Light of Music shines bright at veteran senior living center
BY BRYAN LAI
Light of Music has been around for a thick minute, but this time was very special. On September13, we performed at Sunland Village, a senior living center for veterans, instead of regular senior citizens. Although not all of them are veterans, this performance felt unique. The venue had a much bigger stage than any other place we’ve held Light of Music at. There was an actual stage with plenty of seats, and they already had microphones, speakers, and stage lighting set up.
There were a lot of performances.
The host was Lucas Lai and Sophia Chen. Lucas was in charge of making the poster and program. Sophia was in charge of checking-in and controlling the music. Lucas and Sophia did a very good job helping set up.
At the start, I got an official 8 Foundation T-shirt and put it over my regular shirt. I am very proud to be the first person to perform with the T-shirt. It took about30minutes for us to set up the stage and music and to wait for everyone to arrive.
The first performance was a dance by a very talented girl, Sabrina Zhao, who has consistently excelled in various competitions. She has won first place multiple times in Showstopper competitions and,in2024,she was awarded the Top10 Platinum Award, the highest honor at the Tao Li Cup.
Another dance performance followed by a5-year-old girl, Emily Shen, marking her first time performing in Light of Music.
Sabrina Wang and Kim Anum Abidin played the Guzheng, which is a traditional Chinese instrument. It's sort of a guitar and a piano combined. There's a stand and a board is put over with strings. The player even wears those things on their finger so they don't get irritated. I think they played very well.
There were also a lot of solos. For example, Keon and Fayfay played the cello. Vincent, Carlson, Lucy, Wenying, Savannah, and William Shan played great songs on the piano. Carlson said that he practiced3hours during the weekends to play his song excellently. I believe that the other players practiced just as hard as him to improve their skills. Kaelyn also played a Violin solo. She even used to sing at Light of Music performances. How talented!
I also saw many ensembles.First,there was a violin duet with Laura and Emma.I think they did a good job.
FayFay, Chengye, and Elly played a traditional Chinese song called Butterfly Lovers. They also played another song with William You and Athena. The audience liked it very well.
Even I volunteered in Light of Music. Although my performance wasn't exactly a music show. I did magic, and most of my tricks were pretty simple. There was a rubber band trick where you pull it through a soda can, a straw trick where you pull them through each other, an arm twisting trick, and one where I puke out pieces of paper. I practiced very hard at home. My mom even came up with the idea of drinking water with the straws to show the people that they real. It took a long time to come up with my tricks and even longer to practice all or them to perfection.
This Light of Music concert was very successful, and I hope we can volunteer at this place even more. The senior audience loved the show, and I even got a personal compliment from one of them. They clapped louder than I've ever heard.