The following was written by my late wife Elaine. She wrote a long book, a diary really, from which this is one passage:
Being the Eastern Star pianist for several years for monthly meetings and members’ funerals has also been a privilege, and I sometimes substitute at special meetings of Eastern Star in Alderson and in other chapters in southern West Virginia. I think Mom must be happy, looking down on me, seeing that I took her often-given advice: “Elaine, use your music.” Thanks, Mom!
Like I keep saying, music has enriched my life. It has strengthened friendships. It’s made me feel I’m still “in demand.”
Using my music in organizations I belong to has been the best incentive for practicing and learning new pieces. It satisfies. It cures the blues and the blahs which come to all of us from time to time. I love to play hymns and special arrangements of hymns, the Blues, Jazz, Classical, Popular and to sum it all up, every kind of “good music” from A to Z. Players, and listeners too, will never reach the end of the enjoyment and challenges of learning new music.
A special once-a-year event for me for about 20 years in Union has been to accompany the Christmas cantata. A thoughtful thank you note came to Dave and I for our work with the Union Community Choir in December 1988 from the pastor of the Union Methodist Church. Gives me something nice to remember him by; a man everyone respected and loved.
The piano practicing at home and the rehearsals required many hours of work before the performances, but it’s all rewarding, and helps us players keep up our sight reading, and other skills. Sometimes I think about how scary it is that all of us, no matter how many years we’ve played our instruments – would you believe for 50+ years? – begin to slip immediately if we don’t practice something, every single day.
The world renowned pianist Paderewski said, “If I don’t practice for one day, I know it; if I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it; if I don’t practice for three days, the audience knows it.”
The cantata’s director and I worked on this year’s cantata and I enjoyed it thoroughly, including all the rehearsals – but I told the director afterward that I had made the decision that this would be my last one. To my surprise, she said she had made the same decision. She’s about 10 years younger than me, which is why I was surprised. But she does other church music besides cantatas, and she’ll do a great job with all of it.
So, it was great while it lasted, every Christmas season since we moved here, more than twenty years ago.
To be continued…
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About the Author: RD Blakeslee (1931 – 2024) built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family
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