This past Saturday, I taught a dancer at my former Chinese language school some basic foundations of violin playing. For instance, bow hold, bow straightening exercises, finger exercises, and short scales among other things. The dancer’s name is Megan and I’ve known her for a very long time, since she practically grew up with my sister who is around the same age. Like many Asian children, she played violin as a small child. However, she quit after a year because she didn’t like it and her parents felt it wasn’t worth it to continue spending money on her lessons at that point. She isn’t a complete beginner, but she definitely forgot quite a few fundamentals after five years away from a violin. We are wearing our dance costumes because we had a dress rehearsal later, didn’t want to wait until the last minute to change, and felt the change in outfit didn’t hinder any playing ability.
I felt more satisfied and genuinely joyful than I thought I’d be. It was immensely gratifying to see Megan’s bouts of recall in real time as a direct result of me helping her. Each time she settled back into familiar territory, her face lit up and she would get excited. Her excitement always spread to me almost as quickly as she herself experienced it so that, in the end, both of us were smiling incessantly. We also had a lot of fun taking the photo proof, so if it looks like we’re trying to stifle our laughter, it’s true. Amidst the lesson, we kept up a fun and engaging conversation about music in our lives. Playing in a public Chinese school also meant that some others were drawn to share their own stories and skills. One such person was my Chinese traditional dragon dance organizer, who talked about playing guitar and attempted to play the violin for a bit. Another was also a senior in high school that had played violin for several years but recently stopped playing due to lack of time. The open musical conversation with others beyond myself was interesting to see how many people I didn’t know were involved in music within a place I considered by second home, as well as continuously test Megan on her memory by teaching others. After all, teaching is beneficial to both teacher and student. As demonstrated by this single lesson, music brings together all sorts of people. Yes, the school we practiced at is a Mandarin language school and, thus, the great majority of students, parents, and staff are Asian. However, we still come from the city, several different suburbs, schools, and lifestyles. Within a group of people, there is still plenty of diversity to be had. I value music because it unites people in a way few things do in this world and I believe it is important to share for the same reason. This world is becoming ever more segregated, separate, and hostile against what people view as “other”; it would only benefit humanity to share a mutual appreciation and love for music, however momentary.
0 Comments
I often play during church and my pastor, whom has been a musician his entire life, often noted that he never learned to read sheet music. I attend pastoral teaching weekly where I either practice repertoire for next Sunday or receive a guitar lesson. This particular night while practicing repertoire I gave my pastor a lesson in reading sheet music as well as worked on a hymn for the following Sunday. I enjoy time spent with my church family and having the ability to share our talents with each other further enriches our church. My pastor has supported me in playing violin since the first day I joined this church and he often tells me of the potential I possess to play for the glory of God. My pastor is pretty up there in age and now has difficulty playing guitar himself so he finds it just as enriching when he can help younger musicians such as myself. I have come to appreciate the longevity available in musical capacity. Even if you don’t play you can listen if you do play you can share it and if you can no longer play you can teach it.
I, along with four other musicians, brought music beyond our Northside community to help life spirits at a local hospital through duet/chamber performances. I am extremely glad that I have built a continuous partnership with Swedish Covenant Hospital for the past couple of years. Every time I perform there, I am always very happy I took the time out of my day to bring some beautiful music to people walking around the hospital. The hospital is not always the most welcoming place and not something that people want to always spend time at, however I believe that even hearing a brief snippet of a classical music piece can help lift spirits. Every time I go there, I hope to brighten someone's day whether they stop and listen or just briefly listen as they walk past. I feel incredibly grateful that I have the opportunity to bring music beyond my usual Northside and home hemisphere. Sharing music is incredibly important to me since I strive to let other people share in the same passion I have for music and I can attribute that realization to my continued performances at Swedish Covenant Hospital.
My project was to help people with music and specifically by playing alongside them. I helped my sister prepare for her flute competition by playing the piano accompaniment. The service made me feel good because I was able to help a family member. I think it's helped my sister become stronger in the flute because she had to play with other musicians. I think that the experience of playing with other people is integral to the importance of music. When you play with other people, you have to cooperate and really communicate.
I went to Swedish Covenant Hospital with some other orchestra members after school to perform some of our old songs and current ensemble repertoire to the patients and staff of the hospital. We spent around 45 minutes playing our music to them and hopefully made their stays there more pleasant while doing so. I hope that our music positively impacted the people at the hospital and provided them with some joy to keep for the rest of the day. Sharing our music is important because we are able to show what we have been working on and spread our love for it to other people. They can often recognize the passion we have and enjoy listening to things we enjoy playing. Knowing that I can harness that musical energy and pass it on to others is something that keeps me motivated to keep playing for others.
On February 10th, I performed along with a small chamber ensemble from Northside's Chamber Strings for patients and staff at Swedish Covenant Hospital. We played selections from past orchestral repertoire that we have performed, as well as some cello and violin duets. I have performed at Swedish Covenant Hospital multiple times before for past Tri-M service projects, and every experience there is always so rewarding. Being able to serve others by playing violin has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my musicianship, and being able to bring joy to others through an activity about which I am so passionate has been extremely empowering. I had never performed before with this ensemble, but despite some challenges we faced along the way (including scheduling and music/part conflicts), we persevered and still made the performance happen. I am proud of my ensemble members and very grateful to Swedish Covenant Hospital for continually allowing us to perform in their space and establish this mutually beneficial partnership.
I put up the lyrics and slides for a church choir concert. This served the congregation and allowed those who didn't know the words to sing along. This experience made me feel extremely helpful and productive, as I received compliments afterward and was able to see the product of my work firsthand. This was helpful to the younger generations in the audience who did not know the words as well. With my assistance, we were able to not only share the sounds of the music, but also the words and meanings of the songs. It's something that I enjoy doing every month and would love to continue doing in the future.
Every week in the morning and evening I play guitar for my church in the worship band. I also have played some "specials" throughout the year in which I play guitar while another person sings in front of my whole church. I am so excited and ecstatic to come and serve at my church every morning. Being in the worship band has allowed me to bridge my love of music and God together. Last year I didn't play too much in the band because it was a lot of work commuting to church to get there early in the morning. This year I have a car and have made a continuous commitment to play in my worship band and it has made a huge impact for my community at church and has been a great learning experience for me. Every Sunday church members come up to me and say how inspiring it is to see a young person. I even inspired three people my age to learn guitar. This experience and impact I have made was one that I never thought would be possible. I totally underestimated how playing in my worship band at church could affect my community and plan to search for other opportunities this next semester to bridge my interests in other areas of my life through music.
My project is to teach someone how to play a song on a recorder and then the viola. This service project made me feel very happy because I had a chance to teach someone who doesn’t know too much about music how to play something and I think it’ll be fun to continue to do it. I think that it’s important to share music with people who may not always get the chance to learn because music should be shared with everybody.
My project was teaching my sister to play the piano. I would teach her anytime we both had times on my keyboard. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to learn how to play the piano and expand my music experience. I wanted to share my musical knowledge with my sister, who does not know how to play the piano. My sister does not play any other musical instrument, so I taught her the basics by starting with rhythm. My sister and I bonded during our session. Music connects people and can help people express their feelings. Through this service project, I gained a deeper understanding of music and bonds it built.
|
|