My performance work is primarily in aged-care communities where I believe the musician needs to integrate the aural experience of the music within the overall care program to enhance cultural life in each community.

 

In this respect, my performance practice is guided by the following principles:

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• I communicate enthusiastic belief in what I do through musical and, equally, verbal gestures supported by animated body language like facial expressions, body and eye movements, constant eye contact, and critically, my spoken tenor voice;

• Through emotion, I communicate enjoyment, passion, motivation, appreciation, and enthusiasm. Waltzes and the overall salon music repertoire do this effectively;

• I provide guidance to the audience in understanding global music and its role and significance in society and culture;

• To draw and keep attention on the performance, I use an element of tension and of surprise;

• I demonstrate professionalism and perfectionism through seamless performances backed up by dedicated technical training, artistic practice and monitoring audience reaction;

• While providing a cheerful atmosphere, my performance aims for positive and healthful impact through a calm and friendly atmosphere;

• I demonstrate discipline and commitment to the performance and to the audience;

• Through a highly selective repertoire as well as engaging introductions and humorous anecdotes, my performance is unique and memorable, as well as therapeutic and educational;

• I bring out my personality through personal anecdotes and connect those milestones to the performance practice;

• Audience participation is encouraged though provision of recognisable and nostalgic songs of another era that elicits reactions including humming, singing or guided-verbalising selected sections, and hand or foot clapping or tapping;

• I make light classical and intercultural music accessible for people who otherwise would not listen to the classical genre or other culture’s music (through short and light performances); and

• In making everyone feel welcome and noticed, I show compassion, empathy and inclusivity, whether participants are in memory communities, are non-ambulant or have other physical, emotional, or cognitive limitations--they are all audience-participants!

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