by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
Once a week, Marie Thomas heads for a backroom in the Senior Center and sits down in front of an upright piano, ready for her latest lesson.
Ms. Thomas, of Dayton, retired from nursing several years ago and found herself in need of hobbies to fill all her newly acquired free time. She said she had thought about learning the piano in her younger years, but said she never had the opportunity. Now, at the South Brunswick Senior Center, she is acting on her ambition.
”I started my lessons about three years ago, I had never played before,” Ms. Thomas said. “I worked very hard for many years, nursing and getting my kids through college. After I retired I felt like I had to do something, not just watch TV. Playing the piano is good for your brain, and it makes you happy.”
Ms. Thomas is one of 15 seniors taking lessons from Anne Strazza, a former Dayton resident who now lives in Metuchen, at the Senior Center. Ms. Strazza, a retired elementary school teacher, said she has been giving lessons at the center for the last seven years. Most of her students at the center are between the ages of 60 and 75, and she has experience teaching children the piano as well.
She said that a couple of her students at the Senior Center took lessons when they were younger, and decided that they wanted to get back into playing after their retirement. She said the majority of the people she has taught at the center over the years though were just picking up the instrument for the first time as seniors.
”A lot are just starting from scratch,” Ms. Strazza said. “I have taught my whole life, the trick is having patience.”
And patience, she has. Ms. Strazza dutifully watches her students’ fingers as they work the black and white keys, feeling out the chords and rhythm.
”She doesn’t want you to miss a thing,” Ms. Thomas said.
Ms. Strazza said that in her experience kids pick up the instrument faster than adults, but that the adults are much more dedicated to practice.
”That’s the main difference, the practice,” she said. “A child wants to do a million different things, it is hard to get them to sit down. They go through it once and then they are on to the next thing.”
Elise Ahrend, of South Brunswick, is another student of Ms. Strazza’s. She is also just starting to learn the instrument as an adult.
”I thought it would be good to do something different,” Ms. Ahrend said. “As I have learned to play I have developed a much larger appreciation for music I hear, knowing what goes into playing it. The piano is not an easy instrument.”
Ms. Strazza sees 10 students on Fridays and another five on Mondays. Each student gets a half-hour lesson, and Ms. Strazza provides music that they can take home. She insists that her students all learn to read music.
”There are other methods now,” she said. “But I do it the old fashion way.”
Her students get their money’s worth. They are only charged $4 per lesson, well under the going rate for private tutoring.
Ms. Strazza says playing the instrument works parts of the brain that many seniors do not normally use. She also said that playing the instrument is good exercise for those with arthritis.
”I have been playing my whole life and I still have the most flexible fingers out,” Ms. Strazza said. “I have a student who has arthritis and came to take lesson on a doctor’s recommendation.”
She said that her favorite part of teaching is the look of satisfaction on her students’ faces when they finally nail down a difficult piece.
”That’s where I get my gratification from,” she said.

