The Problem
Elders often feel left behind and forgotten. A news article reported that elderly have some of the highest depression rates, which might exacerbate their feeling of loneliness and lead to a lower life quality. Younger musicians sometimes are shy and have stage fright, and lack of opportunity to nurture their passion and love toward others in need. To close the gap between the elderly and the younger generation, I founded "Joys of Music" with a purpose of bringing multi-generations together and closer. I deeply believe music has special power to connect people across age, race, culture, and socio-economic status. The COVID-19 pandemic not only locked down senior living centers, the social distancing requirement also prohibited normal gathering and rehearsal of Joy of Music, to overcome this rising challenge, I creatively used the technology and came up with the idea of virtual music show by meticulous planning, organizing and video editing. I first plan the theme of each month, by incorporating the major events of the month into our program, for instance Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, July 4th, Chinese mid-Autumn festival in August, Labor's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and so on. Then volunteer participants are encouraged to draw a greeting card by hand, with their own creativity, artistry, and calligraphy, then they are expected to say a few words of encouragement, followed by their music performance with pieces selected to reflect the theme of the month. Once I receive all the greeting cards/ handcraft, and the music pieces, I organize all the greeting cards and music and edit them together to make it a whole performance. It takes time and energy for video editing.
