Life: An Impromptu (part 2)

A few weeks ago Mr. Smith contacted me to let me know he is losing his battle with lymphoma. He expressed his last wish for the composition: could I arrange for it to be published? I put this project on the top of my to-do list and contacted my friends at Mercersburg Printing.

On March 20, I brought the first copy to him at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. When I entered his room I stopped in my tracks -- he lay there motionless with his mouth agape and eyes half-open. My heart dropped and for a moment I truly thought I was too late. A nurse in the room noticed my reaction and said, "Don't worry - he's just sleeping." She called out to him to wake him and announce that he had a visitor. He opened his eyes and I placed the music in his hands. He immediately perked up. He thumbed through the score, giving his approval. He asked that I make one correction: change his name from Robert to Dick, as this is how his friends know him. While we talked about life and music, and he told me jokes (“Name three cars that start with P”). He introduced me to a few nurses and doctors, and I was astounded that each one already knew who I am.

Over the next couple weeks I visited and spoke with him on the phone a few more times. I invited him to attend a couple performances so that he could hear the final edits that I had made to the music. However, he was released from the hospital the day before the performances and went to his daughter’s home in Southern Maryland.

On Monday, April 1, I got a call from Mr. Smith's son-in-law, Jack, informing me that he had been admitted to the ICU at Civista Hospital in LaPlata. They found blood clots in his legs, his heart was filling with fluid, and he was at risk for renal failure. Jack told me that if it's at all possible for me to visit, it would be much appreciated. 

In the morning I packed the revised music with me (I had picked it up from Mercersburg on Good Friday), as well as my electric piano, hoping to play for him one more time. I also really wanted to obtain his official approval on my edits (I had added a section to the middle of the piece, and opted for a more optimistic ending). En route, I got a call from Jack. He asked me if I had received his voicemail that he left earlier that morning (I had not). My heart dropped as I waited for him to continue. He said, “It’s very nice of you to think of bringing the piano but the ICU is a very carefully controlled area of the hospital and they will likely not allow it.” I was very disappointed to hear this but told him that if nothing else, I would come just as a visitor.

I took the elevator to the third floor and found my way to see Mr. Smith. He lay quietly in his bed, his now-fragile 6-foot frame seeming very diminutive on the hospital bed. He had once been the weightlifting champion of Maryland! I reached for his hand and he spoke softly, in short segments. He told me that he appreciated my coming by to see him, but, "It's so hard. I don't want to go on like this." I told him that I brought a piano with me and asked if he wanted me to play for him. The bed was in the middle of the room and there was enough space by the windows to set up the keyboard in a way that there would still be access to him and the various instruments attached to him, if needed. He perked up and I told him that I would ask. I gingerly approached the ICU desk, and, without much introduction, inquired if I might be able to bring an electric piano up to play for Mr. Smith. Not only was I given the go-ahead (and one nurse promptly re-positioned his bed so that he could have a better perspective), but the staff actually requested that we keep the door to his room open so that other patients could hear the music! On the way to retrieve the piano from my car I met his daughters and their husbands and I shared the good news with them.

As I played Life: An Impromptu, Mr. Smith moved his fingers to the music. When I finished, he smiled and said "it's beautiful." For the next couple hours I played his favorite classical and jazz pieces: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Habanera from Carmen, Bach's Prelude in C, Fur Elise, Pachelbel's Canon... In a Sentimental Mood, Cheek to Cheek, Body and Soul, and April in Paris. A lot of tears were shed as I played through these familiar tunes. After I played Meditation from Thais he asked me if I would play it at his memorial service.

During the visit, I experienced satisfaction in having been able to fulfill his lifelong dream and being able to provide comfort (or at least, a distraction from his pain) through music. But it was hard to leave knowing that I will likely not see him alive again. How does one say "goodbye" in full acknowledgment that it is a final salutation, and yet convey positiveness and hope? I shared with him how much I've learned from him - his love of music, his persistence and his perseverance in working towards his dream, and his faith.

I parted by promising him that I would share his music and story with as many people as I could, and that his music would be enjoyed by generations to come.

UPDATE (April 6, 2013): RIP, Dick Smith.

Program Notes for "Life"

The Story Behind “Life: An Impromptu” 

When he was a teenager, Robert “Dick” Smith (b. 1915) worked four part-time jobs. His favorite was ushering at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, as this allowed him to listen to concerts performed by the greatest musicians of the time. In 1931, famed Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff performed a solo recital that enraptured the audience: they demanded multiple encores. The third one – Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C Sharp Minor - cast a spell on Mr. Smith.

Although he had no musical training (and no regular access to a piano), this performance inspired the desire of Mr. Smith to write his own great composition. From that point, including during twenty years of service as a U.S. Air Force pilot, musical ideas and themes would come to him in his mind, and every chance he got to play on a piano, he would patiently play a note at a time until he was able to recreate the sounds that he had imagined. Life experiences became musical melodies and were woven into the fabric of the composition.

Decades later, he met his granddaughter’s piano instructor, Leia Singer, and described his project. Working with Mr. Smith, she put the piece in sheet music form according to what he had played – and Life: An Impromptu was titled and copyrighted. But it had never been played for an audience, and professional pianists were reluctant to take on this “amateur” work.

A native of Baltimore, pianist Elizabeth Borowsky had performed as a soloist in major concert halls in over 35 countries. However when at home in Baltimore, she would often share her performances with residents of area retirement communities. It was after one of her performances at Oak Crest Village that Mr. Smith introduced himself and explained his desire to have his work performed.

“It is very unique that one person would be so inspired by one moment in time—in Mr. Smith’s case, the Rachmaninoff third encore—and then pursue that passion relentlessly,” said Borowsky. “When he presented me with his music and asked if I help him make his dream a reality, I couldn’t say no. First, I learned the music as he had written it. I listened to a tape recording of Mr. Smith playing the piece and paid close attention to the musical ideas he expressed. I thought about what he was trying to say through the music. And then, with his permission, I began the process of arranging the composition to make it a concert piece – adjusting voicing, strengthening the harmonic structure, creating smoother transitions between sections, and embellishing it with virtuosic elements. I was conscious of making sure that it still would be recognizable as his composition – his musical ideas, his life experiences, and his take on Rachmaninoff – while adding my own touch, which in turn is influenced by my favorite composer, Frederic Chopin.”

On August 29, 2010, Oak Crest Village arranged a concert to celebrate the world-premier of the now-complete work. Ms. Borowsky played the piece that spurred Mr. Smith’s journey, Prelude in C Sharp Minor, followed by Life: An Impromptu. For Mr. Smith, age 95, it was a day when his “dream came true.” Following the performance, Mr. Smith was presented a personal letter of congratulations from Marin Alsop, internationally-acclaimed Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Alsop wrote:

“Please accept my sincere congratulations on the completion of your original composition, Life: An Impromptu…I understand that attending a performance of famed Russian composer and pianist Rachmaninoff at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC in 1931 launched your life-long appreciation of classical music. It is my hope that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s performances spark that same enthusiasm and passion for music for our audience. Thank you for sharing your love of music in such a meaningful way.”

“It’s amazing to think that the fruition of this great labor of love finally was shared with the public some 80 years after his first experience,” says Borowsky. “It is an honor to be part of this story.”