More notes about my music therapy sessions at the cancer center.

Today, I got zapped right away, and then broke out the banjo for a small group in the nuclear medicine clinic waiting room. I did a series of Woody Guthrie songs--"Union Maid," "Do-re-mi," and "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You," got called in to see the doc, came out and did "San Francisco Bay Blues"and a couple of others, then ended with "Gentle on My Mind." I plan to start playing in the large general waiting room.

In these gigs I just sit with the clients and their family members and helpers, get out the banjo and play and talk with whoever is sitting there and the folks behind the counter, then do a song or two and talk with whoever's there and wants to talk. I play and sing rather quietly so anyone who isn't interested can tune me out--but so far no one has asked me to stop. It's really nice--I can see myself doing house concerts in much the same way. The key is keeping it informal, making it about the audience and the songs and not much about myself, except as comes up in conversation. And as much as I love my weekly jams, I like these music therapy sessions even better. Even in a group as sympatico as my Monday night jam there is a certain amount of tension over song choice, who gets breaks when, getting the banjo in tune when someone starts a song in a different key without a break for retuning, and so on.