A Great Mother and Daughter Team: Nikita and Manju Lal

Niki and Manju Lal

Nikita Lal and her mother Manju, have been volunteering with the Tacy Foundation’s Live Music for Senior  programs for over a year and a half.  During that time, Manju Lal says her daughter has grown not only as a musician, but also as a leader.

 Niki Lal has gone the extra mile to recruit young musicians wherever she can. Students at Rock Ridge High School see her flyers and brochures promoting the program and hear her school announcements encouraging those with musical gifts to participate in Live Music for Seniors programs sponsored by The Tacy Foundation.

In addition to her school, Niki found five performers from her Girl Scout troop. A member of the musical honor society, Niki also drew four performers from NHS.  

As a result, over 30 young performers playing more than eight kinds of instruments have shared their talents with seniors. Niki maintains an email list to alert the musicians to upcoming performances.  However, it’s not only youth who joined Niki’s musical volunteering team.

Jordan Markwood, Niki’s chorus teacher lends his voice to the seniors Live Music program.

“The residents and staff look forward to our performances every month and are very supportive of us,” said Manju Lal. “Niki’s chorus teacher took requests from the residents and sang nostalgic songs for them for a few sessions.”

The Tacy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing live music at hospitals, seniors assisted living facilities and memory/dementia/rehabilitation units.  Currently, the Live Music programs happen throughout Maryland and Northern Virginia. The all-volunteer organization takes donations at: https://www.tacyfoundation.org/collections/donate-support

Manju Lal  and her daughter first volunteered for the Foundation at Brookdale Senior Living.  Recently they began a new volunteer outreach at Waltonwood Senior Living, in Ashburn, Virginia.  They completed six performances during the school year. At their last program, 14 musicians performed. Niki herself has performed 57 times during her tenure as a volunteer of the Foundation, with her mother serving as the Adult Site Supervisor.

Niki and her mother would like to thank all the volunteers who made their musical outreach such a success this year:

Niki and her mother would like to thank all the volunteers who made their musical outreach such a success this year:

Piano: Niki Lal, Sejal Gupta, Arjun Nayyar, Anna Nguyen, Maxwell Lu, and Selena Lawrence

Guitar: Neel Ramachandran, Nina Lal, Julie O’Brien, Eshaan Nair, Isabella Fusari, and Julie Park

Voice: Julie O’Brien, Adithi Rhagavan, Varsha Vasudevan, Selena Lawrence, and Eshaan Nair, Cleo Barr, Isabelle Duffner, Madeline Springer, Abigail Mitchell, Walker Knott, Kylie Miller, Trevor Perkins, and Marina Ashurkoff 

Ukulele: Adithi Rhagavan, Selena Lawrence, and Abigail Mitchell

Cello: Christian DeCesaris

Flute: Samantha Wagner 

Violin: Terjani Desai, Dhaya Bharath, and Sreenaina Koujala

Clarinet: William Park

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