Music to the Masses

I volunteer at Primary Children's Hospital up by the University of Utah as a part of the music crew. Every Saturday I spend an hour performing for the patients and their family and friends. When I first arrive, I climb the stairs to the piano on the third floor and take in the emptiness of the waiting room. It was intimidating at first, singing in front of an empty room with the occasional passer-by. I take out my sheet music and begin to sing. I usually stick to a pretty light repertoire, including some Disney and maybe a little doo wop.

Then the most fascinating thing happens. As people walk by, maybe just employees or other volunteers but patients and visitors as well, they start to hang around and listen. The room starts to come alive. Instead of the sterile, empty room seen before, there are people conversing, listening, and filling the room with an aura of warmth. Parents would point me out to their children and they'd smile joyously and with such intensity that it's impossible for my not to smile back. The coolest aspect of this experience, however, is that this transformation was sparked by a very simplistic Art form: A Capella music. I chose to use photography as my creative medium journal response mostly because I was extremely inspired by the view that I had witnessed while driving through the mountains. The sun glowing behind the mountains gave them an aura that seemed to spark life in them, giving me the same inspiring feeling I witnessed while volunteering at the hospital.