Internship ahoy!

I thought I would post about my first couple of days playing harp at a prominent hospital. This hospital does not have a residential harpist (aka PAID harpist) yet. I hope to find some type of funding or a grant to help establish playing the harp there, so that the hospital can be just like the other hospitals...with a paid harpist. No hospital left behind!

But for now, I am a volunteer and working on completing my required 80 hours of internship in a hospital setting. So here are a couple things I've learned so far:

• Wow, it's pretty exhausting. I feel like I'm a ball of energy being drained slowly throughout the day. I need to learn to properly shield and center myself.
• I will not accept candy from strangers hovering over the harp.
• There seems to be a rebellious string in the upper octaves. I got a standing ovation for tuning in front of a patient. Why perform, when I can just tune!
• Take your free lunch voucher, every time. Even if the chicken salad sandwich has a bone in it.
• I'm already getting tired of my "regular" music I play by memory and I'm only on day 2. Better add in some new tunes stat!
• Wished I would have thought of something better to say than "nice hat" to a patient with no hair today. Oh well.

This is just a couple things that happen in one day. I played for 3 hours straight and I probably should have napped on a patient's bed in between relocating to another floor or waiting room (just kidding). 

Something happened today, that emotionally affected me already! A girl my age (30's) was coming out from her appointment and walked right past her husband. He realized this, was a bit stunned, and went after her. I watched as she broke down and cried in the hallway. I could only imagine the news she just received regarding her condition. :(

Again, I'm realizing that it's important to observe these incidents and provide appropriate music, or no music.