{"id":7828,"date":"2022-11-08T02:01:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T19:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/?p=7828"},"modified":"2022-11-08T03:04:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T20:04:52","slug":"a-cuban-refugee-spreads-the-joy-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/a-cuban-refugee-spreads-the-joy-of-music\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cuban Refugee Spreads the Joy of Music<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lillian Simmons was evacuated from Cuba as a child and went on to continue her artistic passion in the U.S. After the pandemic, her piano studio struggles with recovering but that doesn’t stop the music.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Story by Daniel Sadjadi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sun has set on Frontier Trail. The root beer starts flowing, and pencils begin marking away. It\u2019s Friday evening at Lillian Simmons’ piano studio, which means it\u2019s Theory & Pizza night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Studio of Music is set in Simmons\u2019 home, a quaint yet cozy space with four upright pianos positioned against the living room walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, students would meet there every Friday to complete pages of music theory for prizes and to chow down homemade pizza and salad. After the height of the pandemic, attendance is still limited, and these once weekly events have become rare but more memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the studio\u2019s wall hangs a painting of the iconic lighthouse at Havana Harbor\u2019s Morro Castle. Simmon\u2019s mother had the artwork commissioned in New Orleans by a retired medical doctor. Based on a black and white picture of the Spanish fort that her mother had, it offers a nostalgic glimpse into the land Simmons departed from over sixty years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer special request to him was from memory, he should draw the blue color of the sea and the blue color of the sky, because there in New Orleans we had gray skies and gray sea,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons recalls fond memories from her youth in Cuba. She came from a middle-class family, and her father was a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Havana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo of Simmons from her youth in Cuba with her on the left, her neighbor Danny in the middle, and her sister Giselle on the right. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn Sundays we went to a watersports club, which was very nice\u2026 They taught swimming, rowing, water ballet, and just plain swimming\u2026 We used to have a lot of individual freedoms, then communism took over,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her introduction to music started young when Simmons was eight years old. Simmons took piano classes while attending a private school in Havana. Simmons\u2019 musical passion would develop later on, but it was her parents who decided to get her a private piano teacher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of my childhood I was learning music.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1961, after the Cuban Revolution, Simmons\u2019 family decided that she needed to leave the country for the United States. Simmons was one of more than 14,000 children who left Cuba via Operation Peter Pan, a clandestine exodus of Cuban minors to the US coordinated by the CIA and sponsored by the Cuban Catholic Church and western oil companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy parents took my little sister and I to the airport. My dad said \u2018well kids, goodbye and good luck. We may never see you again, but that\u2019s alright, that does not matter. You all have had an excellent education, and there\u2019s a lot of opportunity in the United States, and you\u2019ll be doing alright over there, and don\u2019t worry about us. We\u2019ll be right over here,\u2019\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A photograph of Simmons during her childhood in Cuba. Simmons was one of more than 14,000 children who left Cuba via Operation Peter Pan to the United States.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the unaccompanied Simmons boarded the plane, she quickly noticed the fearful atmosphere in the cabin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone in the plane was mostly scared the plane would not be able to make a full trip, and everyone was real quiet,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steward made an announcement informing passengers that the plane could be forced to land while it was in Cuban airspace. After a tense interlude, the steward announced that the aircraft had left Cuban airspace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone cheered very loudly, raised their arms, and were overjoyed,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmon\u2019s parents reunited with her in the US a year after she arrived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were lucky. Most Peter Pan children were not able to see their parents again during their childhood, it was pretty rough stuff,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But leaving her old life in Cuba behind was still not easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re leaving a part of your heart. It\u2019s where you grew up, it\u2019s where your friends are. Your favorite landscapes, buildings, activities. I missed leaving my home,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In America, Simmons first lived with three generations of other refugees in her aunt\u2019s house. Simmons\u2019 aunt would not allow her to have a piano because of the noise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the only time when I cried\u2026 I did not cry about anything else,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmon\u2019s parents learned about this over the phone.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when my dad knew that I was going to be a piano teacher. I don\u2019t know how my dad always knew everything about me. He knew things I didn\u2019t even know about myself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons went on to become a housewife and mother and then became a legal secretary for 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was interested in the law because I saw my country turn from free enterprise to communism,\u201d she said. \u201cThe way my dad used to explain this was, he said, in Cuba during communism, we had to walk with our head down in submission and our tail between our legs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons opened the latest chapter in her life 15 years ago when she began to teach piano from her home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just avoided teaching piano because I thought it was too difficult. You just remember what you went through as a student. And I was wrong about that. It\u2019s actually very easy to teach,\u201d Simmons said, \u201c[the] pressure is you want your students to do well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Simmons is president of the local Bluebonnet Music Teachers Association and takes pride and satisfaction in helping students advance and develop a love for music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to see the kids develop, from nothing to good pianists. It\u2019s just fun. And you\u2019re actually taking a part in their lives,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One father brought a student named Maro, who had no interest in practicing and learning piano, to Simmons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFour teachers couldn\u2019t do anything for him, I was thinking what could I do with the kid, what makes the father think I can do anything with him,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons recalls playing one of her favorite pieces at a Christmas party, Chopin\u2019s Tristesse \u00c9tude, a sentimental and sad yet sweet piece about the composer\u2019s love life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe next week Maro said he wanted to learn it. He played the first line perfectly, and from then on\u2026\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maro developed a passion for piano and went on to become Simmons\u2019 best student. Her reaction?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh gee, I didn\u2019t know I could do this!\u201d Simmons said, \u201cI think motivation is very important. I usually don\u2019t try to push the kids too much. I try to get them interested any way I can.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the pandemic, the biggest challenge for Simmons\u2019 studio was getting students to practice. Simmons suggested that electric keyboards have made finding the motivation to practice for young students even harder than usual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe parents resist buying an acoustic piano. The acoustic sound blends with the molecules in your body in a way that the electronic sound does not do,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Simmon\u2019s biggest challenge is dealing with the impact of the pandemic. Simmons lost over half of her students during the pandemic as piano lessons went to being done virtually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to go back to in-person because the online and in-home classes do not work well,\u201d Simmons said, \u201cWhen you see your kid face to face, it\u2019s more pressure to practice. Since online they don\u2019t advance, they get discouraged, and then they quit. I discuss these things with teacher groups on Facebook and even colleagues in person and everybody is having these problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the pandemic, Simmons encouraged students to take music theory tests at Texas State University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a magnificent building, and it is an institution of higher learning. The kids get the impression, \u2018gee, this theory must be important,\u2019\u201d Simmons said, \u201cWhen we have been doing it in homes [during the pandemic], the kids are not getting this impression that theory is important.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As coronavirus restrictions have been lifted, Simmons hopes for a return to normal as the studio gradually transitions more lessons and events to being back in person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A modern photograph of Simmons with her relatives as she poses in the bottom middle. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to keep abreast of the present,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One piece of wisdom Simmons wishes to share? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just have to navigate this life, see what the situation is, and adjust as best you can.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lillian Simmons was evacuated from Cuba as a child and went on to continue her artistic passion in the U.S. After the pandemic, her piano studio struggles with recovering but that doesn’t stop the music. Story by Daniel Sadjadi The sun has set on Frontier Trail. The root beer starts flowing, and pencils begin marking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4103,"featured_media":7835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[1094,100,1512,1510,1509,1511,1503,1508,1505,1507,432,1514,1506,1513,1515],"class_list":["post-7828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-accent","tag-austin-community-college","tag-bluebonnet-music-teachers-association","tag-cuba","tag-cuban-refugee","tag-cuban-revolution","tag-daniel-sadjadi","tag-havana-harbor","tag-international-studio-of-music","tag-lillian-simmons","tag-music","tag-music-theory","tag-piano","tag-piano-lessons","tag-piano-studio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}