Mystic Learning Center: All Ages

AROUND HEAR POP-UP #3: MYSTIC LEARNING CENTER

April 3, 2017

Last night Dan and I performed for an all-ages audience at the Mystic Learning Center. Before the concert, while director Florence “Fluffy” Bergmann served a tantalizing pizza and salad dinner, Dan and I warmed up and got to know some of the twenty-two attendees, most of whom live in the Mystic View Apartments, the Housing Authority complex where the Mystic Learning Center is situated. 

While we played Dvořák’s Romantic Pieces and Dan’s two sonata movements, the listeners drew on a large banner that I had begun painting during the day. For that purpose, I provided pastels, crayons, and markers in exciting neon and candy colors. I also welcomed people to just sit and listen if they preferred, or to dance in the open area, but without talking, as this was a concert, not background music. I did get the sense, as we played, that people were, in general, very absorbed in their drawing, listening, and dancing. What made this extra special, for me, was that children, teenagers, adults, and senior citizens were taking equal part in all of these different types of listening. The art on the banner, and the photos taken by an attendee, definitely reflects that age diversity.

With the help of one of the youth in attendance, Dan and I presented the banner on the cranky, the magical “scrolling picture” contraption which will figure largely in the next several presentations, to the accompaniment of the first Dvořák piece. Then we all said goodbye, except for two boys and their mentor and father, who hung around and played the keyboard as we cleaned up. 

I have many great photos of this event; I’ll let those do most of the talking. But first I will conclude by saying that this event, out of all the music and art events I have led in and near Somerville over the past few years, is most illustrative of the kind of event I’d like to concentrate on during the next phase of my career. It was multi-generational; there was a relaxed, festive, community energy; we involved fun art supplies; there was tasty food; I was working in partnership with a great organization (Mystic Learning Center) and its great leader (Fluffy); we were on site at the public housing authority, and I was playing great music with one of my very favorite musicians, Dan. As we were leaving, I told Fluffy that this was the most satisfying experience I’ve had in a long time as a musician. She said, “Well, it’s just the beginning!” Yes, I’ll be returning to the Mystic Learning Center three more times during this tour. And then…I hope many, many more times in the future.