A Measure of Us All

I believe that the "center of gravity" of an entire culture/country can be determined by the treatment received by it most vulnerable citizens--by "the least of us." When people with disabilities are treated inhumanly, the society—in ways that may be less than visible—is stifled. Similarly, when the true, creative human "VOICE" of someone with a disability is allowed to come forth, seen and heard, it ripples through us all and speaks of a NEW POSSIBILITY.

This year at the Oxford Round Table, I'm honored to be speaking about my work with people with disabilities. You can find more info here...

Here's an example of why I'm so excited about this presentation, and the potential that lies in this work!

New Piano CD - A Fundraiser for Haitian Relief Efforts

I've just produced a new CD of Hymns, Spirituals, Originals, and Duets. The entire proceeds from sale of the CD will be sent to Doctors Without Borders and other major relief organizations responding to the disaster in Haiti.

This solo piano recording includes Amazing Grace, When the Saints Go Marching In, Simple Gifts, When You Wish Upon a Star, Old Ship of Zion, Wonderful World, Danny Boy, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and many more beautiful interpretations.

Click here to listen to a sample track


Support this important cause while gaining inspiration and hope through music!

Price is $25.00 per CD, postage paid.

You can order through PayPal here:

CD - Haitian Fundraiser

1 CD postpaid $25.00 2 CDs postpaid $45.00 3 CDs postpaid $70.00 5 CDs postpaid $110.00

Total proceeds from the sale of each CD--$17.00--will be donated to Haitian relief efforts

"The Light of Beauty Exists Inside Every Human Being!"

A Music Workshop at Integral New York, November 2009

Over the past twenty-eight years, I have taught piano to hundreds of students. And yet, what probably comes to mind when you think of “piano lessons,” has little to do with what happens for people when they sit with me at the keyboard.

Imagine yourself discovering that you can create music of disarming beauty—even if you have little or no musical background. Imagine finding a confidence through music that defies any preconceptions you may have about yourself or life. Imagine watching another individual transform before your eyes as original piano music emerges spontaneously from her fingertips. Imagine experiencing reality in a new way as a result of music, where limitation and fear are replaced by positivity and Love.

In my workshops—which consist of solo piano performances, improvised duets with members of the audience, meditation, lecture, dialogue, and videos of great musicians—participants experience all of the above and more.

I am simply transmitting to others what music means to me. From the time I was quite young, improvising endlessly on the blues, or learning by ear my favorite James Taylor chord progression, or playing the most sublime Mozart composition, gave me solace amidst tumultuous circumstances. I was blessed that my family had a beautiful Steinway grand—the same instrument on which I now teach my students. Without fail, each time I would sit at the piano, music magically transmuted the effect of whatever was occurring around me. It made me whole.

In November, I conducted an interactive workshop in New York City sponsored by the Integral New York/Ken Wilber Meet-up Group. This particular event was created in collaboration with music educator, Lesley Stoller, who does groundbreaking work at the Queens Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. During the course of the evening, two participants, Susan Babcock and Jackie Sabin, improvised in duet with me. Although Susan had extensive formal training on piano and harpsichord, she believed herself incapable of improvising her own music. Jackie’s musical background was limited, consisting of trumpet studies in middle school. Despite their trepidation, both took the risk and sat down with me at the keyboard.

As you’ll see in this video, the experience awakened each woman to her inherent musical ability!



Indeed, my workshops are intended to effect deep and lasting transformation. Susan later wrote to me, “The most amazing thing happened last night. I practiced some of my classical piano pieces for over three hours and at the end, I decided to go for it. Improvise. Jessica, it was no more ‘accomplished’ than what I did with you in the workshop. But, like that session, it set my heart free. I didn't do it ‘well.’ I did it. Your workshop has burst a dam that’s been constricting me in my musical and personal expression for my whole life, ever since I learned how to be self-conscious. It’s like you’re saying to all the dark cynics in the world, 'Look at this!! The light of beauty exists inside every single human being!!'”

“A creativity I thought belonged only to talented artists”

Barbara Larisch of Integral New York
describes her experience improvising at the piano

Improvising with people of all ages and backgrounds is one of the most exciting dimensions of my work. When someone first sits with me at the piano, I begin by playing an evenly rhythmic, harmonically pleasing accompaniment in the bass (on the white notes, key of C). At a certain point, I ask the individual to improvise a melody in the treble (also on the white notes). Inevitably, he or she begins to explore, to venture out, experiment and expand, inspired by the sounds emerging from their own fingers and mine.

Barbara Larisch, who helped promote my recent events for the Integral New York/Ken Wilber Meet-up Group, took the leap and improvised with me during my first iNYC event in June, 2009. Her thoughtful reflections beautifully articulate the experience many have:

“When I was invited to play an improvised duet, I was at first very reluctant. I never thought of myself as musically inclined and I felt self-conscious about my lack of ability. But when I sat down at the keyboard and tentatively placed my fingers on the keys, as Jessica suggested, I felt my awareness of the room slowly slipping away.

"At first, all of my attention was focused on the mechanics of playing and I tried hard to integrate my rudimentary notes with the beautiful sounds that were arising from Jessica’s playing. It was a very cognitive and kinesthetic experience, very much like learning how to balance on a two-wheeled bicycle for the first time. Jessica’s presence was always with me, though. Her fingers were dancing across the keyboard and I discovered that the more I let go of my fears, the more playful our music became. Her voice was there in the background, coaxing me to let myself relax into the experience. My whole body started to release its tension and I realized that I was enjoying the dance that was unfolding. Each moment thereafter became an opportunity to be playful and creative and I found myself taking more and more risk.

“Then the quality of my listening began to change. I found myself responding musically to the notes that she was playing. We were having a conversation without words. But I knew that a language was being spoken because I became aware of shifts in mood, as the notes grew stronger and more playful, and then little by little, slower and softer. I became aware that I was co-creating these beautiful sounds with Jessica and I sometimes felt like we took turns playing the lead, like two dancers do, wordlessly and without any communication. The joy I discovered in expressing myself musically awakened a creativity in me that I thought belonged only to talented artists. But now I see that the impulse to create lies deep inside each one of us.”

This video from my Integral New York workshop, June 2009, shows Barbara improvising for the first time:

The Riverbrook Piano Improv-a-thon

There are marathons and bike-a-thons and walk-a-thons, but on Sunday, June 22, Riverbrook Residence in Stockbridge, MA hosted what may have been the world’s first Piano Improv-a-thon!

Riverbrook, the oldest facility for women with developmental disabilities in New England, is where I teach music. In collaboration with Riverbrook director Joan Burkhard and the many wonderful people on the staff, this event helped fulfill my aspiration to show that, no matter who we are, beauty is inherent to us all by virtue of being human.

Over the course of the afternoon, people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of musical experience—including many of the Riverbrook women—improvised with me on the beautiful Samick grand piano that graces the Riverbrook living room.

The Piano Improv-a-thon was a fundraiser for the Riverbrook music program, which is giving women with developmental disabilities a powerful and transformative means of self-expression. We raised almost $4500—far more than anticipated.

The Improv-a-thon performers collected pledges for their participation from family, friends, and colleagues. (For example, many of my husband’s fellow teachers at Taconic High School supported his participation in the event.) Contributions also came from dozens of individuals and businesses throughout the Berkshires, the Hilltown area and beyond. The Red Lion Inn, The Taggart House, Bardwell, Bowlby and Karam Insurance, Consolati Insurance, Boston Seafoods, Zabian’s Jewelers, Guido's Marketplace, and Once-Upon-a-Table restaurant, were among the many who donated.

Children as young as four years old participated, as did some of the Riverbrook residents and many of my older students. As you’ll hear in the audio clips below, each improvisation was completely individual. Yet, a sweet interconnection manifested itself, arising from that deeper level where beauty is born.

Riverbrook is a rare and special place for women with disabilities. It is an environment where beauty and interconnectivity can flourish among everyone who walks through its doors. As our piano improvisations released the creative impulse in each participant, an unusual alchemy of music, ease and freedom emerged that afternoon. I actually think this was a world's first!

Here is a sample of the twenty-four Riverbrook Improv-a-thon performers. Click on “audio recording” to hear their performances. More photos and audios are coming--stay tuned!

Nancy Babcock, Worthington, MA

Nancy studied piano for a short time when she was a girl, but was told that she had "no musical talent."

Click here for audio recording





Carol Ray, Riverbrook Residence

Carol has lived at Riverbrook for many years and is beloved by residents and staff alike. Carol expresses her exuberant relationship to life through playing music and dancing. She participated in our performance, "Flying Free: Music without Limits."

Click here for audio recording



Isabella DeFelice, Richmond, MA

Isabella is four years old. Her two sisters and brother--Gabriella, Daniella and Dominic--study piano with me. Isabella is just beginning. Our occasional forays into music are entirely improvisational.

Click here for audio recording




Tracy Salvadore, Riverbrook Residence

Tracy loves singing and playing the piano. Occasionally, when we're improvising something upbeat, a staff member or resident will start dancing to our music. This gives Tracy great joy and amusement!

Click here for audio recording




Frieda Pilson, Chappaqua, NY and Richmond, MA

Frieda has played piano for much of her life. Classically trained, she longed to free her creative musical voice. She began studying with me a number of years ago and now improvises freely, as well as composing her own strikingly original piano pieces.

Click here for audio recording



Tom Weeks, Southfield, MA

Tom works for the New York Life Insurance Company. He sings with the Berkshire Choral Festival and has a beautiful tenor voice. Tom began studying piano with me in 2008. His improvisations have a distinctly "vocal" quality: beautiful melodies are always emerging from him!

Click here for audio recording


Bram Fisher, Richmond, MA

Bram and his brother, Satchel, both study piano with me and play in the school band. They clearly love music! Each boy has a distinctly individual sensibility, as expressed in their performances of jazz and blues pieces and familiar songs, improvisations, and their Garageband compositions.

Click here for audio recording


Tanny Labshere, Riverbrook Residence

Tanny and I played a semi-improvised interpretation of "We Shall Overcome" and "America the Beautiful." Two weeks prior, we had played this duet for Governor Deval Patrick.

Click here for audio recording




More photos and recordings from the Riverbrook Piano Improv-a-thon are coming soon--stay tuned!

Flying Free: Music without Limits

By Jessica Roemischer

This video is taken from a performance called, "Flying Free: Music without Limits." It features improvised and semi-improvised piano duets with the women I teach at Riverbrook Residence in Stockbridge, MA. Riverbrook is home to twenty-three women. Under the direction of Joan Burkhard, a committed staff is creating the optimum conditions for women with developmental disabilities to be supported in every dimension of life. This is the environment I entered as a piano teacher in Fall, 2007. In my work with the women, I became disarmed by the result. As you’ll see, these women confirm that beauty arises from the deepest level of being, unfettered by any limitation. They demonstrate why music is, arguably, our most powerful and universal means of human expression and is present in us all!

The Beauty We Carry in Our Hearts - A Holiday Reflection

by Jessica Roemischer

A friend, John Steiner, recently sent an email that included a quote from the philosopher, physician, theologian, and musician, Dr. Albert Schweitzer.

“…Just as the rivers we see are minor compared to underground streams," Schweitzer said, "So, too, the idealism that is visible is minor compared to what people carry in their hearts unreleased or scarcely released.”

I’ve taught music for almost three decades to students of all ages, cultures, levels of experience and most recently to women with developmental disabilities who are blind, autistic or have Down’s syndrome. (A video of a recent performance will be posted soon.) What I am witnessing confirms that the beauty we carry in our hearts, often unreleased, is far greater than what is apparent.

Schweitzer, who won the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize, went on to say that, “Humankind is waiting and longing for those who can accomplish the task of untying what is knotted, and bringing these underground waters to the surface.” At this holiday season, I believe that if we look closely, if we have faith in the beauty that's there, hidden below the surface, we will help bring it to light.

Here’s a track from my first CD, Pachelbel’s Canon in D.
Happy Holidays!

America the Beautiful

By Jessica Roemischer

I can safely say that I’m a pianist by birth. My mother played beautifully and during her pregnancy with me, as she practiced Brahms and Schumann, their melodies no doubt penetrated the walls of her womb and entered my developing consciousness. I have no idea when it was that I first tried to plunk out notes on the piano. I was that young.

In 2006, after working for a few years as a senior editor for What is Enlightenment? Magazine (now EnlightenNext), I returned to teaching and performing music. In so doing, it became apparent that music is with me still. It’s in my blood. These days at the piano, I give every bit of my attention to each note, each span of silence, the arc of each musical phrase. I shape sound and silence like a potter shapes clay. In return, music gives me doubtless confidence—in beauty.

I recently read a short statement from integral thinker Steve McIntosh, and the penny dropped. McIntosh articulated my thoughts exactly, placing the experience of beauty in a far-reaching context. He said that the advancement of human culture is pulled forward by beauty. He called beauty—and truth and goodness—evolutionary “attractors of perfection.” As we awaken to these primary values, they “draw us forward into increasingly more evolved states and stages.”

I am performing regularly: in rural churches, at stylish cafés and elegant country inns, at weddings, at funerals, at fundraisers, even at bowling alleys. The people who hear my music come from diverse social and economic backgrounds. Some who wholeheartedly respond to my playing are life-long Republicans (one is close to George W. Bush), others are dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. Music touches something in us that’s more essential than these distinctions. That gives me hope.

In my last posting, a pre-election interview with global activist Dr. Don Beck, he spoke about the need for a new kind of leadership—one that transcends partisan politics. His emphasis was an apt one. As it turned out, 48 million people in the US voted for John McCain and 52 million for Obama. We are still a divided nation and our problems are enormous. I am inspired, however, by what this country represents and by what it can become. I remember the Pledge of Allegiance: “…One nation under God, indivisible.” That motto instills in me a powerful and disarming sense of patriotism.


Barack Obama, an African American, was just elected to the highest office in the United States. I was amazed, as many were, to see him walk across that long platform in Chicago to declare his victory on the evening of November 4th. I have a dream that America, under President-elect Obama’s leadership, will become the nation whose lofty credos are inscribed on so many of our government buildings in Washington. I am optimistic that this country can regain its standing as a beacon of possibility for millions around the world. Hopefully, this is a new beginning.

I believe that the power of beauty can and should be called upon to help catalyze this transformation. Beauty awakens that place in us where we are far more alike than dissimilar. Beauty emanates from our deepest selves. In light of the immense challenges we face, that dimension of us should be activated intentionally, awakened by evolutionary attractors of perfection such as transcendent music, to move us towards a wholly new future.

Two years ago I was asked to perform at a campaign fundraiser for Deval Patrick, who subsequently became the Governor of the State of Massachusetts. He was making an appearance here in Berkshire County. For the occasion, I created this piano interpretation of America the Beautiful.