The gift of giving music

This evening I performed at a nursing home for my Japanese community service project. Because there are many first and second-generation Japanese patients at the nursing home I performed a traditional Japanese song, “Haru no Umi” (on my flute) which translates into the spring sea. I also played a couple of simple duets like Today, somewhere over the rainbow, etc with my sister who also plays the flute. When I went there I did not thing much of the community service part of the project. I just thought it was going to be any other performance I have done in the past. However, I was wrong.

This time around I went into it like I did any other song I’ve performed but after about 15 seconds into the piece I glanced over the stand and looked out into the audience. It was filled with old people in wheel chairs. All of these people looked so frail, and weak but yet they had huge smiles plastered across their faces after hearing this familiar tune that was being played for them that very instant. It made me feel good and all of a sudden I was no longer playing for the sake of my school project. I was playing out of my heart to lift the spirits of these elderly people. It was such a good feeling to know that my music was the reason why these people were all of a sudden smiling. Some of them even started sway to the beat and nod their head as a sign of approval and recognition. From that point on every note I played was played with a different purpose, the purpose of giving the gift of music to touch their hearts. When I finished performing I received a huge applause from my audience. They all were smiling very brightly and all held their head a little higher that they did before I played this piece. I think for them it was refreshing to see a young face. I hope my music lifted their spirits and gave them a sense of happiness, joy, and hope. It is amazing that the simple gift of music can give someone so much.

For me the most rewarding part of this experience was seeing the smiles of satisfaction and happiness coming from the elderly. It made me feel good and made me feel like I had made a significant contribution to their day. There is something about community service and the act of giving that makes you as the giver feel good. The feeling of knowing that you made a difference in someone else’s life is one of the best feelings in the world. When I was in 8th and 9th grade I used to do a lot more volunteer work for other organizations but as I got older my schedule got busier and I never seemed to find the time. This project allowed me the opportunity to once again do community service. This experience was so moving that I have been inspired to make the time to commit to doing routine volunteer work this summer and next year.