Written by Diana Chittester as part of Roots of American Music’s “People on the Move” senior songwriting series, a songwriting collaboration between ROAM teaching artists/musicians and senior adults from the Cleveland Heights Senior Center and Library Court Apartments Senior Living. Diana collaborated with Linda Jones Carlson, a concert pianist who’s early career in New York grew from accompanying vocalists’ auditions into touring the United States and Europe performing with orchestras and opera companies. When she chose to step back from the demands of world touring, Linda relocated to Ohio to accept a teaching position at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Linda had a motto that helped carry her through hard times, “you grit your teeth and push on.” This motto lead to the song theme and title, “I Play On”.
I Play On
I took to those keys when I was young
Each note a puzzle piece I couldn’t wait to solve
A passion in training
A purpose for which I’m born
She opened my world with Chopin and Bach
Each melody I’d play earned me a soda pop
But it’s practice and patience
I first need to learn
Chorus:
I play on
I grit my teeth and stay strong
I push past mistake til they’re gone
It’s my lesson learned
I play on
I boarded that bus and I left that town
Packed up all my dreams, I’m New York City bound
A fresh new start
Another puzzle unknown
They’d ask me to play on audition day
I had to know techniques I never learned to play
But I’d just keep on
Cuz this music’s more than a song
Chorus:
Bridge: When the conductor cues
And the music moves
I’m connected to
Every string as it plays
Every voice as it sings
I feel them inhale/exhale
Muscles engage
I surrender my body
It’s no longer my own
I give, and I give, til I feel there’s no more
But I play on
My stories a song I had to learn as I’d go
My journey a melody I wrote note for note
A puzzle I may never solve
My mind is quiet as the chaos slows
My body’s release, it’s now just my own
But I keep the music – it’s never gone
Chorus:
Cuz I play on
I grit my teeth and stay strong
I push past mistakes but they’re not gone
They’re lessons learned
As I play on
I grit my teeth and stay strong
I push past mistakes til they’re gone
They were my lessons learned
And I play on