Performing at Assisted Living Facilities is such a rewarding experience; it feels like we really do make a difference in the residents life that day. Here are some comments and things that have happened (in the words of our members):

Did you notice that the guy in the wheelchair in the front row who had his eyes closed the whole time and never made any facial expression was tapping his feet in time with the music during every piece? Something was getting in and being processed.
~~June 2013

You may want to know, there was a woman with a walker, still in her chair after most had left, wearing a slightly disgruntled expression. I thanked her for listening to us play. She sort of came to her senses and speaking slowly said something like, “Well….thank you. It was…the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.” ~~June 2013

I was talking to a gentleman who was a WW2 veteran. Fascinating life he had. I told him that the US soldiers entering the war and opening the new front saved my husband's parents' lives, who were both children in the Budapest Ghetto. Even though it wasn't the Americans who liberated Hungary, without them the Soviets couldn't beat the Axel Powers. I thanked him for his service profoundly. I really love the part after when we get to talk to the residents. ~~June 2013

One evening, we played a piece called, The Great Locomotive Chase by Robert W. Smith. This is a musicial rendition of a true story of the Civil War. A gentleman in the front row had worked his whole life on the railroad and had a book about the Great Locomotive Chase and also a model of "The General" (the locomotive). He loved the piece and loaned us the model. ~~May 2018

This resident was a former orchestra director and conducted a march with us.
~~July 2010

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Sudbury Valley New Horizons Music, Inc. at Wayland Middle School -- 201 Main Street, Wayland, MA