THE MUSIC LADY by Rita Spillers

THE MUSIC LADY
by Rita Spillers

The year was 1988. It was I who had the bright idea to get the business cards printed and to try to drum up my first opportunity for having a piano/keyboard music performance “for hire.” My husband had bought my new Clavinova keyboard for my Christmas gift, and here I was finally having that first chance to prove myself worthy to get my first paid (solo performance) music gig.

The cafeteria manager who decided to give me this chance to test the public reaction to music in their atmosphere had made it clear that we’d "see” how things went that night. I was very excited and eager to give it a try. All that week I felt thrilled in anticipation of my debut.

I had played music all my life, having picked out my very first tunes by ear at age five. I came from a musical family of gospel singers and had performed music in public all my life, and it was something that I loved. But this was my first time to venture out and try something this bold, as playing in a restaurant and to hope for the best, that they would like what I did and want me back.

The night before my gig, I was making my final preparations on getting my song list together. Because I had played gospel music all my life, and because it was secular songs I was planning to play for the public that night, I had scratched my head to come up with every song I could possibly think of to put them down on my song list. (I think I came up with a total of maybe 40.) I had played for many weddings over the years, so I jotted down several of those sweet wedding songs, but I marked out one particular song, thinking I was not quite sure I could play it right. Then it was the night I was to make my appearance...

It was a Friday night, and because the cafeteria was just off the interstate in a university town, it was extremely busy that evening. Things were going fairly well, and I was relaxing and beginning to really enjoy the gig when an elderly lady slowly approached the keyboard and gave me a special request. She wanted to hear, “I’ll Be Loving You Always.” I shivered inside when she mentioned the song she wanted, for it was the one I had marked off my list the night before. But I smiled at her and said, “I’ll do my best!”

Needless to say, I stumbled through the song but somehow I apparently played it well enough that it gave semblance to the song. For before she left the cafeteria that night, the sweet little lady came to the keyboard with tears in her eyes and told me this story... she said, “I don’t live here, I live in Alabama and just happen to be ‘passing through.’ But sixty years ago my husband and I ‘courted’ to that song while living here in Ruston, Louisiana, and attending Louisiana Tech. I lost my husband three years ago, but tonight when you played that song, you brought him back to me, and for that I thank you.” Those words ring out in my heart even now. It was a moment I will never forget, and as I wiped my tears away that night, I stood and hugged her gently and thanked her sincerely for sharing with me in that way. What a special moment for me to be blessed to experience!

It was then that I told her it was my very first night and that I was only trying out for the job. She smiled as she turned to go and told me how she hoped I get to continue for a long, long time to come.

The management soon came over to me asking how many times a week would work best for me to come play music for them, for I had won the job. It was a great turning point for me in my life, venturing into a new career of music. It turned out to be work that I continued to do at that establishment for three years, until the economy and competition forced them to cut back expenses and to let the music go. I have since moved on to other music paths, and my career has grown tremendously over the years. But that one special event that first night made a huge impact on my life, and it is something I have carried with me all these years.

These days many know me through my music. Children who recognize me while I'm out grocery shopping will tap their mothers and excitedly say, "Look Mommy, there's the music lady!” That makes me smile and is a nice little bonus added to the blessings I get from the music work I do. But the part that really means the most is knowing that the music God has put in me, to share with others, can somehow touch a heart.

So, whenever I play a performance, my prayer is that at least one heart can be touched and made happier or comforted by a song. To me, music truly is medicine for the heart and soul.

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