Talk about medicine for the ears…and the heart! In the last eight days, these musical offerings were provided for residents of The Mayflower Community and their guests.
Thursday, October 12th. Lyceum (once a week evening entertainment sponsored by Mayflower Residents Association). Grinnell’s own Too Many String Band. Tom Lacina joined four Mayflower vocalists and string players, Betty and Sandy Moffett, Sig Barber, and Bob Cadmus.
Residents were encouraged to sing along as the Band performed old favorites and some of their own originals. This included “This Is Iowa,” “Grandma’s Feather Bed,” “This Land Is Your Land,” and “Blue Highway.” Betty shared a vignette about Sandy’s hand-made Blue Angel Mandolin.
Thursday, October 12th. Earlier in the afternoon. The Mayflower Residents Association Spiritual Life Committee, led by chair Pat Lipton, hosted an Old-Fashioned Hymn Sing. Rev. Bonnie Lipton moderated with brief background on each of about 20 songs. Karen Phillips was the song leader and Peggy Kolpin provided piano accompaniment. Mayflower’s Director of Community Life handled the visuals, displaying the words for each song.
Among the favorites were “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art,” and “In the Garden.”
Thursday, October 5th. A week earlier at Lyceum. Grinnell College associate professor of music and saxophonist, Mark Laver presented “How Jazz Works,” talking about chord progressions and the complexities of jazz music and artists/musicians. Gershwin was one among many blues and jazz musicians. Besides playing some jazz sax, Mark asked for questions from the audience to which he responded with in-depth examples of jazz music and history.
Mark was accompanied by talented Grinnell College student, Phukao Prommolmardt, who played a number of pieces, including one of his own compositions. The evening’s culmination was the Mayflower audience learning and performing a song. The time was educational and entertaining….and the music was fabulous.
— Leslie Jaworski, Mayflower Community Life Director