At A Glance
Event: “Music Appreciation by Jim Kendros”
Location: Lake Forest Senior Center located in Dickson Hall.
Dates: 3/7, 3/28, 4/25, 5/23, 6/27, 7/25, 8/8, 9/26, 10/24, 11/28 and 12/26
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Registration: Due one week before each class
 
 
Starting this March and continuing through December, Music Researcher and Composer Jim Kendros will explore the world of music in the monthly music series, “Music Appreciation by Jim Kendros” at the Lake Forest Senior Center located in Dickson Hall.
 
Music Salon Magic
Proudly sponsored by Highland Park home care agency Freedom Home Care, this event series focuses on a different musician and topic each month, giving guests an inside look at some of the world’s greatest composers in what Kendros calls “music salons.”
 
“My goal is to make these presentations the most exciting, educational and entertaining events anyone has ever experienced in continuing education,” he said. “And I will stop at nothing to accomplish this!”
 
These music salons, which take place at 10:30 a.m. on March 7 and 28, April 25, May 23, June 27, July 25, August 8, Sept. 26, Oct. 24, Nov. 28 and Dec. 26, are upbeat and highly informative. Along with mini-concerts, Kendros offers fascinating glimpses into the life and times of each composer, so that his audiences feel they can relate to these musical giants as real human beings.
 
“The North Shore’s Favorite Music Historian”
Kendros is not new to the world of music or the North Shore and has much involvement in the local industry. A professional composer of over 400 works, he not only lectures for orchestras and is a Resident Music Historian for multiple symphonies and ensembles, but can also be heard on Huntley Radio’s “Classical Music in Bite-Size Nuggets” and “The Elgin Symphony Orchestra Listener’s Club Radio Show.”
 
Many local home care agency caregivers and senior living centers are familiar with Kendros because, in addition to all of these commitments, he makes it a priority to host music salons. He’s been doing them—lecturing and preforming—at senior centers for over 20 years.
 
“I especially enjoy working with seniors,” he explained. “In 1994, I was working as a continuing education instructor for a local college. They had an outreach program to offer classes in senior centers, and they assigned me two centers in Evanston. I loved it! Then the college discontinued the program, and I thought my job was over. But the centers started calling me and asked me to come back on my own. I enthusiastically accepted. In 1996, I decided to do this full time. And I love every second of it!”
 
Mini Concerts
The “mini-concerts” during Kendros’ music salons often feature piano performances and, sometimes, beloved folk music and light classical selections on rare, highly unique and historic string instruments.
 
While his own piano arrangements of popular film themes are praised as being “dramatically romantic,” he describes his these other instruments—the Swedish Keyed Violin and French Hurdy Gurdy—as being “hauntingly mysterious” and “absolutely celebratory” depending on the instrument.
 
“I always say that hearing a treasured melody on these instruments is like renewing a contact with an old friend. The melody of the song is like the old friend, while the new sounds of these instruments are like the excitement of renewing the contact!”
 
Music as Medicine
Music therapy has been proven to promote healing in concern to memory, help improve and protect hearing, and even benefit Alzheimer’s and stroke rehabilitation.
 
Freedom Home Care realizes the importance of music as medicine to seniors and hopes this program spreads joy as it supports a musical approach to healthy living. If you are interested in learning more about different alternative therapies or in search of a “home care agency near me,” feel free contact us today!