- [Shelley] On this episode of Kalamazoo Lively Arts we visit The Gilmore and talk about all things piano and music, and how it can bring community together through workshops, concerts, and more.

- Well, their leader.

Congratulations.

May I call you Dr. Pierre?

(laughs) - Just Pierre is fine, thank you.

(laughs) - That's nice.

All right.

Lots to talk about.

Successful, of course, Gilmore.

The Gilmore.

Are you all about the piano?

- We're all about the piano.

Everything about the piano and the piano is a communion.

Can be in so many different places and many different scenarios and it's one of those instruments that anybody, even if you have no background, you can go press the key and make a sound.

So yeah, it has brought appeal still.

- Let's talk about The Gilmore.

Can you take me back to Irving S. Gilmore?

- Yeah.

How this all came to be.

Irving Gilmore was a local businessman and philanthropist and his family had Gilmore's Department Store here in town.

But he wanted to be a pianist.

Actually went to New York to study for a while, but then he was called back to run the family business and was very successful in that and became very well-known for his quiet philanthropy actually in town.

He would go around and surprise somebody by paying off their college tuition or buying a struggling artists, you know, buying a piano for them out of the blue.

You know, these random acts of kindness, which was so amazing.

So he did a great deal for this community.

So when he passed away, he left a wonderful foundation and the trustees of this foundation wanted to do something to honor him, and they came up with something incredible.

It's this Gilmore Award and it is an entirely secret process where we have sort of the spies of piano world.

We have a secret committee of five or six who go around and scout for, you know, listen to piano performances over a number of years and then we surprise a deserving pianist with probably the largest award for piano that we know of.

It's a $300,000 award, which is staggering.

- Makes you want to take up the piano.

- Exactly.

(both laughing) You never know, right?

And so I always say you, "It doesn't matter where you perform, you never know who's in the audience."

And then most recently, those efforts have now been doubled because of local businessman and also philanthropist, Larry Bell of Bell's Brewery, who made a gift possible for us to endow a similar award for jazz piano.

So now we'll have, starting in 2026, every four years, also a jazz pianist that we will surprise with $300,000.

It's pretty incredible.

- Will we see you and your wife performing in any kind of way?

Whether if it's for the festival or for The Gilmore or for the community?

- Yeah, we do perform.

We love performing.

Not as much as we used to.

We used to tour all over.

But between the Gilmore, and we have four kids, and my wife's teaching as well, so it's not as much, but it's something that we love to do.

That's how we met is performing piano duets and piano duos.

So that's always something that we will do and continue to do.

And meanwhile, yes, I'm planning for the next festival in 2024.

And you know, like every festival, it will feature some of the world's really superstar, classical and jazz pianists, and a few pop surprises in there.

But we've been fortunate to have, over the years, you know, John Legend has played here and Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr. and I mean, it's just, it's a ton of fun.

- Will there be another "overall winner" that is being scouted as we speak?

- Yes.

Yes, actually.

And so we are wrapping up that process now, and so we'll very soon make that announcement actually this fall.

And so, yeah, so by the 2026 festival, we'll have the next Gilmore artist here, along with the newest Larry J.

Bell jazz artist as well.

- You alluded to this.

Lead the question.

How important is The Gilmore, the festival, to the community of art?

- You know, I would say in terms of, not just the piano world, but in the arts community, it's one of the major events happening in the United States in the spring and has made a global impact.

This festival is covered in publications and news outlets throughout the world whenever it takes place because it's pretty incredible in a community of this size, we're able to have this festival of this kind with this caliber of artists.

You know, the artists who come here, they perform Chicago Symphony Center, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Kalamazoo.

So just to think of what this community has made possible here and through the visionary leadership of its philanthropy, to be able to bring that here, it brings people together.

We saw that during the pandemic.

People turned to the arts for escape, for solace, for flights of fancy, and now that we can gather again in person, it's just so gratifying to see people coming out again in full force and wanting to share a magical experience together and talk about it.

We don't have that very often anymore, now with everything being streamed, with Netflix and so, and so people are, you know, this remains one of the few things that you can do as a community together and have a communal experience.

And I think that's very, very special.

- And I know we're touching on this in many ways.

Yes, the festival's important, but what you do all year round with your community engagement, your education, and those involved with that must be fun to watch that in action.

- It's really amazing.

We have a really creative and unique education program with our piano labs and different public schools here.

And then through our community engagement efforts, being able to bring a really diverse section of the community to the festival performances and bring the festival to the community is so important to us because we really want to have it known that this festival is the community's festival.

This is Kalamazoo's festival, this is Southwest Michigan's festival, and you know, come on out and enjoy it.

And we want to remove any barrier to that enjoyment.

(dramatic piano music) - Leslie Baron, what brought you to The Gilmore?

What, 12, 10, 11 years ago?

- Oh my goodness.

(Shelley laughing) I came to The Gilmore just after my son went to kindergarten.

I'd been in music for a long time.

I'm an educator and I was in a band called Blue Dahlia for many years and it was great to be able to work in the arts and I found myself in the education department here at The Gilmore.

- Take me back even a step.

Are you a trained musician?

And what is your niche?

Singing, playing?

- Yeah.

I was lead singer of Blue Dahlia.

I'm a trained singer, though my degrees are secondary education, French, and English.

So I have education and pedagogy in my wheelhouse as well.

- Wow.

So what do you do for The Gilmore?

- The Gilmore.

Well, I've worked in the education department for more than a decade now, and we administrate the piano labs, which are the cornerstone of our programs.

We are able to give small group piano lessons to kids in several public school settings, as well as the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home.

The young adult program, which serves developmentally disabled adults and also elementary schools and community piano labs in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.

- So piano for all.

- Piano for all, for all ages.

- Where does one start?

How does one get involved?

- The easiest way is to go to our website.

There are easy ways to sign up.

It's easy to start taking piano lessons through The Gilmore.

The community piano labs offer an opportunity for people of all ages to sign up.

It's a great entry-level piano lesson situation I think price-wise, and also for folks who just want to give it a try.

It's a wonderful way to start 'cause it's a group lesson.

It doesn't necessarily have the weight of private lessons and the cost that goes with that.

- Take me to the niche of the juvenile home and bring me to their class.

- Oh, wonderful.

Well, we work with music therapists at the juvenile home and the young adult program.

They have classes where students are working directly with a music therapist to interact with their regular coursework through music.

And so they're writing songs of their own and giving musical treatment to the other things that they're learning as a doorway into learning.

- Would you expand on what this music, what this piano is doing for these kids?

- Well, sure.

I think learning an instrument, and piano specifically, can do just wonderful things.

One of the things is that it helps with small motor skills and really controlling your hands, which allows you to write and do all sorts of other tasks that need small motor skills.

It allows you to work with the different sides of your brain.

There's a lot of talk about that.

There are many studies that talk about being able to cross over that center portion of the brain to be able to control your hands in two different ways.

It's a creative thing to be able to do.

Reading music is like a language.

It tends to help with mathematics skills.

And very importantly, it allows students to practice a skill until they master it, which just really gives people a wonderful sense of achievement and self-esteem.

- And other recitals?

Do you have kind of an end game for your students?

- Oh yes, there are recitals.

We love to have recitals and in some of the other programs, we'll also do recordings and things of that nature.

But recitals happen with our community piano labs and our piano labs in public schools.

Families get to come out and cheer their kids on for the learning they've done all year.

- Why is it important to introduce kids to the arts?

- Boy, we really strive at The Gilmore to have a music going culture, a music making culture, a music enjoyment culture, because the beauty of art and music is something that can really enhance anyone's life all the way through their lives.

The emotional content of what's happening in music is so striking, and the feeling of community that we have when we attend a performance or participate in a performance is really striking.

Music is something that brings us all together.

- And why support the arts here in Kalamazoo?

- Oh, Kalamazoo is a wonderful arts community.

It's my pleasure to work in community engagement for The Gilmore, and we do a lot of work with folks in different organizations.

We place programs into their organizations and participate in their programming as well as inviting people to come to Gilmore events to participate in those and experience the music.

It really allows us to have a richer, more vibrant, more connected community here.

- What's your favorite part of what you do?

- I think my favorite part of what I do is being able to share really wonderful experiences with folks of all ages and all backgrounds right here in our community.

We are so lucky to have such amazing music come.

When we have a group join us that maybe has never been to a concert before or maybe has never encountered a piano, they've only ever seen keyboard, it's a thrill across the board to share that and to watch kids additionally grow and learn in that context, to be able to come and share music and bring that forward in their lives.

That's the best part.

(cheerful piano music) - Marilyn Moore, let's talk, first of all, a little bit about you, your credentials and why you do what you do.

- Okay.

I have my bachelor of music in music education, vocal choral, but also a secondary studied in piano.

And I've been with The Gilmore for eight years and I do what I do because I love giving students the joy of music and because I feel it's not just something that's good for them to learn, which it is, but it's also something they can express themselves with their whole life emotionally, and socially it's a great thing.

But studying music is so good for the brain, both of the developing brain as a child because it engages all of the auditory, the executive function, the motor skills, both sides of the brain are firing back and forth constantly.

So it's great for children and it's also great for adults over 60 to help with, they're showing that it may help with memory retention and just keeping those synapsis firing, especially six months of studying an instrument seems to show some improvement.

- So it's never too late to learn.

- [Marilyn] It is not ever too late to learn.

- Is it ever too early to learn?

- Yes, it is.

(both laughing) You need to have the finger strength and at least know your alphabet from A to G forwards and backwards.

But mainly, it's fine motor skills at a young age.

- And talk, in general, about this opportunity to learn this, not only through your education, but through The Gilmore.

- The Gilmore, I'm very proud to work for them.

They set up piano labs in a couple of schools in Kalamazoo and one in Battle Creek and other places where kids can elect to do a special class.

They come in, I have a setup like this where there's six kids from second through fifth grade, and we teach them, you know, where they may not be able to have the opportunity elsewhere to get piano.

And so it gives them at least a taste for what they want to do.

Gives them a good music background and a safe space during their day to feel safe and creative, so that's good.

And then for the community lab, it's a nice place where, if it doesn't fit into somebody's schedule, they can come.

I have one parent who comes with his kid, and we can be a little bit flexible like that in community labs.

- Well lastly, again, it's therapeutically healthy for us, but it also brings the audience the joy, a family of joy, and just the rewards are obviously worth sitting down and playing Ode to Joy over and over again.

But I think that's kind of where I'll stop so that you have time for others.

Thank you, Marilyn, for this opportunity.

- You are welcome.

It's been a pleasure.

(gentle piano music) - Let's go to the world of favorites.

Favorite composer.

Do you have a favorite piece you'll play on your own?

What happens here?

- Can I pick more than one?

- Yes.

(both laughing) Yes, but we only have a short timeframe.

- Okay.

Whenever I sit down at the piano, I tend to go to Johannes Brahms, German composer, very romantic composer, just the most achingly beautiful melodies.

And then Chopin, he wrote so many different nocturnes and waltzes and sonatas and all different things for the piano.

And any pianist when you ask them, that's kind of the Mount Everest of the piano, is Chopin's piano music, so that's my go-to.

- Do you play your piano every day?

- Pretty much.

If I don't play every day-- even if I can get to it for 10 minutes, you know?

It's so important for me.

Personally, it's therapy for me, especially when things get really busy, when I'm on the road a lot and I haven't played for a number of days, I feel like I miss it in my bones.

And so I try to get to it as much as I can.

- Get out that portable piano and just play all you can.

- (laughs) Oh, I wish.

- Yes, yes.

Thank you for your time, Dr. Pierre.

- Thank you so much.

(calm piano music) - [Announcer] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.