{"id":166146,"date":"2024-11-01T13:24:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T17:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=166146"},"modified":"2024-11-01T17:47:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T21:47:36","slug":"at-a-lewiston-clubhouse-a-musical-performance-thats-less-about-perfection-and-more-about-connecting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2024\/11\/01\/at-a-lewiston-clubhouse-a-musical-performance-thats-less-about-perfection-and-more-about-connecting\/","title":{"rendered":"At a Lewiston clubhouse, a musical performance that’s ‘less about perfection, and more about connecting’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Commuter traffic rumbled past the homey building on Main Street, but out back, the vibe was considerably more melodious. Instead of revving engines, live classical music was the soundtrack for an early October day at the Looking Ahead Clubhouse in Lewiston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Bates students and a newly appointed professor of music helped to bring the soothing beauty of music, through piano and voice, to an audience at the vocational center for adults living with mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Jahan Baker-Wainwright \u201925, a biochemistry major from Cottage Grove, Wis., performs Beethoven\u2019s Pathetique Sonata<\/em> during the Gather Hear concert at the Looking Ahead Clubhouse on Maine Street in Lewiston on Oct. 4., 2024. (Daryn Slover \/ Sun Journal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bates musicians performed as part of the national Gather Hear Tour, led by pianist Miki Sawada<\/a>, who is visiting various towns and cities to perform for audiences who may not typically have access to live music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sawada performs in intimate, inclusive spaces such as community centers, shelters, and public schools, rather than traditional concert halls. At the clubhouse on Oct. 4, she and the Bates students and their professor performed outside on the patio behind the building, located just a mile from campus. Clubhouse members gathered close by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jahan Baker-Wainwright \u201925, a biochemistry major from Cottage Grove, Wis., played Beethoven\u2019s Pathetique Sonat<\/em>a. Marrich Somridhivej \u201926, a biology major from South Windsor, Conn., and Sawada performed Amy Beach\u2019s \u201cSummer Dreams\u201d for four hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Gepford, the director of the Looking Ahead Clubhouse, said that the event hit some important notes. \u201cWe had recently started a relationship with Bates,\u201d through the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, he said, \u201cand this was a wonderful way to start our partnership.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosting the Gather Hear visit and events like it can help raise awareness of the clubhouse\u2019s programming in the Lewiston-Auburn community, he added, \u201cso that individuals with mental health needs have a program where they are colleagues, and their unique talents and abilities are utilized [so they can] grow into the best version of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Marrich Somridhivej \u201926 (left) and Miki Sawada perform Amy Beach\u2019s \u201cSummer Dreams” on the piano during the Gather Hear event on Oct. 4, 2024. At right, Chiharu Naruse, a Bates piano teacher and collaborative pianist, stepped in as a page-turner when the wind came up. (Daryn Slover \/ Sun Journal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the students, the Gather Hear performance was a meaningful opportunity to connect through music. \u201cClassical music often lies behind a barrier that many people struggle to overcome,\u201d said Baker-Wainwright. \u201cMy job as a classical musician is to share music, and I\u2019m happy to have contributed to a more inclusive experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somridhivej, who has been playing the piano since age 6, noted how he has \u201ctypically performed in front of judges or a competition jury, where the focus is on technical precision and evaluation. My performance became less about perfection, and more about connecting with people and sharing the beauty of music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
From left, Jahan Baker-Wainwright \u201925, Bates piano teacher and collaborative pianist Chiharu Naruse, and Assistant Professor of Music Zen Kuriyama listen to a performance during the Gather Hear concert at the Looking Ahead Clubhouse on Oct. 4, 2024. (Daryn Slover \/ Sun Journal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gepford said, \u201cWe loved having the opportunity to be a part of individuals\u2019 academic journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Zen Kuriyama, who joined the Bates faculty this fall and directs the College Choir, sang two pieces by Franz Schubert: his emotionally charged \u201cDer Doppelg\u00e4nger\u201d and the uplifting \u201cAn die Musik.\u201d Choosing contrasting selections was intentional, said Kuriyama. \u201cWe wanted songs that represented a binary of mental states \u2014 one ecstatic and joyful, the other frenetic and dark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Gepford said classical music is not the go-to listening choice of clubhouse members, \u201cwe had a lot of positive feedback from our group. Everyone agreed that the music was wonderful, enjoyable, and calming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Pianist Miki Sawada performs on the deck outside the Looking Ahead Clubhouse in Lewiston. Sawada’s Gather Hear tour visits towns and cities to perform for audiences who may not typically have access to live music. (Daryn Slover \/ Sun Journal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As one of the clubhouse members told Kuriyama afterward, \u201cThe negative voices in my head stopped for the first time in months while listening to your music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That response speaks directly to the sentiments expressed in of one of the pieces Kuriyama sang, Schubert’s \u201cAn die Musik.” The title means, simply, “To Music,” and the opening lyrics are: \u201cIn how many a bleak hour, when I am enmeshed in life\u2019s tumultuous round, have you kindled my heart to the warmth of love, and borne me away to a better world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two Bates students and a newly appointed professor of music helped to bring the soothing beauty of music, through piano and voice, to an audience at the Looking Ahead Clubhouse, a vocational center in Lewiston for adults living with mental illness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":166154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,11010,130,31],"tags":[4087],"class_list":["post-166146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-arts","category-collaboration","category-lewiston-auburn","tag-harward-center-for-community-partnerships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166146"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166224,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166146\/revisions\/166224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}