Photo by Carly Pearson
Tuesday Mounkes and Rick Kaniper dance while the Holiday Resort band plays a song.
Music is a universal language at Emporia nursing homes — it bridges communication gaps, brings back faded memories, and soothes the soul.
It’s something a group of Emporia area musicians have brought to the centers for years, and people on both sides of the instruments reap the benefits.
The band playing at the Holiday Resort on Jan. 12 was made up of Henry Gardner, Wayne Stoll, Virginia Shaw, Fred Masters, Leonard Wagner, Jack Cunningham and Bruce Hoover, who ceded his acoustic guitar for much of the afternoon to Shaw’s son, Rick Kaniper.
Hoover didn’t mind having an opportunity to listen for a change.
“I really did enjoy it,” he said. “I really sat back and listened for most of the hour.”
Hoover, acknowledged as the leader by the other musicians, denies that he’s in charge.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Violet Drinkwater enjoys the music the band plays at Holiday Resort for her and the other residents.
“Actually, we’re not a band, we just band together,” said Hoover. “There’s no bosses. We just get together and play. I have fun doing it.”
Other musicians besides the band of veterans also donate their talents on other days to entertain residents and their families, who come to listen, too. They tap their feet and sway in their chairs, with a few joining in to sing the old familiar tunes.
All of the members of the band last weekend are involved in the Old Time Pickers and Fiddlers group that gathers regularly for the joy of it, and guitar player Stoll also leads his own band that plays for dances at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post and other venues.
The instrumental makeup of the full band may vary slightly, depending upon who is available. Most of the group brings in electric and acoustic six-string guitars or bass guitars, while Shaw sits in a wheelchair to play keyboard and Masters plays steel guitar. Wagner, with his bass hanging around his neck, occasionally pulls out a harmonica for special numbers.
The volunteer group has been performing together at nursing homes for fun for 15 or 16 years, Hoover said.
“Some time or another we’ve been to all of them that’s in town,” he said, “and we go to most of them still.”
They’re scheduled twice a month at Holiday Resort, where they’re known as the “Holiday Resort Band,” and play on special occasions like New Year’s Eve. Earlier this month, they performed at Presbyterian Manor and were scheduled to be there again on Monday.
The size of the group varies, depending upon band members’ schedules.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Virginia Shaw plays a keyboard in the band at Holiday Resort. Shaw’s son, Richard Kaniper of Admire, sometimes steps in and plays with the band, also.
“There’s down to two occasionally,” Hoover said. “Actually, Virginia and I started together and it just kind of grew a little at a time. Sometimes there are more.”
There’s no contract for the band to honor. As many as possible simply show up on schedule to donate their talents.
“Actually, we didn’t commit ever,” Hoover said. “We’ve never committed. But we’ve been there most of the time.”
For keyboardist Virginia Shaw, making music is a priority. Shaw was hospitalized with a bone that had broken once, then broke again. She finally was released from the hospital and delivered in a wheelchair for rehabilitation at Holiday Resort. She came through the door, and didn’t even make it to her room.
“We were scheduled on the day she came back, and we just sat her down, right in the wheelchair, and she’s been playing there ever since,” Hoover said.
The musicians illustrate the line from an old Mac Davis song: they really could “just sit around making music all day long.”
“It’s an enjoyment, I’ll tell you that,” Cunningham said. “I love music.”
Cunningham, like Hoover and the rest, grew up making music. Hoover’s father, a fiddler, had a band of his own and bought his son a guitar and lessons. At 13 or 14, Hoover was playing in the band. Later, when his parents needed to live in a care center, it was natural for Hoover to bring in musical programs to entertain them and the residents. He found he enjoyed performing in the nursing home setting, and that the others do, too.
Residents know and sometimes interact with the musicians.
On this Saturday, the audience took time to sing “Happy Birthday” to guitar player, singer and sometimes-prayer leader Cunningham, who turned 80 last month.
The programs turn into social occasions, with volunteer Gladys Barnett and center workers making sure audience members have coffee or cold beverages to enjoy while they listen.
Cunningham reached back to 1939 to bring out a solo on “Mexicali Rose,” an old favorite made popular by Gene Autry, one of the singing cowboys of that era.
Another Autry tune, “When It’s Springtime in the Rockies,” soon followed.
The band blended gospel music and hymns with novelty songs, recent hits and old-time country music.
Most of them sang solos, and many kicked in with harmonies.
When Hoover finally rejoined the group near the end of the program, a few audience members called out for one of his signature tunes.
“Let’s bring out the star,” emcee Stoll said. “He’s gonna be singing the second-most famous song that he does.”
Photo by Carly Pearson
Bruce Hoover, left, and Wayne Stoll sing while performing for residents at Holiday Resort.
Wagner huffed and puffed the harmonica into the sound of a train building up steam, and the band launched into “The Long Black Train.”
They followed it with Hoover’s “most-famous” song, “The Preacher and the Bear,” written in 1904 and made famous decades later by Phil Harris.
“Lordy, lordy, if you can’t help me, please don’t help that bear,” Hoover sang, as the audience laughed about the bear chasing the truant preacher up a tree.
The performance ended too soon for some residents, who paused to talk to band members before leaving the room.
It had been a bright spot in their day, though the self-effacing Hoover had another explanation for the program’s large turn-out.
“I can lock ’em down and they can’t run off on me,” he said, “so that works out pretty well.”
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)