The Beverly Pickering Music & Alzheimer's Project

The Beverly Pickering Music & Alzheimer’s Project aims to foster connections between nursing home residents and the local community through live music and interactive musical experiences. The project began under the guidance of the late Beverly Pickering, and later continued under the excellent leadership of George Owens. With the help of countless community volunteers, the project has brought weekly music performances to nursing homes and rehabilitation centers around Northampton for more than 15 years.

Beverly Pickering (1913-2011)

Beverly was born, Beverly T. Johnson in Fargo, North Dakota on November 18, 1931 to Emery Nels Johnson and Johanna Edith Oberlander. Beverly graduated in a class of seven from the high school in Hunter, North Dakota where she grew up on her parent's farm. She received piano scholarships and earned a Bachelor's Degree, with honors, from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and a Master's Degree in music from Yale University. Beverly continued her piano studies under Beveridge Webster at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. Beverly later earned her Associate Degree in Nursing from Middlesex College School of Nursing in Bedford, Massachusetts. Following college, Beverly married Chester L. Schuler; they were later divorced in 1976. They had two children: Brett and Timothy. She taught piano in her Wayland, Massachusetts studio until 1990 when she, her dear partner John and her electronic piano set sail for a two-year life-at-sea on their sailboat, the Toucantoo. In December 1994 Beverly married the love of her life, John Pickering. While Beverly accomplished many music medical studies during her career as RN-Music Specialist, her most recent collaboration, as a team of three, initiated and developed the Cognitive Behavior Modification Through Music program which was published in 2010.