Jim Kendros brings music and philosophy to elderly residents at Belmont Village

“Good afternoon everyone. I’m very happy to be back again at Belmont Village. My name is Jim Kendros, and I had such a wonderful time being here before. We’re going to explore great music today.”

An audience of about two dozen people, including my parents, gathered in the lobby of a senior living community in Buffalo Grove last week.

“Today I have a program called ‘Mozart and More,'” Kendros continues.

He plays “Carol of the Bells” on the piano. It quickly becomes clear that the lobby is not the best environment for a recital. Noisy conversations erupt. Phones ring. A few residents arrive, late and loudly. A janitor rolls a garbage can rumbling by.

None of this fazes Kendros, talking major versus minor, diving into musical theory.

“Chances are you have heard something we call the ‘incipit’ in music,” he says. “I-N-C-I-P-I-T. It’s a Latin word that basically means the smallest part of a melody.”

Kendros does this for a living. He also lectures before concerts, as well as social clubs and libraries. He is a composer, creator of the Mount Prospect Overture.

For me, just visiting here once a week can be an occasion for somber reflection. I wondered how Kendros views his audience.

“They’re near the end of their lives, even though I hope they will live another 20, 30 years,” he told me, earlier, over the phone. “I would like to believe I’m bringing them not only new things to think about but helping them to feel younger.”

Music certainly is an elixir of youth. And Kendros offers food for thought. What most impressed me about him the first time I heard him was when he said the reason America leads the world in popular music is because we have such a diverse population — so many different ethnic groups bringing so many musical traditions to the table. I’d never thought about it that way before, and it made sense. I also liked the idea of learning something new in the lobby of a place like this.

Kendros plays “Moon River” by “the immortal Henry Mancini” — the “and more” part of the “Mozart and More” program. Music appreciation is not the only appreciation he encourages.

“We live better than the kings of Mozart’s time,” he says. “Even the most modest among us have luxuries that the kings of Mozart’s day wouldn’t have had when you think about it.”

His focus shifts from the greats to those assembled.

“Mozart had a fascinating life, dying just before he was 36,” Kendros says. “Then again, people died of things we could easily cure today. When you look at it, life was so precarious. My gosh, if you made it into your 40s or 50s, you were considered lucky. When you think about it, the quality of life we have today, and how we’re extending it, is just amazing.”

That’s true. My dad is 90. His father died at 61.

“Does anyone know what is a piano concerto?” Kendros asks. I’ve heard the word, and have a vague idea. Something symphonic.

“What are the attributes?”

Nobody volunteers. Kendros explains “concerto” means “a dialogue between the orchestra and a soloist. A piano concerto is a work for orchestra with a piano. You can do it with a violin. We can have a concerto for anything. I have heard concertos for bassoons — Vivaldi wrote well over 30. Accordion. Harmonica. Ukulele.”

His view on talking with the residents of senior homes may be surprising.

“It’s a joy,” he said, previously. “An absolute joy. They have the most incredible stories. When you get them to open up, they have amazing stories to tell. … They are people who have Alzheimer’s. People in wheelchairs, with breathing conditions. The point is, new knowledge and looking at people as though they are just people helps them to feel younger, makes them feel more vital. They have hard-won life experience, and they have something to contribute to society.”

He said the problem is that others tend not to listen.

“If we just talk to them as normal people would, as you and I would like to be spoken to, you see a dramatic transformation. I see it all the time. They just glow.”

That is a truth of life: You get out what you put in. Music helps. As does learning new stuff. So it makes sense that learning new stuff about music really helps.

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