Senior Serenades

Luanne began her “Senior Serenades” in 2012, after her mother, Liz, suffered a stroke. Liz lived for several months at the Beaumont Skilled Nursing Facility in Northborough, Massachusetts, and Luanne would bring her ukulele when she visited, to play songs and help raise her mother's spirits,  After her mother passed in October of that year, and knowing how much joy the other residents and staff found in her concerts, Luanne continued to visit every Sunday until March of 2020 when the Covid pandemic meant she was no longer allowed inside.

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At that point, she recorded a set of her "peeps" favorites at Westborough TV, where they were shared via television and made available online.Thus the "Peeps Musical Hour” began. Luanne then purchased her own camera and lights, setting up a home studio where she created a series of shorter offerings which could be played during "Zoom" Memory Cafes. Many of these shorter cafes (about 15 minutes long) have a theme, such as songs from musicals, 60’s pop songs, and others. All these performances are available here.

 

Luanne has found a new career since her retirement, playing regularly at assisted living facilities, memory care units, senior centers and retirement homes. When she first started playing for an older generation, it greatly expanded her already impressive repertoire as her audience requested songs they remembered from their youth. If she didn’t know them, she would go home and learn them, performing them at their next get together. She jokes that many of the “old folks” now are her age, so if she play the songs from her own youth, it covers the soundtrack from their lives as well.