The weekend before Christmas, visitors to Pep's were treated to a special helping of holiday cheer when Nona Danruther spent Friday and Saturday evenings playing Christmas music on the piano. Her performance was prompted by a simple desire to play: "I have all this Christmas music that I've played for 40 years; I've collected for 40 years. They're arrangements that I change, and there's nowhere to play them. I can't play them at the Medical Center, because they are locked down. And there is a piano here. So, I played dinner music."
Nona at the piano has been a familiar sight at weddings, funerals, elementary school concerts, at the nursing home, and other musical performances in Big Sandy for the past four decades. However, this is her very first solo public performance. "I'd get scared spitless. I didn't even like playing recitals," she explained when asked why she doesn't perform solo.
"It was fun," was her simple response to my question about how the evenings went. She played a variety of Christmas songs, though she did do a rendition of Piano Man. The audience was enthusiastic in their support, applauding after most songs. She even received $30 in tips on Saturday night, though she was quick to explain that she wasn't doing it for the money.
The idea to perform at Pep's was cooked up by Nona and her son Josh, who owns and operates Pep's. It was prompted by a Christmas Party on Friday night, which Nona provided music for. She played two sets, taking a brief break in-between for dinner. She finished up at 9 both nights. She required very little rehearsal or prep time for the performances because "These were my Christmas songs. I play them all the time in my basement, so I was practiced up."
When asked about future performances, Nona explained: "He (Josh) wants me to play on New Year's Eve, but what do you play on New Year's Eve? A lot of my music is emotional: ballads, sad, and emotional. And themes from movies. Not really appropriate for New Year's Eve. And New Years Eve is a different crowd entirely. And I don't want to do it." Though she hasn't ruled out playing in the future once she has figured out appropriate music for the occasions.
For Nona, music is an important part of life. "I listen to music every day of my life. I have it on the radio. I have it on the TV. I don't watch much TV anymore, because I'd rather just listen to music. I like to listen to movies that have a lot of music. I know all of the composers that compose the soundtracks. I play music because God gave me this talent. And if I try to do it on my own, I just screw up. I play for people because I think God maybe wanted me to." Her favorite song to perform is "The Man From Snowy River."
Playing publicly will slow down for her in the future, however. Nona explains that her arthritis will impinge on her playing in future school concerts: "Also, I've got arthritis. I told TJ, at the school, I wouldn't play for the kids anymore. Because these songs I've played forever. And I can play them. But when I get a little nervous, if I'm playing for a group of kids, and I screw up, I don't like that." Though, she explains that regular playing helps keep the arthritis at bay.
Nona closed our conversation with the simple statement that: "Music is important. It's healing." After the year we've endured, a musical Christmas together seems to be just the prescription our town needed.
