Coach’s Corner: Listen While I Play My Red Tambourine
by Shannon Price, coordinator, West Music Recreational Programs
This is all about Lucy. We just LOVE Lucy. Lucy Sharp is a senior citizen who you might guess to be older than 60 going on 25. Her instrument of choice is a tambourine. Oh, I’ve tried to get her to use other hand percussion and even sing a little back up—but her red tambourine is what makes Lucy, well, Lucy.
This red tambourine is carried everywhere Lucy goes. She keeps the instrument in a black sequin drawstring bag. Local bands invite her to play along during club gigs and, if not, she always asks if it’s OK to play on some of the rock songs.
I met Lucy when she brought her tambourine to a Weekend Warrior session and wanted to pay the fee to be in the band. She is a down-to-earth, energetic, caring, nurturing woman who loves life and lives it to the fullest. Her son is living in California, her husband is in a local care center receiving round-the-clock attention for his progressive Parkinson’s Disease.
Lucy doesn’t know how to be scared or lonely or without friends. Her tambourine has opened doors for her that she had only dreamed of. I spoke with Lucy at length about the Weekend Warrior program, making sure she understood that it’s a big fee to pay just to play a tambourine and nothing else.
Her reply was, “This is my dream. I have always dreamed of being on stage as part of a rock band. I have to do this.”
Well, she did it! And she did it again! Two Weekend Warrior sessions later, Lucy has made lots of new friends, has learned about being in a band, has learned about marketing her band (no one has ever taken as many flyers around town and spread the word like this woman, and she has a full-time job), has been on stage under the lights with her band, instead of “sitting in” with other local bands, and she even has a friend who does her hair and make-up when she performs!
The bands that Lucy has played in through the Weekend Warriors program consist of men and women of all ages, from teens to baby boomers. She fit right in and everyone absolutely loves her. When she was late for a practice the band members said that it definitely didn’t sound the same as when she filled the songs in with her rhythms.
They were right! The lead female vocalists that Lucy played with in two separate bands welcomed her into that mysterious women’s camaraderie that men just don’t get. There were no age barriers and no lines drawn. The teenagers and men in all the bands she played in could not have been more caring or helpful. Everyone was there for the same purpose no matter what their role in the group was. No one band member was more or less important.
As the practices progressed, I got out the maracas, the cabasa, and any other hand percussion instrument I could get my hands on—but she just didn’t feel comfortable with any of it. She did try the maracas, and she sort of liked the cowbell, suggesting that her friend Tim join the next session and play it. Unfortunately, Tim says “no.” (Maybe he should read my column on stage fright.)
Kelli, the female lead vocalists in the latest Weekend Warriors group, decided she would take the maracas since Lucy seemed to be having such a great time. The mixture of the maracas and tambourine was cool! Kelli ended up buying her own set of maracas.
Lucy took the CD of songs to learn home with her and practiced daily. She played along the CDs and figured out what rhythms to use. She asked me to coach her on slow songs, and she always asked the band members if it was all right to play on certain songs where there may not be a place for her tambourine sound.
She was asked to entertain with her tambourine at the care center where her husband resides, which she did after meeting with me on how in the world to do it. We decided that she should choose a few of her favorite CDs and play along. Lucy loves to dance, so she is constantly moving to the music. The staff and residents of the care center had a great time and asked her back again.
Her stage presence is very professional; it’s as if she has performing in her blood. She loves sparkly things and when performing wears all black with rhinestones, sparkles, or sequins and silver shoes, but she is never over-dressed or gaudy. She sprays a little glitter on her face and has dark shoulder length hair, which her make-up artist friend arranges in a ’50s style flip with a rhinestone bobby pin on one side. It’s a very glamorous look.
Lucy has a few younger friends (in their 40s and 50s) who go out with her on Saturday nights wherever her favorite bands are playing. (I am proud to say that my band—Holiday Road—is one of her favorites!) Sometimes her cell phone rings and it’s someone from another band asking if she’s going to come out to the club where they’re playing to sit in. On Saturday nights and some Friday nights, she makes the rounds with her friends in her van and all the bands have an extra member for a few songs. No alcohol is consumed, nothing of an unhealthy nature is present—just an abundance of joy and fun for everyone.
For her birthday this week she held a party at her home. Sixty of her closest friends were there. She received a new black tambourine and matching black maracas as gifts.
Is there a moral to this story? Yes—when it comes to making music, don’t assume anything is small potatoes to anyone. You can have a full musical life even with a simple instrument like a tambourine. And, remember to not only love life, as Lucy does, but live it! Get out there and play!
