Miss-Delectable
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WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL
As with many things for Kathryn Bakke, winter is undaunting.
In fact, the colder the weather, the better the reason to pile a suitcase and a stack of sheet music in the car and take her talent on the road, sharing it with people for whom getting out is a lot less easy.
From last Thursday through Sunday, the Minneapolis pianist is making a dozen stops at Madison-area nursing homes and assisted living centers — one of which, because of budget cuts, gave her free lodging in exchange for an appearance.
Her show, "Celebrate Winter!," is an hour of music and stories with a frosty theme — plus a talk about overcoming hearing loss.
Without the two devices she wears to help her hear at close range, Bakke is legally deaf. She began playing piano as a girl, well after losing the hearing in her right ear as an infant. A virus claimed the hearing in her left ear at age 30; after pitching a softball game while pregnant with one of her two children, she went home sick and woke up the next morning completely deaf.
"That's when I absolutely became serious about being a professional musician," said Bakke, who earned a master's degree in piano performance well into adulthood. "When I lost my hearing, and I observed how many people gave up their professions, I was determined to continue my music at an ever-higher level and demonstrate that other people should not give up, either."
A long-distance cyclist and grandmother of four who puts her age at "near retirement age," Bakke performs with ensembles, accompanies singers, and considers playing at retirement homes and senior centers a "very special" part of her work. During shows, she urges people with hearing loss to be assertive and ask for help.
"I started my career a lot later than a lot of people do," said Bakke, who now wears a cochlear ear implant in her left ear and a hearing aid in her right. "It's built up more since I got the cochlear implant in 2002, and I could function on the telephone. I hear very little with my hearing aid, but it enriches the (music's) tone, so it becomes beautiful."
As with many things for Kathryn Bakke, winter is undaunting.
In fact, the colder the weather, the better the reason to pile a suitcase and a stack of sheet music in the car and take her talent on the road, sharing it with people for whom getting out is a lot less easy.
From last Thursday through Sunday, the Minneapolis pianist is making a dozen stops at Madison-area nursing homes and assisted living centers — one of which, because of budget cuts, gave her free lodging in exchange for an appearance.
Her show, "Celebrate Winter!," is an hour of music and stories with a frosty theme — plus a talk about overcoming hearing loss.
Without the two devices she wears to help her hear at close range, Bakke is legally deaf. She began playing piano as a girl, well after losing the hearing in her right ear as an infant. A virus claimed the hearing in her left ear at age 30; after pitching a softball game while pregnant with one of her two children, she went home sick and woke up the next morning completely deaf.
"That's when I absolutely became serious about being a professional musician," said Bakke, who earned a master's degree in piano performance well into adulthood. "When I lost my hearing, and I observed how many people gave up their professions, I was determined to continue my music at an ever-higher level and demonstrate that other people should not give up, either."
A long-distance cyclist and grandmother of four who puts her age at "near retirement age," Bakke performs with ensembles, accompanies singers, and considers playing at retirement homes and senior centers a "very special" part of her work. During shows, she urges people with hearing loss to be assertive and ask for help.
"I started my career a lot later than a lot of people do," said Bakke, who now wears a cochlear ear implant in her left ear and a hearing aid in her right. "It's built up more since I got the cochlear implant in 2002, and I could function on the telephone. I hear very little with my hearing aid, but it enriches the (music's) tone, so it becomes beautiful."