Grace Notes rehearsal, Mon, Jan 6, 2014: Canceled.

Grace Notes' rehearsal for Monday, January 6, 2014 is cancelled due to the extreme cold.  

Please join us in two weeks on the third Monday of the month, Jan 20, from 7-9 p.m. to learn more about singing at the bedsides.  More details at http://pointsoflightmusic.blogspot.com/p/grace-notes-hospice-choir.html

May your 2014 be filled with songs of comfort & peace.  

Take a tour with Grace Notes

Have you ever wondered what a Grace Notes hospice choir sing looks like?  Follow us on this video tour.



Intrigued? We'd love to get to know you. Read more about us at the Grace Notes link and contact us at PointsOfLightMusic@gmail.com.

Many thanks to Matt Peiken for the video work and Springboard for the Arts for their fiscal sponsorship of Grace Notes. 

Grace Notes on the radio!

In the Spring of 2012, a friend of mine asked me if he could spotlight Grace Notes as one of the KFAI radio's MinneCulture 10,000 Fresh Voices project.  How could I object?

Listen to it here. 

Thank you so much Will for highlighting Grace Notes!  Will Hale does great work with children's music.  Check out Tadpole Parade at http://www.willhale.com/. 

The story initially aired on March 26, 2012 and is archived at the Ampers website. Ampers is a collective of 15 independent radio stations in Minnesota. While you're at it check out all the other cool MinneCulture stories!

Wanted: Sensitive Singing Males

Seeking heart-filled males who enjoy singing to bring soothing songs to the bedsides of fragile folks on hospice services.

Are you game?

Grace Notes hospice choir is a group of joyful and compassionate people who love to sing together and bring comfort and a smile to those who are facing a sensitive life transition.

We meet to rehearse and sing at the bedside on Monday nights. On the first and third Mondays we rehearse at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 1895 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN. On the second and fourth Mondays, we go and visit folks on hospice services with AseraCare at Twin Cities nursing homes. If there's a fifth Monday, we have a potluck with our supporters and anyone who is interested in our work to share stories, sing more, and eat good food!

It's summer and rehearsals are on hiatus. Come September 17, 2012 we'll be back to rehearsing on the first and third Mondays.

In the meantime you can contact Conie about the other details of joining Grace Notes. A background check, letters of reference, medical tests, paperwork and two orientation meetings (coming up in August and November!) are required to volunteer with these beautiful vulnerable people.

Still serious? Email PointsOfLightMusic at gmail.

p.s. females are welcome to apply. We like gender equity.

Grace Notes Spring 2012 Rehearsal and Orientation Schedule

Singing at the bedside of a family and friends is an act of compassion and love.  Singing at the bedside of others is an act of boundless love and compassion. 

Grace Notes is a group of singers who bring gentle songs of love and comfort to the bedside of those who are on hospice services. A hospice choir, if you will.  Twice a month we, a small and growing group of volunteers, visit people throughout the Twin Cities, MN metro on Asera Care Hospice's roster.

Twice a month, on the 1st and 3rd Mondays, we practice our a cappella, paperless music in the choir room at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in St. Paul's Merriam Park neighborhood (1895 Laurel Ave -- the corner of Laurel and Howell).  It's an open rehearsal from 7-9 p.m. - if you're curious it's a good way to feel out the waters. 

On the ocassional month with five Mondays, we gather for a potluck on the last Monday.  This event is open to all as well.  In 2012 potlucks will be in January, April, July, October and December.  Please contact us through the Email subscription form for location details. 

Singing at the bedside is allowed once volunteer training with Asera Care is completed.  Becoming a volunteer includes learning more about hospice, background checks to clear you for working with vulnerable people, other medical tests, and some other paperwork.  2012 training dates will be held in February, May, August and November.  To find out more, please contact Ruth at Asera Care, 952-943-0009.

Are you ready to sing with your full heart?  Come and join us at the bedside.

Savoring moments

Last night Grace Notes sang to a woman who glowed in the presence of her visiting husband and daughter.  She didn't speak but her eyes and face spoke volumes of the innocent joy of basking in the attention of family.  Words of encouragement and comfort tumbled out of our mouths to them, for them.  Her guests were so appreciative saying that music helps move through the clouds, reaches deeper to connect with the person they love and remember.  After savoring deep hugs of gratitude and strength we parted. 

Tonight I am savoring the generosity of 18 friends and family who made my first fundraising attempt a success. You went beyond the bounds of my imagination and I am so grateful.  With your support I can dream bigger dreams for bringing music for healing to those in need. 

The impact this can make is awesome.  Join us on this journey of savoring moments.  It's just beginning.

Longing

Last week Grace Notes sang for a gentleman who captured our attention even though he wasn't on the AseraCare roster.  Perched on his wheelchair in the middle of the hallway he was getting our attention saying "Help Me!  Help me get out of here!"  If you're familiar with dementia units in skilled nursing facilities you might recognize this scene. 

We decided to stop and sing to him between our planned visits.  Someone suggested "Breathing In, Breathing Out" (see words below) and we started to surround him with sound.  A few of us moved to stand in front of him and do simple choreography to the song from Kairos Dance Theater's Dancing Heart program.  I noticed a change in his breathing - it seemed clearer.  His eyes grew wide as he watched and listened without speaking.  We wrapped up the song and were quiet for that moment afterwards where everyone is still present to the moment, listening for the last vibrations, unsure we would get another chorus of suffering and sadness or a sign of appreciation. 

From good to great

Grace Notes has been doing amazing great work in the five months since the first rehearsal in January.  We have sung to over 100 songs to 50 patients.  If we included all the folks who were present and listening, i.e., family, friends, and nursing staff, the number easily triples because we found ourselves singing in a common areas from time to time.  Woohoo!  Read some of our stories here and here. 

Creative Aging Around Town (more details)

Minnesota Creative Arts & Aging Network (http://www.mncaan.net/)
CREATIVE AGING AROUND TOWN

TOPIC THIS MONTH: Using Art for the Good of the Community

WEDNESDAY, June 1
1:00-3:00 P.M.

Winnetka Learning Center
7940 55th Ave. No., Room 117-118
New Hope, MN

FEATURED PRESENTERS:
Loren on Park Writers Group creates community understanding and dialogue about racism.
Grace Notes hospice choir serenades people who are emotionally and physically fragile at the end of life.
Story Theater community education volunteers bring readers theater into the schools.

Free. No need to pre-register. Just come.

Please invite anyone with an interest in unleashing the artistic creativity in people 55+.

(repost of MnCAAN.net email)

Upcoming demonstrations & presentations

Grace Notes is honored to present its work with a few organizations this June 2011.  You are welcome to come and listen to our songs and story at the following:

• MnCAAN's Creative Aging Around Town Event
  Date/Time:  Wed, Jun 1, 1-3 p.m. 
  Location:  Winnetka Learning Center, 7940 55th Ave. No., Room 117-118, New Hope, MN (map)
• Capital City Grief Coalition MeetingDate/Time: Thu, Jun 16, 5:30-6 p.m.
  Location:  St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church, 100 North Oxford St., St. Paul, MN (map)

For HK and all baseball lovers: Take me out ... to that field of dreams

For Harmon and all other baseball lovers on hospice services:

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowds.
Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack.
I don't care if we ever get back
Cuz it's root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
And it's one, Two, THREE strikes, you're Out!
At the old ball game! 

Grace Notes sang this song for a gentleman last week because he was clearly a Twins fan.  Twins blanket on his lap.  Twins cap on his head.  The social worker guiding our singing rounds wasn't sure if he'd want singing visitors, but he was out in the hall investigating the racket we were making around the corner when we found him.  How could we not sing "Take me out to the ballgame?"  He and his other resident buddies were tickled pink by our antics.  The nursing staff seemed to enjoy themselves too.

While hospice services are a sign that the end is near, it doesn't mean that all is drear.  Everyone starts to grieve for the future that won't be coming, but that doesn't mean you can't continue to live life to the fullest and check lines off the bucket list.  Those dreams can happen ... they just need a little modification.  This gentleman wasn't able to get to the field as often as he might have once upon a time.  Using our imagination we were able to bring a bit of it to him.  How might you fulfill some dreams for someone? 

See you on that field of dreams ...

Grace Notes Update, 5/13

Thank you for visiting the Points of Light Music (PoLiMu) blog!  Here's a quick update on Grace Notes, a hospice choir partnership between PoLiMu and Asera Care Hospice.  Sit back for a moment and enjoy!

We have been blessed with so many meaningful moments – from smiles of engaged enjoyment to sweet snores of sleep. This is music to our ears … just like it is to parents of a fussy baby. Here’s some stories:

• We sang “Ya Jamil,” a gentle Sankrit round about the beauty of God, to a woman who was a voice major in her younger days. When we ended, we realized she was humming with us … and so we sang it again so she could continue.
• A few of our recipients have since passed through the veil since we started our singing visits in February 2011. It is not often than we encounter someone very close to the veil when we sing though. A few weeks ago we sang for a gentleman who seemed at peace, though his breathing was labored. We sang to him about journeys. Later we would find out that he completed his earthly journey about 24-hours later.
• And then there are the stories we could tell you about other second-hand listeners! Most of the people receiving services from Asera Care reside in skilled nursing facilities. Some non-hospice residents spontaneously decide to join our band of singers on rounds to the amusement of the nursing staff. Oh, and the staff smiles we see. Some are coy and some are gratefully enlightened for the service we provide. It is like watching the sun rise change your mood!

We have 8 lovely singers committing their Monday evenings to learning songs in rehearsal and visiting these folks and I have the wonderful privilege of leading them in this project. I am especially grateful to Renee and Ruth from Asera Care for partnering with me on this adventure. Check out the attached picture of a few of us at our first sing!

This project would be difficult without the generous support from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Yes, Grace Notes is one of the benefactors of the moneys set aside through the constitutional amendment we, the people of Minnesota, voted for on November 4, 2008. We received a $5,000 Community Arts Award to cover 80% of the costs to start and implement this hospice choir. Half of the remaining 20% was donated by people like you who believe in the hospice philosophy of caring for the whole person in all their physical, social, spiritual and emotional needs until the end of their life.

How about you?

Can you financially support this project? A $25 contribution will provide a 20-minute sing for someone on hospice services and you can dedicate it in loving memory of a loved one. Because Points of Light Music and Grace Notes is a sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts, a nonprofit arts service organization, your contribution is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Contributions can be made online at http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Polimu. If you prefer writing a check, please make it out to “Springboard for the Arts” with “Points of Light Music” in the memo line and contact pointsoflightmusic@gmail.com for mailing instructions. 

Thank you so much for your interest in the work of Grace Notes.  We’d love to hear from you!  We are so honored to be doing this and feel so grateful to be in your company for this sacred work.  Come back and read about our adventures soon!

notes of grace moment

Grace Notes has sung at the same nursing home three times over the last five weeks while my volunteer coordinator contact at the hospice was in transition.  The sweetest thing about this has been observing some of the subtle and sometimes not so subtle changes in those we see. 

Four weeks ago, we sang for a gentleman who was hunched over in a wheelchair, hardly lifting his head.  Two weeks ago we sang for him and he met our gaze with an energetic tongue.  Though it was a bit disturbing, we sang a few songs to him with our usual unswerving kindness and love. 

Tonight, we found him in bed.  He seemed relaxed and glad to see us, willingly turned off the TV with his remote and quietly encouraged us to learn Danny Boy and When Irish Eyes are Smiling.  My fellow singer and I sang only part of a song to this gentleman, because his roommate was on the phone reporting that his roommate had minstrels!  I think the roommate was envious that he didn't have musical visitors.  Our gentleman gently gave us the non-verbal cutoff sign and apologized for his roommate's behavior.  He seemed to enjoy our visit, even though it was short. I have enjoyed seeing him more engaged each visit. 

That's tonight's top Grace Note.  Stay tuned for more stories...

You're invited to FEAST!

Do you like art in its various forms? (or just particularly supportive of hospice choirs)?
Do you really like food?   (or just need to eat from time to time)?

Then you'll like FEAST!  Pencil it on your calendar:  6-9 p.m. on Sat, Mar 5, 2011 at the Eagles' Club in South Minneapolis, (25th and 25th)

FEAST stands for ...

Funding
Emerging
Artists with
Sustainable
Tactics

and is a public dinner where attendees like you get to eat with a few artists while learning about their community art project du jour.  Before the night is over you get to vote for your favorite community art project from a field of ten.  The winner of the most votes takes home the admission proceeds (a pay what-you-can, suggested donation $10-20, though no one is turned away for lack o' funds structure) to apply to their project and returns to the next FEAST to give a report on how their funds were used.  Cool, huh?

Grace Notes, the Points of Lights Music project hospice choir in partnership with AseraCare Hospice, is one of the 11 community art projects slated for the March FEAST.  Come on out and support this hospice choir -- we need all the help we can to do well at this democractic event so feel free to extend the invite to co-workers, family and friends interested in the arts and/or sustainable programs. 

Points of Light Music awarded MRAC grant

[Apologies to all for the belatedness of this announcement...]

In December 2010, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, http://www.mrac.org/, awarded Points of Light Music a $5,000 Community Arts grant to run a hospice choir project between January and May 2011.  Points of Light Music is one of 63 organizations to recieve awards that demonstrate strong artistic quality and a response to community's needs. 

This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

More updates will be forthcoming about the project's progress.  To read about the call for singers, see http://pointsoflightmusic.blogspot.com/2010/12/invitation-to-join-hospice-choir.html. 

Invitation to join a hospice choir

You are invited to join a hospice choir I am directing this spring. Please consider sharing your voice and heart in the rewarding work of singing at the bedside of someone in fragile physical and emotional condition.

Communicating love and care to someone who is struggling with life and death takes a heart full of compassion, attentive eyes, a kind face and a voice strong enough to be vulnerable. Doing this work brings meaningful life lessons – I hope you are ready to receive them.

If you are interested, please continue reading about orientation, rehearsals and bedside visits. If you know of someone who may be interested in this, please forward this to them.

My Hospice Choir & the Great Minnesota Give Together

Some of you readers know I am a member of Morning Star Singers (MSS), a group of volunteers who visit folks in fragile condition to share songs with them.  I've written about them once before and have been meaning to share more stories and insights from these sings, but haven't because life decides I have other things to do. 

One of those other things I've been doing lately is planning to lead a hospice choir of my own.  Not that I'm leaving the MSS, but expanding upon the work Barbara has started.  Barbara McAfee founded MSS with the idea that there would be subsets of singers that would cover "territories" of the Metro.  Although I'm not exactly organizing the Southern-Northeast region, I am hoping to create a model that is sustainable and decreases singer burnout by partnering with a hospice agency.  Interested in joining?  Watch for more details in a future blog article.

Today is Tue, Nov 16, 2010.  It is also known as "Give to the Max Day" by non-profits around Minnesota.  I and my business name, Points of Light Music, have partnered with Springboard for the Arts, a non-profit organization that supports artists startups.  With Springboard as my fiscal sponsor you can now make tax-deductible donations to this hospice choir project.  Would you consider contributing to this project?  A $10 donation will help create a songbook for singers.  $100 will provide the means to bring comforting, soothing songs to 3-4 people in fragile physical, and emotional condition.  The button to the right will take you to my giving site. 

There are two added incentives to give today.  One is GiveMN.org, the organization that has designed the online giving platform and today's "Great Minnesota Give Together" is holding hourly "Golden Ticket" contests where a donor is selected every hour and $1,000 is added to their donation.  What a cool and generous match to make if one of you is selected!  Second is Springboard is waiving the 2.9% administrative fee for all GiveMN.org contributions made today.  It may seem small, $.29 for a $10 donation, but when the goals is to raise $5,000, that is $145 more for this project.  A little bit builds up over time.

If you prefer to send a check via USPS, please let me know and I'll give you the details on how to do that. 

I am so appreciative for all your encouraging words and whatever financial support you determine is right for you.  I know this Thanksgiving I will be especially grateful for the opportunity to do this work. 

With blessings of abundant joy, laughter, hope and songs (of course!) for your life and of those around you.

Cheers, Conie