, a praise from this teacher is worth a million. On Saturday Troy received a major musical praise for his singing, having made me oh, so proud!Having listened to Troy singing one of the songs together with him, Mr. Eric said “Very good harmony, Troy!”
Before it was “Good singing, Troy! or “That was a good one”, which honestly was great – no complaints about it. But good harmony… that sounds impressive, does it not?

On our way home Troy kept asking what harmony was and I had to give him a good and simple explanation to make sure he understood what exactly he had been good at ( to be able to learn better a student always has to know exactly what he has been criticized and praised for).

Meanwhile, at home we are doing some decent tonal work, trying to make good harmony a sweatless routine, rather than a lucky coincidence. Of course, Troy has no idea he is doing any work. He is just having a ball singing, chanting, telling funny stories and playing the piano together with mama. There will be time when work will be work, but at this point, work is a game. He needs no encouragement in that area. Neither do I, but he likes to encourage me anyway: “Mama, sit at the piano. Put your foot on the pedal. You play – I sing.”

Le Nozze - with Troy!

Well, my friends, here I am trying to catch my breath after a 3-weekend opera marathon!

Wow – that sounds pretty great, nes pas?
A three-weekend opera marathon.
I have to tell you, it was a lot of fun (and a lot of work, which it always is, but what work! interesting, fascinating, addictive work!!!).
Cosi in DC, Le Nozze in Baltimore… Two Mozart’s operas with Angela Gheorghiu’s recital in between. A critic’s dream come true, is it not?

You can read all about the Lyric's Le Nozze here, if you scroll just a couple of reviews up. However, just before you leave this page, please remember to come back for the details that I can't wait to share with you.

Le Nozze di Figaro: My sneaky pic of Act 2 set

Friday night was very special, primarily because Troy joined me in our good old Lyric.

Think about it this way: Troy has known and loved Non piu andrai, Voi che sapete, and Se vuol ballare, signor contino since his very early days, when he became a fan of Andre Rieu's talent and my own modest piano playing and singing skills.

And now, finally, here was a great chance for him to experience this opera first-hand and live, to hear it performed by real opera singers, on a real stage, in a real scenery, and from where else but Row H (aka Row 8) in the orchestra.

Troy’s father and I had made an arrangement that Troy would be picked up during the intermission. With all the previously mentioned super hits coming before the intermission, this would be as much of a night at the opera as a 3-year-old could ever enjoy without getting tired.

But of course, nothing at the opera ever happens without an adventure. Not to us anyway.

The will call volunteer got all shaken up at the sight of my 3-year-old son, patiently standing next to me in the lobby. A 3-year old in the opera house – SOS! Run for your life!

Having watched him fussing around the tickets, asking other volunteers if a child was allowed in the opera and finally asking for my ID, I knew I had waited long enough. It was time to play my ace card. So instead of handing my driver’s license over to him, I produced the Bachtrack ticket confirmation and said quite firmly: “ Sir, I am a press rep. Here is the confirmation for 2 tickets. Would you give me my tickets please”. And, trust me, there was not much question in that question.
The rest of the story is quite banal, hence not entertaining. Guilty smiles, apologies, a lot of mumbling about not knowing if the child was allowed blah-blah-blah, and finally – the tickets.

Mission accomplished. Whew… Can't wait till Troy looks mature enough for people to stop doubting his love of music due to his age. For goodness sake, what does age have to do with it?

But then there we were, in the Lyric, which looked just beautiful as I remembered it.

It was lovely. And by “it” I mainly mean Troy’s delight and excitement of being in a real big opera house. He could not stop looking up at the chandeliers, tiers, balconies, all the beautifully dressed people and of course, the stage with its delightfully traditional scenery. And of course, with typical for his age eagerness to ask questions, before the lights went down he managed to ask “Where is Figaro?” only 10 times.

However, as soon as the performance started, he paid undivided attention to everything that was happening on stage and never made one sound, except for clapping his hands and screaming “Bravo” two or three times in a row after almost every aria and duet.

He was very sad to leave. He wanted to stay and listen, but bedtime is sacred for 3-year-old opera lovers, is it not?
Besides, incredibly beautiful as it is, Le Nozze is not a short opera and lasts a lot longer than a 3-year-old can take at once.

Saturday morning Troy shocked his classmates’ parents and his teacher with an as a matter-of-fact comment “I saw Figaro!”
His teacher was particularly impressed with the fact that Troy had seen the whole two acts of Le Nozze and loved it.

Having heard it live, Troy is even more hooked on Non piu andrai and starts his morning with marching across the living room, singing it with self-made words, while pretending to play the violin on a violin-shaped box of Mozart bonbons.

He still shares his impressions of the opera:
“They played Mozart, they played a lot of music. French horns. Violins. Double bass. Everything was blue. And orange. Yes, blue and orange. And there were many doors. The girl sang and then she opened the door and she went away. And then the boy sang too. He was sitting in a biiiiig chair. How did he sing – how? [ I hum Voi che sapete] and Figaro was marching like this and he sang like this [ here comes Troy’s personal presentation of Non piu andrai].

In short, it was wonderful. It was worth it. It was memorable.

A Moment of Glory

Thanks to my lovely readers' support and undivided attention to my work, last night I became aware of the fact that due to it being commented on, re-tweeted, shared and “Liked”on Facebook numerous times, my Bachtrack review of Angela Gheorghiu’s recital (see previous post) has significantly broadened the spectrum of my own potential audience. In fact, it was mostly thanks to Angela herself, who apparently read the review, liked it and re-tweeted it, thus making it available to only all of her 1,435 followers.
And so I say – thank you, Angela for your recital, for inspiring me to write about it and, of course, for the re-tweet.

And just to get you all off to a good start of the weekend, here is another curtain call pic for you to enjoy.

Cheers and stay tuned for more opera adventures!

Angela Gheorghiu Brings Couture and Opera to Kennedy Center



Angela Gheorghiu at the curtain call

Well, my friends,

my new Angela Gheorghiu at the Kennedy Center review is up on the Bachtrack website.

And – this time there are flattering comments and multiple “Likes” from the readers!

So without further delay, here is the link to Bachtrack Concert Reviews http://www.bachtrack.com/reviews/list/concert.

 and, as always some of the pics that I got to sneak.

Enjoy!

A sneak peek at that coral dream dress

Bring Opera Back!

There is a day in every American opera lover's life which  he/she looks forward to all year long. Wondering... guessing... dreaming...
Yep, you have named it right - it is the day when the Met calendar for the new season finally comes out.
So, it's here and as usual, full of old and new exciting offerings.
I mean it: Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, Puccini, and certainly Handel - to name just a few.
Wonderful operas featuring all wonderful artists, favored by this blog. In short, great perspectives.
A few pleasant surprises too.
Remember me dwelling on and on about the beautiful Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu, who sang Edgardo in the WNO's Lucia at the end of last year? Well, my friends, Mr. Pirgu has made it to the next Met season as none other but Alfredo, singing opposite Diana Damrau's Violetta and Placido Domingo's Germont. (Apparently, yours truly does have a good ear for voices. She knows a good one when she hears it.)
So if you are fine with the concept of Willy Decker's "red dress production", you are guaranteed to spend the most glorious evening at the Met.

Another surprise: Nathan Gunn is jumping into the role of Raimbaud, a friend of Le Comte Ory's, sung by (who else did you think?) Juan Diego Florez. Good role for Nathan Gunn - he will be great in it. And of course, Juan Diego, amazing in every role he takes up, is an unmatchable Ory.

Moreover, in the coming season we've got Zeljko Lucic as Rigoletto, Joyce DiDonato as Maria Stuarda, Anna Netrebko as Adina, Elina Garanca as Sesto, Piotr Beczala as (brace yourselves!!!) the Duke of Mantua, Nimarino and Faust, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Renato and Rodrigo, Renee Fleming as Desdemona, and - I could really go on forever...

However, shocked as you may be to hear it, I am a tad disappointed with this season. Even though the Met has always managed to balance modernized and conservative productions in its repertoir, unfortunately, proportionally the balance is different this year. The way I see it, modernized productions are pushing out conservative ones.
All right, maybe this critic has reviewed too many modernized productions lately, but she is definitely getting tired of not being able to enjoy her opera due to poorly concepted directions.
Do not mistake my meaning - I love a production with a refreshingly modern touch, such as Sher's Il Barbiere or Le Comte Ory. I love a production with visial effects and projected images, such as Mc Dermott/Crouch's Enchanted Island and Lepage's La Damnation de Faust. you get my point: as long as modernization happens for a good reason and does not kill the opera, I am all for it.

What I do not appreciate is poorly justified or completely unjustified modernization, such as ladies in mini skirts and fishnets in Cadillacs and gentlemen in leather and blue jeans on motor cycles singing words that have never been written in (or even considered for) the original librettos.

Whatever happened to the conservatively beautiful and romantic opera?
Remember it? It was pretty great. Where did the camisoles and red-heeled shoes, powdered wigs and crinolines go?
Does "new" equal "crazy and vulgar" these days? And if so, is the word "beautiful" now a synonym of "old-fashioned"?
For me, this is not opera re-birth. Rather, the beginning of its end.
Hence, my next question.
If things do not get better, how long will it be before you hear me say "I don't like opera"?
 
I just hope that some stage director stumbles upon this post and puts a little more beauty into his next "new version".
I don't care if you get angry with me, Mr. Stage Director - you are entitled to that. Just bring opera back to us. We deserve it!