Jane May has always been musical.
The Beethoven Maennerchor accompanist began playing the piano around the age of 5, although she said she begged her parents to start playing before that -- but they just didn't let her.
Once she got going, nothing could stop her.
May holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, and had a distinguished career in music education at Northeast ISD in San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
She's taught piano, sang in church choirs, and plays for a Lutheran church.
"I've done music always," May said.
On coming to Beethoven
May is no stranger to Beethoven. She's played in the band for 15 years.
One particular evening changed things and directed May to the men's choir, which was in need of an accompanist.
"One night I was talking to Claus (Heide) and he said, 'Are you interested in accompanying?' I said, "That's what I like to do.'"
And the rest is history.
She said she finds the gig both challenging and rewarding.
The harder parts of the job include translating the tenor parts on the fly, which are written an octave higher.
"You have to transpose the tenor parts down an octave and that throws me still," she said.
Luckily she finds the rewards outweigh the challenges.
"It's fun to hear you all sing," she said. "I enjoy working with David (Nelson). He does a really nice job. You have fun while you're doing it."
As if music didn't keep her busy enough, she's always on the road or in the air to see her family. May has two grown children and six grandchildren. Her son and his family live in Utah, where she tries to visit them twice a year. Her daughter and her family live in Floresville. She admits she puts a lot of miles on her car driving south often to see the Texas-based family.
A family thing
May said once upon her time, her daughter had volunteered her to play in a band in Floresville. They needed a bell player!
"She said, 'My mother can do that!'" May recalled. Not having played the bells before, May was unsure of the opportunity.
But her daughter quickly countered the skepticism, saying it's just like the keyboard.
They also played in the Beethoven band for quite some time together. May can still be spotted in the garten with the band.
Creative whimsy, as well as musical
May contributes to Beethoven in more ways than making the notes on a page come alive. This year, in particular, May built several dollhouses (one was even a log cabin house!) that were raffled off during Oktoberfest.
May decided she wanted the proceeds to help fund the Bowling Alley restoration project.
There's no telling what artistic gem she has up her sleeve for the future. But you can bet she'll be having fun and keeping the Maennerchor on key doing what she loves doing - playing the piano.
