<p>Hi, my daughter plays excellent piano. I wonder what she can do to give back using her talent. Is there anything not many have done to impress? Thanks!</p>
<p>My kid was a musician. He played for a number of civic organizations and events. </p>
<p>Your daughter could play piano at some skilled care facilities. She might be able to,lead a carol sing at the holidays, or just play oldies to entertain the residents. These places love to have entertainment.</p>
<p>My violin playing kid played some concerts at the senior center. He made a point of learning some of the popular songs from when they were young. They loved him. (And he’s not that good a violinist!) Locally we also have a teens who work with elementary school kids essentially giving free lessons.</p>
<p>The typical answer is to perform in nursing homes etc. It is a nice way to give back to the community.</p>
<p>Many years ago my daughter’s music teacher used to do an annual music marathon where the kids played for a certain amount of time and their time was sponsored and the money they raised went to a charity. </p>
<p>So people could give the charity $N per hour the kid played. It was a fun event - the playing was only practice playing (not performing) and the kids loved all playing together yet apart (they would play whatever they wanted in practice rooms within the studio) </p>
<p>I would imagine creating/running this type of event would be a nice community service activity. They always did this for a children related charity (local ARC or children cancer support or autism…) </p>
<p>My twin sons both played the piano and each also played a brass instrument. They played regularly throughout the year on Sundays at an assisted living/nursing home facility during the residents’ coffee & tea hour. They would serve coffee and tea and cookies and then play. They played the piano inside during the more inclement months and took their brass instruments outside into the garden when it was nice out and played duets. As another poster suggested, they learned music that the elderly residents would know. Some of them would sing along. They LOVED having my kids there. They weren’t trying to find something that no one had done before, just use a particular talent they had that was really enjoyed. It all tied in with other elements of their applications.</p>
<p>DS enjoyed playing piano at the local hospital lobby for National Honor Society volunteer hours. I’m not sure if he even had room to mention it on his college apps, but it was a great experience. Once a listeners even wrote to the local newspaper to praise his talents. He’s in college now, but he stil returns to play Christmas carols. </p>
<p>Are you asking how she can do something to impress for admissions or are you asking about service?
Also, check out the music forum for advice too.</p>
<p>My daughter performs with her dance school at nursing homes and assisted living facilities on average once a month. The girls dance, introduce themselves, tell what school they go to, and how long they’ve been dancing, and then they go out and talk to the residents. They’ll invite up some of the mobile residents along with any workers who might want to join in to learn an easy traditional Irish wedding type dance. Their now canned gig lasts about an hour and brings so much joy to so many people, that the girls actually want to do the nursing homes. I think the key is to talk to the residents. It’s a great opportunity for kids. My daughter has gotten to see the huge spectrum of quality and care that exists among nursing homes. </p>
<p>I think I posted on another thread that other than her school required service hours, my daughter doesn’t do community service. I had forgotten that she performs frequently for seniors. I don’t know that she would even put her nursing home experience on her college apps. It’s more a part of her all consuming passion for dance, rather than a separate activity. And certainly it’s not one she’s doing to look good on a college app. But I think it would be that way for any kid who likes to share his passion.</p>
<p>RE: compmom</p>
<p>Yes, I am asking something she can do to impress the admission. Any comments are appreciated.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wrong on so many levels.</p>
<p>My D got a state level award on piano and also joined a club that perform in nursing home and community way before she has college admission in her mind. She also serve as pianist at church. If music is her passion, it will show naturally. That is what the admission is looking for. Don’t ever try to force her to do this or that. There is not a check list for college application that you need to do this and that. If every applicant are doing the same thing, it is worthless.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ok. So I think you need to figure out what other skills your daughter has that can help her best utilize her talent. In my daughter’s case, she’s got a lot of poise and natural ease public speaking and meeting strangers so that makes their senior citizen show perfectly suited for her. If your daughter is a people person and wouldn’t be self conscious, playing for the seniors and leading a few sing a longs would be right up her alley. If she’s better interacting one on one, then maybe offering free lessons in an assisted living setting (that has a piano in its common area) would be the way to go. Or maybe she’d prefer working with inner city kids. Besides giving lessons, I know there are programs dedicated to bringing the arts to schoolkids - maybe she could attach herself to one of those groups. If she’s religious, she can probably play for church. Or maybe she could play the music for a grade school theater or Christmas production. </p>
<p>You probably should check with her piano teacher and ask her to keep her eyes and ears open for volunteer opportunities. I know our daughter started getting her gigs (both paid and volunteer) through her dance teachers, but as time has gone on, groups will often contact the girls directly. If nothing looks like it’s coming up, nursing and assisted living facilities usually have an activities coordinator that you can contact to ask if your daughter can come over. </p>
<p>“Yes, I am asking something she can do to impress the admission.”</p>
<p>Gasp! An honest parent. </p>
<p>cxhw0005.
OK, so you are looking for something to impress admissions. I will expand on my post above and although my sons did not do it to “impress admissions,” you can probably see how it gave the admissions officers a sense of their passion. Besides playing in the assisted living/nursing home on Sundays all throughout high school, they also played in regional piano competitions and played their brass instruments as the principal trumpet and trombone player in the high school jazz band. This was a high level band which played at some world famous jazz venues.
My trumpet playing son also played in a pit orchestra for a show where he was the only amateur playing in the pit. These activities certainly weren’t the reason they got into great schools, but showed a deep devotion to music, a depth and breadth that many schools want to see.</p>
<p>Sundaypunch, you seem to be implying that others are not honest.
Why would you think that?
Since it is an anonymous forum, what would be the point of lying? </p>
<p>Liars lie, whether anonymous or not, most people on here are honest, but…</p>
<p>Your daughter should do her ECs and community service because she wants to do them. </p>
<p>If she wants to do something musical to impress the adcoms, she could compare a piano concerto with orchestra accompaniment, learn it, and then convince the New York Phil to play her work. That would impress the adcoms :)</p>
<p>My musician kids played in civic orchestras, for community theaters, at special town prevents. DS started his own music lesson studio. DD proposed a color guard, convinced the band director to do it, and choreographed the whole routine, and then rehearsed the kids. This was actually the basis of her essays. And yes, adcoms actually commented on her essay in her acceptance letters.</p>
<p>She’s good at piano. Kudos to her. If she’s not going to win the Van Cliburn competition or something equally prestigious, she needs to impress another way. Frankly, playing Christmas carols at the local senior center is nice, but not particularly prestigious. If she can’t win a prestigious competition, perhaps she should give piano lessons to a kid (preferably poor) who becomes a prodigy and does win something.</p>
<p>If she can’t do that, she needs to do whatever it is she enjoys doing and not worry so much about impressing adcoms.</p>
<p>Too late to edit my post. </p>
<p>Your daughter should COMPOSE, not compare a concerto.</p>
<p>Seriously. Let her enjoy her music. </p>
<p>My kid does not excel at piano, but she enjoys playing piano and taken lessons for 4-5 years. She ended up teaching autistic kids piano lessons. She also ended up picking a leadership position, a replace for a senior leaving the position to attend Stanford. I’m sure it was not a significant activities to get into Ivies and such but for some schools that considered community service, it was a plus. </p>