Me Actually Performing?
So yeah that happened. While I'm here in the hospital, I would have music therapy sessions at least once a week. During the first few times the music therapist, would come in and either play a few songs she knows while I'm doing something. I told her I could play the drums, and have been playing since I moved to Stockton. She suggested to see if I wanted to play any percussions she had, but then a thought came up into my head. So I asked my sister to bring me my cahone so that next time when I have music therapy, I would jam with her. She was excited that I brought my own instrument, and for a few sessions, when I'm not feeling down, we would jam together.
It was really her that suggested the idea of playing for the other patients. Then apparently I committed to the idea, I guess it was because I wanted to encourage the other patients here, or like to have them in high spirits. So when I suggested the idea, she immediately agreed and we started to pick out songs to play. My first song choice was 'Hall of Fame' by The Script and that was all I had at the moment aha. We had three weeks of planning and preparing because we had already chosen the date for it which was the eleventh of April of twenty thousand eighteen. Didn't really have anything else, but it was a start and it was something that I wanted to do. So the next few sessions were just us picking which songs to play. We listened to few songs on Spotify but figured it was easier to just choose songs she knew how to play. It was much more easier that way because I could just pick up a beat that fits the song. So the other songs were 'Brave' by Sarah Bareilles, 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus, 'Keep Your Head Up' by Andy Grammer, and 'Fight Song' by Rachel Platten. There was a lot of planning done, but not on my part aha. All I did was say yes to their ideas aha. So the invites and the set up and the location was pretty much just not my doing. They were able to get the invites out and even the staff got invited via email. Then the day came.
Day one, so my mom and sister surprised me aha. I didn't really know that they were coming but they did and popped up an hour before the performance. So they had the chance to see me practice right before I performed. Aha this was meant for the patients on this side of the hospital, but... It dawned onto me that even the nurses and doctors needed this because that's what made up most of the audience. They enjoyed it very much, like some of them became emotional, no crying but like wet eyes.... It's just... surreal to see that happening... I gave my phone to my nurse so she could record the performance/mini concert and so when I rewatched the performance I knew immediately that I was making the tempo way faster than it should be. Aha I feel sorry for the music therapist because she had to sing to fast tempo in all five songs.
Day two. I woke up not feeling so good but I had to do it. It really wasn't as exciting as Day One but a lot more people came. Afterwards, the social media person of Stanford's Children came up to me to ask me permission for me being on their social media pages like Instagram and Facebook. And well you all already saw it, so yeah that happened. Again, some of the staff had become emotional aha... And again there were more staff than patients, but a lot more patients were there compared to day one, since the location was in a waiting room aha. Once I got back to my room, I immediately went to take a nap. It was a good hour nap aha, but I was just so tired at that point.
So in summary: Everyone needed to be uplifted. And everyone enjoys music, especially if it's from a patient because I guess they see joyfulness I have to give and I guess it really shows that I want to share and spread joy to everyone. Or more like even if I'm going through the hardship of being a patient I still want to make others feel happy. I don't know... I didn't really expect for me to have this much impact on people... (another subject for another time). Everyone liked our performances. People who came to the first showing even came to the second one as well aha. But yeah like I said after everything, I just felt exhausted. I'm not used to this kind of attention... or more like it's been a long time since I've had this kind of attention and it's a bit overwhelming. I'm tired now.
It was really her that suggested the idea of playing for the other patients. Then apparently I committed to the idea, I guess it was because I wanted to encourage the other patients here, or like to have them in high spirits. So when I suggested the idea, she immediately agreed and we started to pick out songs to play. My first song choice was 'Hall of Fame' by The Script and that was all I had at the moment aha. We had three weeks of planning and preparing because we had already chosen the date for it which was the eleventh of April of twenty thousand eighteen. Didn't really have anything else, but it was a start and it was something that I wanted to do. So the next few sessions were just us picking which songs to play. We listened to few songs on Spotify but figured it was easier to just choose songs she knew how to play. It was much more easier that way because I could just pick up a beat that fits the song. So the other songs were 'Brave' by Sarah Bareilles, 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus, 'Keep Your Head Up' by Andy Grammer, and 'Fight Song' by Rachel Platten. There was a lot of planning done, but not on my part aha. All I did was say yes to their ideas aha. So the invites and the set up and the location was pretty much just not my doing. They were able to get the invites out and even the staff got invited via email. Then the day came.
Day one, so my mom and sister surprised me aha. I didn't really know that they were coming but they did and popped up an hour before the performance. So they had the chance to see me practice right before I performed. Aha this was meant for the patients on this side of the hospital, but... It dawned onto me that even the nurses and doctors needed this because that's what made up most of the audience. They enjoyed it very much, like some of them became emotional, no crying but like wet eyes.... It's just... surreal to see that happening... I gave my phone to my nurse so she could record the performance/mini concert and so when I rewatched the performance I knew immediately that I was making the tempo way faster than it should be. Aha I feel sorry for the music therapist because she had to sing to fast tempo in all five songs.
Day two. I woke up not feeling so good but I had to do it. It really wasn't as exciting as Day One but a lot more people came. Afterwards, the social media person of Stanford's Children came up to me to ask me permission for me being on their social media pages like Instagram and Facebook. And well you all already saw it, so yeah that happened. Again, some of the staff had become emotional aha... And again there were more staff than patients, but a lot more patients were there compared to day one, since the location was in a waiting room aha. Once I got back to my room, I immediately went to take a nap. It was a good hour nap aha, but I was just so tired at that point.
So in summary: Everyone needed to be uplifted. And everyone enjoys music, especially if it's from a patient because I guess they see joyfulness I have to give and I guess it really shows that I want to share and spread joy to everyone. Or more like even if I'm going through the hardship of being a patient I still want to make others feel happy. I don't know... I didn't really expect for me to have this much impact on people... (another subject for another time). Everyone liked our performances. People who came to the first showing even came to the second one as well aha. But yeah like I said after everything, I just felt exhausted. I'm not used to this kind of attention... or more like it's been a long time since I've had this kind of attention and it's a bit overwhelming. I'm tired now.
God using you to bring joy to others brotha!
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