Keyed Into Performers
Every month we sit down and have an informal conversation with a featured pianist. It could be a famous Jazz pianist, an innovative keyboard instructor or an up-and-coming new artist. This week at OnlyPiano.com, we have a conversation with…

Jill Palmer

Originally from Columbia, Maryland, Jill began playing piano at age 5 and composed her first melody at 8, a piece she still performs in concert and included on her first album. Her first CD, Remember When, skyrocketed when it was added to Smooth Jazz and New-Age playlists at radio stations across the US. With her second CD, Wings to Fly, she expands on her talents and is currently developing an innovative music hospice program.

Only Piano: You live in Florida. How did that come about?

Jill Palmer: I've had kind of an interesting life, and I've lived in lots of different places. I grew up in Columbia, Maryland, which is near Baltimore, and I also spent time in Pennsylvania growing up. And then, I moved to Alaska. I lived in Alaska for four years and recorded my first CD up there. The CD really started to take off when it was released in 1996, and I was eventually picked up by Barnes and Noble and their distributor.

I had a manager at the time who was managing my career from New York, and he said, 'You need to move to either New York or L.A. for your career.' I actually decided to leave Alaska at the end of '97.

I originally came to Florida because my parents were down here and I figured that after four years in the frozen Arctic, I needed somewhere to warm up and thaw out. It was supposed to be a 'pit stop' but I met my husband here and decided to stay. My manager laughed and said, 'You know, you are a composer and your compositions come from the heart. If your heart is happy, it doesn't matter whether you're in New York, L.A., Alaska, or Zimbabwe. And with the Internet now and fax machines and all of that stuff, you really don't need to be on one of the coasts, either East or West, so why don't you just stay put in Florida?' And that's how I actually ended up down here, and I've been here now for, I guess it's been seven years.

I've been composing all along, and I recorded my second CD, Wings to Fly, here in Florida. I recorded the CD myself---self-produced it just like I did my first one, and recorded everything in one take. So there was no overdubbing, no editing. I just recorded everything myself at home and released the CD in 2000.

Only Piano: So, now you're putting your music to a very good cause. Tell me about that.

Jill Palmer: Well, it's really an amazing thing that just sort of evolved, and I have to just look at it and be astounded. Because when I recorded Wings to Fly in 2000, I never, ever dreamed in my wildest dreams that there would be a connection with hospice. I didn't even really know, honestly, what a hospice was in the year 2000.

Only Piano: So tell us what it is, and how that all came about.

Jill Palmer: Okay, a hospice is a really amazing community-supported place where people are spending their final days. They are dying, usually from cancer or whatever terminal disease they have, or sometimes just old age and a host of medical problems. The hospice provides 24-hour, loving care to people who need compassionate support at the end of their lives. It's a very residential setting, and a lot of them look like beautiful homes. The amazing thing about hospices is that they are not usually affiliated with any kind of company. They're usually run completely on donations. They are dependent on grants, donations from civic groups, religious groups, and individuals. The government helps, and United Way is also very involved with hospices, but hospices are really these incredible, self-sustaining compassion centers.

I had never realized they existed until my grandfather had cancer. We were so grateful that there was a wonderful hospice in Maryland when he was so sick. And at Gilcrest (the hospice that he was in), the nurses just fell in love with my CD. I had never thought about using it as music therapy, but it was on in the background in my grandfather's room, and the nurses came by--- I have chills now as I'm telling you this. The nurses came by and said, 'What is that? What are we listening to?' And my grandfather was so sick, but he said, 'That's my granddaughter.' And they said, 'But it's so beautiful! This is what people should be listening to when they're here.'

They told my grandfather and my family that so many times people have TVs on in the rooms, and families are just, you know, having CNN on in the background or something. It's not really conducive to relaxation, and the nurses were saying, 'Gosh, if we had this CD in every room, people could play it and feel so much better."

And the amazing thing about hospice is that because they're so residential, a lot of times the rooms already have CD players in them and all the comforts of home. So, that was the case in Maryland, and they ended up putting one of my CDs in every room. That's kind of what started the ball rolling. So far, I've donated about 300 CDs since I sent the first e-mail to Florida hospices offering to donate my CDs to their music therapy programs. I'll be performing in hospices throughout the year, doing in-house concerts for the residents, and also playing at memorial services for the families.

Wings to Fly is in ten or twelve hospices so far. But the amazing thing is what's happening with the imagery of the CD and the title. Wings to Fly has a butterfly on the back of the CD, and for me, it was a very poignant CD for me to write and produce because I was going through a really difficult time in my life. A lot of the compositions were born out of that struggle. There's a song called Triumph of the Spirit that's very personal about a horrible experience I went through. I had health problems. I was going through a divorce when I left Alaska, and I was really struggling with a difficult time in my life.

This CD, and the songs on it, helped me to kind of reinvent myself and I experienced a rebirth. That's why I chose the butterfly--- as a symbol for rebirth. But when I looked at the websites for the hospices at three in the morning when my son couldn't sleep, I kept seeing butterflies on all these web sites and I didn't understand why. I didn't understand until I talked to one of the people at the hospice, I think in Naples. She said to me, 'Oh, Jill, didn't you know that the international symbol of hospice is the butterfly?'

That just floored me. So now I take that as a sign that I'm supposed to be doing this, and that the same imagery that worked for me at a very difficult time in my life will hopefully help people with the transition at the end of their lives.

Only Piano: That's great. Are you thinking about getting other musicians involved?

Jill Palmer: Absolutely. I really think that this is an idea that goes so beautifully with the piano as a specific instrument, which is why I'm so impressed with your web site and your focus on piano. Because the piano is such a soothing instrument and it's almost hypnotic, it really has a way of reflecting emotions and amplifying them and also soothing them. If other pianists are inspired to play at hospices near them, that would be phenomenal. I really think a lot of amazing things could happen if people joined forces.

Only Piano: That'd be great. That'd be great. Speaking of pianos, what do you play? What do you have at home?

Jill Palmer: At home, I have a Kawai baby grand.  I absolutely love the Kawai. I think they're very expressive, and very mellow. A lot of people record on Yamahas but I find that they're too bright, and I really like a more mellow sound.

Only Piano: Now, you've got a web site, www. jillpalmer.com, is that right?

Jill Palmer: Yes, that's correct.

Only Piano: How's that going for you? How's the whole web thing? You know, you've been playing this for a while now, 10 years.

Jill Palmer: I've been playing since I was five. I started recording in 1996.

Only Piano: Didn't I say a while?

Jill Palmer: Yes, I've been in this as a career for almost 10 years. But yeah, you know, you're right. I've had to embrace the Internet, and I've had to ask for help because I'm a musician and that's what I want to focus on: just playing the piano and composing. And I like acoustic instruments. You know, I don't even really enjoy a keyboard at all because it feels electronic and cold to me. I want to feel the wood. I want to feel the vibration of the piano. The Internet kind of scared me, but as an independent musician, you have to know how to use a computer, not just for the Internet but for the recording process too.

But I had to learn all of that stuff. You know, you have to embrace it. I think as far as the Internet goes, it's a great thing. It really is. Once you get over the fear factor, or at least what some of us have as a fear factor, the possibilities are limitless, unbelievable.

Only Piano: Do you have a new CD coming out? Are you recording stuff?

Jill Palmer: Yes, I am. One is actually going to be a double album.  I'm actually working on a couple of projects. One is a lullaby CD because so many children respond to my music, and I've had a lot of e-mail asking for a CD just dedicated to lullabies. And, in addition to that, I'll be doing a double CD of original compositions which will be one disc of solo piano--- nothing but solo piano--- and the second disc, which I'm very excited about, will be a disc with songs and actual lyrics. It's a real leap of faith for me, but singing has been in my heart for such a long time, and now I feel ready to do it.

When the compositions come to me, they just come to me. And for the last couple of years, every song that's been coming to me has had words. It's going to be a double CD because I do have fans that only want solo piano and they would be very sad if I didn't include just solo piano. They just like to 'zone out' to it and appreciate just the beauty of the piano, but at the same time I want to take that leap into doing vocals. So, I'm hoping to do a double CD with one disc with words and one without words.

Only Piano: And do you have tentative names for these CDs if people wanted to look for them?

Jill Palmer: You know, I'm still working on names for them, but I'm definitely going to keep you informed.

Only Piano: So we've still got www.jillpalmer.com to go check it out?

Jill Palmer: Yes. Absolutely.

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