Sharing her gift

Pianist Michelle Gately is a fixture at 88 Charles Street

By Laura Fitzgerald
Posted 1/9/19

Elegant piano music drifts over the dining room of 88 Charles St. Café in Montgomery on a Saturday night. The pianist plays at a piano next to the bar, fingers flitting over the keys, while …

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Sharing her gift

Pianist Michelle Gately is a fixture at 88 Charles Street

Posted

Elegant piano music drifts over the dining room of 88 Charles St. Café in Montgomery on a Saturday night. The pianist plays at a piano next to the bar, fingers flitting over the keys, while diners chatted over candles and white tablecloths.

Pianist Michelle Gately has been a fixture of the café on Friday and Saturday nights for 10 years, but her music career started much earlier.

Gately first learned to play the piano at the age of three, learning to play by ear instead of reading music. To this day, she doesn’t use sheet music, changing effortlessly from song to song without the need to shuffle pages.

“I guess I’m more of a rebel player. I don’t want anybody to put music in front of me,” Gately said. “I just want to play it the way I perceive it.”

After high school, Gately attended Ithaca College and the Julliard School of Music, including taking courses in piano pedagogy, music improvisation, orchestration and drums while studying under John Mehegan.

She has perfect pitch and can play any song in any key after hearing it played once. Sometimes, she’ll add her own personal flare to a song, such as changing keys in the middle of a tune.

“It’s a radio in my head; I hear the song and it just comes out of my fingers,” Gately said.
With more than 40 years of experience, Gately also built a career in nursing, so her music career was confined to nights and weekends. Still, her reputation as a musician did not escape her professional career.

“My nurses called me the musical nurse,” Gately said, chuckling.

Gately lived in Florida for 15 years, where she played piano at Sophie Kay’s Top of Daytona Restaurant and played gigs on the Dixie Queen Riverboat. She also had her own band called Angels South.

Gately eventually moved back to the Hudson Valley, where she grew up. Gately’s daughter saw an advertisement in a newspaper asking for a pianist at 88 Charles St Café. After one audition, the manager told her she was hired.

She said the key to playing in public is to play songs your audience would like to hear. She takes requests, and most people will play the song from their phone when she doesn’t recognize it.

Gately’s music brings joy to herself and others, a talent she loves to share.

“I really believe that whatever God gives you is a present from God, and whatever you give back to people, you’re giving a present back to God . . . So, I like making other people happy with it,” Gately said.

She also plays at Glen Arden, Inc.—a retirement community in Goshen—every Monday. While she said many residents with dementia may not remember her name, they always remember her music.

“They’re very happy,” Gately said.

One of the other highlights of her career: playing with her daughter, a bass player who lives in Massachusetts.

It’s hard for Gately to pick out other specific moments as highlights because every moment spent at the piano is a happy one.

“Every day is a highlight,” Gately said.

Gately plays every Friday and Saturday night at 88 Charles St. Café in Montgomery from 7 to 10 p.m. Gately is also available for hire for private events, including parties, weddings, fundraisers and more. She plays a versatile performance in a mix of genres, from Big Band to Beethoven and jazz and blues.

To learn more or request her services, visit msmichellesmusic.com or call 820-2251.