The studio at the back of the suburban semi-detached house is sheepishly guarded by Sparkle. The 13-year-old Labrador lies in the doorway slowly drifting off to the sound of the grand piano. The studio gives way to the backyard. There, brightly coloured flowers and lush green grass assemble almost picturesquely. Three bird feeders are set up for the morning doves, finches and the blues jays who regularly visit. Behind the garden, past the chain-link fence, a thick forest grows, a staple of most suburban developments. Back in the house, I walk behind the pianist towards the studio. Her house is tidy and the carpet is squishy and comfortable under my feet. Walking through the house, a vanishing point leads to the studio. As a result, it is evident to anyone that piano is a big part of this woman’s life.
As I walk behind the pianist, I observe a shelf with marble busts of famous players. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin stare back at me. As their white marble eyes follow my movements, I wonder if Clare Ellement wishes to be on that shelf one day.
The woman’s hands slide over the keyboard. Although they do not move as gracefully as they did when she was 20. Now, they tell a story with every crease. They are smooth and spotted artfully with age. Her pinky fingers are bent permanently, as if holding a glass. Arthritis waged war and took siege of those once eloquently long fingers. She says, waving her hand in dismissal, “I don’t play anymore”. She sits on the long black rectangular stool as familiar to her now as an extension of her body. As if in a lesson, she tells me the proper position for playing. Sitting straight while slightly leaning forward. She arranges her music sheet on the small shelf adorning the piano. These pieces are the ones she played when she was performing. Red pen and pencil notes fill the margins. The pages are yellowed by time and she tells me as she flips through the booklet, “a single piece could be up to one hour on stage, or an hour and a half with intermission”.
Clare Ellement started playing professionally when she was 18. She attended school in Toronto, after moving there from Thunder Bay. Ellement never married. “I met the love of my life and when he passed, I never bothered with anyone else”. Since starting her music career, she has been a member of the Ottawa Music Club for over 20 years. Furthermore, she presided over this group for a number of years. As a member of this group, she played all over town at galas and concerts. In a news article from the Ottawa Citizen on March, 2. 1966 she is said to play “with tremendous enthusiasm […] to which she brought a great deal of warmth and spirit.” In addition, the young pianist graced the stage of the National Arts Centre. As well as being a prominent member of the musical society in Ottawa, she started teaching. She taught up to 65 students a week, and worked 10 hour days. Clare looks determined to tell me that this didn’t bother her. She says, “this is my joie de vivre”. Currently, she has 25 students, a meager number compared to what she used to teach.
Clare learned from one of the best teachers in the North America. She looks towards the window as she recalls her first trip to New York. “The first time I went to New York. I was so stressed, I thought I’d die. I didn’t think she would take me”. Adele Marcus was a teacher at Julliard in New York. She took on students outside of her teaching duties. Ellement had the privilege of learning from Marcus. The young pianist travelled back and forth from Ottawa to New York for 10 years. At first, she visited more frequently. Later on she would visit every month or couple of months. She recalls the first time she met the artist in her studio, “Her studio was near 11th Avenue, she lived in the penthouse. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful!”.
I sit facing Clare and as she unravels her life story. I can only think how torturous the passage of time can be. Throughout the years, she was blessed with numerous incredible adventures, although life has a way of giving as well as taking.
The pianist saw her first traumatic experience with death when her aunt died, affecting her deeply, she says. “I was very close with my aunt and when she passed, it was painful for me. I took some time to myself after that.” Years later, as we sit in her living room, I still feel the loss when she speaks about it. Being an artist has its hardships. The sentiments of inspiration and devotion battle with reality. Clare looks towards me and says, “You have to be emotional, if you have a career in the arts, you have to be.”
I ask the artist in front of me, what her worst moment on stage was. One could expect the usual answer, “I forgot the piece”. Yet again, Clare shocks me with abrupt openness. Ellement almost looks away in disbelief and recalls the moment before she went on stage some years ago. She verbalizes her horror. “One of the worst experiences was going on stage, thinking my father was going to die while I played. I got the news before I went on stage. I couldn’t do anything but go on and play. During the show, I was somewhere in left wing”. She gestures with her hand signifying a distant place. Although much her mind was elsewhere, she was told to have performed spectacularly. She tells me that she does not recall the performance, feeling like in a trance. Her father died a month later in hospital.
Nevertheless, it is clear that emotion is an immense part of performing. The pianist presents her aged hands and imitates shaking uncontrollably. “Not throwing up, is the hardest before getting up on stage.”
In fact, every good artist is a jack of all trades. Acting, is one of these trades, with her hands acting out what I could describe as dainty and proper. She flashes a wicked smile and tells me, “I put on an act when I was nervous, and it worked.” Nowadays, musicians and artists have psychologists to help them through the anxiety.
Clare Ellement is a mixture of wit, youthfulness and yet she is serene. She holds an abundance of life experience, using teaching as a form of imparting her knowledge. After 40 years of teaching, she stills enjoys it just as much as when she first started. She assures me she will teach until the day she can’t physically and mentally do it any longer.