Music can call at any age. These NEO musicians started playing when the muse was ready; some early, some later.
CHAD PENGAL
Chad Pengal, 61, has been interested in bluegrass music since he was in seventh grade, but he didn’t get serious about playing it until his mid-50s.
“I always wanted to learn,” says the homebuilder and owner of Chadwick Homes in Mentor. To that end, 15 years ago, he bought a banjo and started experimenting. “I started plucking away but didn’t get anywhere. I wasn’t able to concentrate until my kids grew up and moved out. I was involved with them and their activities. Once my kids grew up, I found I had a lot more spare time to work on learning to play the instruments.”
In his 50s, he started taking lessons on a five-string banjo and was soon jamming with local musicians at one of their homes. That led to a band that played small, local venues for a year before members went their separate ways.
When Pengal met his now-girlfriend, Gloria Severino, he took his playing to a new level. Severino had recently left a popular Northeast Ohio club band after a 23-year career as a singer and musician. She saw talent in Pengal’s playing and talked him into starting a duo.
Today that duo – Pickin Rocks – plays bluegrass, country and Americana songs at bars, restaurants and wineries in Northeast Ohio. Pengal plays banjo and standup bass, while Severino plays acoustic guitar. Both do power vocals.
“I’ve always loved music,” says Pengal. “I like live music and going to small places and seeing talented musicians. All my family is musical. My dad plays button box with the Fairport Harbor Jammers. My sister has a band that plays around town. And my son is a full-time, professional musician in Nashville.”
And that’s just a partial list. “I was the last one in the family to start performing,” says Pengal. It was about time.
JIM LaRUE
When Jim LaRue’s wife was dying a few years ago, he saw the comfort volunteer musicians brought to families at the David Simpson Hospice House operated by Hospice of the Western Reserve. That’s when the retired chaplain and homebuilder decided to learn an instrument.
“I was visiting my son in San Diego. I went into a Native American store, saw a flute and bought it,” he says. “I’d never played an instrument and don’t read music.”
In his late 70s at the time, the Medina resident didn’t let that stop him. A friend hooked him up with a teacher. “It became a matter of practicing and improvising,” he recalls. “In fact, every piece I play is the last time you’ll ever hear it. I play and it’s gone. I’m moved by the day, by the circumstances.”
“I don’t perform,” he explains. “I just find a corner or place in large rooms and start playing. The sound carries throughout the building. I get wonderful feedback. I now have people requesting me to play.”
“I’ve had some amazing experiences,” he says. He’s seen the haunting music unleash tears and facilitate grieving for spouses who were “stuck” in denial. Nurses have told him he’s calmed difficult patients to sleep. And hugs of gratitude are common.
“They need, at that moment, whatever the flute was giving them,” he says.
Today, at age 82, LaRue has eight wooden flutes in different keys. “I love the satisfaction they provide. I’m so pleased that I’m able to do this without a musical background.”
MONICA MARINKO
Monica Marinko, 71, was hooked on piano from the age of two. Her mother played classical piano and the young Marinko started lessons by age 6. “Music is my passion,” she says. “I put a lot of feeling into what I play and how I play. My interest has been more toward classical music than popular music, but it’s hard to make a living as a classical pianist.”
And so she was a school psychologist until she retired in 2010.
Marinko’s favorite music was written by 19th-century Polish composer Frederic Chopin. “I’ve been in love with him for 30 years. The music is challenging, melodic, romantic. It offers real opportunities for expression and emotion. His music is also very powerful. I don’t have enough technical skills for all of it, but I enjoy it.”
She decided to play more piano after she retired and that turned into working as the accompanist for the Forest City Singers and volunteering at Hospice of the Western Reserve. “The talent I have is a gift. When you have a gift, it’s important to give it away. So I got involved in playing for hospice. I know to my core that music is soothing, it’s healing and I want to be able to give that to people in the last stages of their lives.”
Despite years of experience, Marinko wants to get even better, so she’s studying at the Cleveland Music Settlement. “I’m trying to continue to make progress,” she says.
GLORIA SEVERINO
Gloria Severino, 52, got her first guitar as a present for her 10th birthday and never looked back. By 15 years old, she was playing in a local rock band. At 20 she joined Street Life, a Cleveland-area rock band. They played various bar venues for 23 years, including The House of Blues in Cleveland.
“When I was young, I took lessons at a local music store,” she says. “But I got upset and quit early.” So Severino learned to play by ear, something she considers both good and bad. Good because she can learn quickly, bad because it makes it difficult to use sheet music.
“I’ve always been a music lover and I love to perform,” she says. In addition to acoustic guitar, she plays electric guitar and keyboard, and she sings. Her performing skills were also on stage as DJ/owner of Unlimited Music Productions. In fact, she was often hired as a wedding singer and a reception DJ.
When Gloria met Chad Pengal, she invited him to jam. “I have a lot of experience in the music business and I knew there was something really special about our combination of talents,” she says. So, she talked him into starting the duo, Pickin Rocks. Today, their repertoire is deep enough to play four straight hours of music.
Severino declares a love of music. “I just want to share the gift,” she says.
When it comes to music, Paris Wolfe prefers being in the audience.
Providing the gift of music is as meaningful for Hospice of the Western Reserve volunteers as it is for patients. Volunteer education sessions are held regularly for those interested. To learn more or register for an upcoming session, visit hospicewr.org/volunteers or call 216.255.9090.
